Interesting, informative & entertaining

An all round great account of a well-respected newspaper, insight into world class reporting, global & European affairs & life as an editor. I am far from a finance boffin but Lionel Barber made some of the more confusing elements of economics understandable.

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Riveting

It was a wonderful trip down memory lane told from the point of view of Lionel. Really enjoyed it, he is a bit keen to tell the stories where he got it right bless him. Or maybe he just got it right a lot of the time!

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Opinionated, insightful & eye opening

Facinating account of the last decade from the eyes of a man who witnessed so much first hand..... in my opinion, he is awful.... his perspective & self importance is everything that is wrong with the city, but this is also what drew me into the book. I am left reflecting on elitism & its impact to the world events he discusses & the far right movement ..... did people like Lionel Barber & his cronies create the anger that spurred on the Trumps of today? Well worth a read, very thought provoking.

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Great romp through 20 years from.a unique perspective

This was nostalgic as well as informative. An excellently written and read history of the first couple of decades of 21st century from the perspective a a newspaper editor. Really good listen

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The backstory, which is more interesting than the headline.

Lionel Barber shares the backstory to many scoops that the FT was involved in. Importantly, he also shared his personal story on becoming the Editor.

If you want to know the story behind the need and learn about the comms and influence then it’s worth a read!

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2 people found this helpful

Simple but worth reading

With insights worth almost enough to buy a Costa coffee and skimming across the modern political landscape like a flat stone over the water this book would not at first seem worth sticking with - but it is interesting and I found myself enjoying the ride through high-level world chumocracy and learning a few tidbits on the way which helped put a few things in context. It also made me realise how much we all need that in a time when almost everything a liberal democrat believed was good has been up-ended. Lionel Barber reads well - not a skill to be underestimated and many would not trust themselves to narrate their own book. His writing is surprisingly plain with few similes, original or otherwise, but perhaps that is the style you need for straightforward, and fast journalism that must be written to printing deadlines? Part of me wonders what Barber's talent really is but the evidence that he has talent comes from 14 years at the Financial Times and how he has successfully grown and nurtured a financially successful (one assumes) digital revolution at the paper. Though without good similes there is plenty of irony to enjoy - drinking fine wine while the world burns and the poor have to steal or starve to survive the financial crash, or commenting on Trump's regal style when perhaps that was unwittingly Barber's own behaviour with his team? Perhaps that last is not true - we don't really know as there is not enough exposure or background or indeed truth about what really went on in his tenure - the 'playing safe' attitude in modern media has led to a pasturised version of reality when we all know that real cheese is better. Even so, and on the whole, this book makes you reflect on many things right and wrong with the current world.

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A lively diary of a decade leading the FT

Lots of interesting snippets and characters. Some self-aggrandisement but that’s the nature of such books. A reporter at heart, rather than a visionary but he did give the FT a fresh impetus.

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1 person found this helpful

Interesting but dated and full of name dropping

It’s a bit dated. Lots of name dropping. Wish it’d been a bit more like Harold Evans’ books with a bit more analysis and less name dropping.

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Reasonable listen but fairly pompous

Very light on the financial crisis, at times tin eared and pompous but a reasonable listen nonetheless. I'm a longtime FT subscriber so was interested in the evolution of the newspaper. I found some of Barber's anecdotes quite dull and (as important as it was) the expose of the Presidents Club was given more attention than the financial crisis and the FT's alertness to it. Sense of airbrushing throughout.

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Interesting but not enlightening

Barber is very congratulatory of his own performance. I am certain the book could have been significantly more revealing.
The book is interesting but not enlightening.

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4 people found this helpful