JUNE 13/14 2020 Can the crisis help us fix it? By Tim Harford We have a technology problem 3 Issue number 874 • Online ft.com/magazine • Editorial inquiries 020 7873 3282 • Advertising inquiries 020 7873 3121 • FT Weekend Magazine is printed by the Walstead Group in the UK and published by The Financial Times Ltd, Bracken House, 1 Friday Street, London EC4M 9BT © The Financial Times Ltd 2020 • No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form without the prior express permission of the publisher 5 Simon Kuper Why the US risks a new epidemic of violence 6 Inventory Oyinkan Braithwaite, author 8 Tech World Robostrop: is it OK to terminate a menacing android? 10 Robert Shrimsley The it-will-do-for-now Great British haircut 10 Letters 12 Can the pandemic revitalise innovation? Incentivise invention, take advantage of catastrophe and never forget the simple solution: the history of technology has much to teach us about how to fight our current crisis. Tim Harford reports 20 The reinvention of Ed Miliband The former Labour leader is back on his party’s front bench – older, wiser but as convinced as ever that capitalism needs to change. Can he make an impact? He speaks to George Parker and Jim Pickard 26 Observations: the great debaters Novelists Sally Rooney and Ben Lerner both emerged from the arena of competitive debating – as have many of our politicians. But, asks Lou Stoppard, how does their training shape the world we live in? 30 Van Nuys nights In the early 1970s, Van Nuys Boulevard in an LA suburb was the place to hang out and show off your ride. Rick McCloskey’s photographs capture the spirit of a newly mobile generation 34 Bunker Food Chef Judy Joo recalls making Hugh Hefner’s favourite dish 37 Jancis Robinson California’s new-wave wines 39 Fantasy dinner parties Isabel Berwick devises her perfect picnic 40 Honey & Co Three Italian recipes that recreate a perfect afternoon in a busy trattoria near Florence’s Ponte Vecchio 45 Games 46 Elaine Moore Lessons from lockdown: we all need some face-to-face time @FTMag FT.COM/MAGAZINE JUNE 13/14 2020 ‘Gas was cheap, times were great and the boulevard hummed with life during the evenings’ Rick McCloskey on California car culture, p30 RICK MCCLOSKEY Cover illustration by Vanessa Branchi ‘The asparagus starter was so tender you could eat it with a spoon’ Honey & Co on recreating restaurant memories, p40 ‘The public discovered I had a personality’ Ed Miliband, p20 5 ILLUSTRATION BY HARRY HAYSOM FT.COM/MAGAZINE JUNE 13/14 2020