Alan Smith
@theboysmithy.ft.com
Head of Visual and Data Journalism @financialtimes.com; Honorary Prof @UCL Social Data Institute. Views expressed are my own. Reposts are not necessarily endorsements.
Reposted by Alan Smith
NEW: We took a deep dive into ICE's data dragnet: the data brokers, biometrics tools, and license plate readers powering Trump's deportation effort. Some of the contracts are for tools previous administrations deemed too intrusive.
Trump’s immigration data dragnet
The US is pulling in vast amounts of personal information in its drive to deport 1mn people this year
ig.ft.com
December 10, 2025 at 8:37 AM
NEW: We took a deep dive into ICE's data dragnet: the data brokers, biometrics tools, and license plate readers powering Trump's deportation effort. Some of the contracts are for tools previous administrations deemed too intrusive.
Reposted by Alan Smith
Three-year temperature average set to exceed 1.5C for first time on.ft.com/3MnJ8nQ
Three-year temperature average set to exceed 1.5C for first time
Data shows 2025 is on track to be the third-warmest on record after November temperature rise of 1.54C
on.ft.com
December 9, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Three-year temperature average set to exceed 1.5C for first time on.ft.com/3MnJ8nQ
Reposted by Alan Smith
China’s trade surplus in goods has surpassed $1tn for the first time this year even as exports to the US have cratered. Shipments to other regions, especially south-east Asia, are booming. Analysts believe some of these later end up in the US.
Read the story on #FTEdit 👉 on.ft.com/3XGzf7a
Read the story on #FTEdit 👉 on.ft.com/3XGzf7a
December 8, 2025 at 10:34 AM
China’s trade surplus in goods has surpassed $1tn for the first time this year even as exports to the US have cratered. Shipments to other regions, especially south-east Asia, are booming. Analysts believe some of these later end up in the US.
Read the story on #FTEdit 👉 on.ft.com/3XGzf7a
Read the story on #FTEdit 👉 on.ft.com/3XGzf7a
Reposted by Alan Smith
NEW: The power crunch threatening America’s AI ambitions
Big tech is spending hundreds of billions on data centres in the US to fuel the development of artificial intelligence. Our latest visual story explores the main challenge that these grand plans face: access to power.
ig.ft.com/ai-power/
Big tech is spending hundreds of billions on data centres in the US to fuel the development of artificial intelligence. Our latest visual story explores the main challenge that these grand plans face: access to power.
ig.ft.com/ai-power/
December 8, 2025 at 10:56 AM
NEW: The power crunch threatening America’s AI ambitions
Big tech is spending hundreds of billions on data centres in the US to fuel the development of artificial intelligence. Our latest visual story explores the main challenge that these grand plans face: access to power.
ig.ft.com/ai-power/
Big tech is spending hundreds of billions on data centres in the US to fuel the development of artificial intelligence. Our latest visual story explores the main challenge that these grand plans face: access to power.
ig.ft.com/ai-power/
Reposted by Alan Smith
Introducing the FT ‘geopolitical mood’ index on.ft.com/4oAy4Rs
Introducing the FT ‘geopolitical mood’ index
Crunching 40-plus years of FT articles for a useful measure of geopolitical risk
on.ft.com
December 5, 2025 at 5:36 AM
Introducing the FT ‘geopolitical mood’ index on.ft.com/4oAy4Rs
Reposted by Alan Smith
Reeves has shifted her focus from growth towards ‘fairness’ based on our analysis of her 2024 and 2025 Budget speeches
November 27, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Reeves has shifted her focus from growth towards ‘fairness’ based on our analysis of her 2024 and 2025 Budget speeches
Reposted by Alan Smith
Don't want to jinx it, but my first day at the OBR seems to be going really well.
November 26, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Don't want to jinx it, but my first day at the OBR seems to be going really well.
Reposted by Alan Smith
try out the FT's fiscal drag calculator!
www.ft.com/content/54cb...
www.ft.com/content/54cb...
November 26, 2025 at 8:46 AM
try out the FT's fiscal drag calculator!
www.ft.com/content/54cb...
www.ft.com/content/54cb...
New: 'Shark's fin' chart reveals the uneven impact of 'fiscal drag', the stealth tax beloved of recent chancellors. Plus use our interactive calculator to see how fresh freezes announced by Rachel Reeves at todays Budget could affect you on.ft.com/3KqOYUL
November 26, 2025 at 8:37 AM
New: 'Shark's fin' chart reveals the uneven impact of 'fiscal drag', the stealth tax beloved of recent chancellors. Plus use our interactive calculator to see how fresh freezes announced by Rachel Reeves at todays Budget could affect you on.ft.com/3KqOYUL
Really proud to see the @financialtimes.com represented in this list courtesy of Eva Xiao
Congratulations to our 2025 SEAL Environmental Journalism Awards winners! Each honoree brings accountability to power, empathy to data, and urgency to the conversation on environmental policy.
Read more about this year's winners:
sealawards.com/twelve-journ...
Read more about this year's winners:
sealawards.com/twelve-journ...
2025 Environmental Journalism Award Winners Announced
Environmental journalism award honors top 12 writers globally. Winning outlets include Mongabay, Grist, DeSmog and Heatmap News.
sealawards.com
November 19, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Really proud to see the @financialtimes.com represented in this list courtesy of Eva Xiao
Reposted by Alan Smith
FT Budget quiz is LIVE! www.ft.com/content/d532...
Quiz: How well do you know your Budgets?
Test your knowledge of the set-piece political event with our questions on the financial statements of yesteryear
www.ft.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:34 AM
FT Budget quiz is LIVE! www.ft.com/content/d532...
New: A quiz - How well do you know your Budgets? Turns out you can learn a lot about the UK from these questions...
on.ft.com/4pijy1y
on.ft.com/4pijy1y
November 19, 2025 at 8:41 AM
New: A quiz - How well do you know your Budgets? Turns out you can learn a lot about the UK from these questions...
on.ft.com/4pijy1y
on.ft.com/4pijy1y
Reposted by Alan Smith
Very irritating quiz
I failed to get them all right
I failed to get them all right
November 19, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Very irritating quiz
I failed to get them all right
I failed to get them all right
Reposted by Alan Smith
The government doesn’t see UK data assets as priorities at all - includes ONS. Did the idea of a ‘National Data Library’ & data infrastructure in the AI Opps Action Plan just evaporate?
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:38 AM
The government doesn’t see UK data assets as priorities at all - includes ONS. Did the idea of a ‘National Data Library’ & data infrastructure in the AI Opps Action Plan just evaporate?
Reposted by Alan Smith
“Unlikely”. Tremendous understatement, epic work.
November 10, 2025 at 8:38 PM
“Unlikely”. Tremendous understatement, epic work.
Reposted by Alan Smith
NEW: The End of the Line: the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject - a 500m tall, 170km long wall-like building intended ultimately to house 9 million people - can’t get out of the ground, say more than 20 former Neom architects, engineers and senior executives.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled
Mohammed bin Salman’s utopian city was undone by the laws of physics and finance
ig.ft.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:56 AM
NEW: The End of the Line: the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject - a 500m tall, 170km long wall-like building intended ultimately to house 9 million people - can’t get out of the ground, say more than 20 former Neom architects, engineers and senior executives.
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...
Reposted by Alan Smith
Blood on the streets of El Fasher: satellite images and videos capture new atrocities in Sudan as RSF forces take the city, marking a new chapter in the country’s ruinous civil war.
W/ William Wallis, @janatausch.bsky.social, @digitalcampbell.ft.com
www.ft.com/content/f39c...
W/ William Wallis, @janatausch.bsky.social, @digitalcampbell.ft.com
www.ft.com/content/f39c...
October 31, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Blood on the streets of El Fasher: satellite images and videos capture new atrocities in Sudan as RSF forces take the city, marking a new chapter in the country’s ruinous civil war.
W/ William Wallis, @janatausch.bsky.social, @digitalcampbell.ft.com
www.ft.com/content/f39c...
W/ William Wallis, @janatausch.bsky.social, @digitalcampbell.ft.com
www.ft.com/content/f39c...
Great to work with @aendra.com @amyborrett.ft.com @jonathanvincent.bsky.social on this important new dataset of deprivation in England
This is absolutely fascinating: you can put your postcode in and see relative levels of deprivation (and the opposite) where you live in detail. I live where I grew up, so I could spend days doing this as I know the town so well. www.ft.com/content/9a1c... Huge congrats to @amyborrett.ft.com et al.
Interactive: explore England’s new deprivation map
Data analysis reveals ‘cheek by jowl’ inequalities in first study of country’s disadvantaged areas since pandemic
www.ft.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Great to work with @aendra.com @amyborrett.ft.com @jonathanvincent.bsky.social on this important new dataset of deprivation in England
Reposted by Alan Smith
A big development: HMEL, the Mittal joint venture that owns the refinery has responded to our story - and disclosed that it is pulling out of buying Russian crude.
October 29, 2025 at 1:18 PM
A big development: HMEL, the Mittal joint venture that owns the refinery has responded to our story - and disclosed that it is pulling out of buying Russian crude.
Reposted by Alan Smith
Unhedged chart of the week: Gooooold
Sign up for COTW here: www.ft.com/newsletter-s...
@hakyungkim.bsky.social
Sign up for COTW here: www.ft.com/newsletter-s...
@hakyungkim.bsky.social
October 25, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Unhedged chart of the week: Gooooold
Sign up for COTW here: www.ft.com/newsletter-s...
@hakyungkim.bsky.social
Sign up for COTW here: www.ft.com/newsletter-s...
@hakyungkim.bsky.social
This looks like a great new data-driven venture from @ashendruk.com …
Uncertainty is higher — waaaaaaay higher — than it's been in decades!
www.not-ship.com/its-not-just...
www.not-ship.com/its-not-just...
October 23, 2025 at 8:56 AM
This looks like a great new data-driven venture from @ashendruk.com …
Reposted by Alan Smith
Donald Trump is pressing other alliance members to pay more for their own defence, arguing the US is 'paying for close to 100% of Nato'. While America’s military budget dwarfs others in Nato, Trump’s assertion is not true. on.ft.com/4orYeWZ
October 20, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Donald Trump is pressing other alliance members to pay more for their own defence, arguing the US is 'paying for close to 100% of Nato'. While America’s military budget dwarfs others in Nato, Trump’s assertion is not true. on.ft.com/4orYeWZ
Reposted by Alan Smith
There is no need for a moral panic about the UK's welfare system.
Far from perfect but recent discourse is nuts
Spending is controlled, not spiralling
Worklessness is near record lows
My column www.ft.com/content/ee67...
Far from perfect but recent discourse is nuts
Spending is controlled, not spiralling
Worklessness is near record lows
My column www.ft.com/content/ee67...
October 15, 2025 at 12:35 PM
There is no need for a moral panic about the UK's welfare system.
Far from perfect but recent discourse is nuts
Spending is controlled, not spiralling
Worklessness is near record lows
My column www.ft.com/content/ee67...
Far from perfect but recent discourse is nuts
Spending is controlled, not spiralling
Worklessness is near record lows
My column www.ft.com/content/ee67...
Reposted by Alan Smith
Incredibly useful new story by @jburnmurdoch.ft.com on the 'crisis' for young college grads. Most analyses compare mid-20s workers with/without a degree. But as John points out, the relevant comparison group is actually *new entrants* with/without a degree - most non-degree workers enter at 18-19.
What the graduate unemployment story gets wrong
People with a degree are faring better, not worse than their non-graduate counterparts
www.ft.com
October 10, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Incredibly useful new story by @jburnmurdoch.ft.com on the 'crisis' for young college grads. Most analyses compare mid-20s workers with/without a degree. But as John points out, the relevant comparison group is actually *new entrants* with/without a degree - most non-degree workers enter at 18-19.