Good morning and welcome to your FT Weekend, alongside which we are making the final arrangements for the US edition of our annual festival in Washington DC next Saturday 4 May. We’ll be joined by politicians Nancy Pelosi and Jake Sullivan, actor Bradley Whitford (known to some of us forever as Josh from The West Wing), writers Marilynne Robinson and David McCloskey — plus our very own Roula Khalaf, Jo Ellison, Jancis Robinson and Edward Luce.

It promises to be glorious and we hope to see you at Reach at the Kennedy Center (or online if your weekend plans do not involve DC). Remember that as a newsletter subscriber you’re entitled to claim 10 per cent off using promo code NewslettersxFestival when registering.

Enough festival talk, let’s move on to this week’s issue . . .

The week that shook Columbia

Mark Mazower, the British historian who is Ira D Wallach Professor of History at Columbia University, writes of the extraordinary events of the past fortnight as student protesters over Gaza set up camp on campus. He shares his observations and offers some thoughts on the precarious position that this storied Ivy League school finds itself in.

Column of the week: Encounters with a honeytrapper

Rebecca Watson, novelist and an assistant Arts desk editor at the FT, remarked last week that she had in fact honeytrapped the Westminster honeytrapper behind last week’s bin fire in UK politics. Excuse us? We had to know more of course, and so must you. . .

Lunch with the FT: The Pet Shop Boys

I had lunch with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the most successful duo in British pop history, to mark 40 years since the release of “West End Girls”. Please enjoy their wit and wisdom on subjects as diverse as Taylor Swift, whether they’ve been offered an honour, and what is wrong with the music industry these days.

And as a little exclusive outtake for subscribers to this newsletter: Chris Lowe’s nickname is “Kipper” due to his fondness for an afternoon nap while recording.

Catch a movie | We have a five-star review of That They May Face the Rising Sun, plus reviews of Challengers and In the Land of Saints and Sinners

Listen to our podcast | Ludovic Hunter-Tilney and Taylor Nicole Rogers discuss Taylor Swift’s new album

Curl up with a good book | From history to memoir to fiction, our critics gather the latest must-read titles

Get cooking | With Honey & Co’s recipe for the croissant-like chocolate rugelach (that’s far easier than a croissant to bake)

Tease your brain cells | Find the connections in our FT Weekend quiz

A life sentence in Xinjiang

Anthropologist Rahile Dawut spent years recording the life, history and traditions of her people, the Muslim Uyghurs living in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of north-west China. Over two decades, Dawut conducted meticulous fieldwork, and became adept at balancing her research with living under the increasingly authoritarian Chinese state. However, her advocacy was becoming incompatible with Beijing’s official policy towards the Uyghurs and in December 2017 she was taken by the Chinese state. FT China correspondent Edward White reports for FT Weekend Magazine.

Take the slow train to Penang

After a four-year hiatus, the Eastern & Oriental Express is back, thanks to Belmond, doyen of luxury retro rail travel. Tim Moore joins the lavish hotel-train (well, someone’s got to do it) on a new route through the jungles of Malaysia — a far more evocative backdrop than the suburbs and industrial estates of 21st-century continental Europe. As well as indulging in creature comforts and haute cuisine, Tim steeps himself in the exotic history of overnight railway travel.

It doesn’t happen often to Jo Ellison, but last week at a work lunch she found herself inexplicably running out of chat. Which got her thinking about cringe-making small talk and how, decades after university, she’s stopped worrying about it: “For all the anxiety and nervousness with which one approaches interactions, most people are too preoccupied with their own fears and insecurities to much consider yours — unless you’re desperately rude or highly precocious”. What’s your approach to starting conversations, particularly with someone unfamiliar and when the stakes are unclear? Share your thoughts in the comments below her column.

Despite four decades in Britain’s House of Commons, Frank Field was a minister for only a little more than a year — and never reached the Cabinet. So why, asks former political correspondent Liam Halligan, has the late politician’s death at the age of 81 generated such an outpouring of tributes from across the UK’s political spectrum?

The Big Read
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US-China relations
Xi tells Blinken US should avoid ‘vicious competition’