I came to the Financial Times from the scenario team at Shell International, where among other things I was the lead economist on their scenarios for Africa and Latin America. I am putting the finishing touches to a popular economics book. I have also taught economics at Oxford, and worked for FT columnist John Kay.
I have had to draw on every bit of this experience within the first few days at the Financial Times. Although delighted at being awarded the Peter Martin fellowship, I'd been nervous that I would spend all summer on the sidelines. I needn't have worried about that. Within an hour of arriving in the office, one of my colleagues was bemoaning the fact that until I'd sat a crash-course in the paper's editorial software, I wouldn't be available. So I wasn't able to write my first leader until my second day at work, which was clearly regarded as something of a slow start.
Leader-writing is a great job: I turn up, argue amiably with the leader-writing team about the rights and wrongs of the issues of the day, and then spend the afternoon trying to put their wisdom down on paper. It isn't easy, but it is made to feel so because my colleagues have been happy to let me make my mistakes, while gently helping me correct them. Under any circumstances this fellowship would be a privilege, but because of the support I've received it has also been a pleasure.
