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Republicans continue to give the US president high marks for his handling of coronavirus

US president assessing need for further moves to reduce immigration

Our predicament is that wealth has become the only apparent source of safety

Succession spotlight on younger sister Kim Yo Jong

Agreement raises spending by $320bn but has limited offsetting budget cuts

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Local news sites are experiencing a resurgence and streaming is more popular than ever

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Many in Washington say Trump’s mini-deal with Beijing was a vehicle for political boasts

From formaldehyde sheep to giant horses, Simon Schama - in this recording of his FT Frieze week lecture - traces contemporary animal attractions to great works in the history of art  

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It premiered at Cannes to cheers and boos, and went on to win the Palm D’Or. Some called it a masterpiece; others dismissed it as overblown nonsense. But what’s so divisive about Terrence Malick’s ambitious new film? It’s a coming-of-age story set in 1950s Texas but it also has long sequences that explore the natural world and the origins of the universe. Does it work? And is its strong religious strain likely to turn off non-believers? Raphael Abraham is joined in the studio by Nick James, editor of Sight & Sound magazine, Peter Aspden, FT arts writer, and Leo Robson, film critic. Produced by Griselda Murray Brown  

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On the occasion of his British Film Institute retrospective, Ken Loach, the acclaimed director of films such as Kes, Land and Freedom and the Cannes Palme d’Or winning The Wind that Shakes the Barley, talks about the state of political filmmaking. He is in the studio with Raphael Abraham, Peter Aspden and Lucian Robinson. Produced by Griselda Murray Brown  

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Postmodernism defined itself against the stifling clarity and seriousness Modernism. It put style before drab functionality. It embraced pop culture and garish colour. But it got a bad rep. “PoMo” was called vacuous and kitsch, and in the 1980s it became associated with corporate culture and consumerism. Now this controversial cultural movement is the subject of a major exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert museum, "Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970–1990". Neville Hawcock talks to Glenn Adamson, co-curator of the show, and to FT columnists Edwin Heathcote and Peter Aspden. Produced by Griselda Murray Brown  

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The arts podcast reviews new albums by two of the most venerable singer-songwriters around: Leonard Cohen's "Old Ideas" and Paul McCartney's "Kisses on the Bottom". Have they still got it? Does their latest work speak to modern times? And just what are we to make of Macca's album title? Neville Hawcock is joined in the studio by Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, FT pop critic, Peter Aspden, FT arts writer, and Gautam Malkani, FT writer and novelist. Produced by Griselda Murray Brown  

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From Dickens’ London to Wordsworth’s Lakes via the painter George Shaw’s suburban “edgelands”, the British landscape has long permeated writing and visual art. On the opening of the British Library’s exhibition Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands, Jan Dalley talks to the poet Owen Sheers; the exhibition’s curator Jamie Andrews; and FT art critic Jackie Wullschlager. The travel writer Robert Macfarlane is on the line. Plus, Faber's 1998 recording of Harold Pinter reading his poem “Joseph Brearley 1909-1977” © Faber & Faber Produced by Griselda Murray Brown  

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Hip hop may have started in the Bronx, but today’s rappers are millionaires with business empires that extend way beyond music. Ahead of Jay Z and Kanye West's European tour of their joint album Watch The Throne, Raphael Abraham talks to FT critics Ludovic Hunter-Tilney and Richard Clayton about the evolution and future of rap. With clips from The Sugarhill Gang, Jay Z and Kanye West, Evidence and DJ Shadow. Produced by Griselda Murray Brown  

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Can art fulfill the purpose of religion in a pluralist, secular society? Can we reconcile religious dogma with individual artistic creativity? FT arts editor Jan Dalley discusses the long and sometimes fraught relationship between religion and art with Alom Shaha, physics teacher, film-maker and author of "The Young Atheist's Handbook", history painter Tom de Freston, and art critic Richard Cork. Produced by Griselda Murray Brown  

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Based on a novel by Peter Stephan Jungk, 'The Perfect American' is the story of one of the 20th century's biggest entertainment moguls. The FT's arts writer gives his verdict on the work's premiere at the Teatro Real, Madrid.  

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The FT's arts writer reports on Mat Collishaw's transition from conceptual shock artist to ‘proper’ draughtsman - and why, unlike revolution or virgin birth, an economic recession makes a poor subject for art  

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Pre-first world war Vienna has some curious parallels with Spain today  

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The thought of French purists fretting over ‘les snackbars’ has long-tickled English-speakers  

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The French conceptualist’s exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo is a sense-scrambling rethink of the relationship between art and the environment in which it appears  

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Author Mohsin Hamid reads his short story 'Alien invasion in the G.L.A.C.', commissioned by the Financial Times for the new year.  

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An exhibition of Soviet-era sporting paintings shows how, even in a repressive political climate, artists still made work with real human insight  

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A militarist matchbox, a spoof banknote, a Lennon album. . . the FT’s arts writer presents a very personal history of the past half-century in 10 objects  

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As St Paul’s Cathedral prepares to unveil a Bill Viola installation, the FT’s arts writer considers the potentially enriching relationship between sacred settings and contemporary art  

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'Ambition', by the award-winning author Helen Simpson, is read by Christopher Villiers.  

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Peter Aspden visits the basement treasure-house where recordings of Florence Nightingale, 1940s electronica and other rarities are stored alongside some equally exotic audio technology  

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As two recent biopics come under fire from those depicted, the FT’s arts editor ponders what compels movie-makers to embellish ‘true stories’  

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In the first of a new series, David Cheal looks at the song covered by artists from Brenda Lee to Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson to the Pet Shop Boys Credits: Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, Sony BMG  

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From recordings by Memphis Minnie and Led Zeppelin to sampling by Dr Dre, Eminem and Massive Attack, David Cheal traces the various incarnations of ‘When the Levee Breaks’. Credits: Columbia, Atlantic, The Chronic Interscope  

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The Life of a Song: David Cheal follows the fortunes of Neil Diamond’s ‘I’m a Believer’, from The Monkees to Robert Wyatt to the movie 'Shrek'. Credits: Colgems, Virgin, Interscope, Sony Music  

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David Cheal tells the story of Randy Newman’s ‘Baltimore’, through covers by Nina Simone, The Tamlins and Billy Mackenzie. Credits: CTI, Warner Bros., EMI  

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David Cheal traces the journey of ‘Guantanamera’, from a 19th-century Cuban national hero to a 21st-century recycling campaign, via Celia Cruz and the peace movement of the 1960s. Credits: RCA Victor, Bravo Hit, Universal Music AB, Columbia  

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David Cheal tells the tale of the Burt Bacharach penned classic 'I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself', from the 1964 soul of Dusty Springfield to its 2001 raw-rock treatment by The White Stripes. Credits: Philips, Stiff, Elephant  

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Ludovic Hunter-Tilney uncovers the back story of Vanilla Ice’s hit Ice Ice Baby. Credits:Ultra, EMI  

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Ludovic Hunter-Tilney reveals the Old Testament legacy in popular music: from Robbie Williams' 'Kiss me' to Perry Como's 'Song of Songs' and Kate Bush's 'The Song of Solomon'. Credits:Chrysalis, Noble And Brite, RCA Victor  

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Ludovic Hunter-Tilney looks at 'It's the Hard Knock Life' from Broadway's musical Annie and its influences on Katy Perry's 'Roar' and Jay-Z's 'Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)'. Credits:Columbia, Roc-A-Fella, Columbia  

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From Billy Paul’s adulterous original in 1972 to Amy Winehouse's gender-bending twist on the song 30 years later, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney gets to grips with 'Me and Mrs Jones'. Credits:Philadelphia International, 143, Island  

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From a heavy metal hit to its use in the Abu Ghraib tortures, Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ strikes some sinister chords with Ludovic Hunter-Tilney. Credit: Elektra  

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Ludovic Hunter-Tilney looks back 50 years to the time of the British Invasion and Petula Clark's evocation of Anglo-Americana. Credit: Sanctuary Records/BMG; Universal  

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From heartfelt but humble song to all-conquering power ballad, Peter Aspden tells the ultimately tragic story of 'Without You'  

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Peter Aspden on 'A Whiter Shade of Pale', the melancholy 1967 Procol Harum song whose melody was 'sparked by Bach' and which set off a legal battle that went all the way to the House of Lords. Credits: ANM, AP Music, DLG Digital, Demon Music Group  

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