Opinion today: Baseball’s money man

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When the Boston Red Sox won America’s baseball World Series in 2004, after 86 years of trying, fans of their rivals, the New York Yankees, unfurled banners which read: “Congratulations Boston, World Series Champions 1918, 2004, 2090".

In the event, the Red Sox’s next title arrived rather more quickly than Yankees fans would have hoped. Under the stewardship of owner, John Henry, they are on course this weekend to win their fourth World Series in 14 years. In a profile, Tom Mitchell, a life-long Red Sox fan, identifies the secrets of Mr Henry’s success.

Mr Henry, who also owns the Boston Globe newspaper and England’s Liverpool football club, is not afraid to spend money, Tom writes. Nor is he slow to cut his losses when he thinks players or managers or under-performing. It is evidently a winning formula.

Merryn Somerset Webb assesses at an unusually volatile month for global stock markets and concludes that this shadowy environment should be a boon to active investors keen to show off their stockpicking skills.

Tim Harford asks what megaprojects like the construction of the Sydney Opera House or government IT programmes can teach us about the biggest public policy challenge in Britain for a generation: Brexit.

Bronwen Maddox looks ahead to Monday’s UK Budget and argues that tinkering with tax will not deliver the revenue needed to maintain public services at their current levels, let alone improve them, as voters demand.

David Allen Green argues that the legal issues in the case of billionaire retailer Philip Green, especially where non-disclosure agreements are concerned, are less clear-cut than they might seem.

Best of the week

President Trump embodies the spirit of our age — Gideon Rachman

Superstar companies also feel the threat of disruption- Rana Foroohar

A spikier world for innovative start ups beckons — John Thornhill

There is a fight over data brewing on Wall Street — Brooke Masters

Inaction over climate change is shameful — Martin Wolf

Car ownership may peak but traffic is on the rise — John Gapper

America’s allies must master the art of dealing with Donald Trump — Janan Ganesh

The power of example will galvanise change for African women — David Pilling

Paul Volcker sets a challenge for the next generation — Gillian Tett

Jamal Khashoggi’s killing has broken the Saudi spell over the west — Philip Stephens

What you’ve been saying

Ramaphosa should also consider tax reform plan: letter from Rizwan Rawji, Rhode-St-Genèse, Belgium

Reforming South Africa’s labour market is a very sensitive political issue (Letters), especially when elections are to be held next year. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC government should urgently embark on a tax reform plan and announce it on the annual budget speech in parliament early next year. Allowing voters to keep more of their hard-earned money in their pockets is another way to win their votes.

In response to “Chargrilled kangaroo restores balance to an overrun outback”, Sic transit gloria mundi says:

A similar course (more culling and eating of the meat) is needed for deer in rural England.

Dangerous passions?: letter from Stephen Brown, Silsden, W Yorks, UK

Last week, Theresa May said that now is the time for “cool, calm heads” over Brexit. This week, she presided over a cabinet meeting on the subject that her spokesman described as “impassioned”. They really must stop meeting like this.

Today's opinion

Tinkering with tax will not resolve Hammond’s Budget dilemmas
Funding public services and managing expectations is one of our greatest challenges

The bright lights of market illusions are dimming
Turn off the liquidity taps and the ability to believe the impossible evaporates

Lex: Samsung Electronics: Seoul trader
It is too soon to call the end of boom/bust cycles in semis

Inside London: Lendy saga turning into a sorry one
Challenges facing the peer-to-peer lender also reveal UK obsession with property

The Top Line: The stiff challenge facing Nick Clegg at Facebook
Running communications for the social network is probably the worst job in corporate world

Lex: Bird/Lime: two wheels good
Local authorities are the ones to convince before competitors expand

Lex: RBS: fear and loaning
Bank’s display of realism should be applauded

The Long View: The regime change for global markets is just beginning
Strategies that have been popular in recent years are starting to crack

Serious Money: Does your pensions provider keep you hanging on the telephone?
I’m launching my ‘Campaign Against Vivaldi’ against analogue retirement savings

The enduring appeal of ghost stories by women
From Mary Shelley to Ann Radcliffe, the fiction of horror has in many ways been women’s natural fictional habitat

The Philip Green case is not as simple as it seems
Non-disclosure agreements need not just be a weapon to be abused by the powerful

FT Alphaville: The White House is worried about wages, not socialism 

We all need to borrow from each other’s cultures
Mutual influencings have enriched the arts for centuries — so why is ‘appropriation’ such a dirty word?

 Which was the best year to be a globalist?
Somewhere between the boom years and the Great Recession was a time that we’ll look back on with nostalgia

FT Alphaville: Markets Live: Friday, 26th October 2018

Flower power couple tend West Dean gardens A husband and wife team have created a beacon of high standards

Aisle be back: my visits as a church tourist
Religion and I parted ways a while ago. Now I go to church for the architecture and ambience

FT Magazine: How Parkrun became my new religion
‘For many a heathen like myself, this is the nearest you get to regular church attendance’

FT Magazine: Nyetimber: the English vineyard challenging Champagne
‘The prices suggest these sparkling wines are aimed squarely at Cristal, Dom Pérignon and Krug’

FT Alphaville: Initiative Q: an elementary pyramid scheme with grandiose ideas [Update] 

Lex: Amazon: push marketing
Care is needed in navigating privacy concerns about customer data

FT Alphaville: AMLO's latest litmus test 

Undercover Economist: What the Sydney Opera House can teach us about Brexit
The rules for delivering a successful megaproject are devastatingly simple

Ingram Pinn’s illustration of the week: The leaning tower
Italian budget stand-off

Maths is a potential life changer — from wages to dating
If you love sums, the chances are you’re good with money too

FTfm: Robinhood: a cool app and no commission. What can go wrong? 

Markets Insight: Next investing hazard are bets on a ‘noflation’ world
Rise of populism risks upending assumptions behind asset allocations

My new alarm clock will be a wake-up call for Silicon Valley
Buck the trend and buy the biggest, loudest and most medieval one you can find

Markets Insight: Oil market’s calm masks signs of stormy trading ahead
Frazzled investors should not relax despite Saudi’s pledge to boost crude supplies

City Insider: LSE to go ahead with Saudi investment event
Group had hoped to win proposed whopping IPO of state oil company Saudi Aramco

Lombard: BT’s new chief tries to send a message on pay and commitment
New boss Philip Jansen to put his money where his job is

Lex: Boutique banks: No excuses
Stock prices are implying a deal bust that bankers are ignoring

FT Alphaville: The problem with the ownership society

FT View

The FT View: For investors, risks are becoming hard to ignore
In a dismal few weeks for markets, a broad adjustment is under way

The FT View: America’s Democrats need to set out what they stand for
Being defined entirely through opposition to Donald Trump is not enough

The Big Read

The Big Read: Dyson: a British inventor pivots to Asia
With one eye on the Chinese market, the British company is set to produce electric cars in Singapore. Will the £2bn gamble pay off?