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Alan Smith

Head of Visual and Data Journalism

Alan Smith leads the FT's newsroom team of data reporters and visual journalists. A data visualisation specialist, his TEDx talk Why You Should Love Statistics was featured on TED.com in 2017. Alan is the author of How Charts Work, a handbook on designing with data using the FT's principles. He is also Honorary Professor of Practice at UCL's Social Data Institute.

Before he joined the FT, he was head of digital content at the UK Office for National Statistics where he was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to official statistics.

Email Alan Smith @theboysmithy  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)
  • Friday, 20 December, 2024
    ExplainerIsrael-Hamas war
    The Israel-Hamas war in maps and charts

    A visual guide to the conflict and its regional impact on the Middle East

  • Friday, 20 December, 2024
    ExplainerWar in Ukraine
    Tracking Ukraine’s battle against Russia in maps and charts

    A visual guide to the war

  • Wednesday, 18 December, 2024
    Global Economy
    Inflation and interest rates tracker: see how your country compares

    Inflationary pressures are beginning to wane but not all central banks have taken action yet. See how this affects you

  • Sunday, 15 December, 2024
    UK equities
    London Stock Exchange suffers biggest exodus since financial crisis

    Main market set for fewest listings in 15 years as allure of New York grows despite planned UK reforms

    A montage showing the London Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange and the logos of Flutter, Ashtead, CRH and Smurfit Kappa
  • Sunday, 8 December, 2024
    Syrian crisis
    The 7 days that ended 50 years of Assad rule — in maps

    How a lightning rebel advance toppled a family dynasty in a week

    Syrian opposition fighters celebrate after the Syrian government collapsed in Damascus on Sunday
  • Monday, 11 November, 2024
    EU defence
    Brussels to free up billions of euros for defence and security from EU budget

    Policy shift will allow the bloc’s capitals to redirect ‘cohesion funds’ amid Ukraine conflict and Trump victory

    Self-propelled howitzers take part in Poland’s annual Armed Forces Day parade
  • Thursday, 7 November, 2024
    News in-depthEU energy
    Europe’s winter gas supplies at risk from market disruptions

    Region replaced Russian pipeline imports with globally traded LNG, which is more susceptible to price rises

  • Thursday, 7 November, 2024
    The Big Read
    Trump redraws the political map of America

    Five maps and charts that show how the Republican candidate defied conventional assumptions about his support — including among Latino, Black and women voters

  • Wednesday, 30 October, 2024
    UK Autumn Budget 2024
    Capital gains tax calculator: how are you affected?

    UK chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced an immediate increase in her first Budget

  • Saturday, 19 October, 2024
    UK tax
    Capital gains tax: a short history

    Since its beginnings in 1965, many UK chancellors have sought to reform the levy as a means of spurring economic growth

    Montage of past chancellors and their Budget boxes: James Callaghan, Nigel Lawson (with wife Thérèse) and Gordon Brown against a data backdrop
  • Monday, 14 October, 2024
    Water scarcity
    Almost two-thirds of EU water in bad condition, report shows

    Pressure rises on agriculture and industry to reduce pollution and cut its share of use from 59%

    A water supply gate on an irrigation canal, alongside rice paddy fields on a farm in Spain
  • Thursday, 26 September, 2024
    Middle East war
    Netanyahu insists Israel will continue to hit Hizbollah targets

    Prime minister casts doubt on US-led efforts to bring about a ceasefire and prevent war spreading across the region

    Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli air strike that targeted Lebanon’s eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa valley
  • Friday, 6 September, 2024
    FT MagazineThe marvellous money machine
    The FT Money Machine: how we transformed an iconic invention for virtual reality

    75 years after the unveiling of the ‘Phillips machine’, a hydraulic computer that could model an economy, we rebuilt it for a digital audience

  • Friday, 6 September, 2024
    FT MagazineThe marvellous money machine
    How a mind-boggling device changed economic history

    In 1949, a little-known engineer astonished the academic world with the first ever computer model of a national economy — made of Perspex and water

  • Saturday, 24 August, 2024
    ExplainerMaritime accidents and safety
    What caused the fatal sinking of the superyacht Bayesian?

    Disaster off Sicily on Mike Lynch’s family yacht raises concerns over marine safety in era of extreme weather events

    Bayesian yacht, map of where it sank and Italian coastguard
  • Wednesday, 7 August, 2024
    Markets volatility
    In charts: the summer storm rocking global financial markets

    Stocks around the world upended by worries about growth, a Big Tech sell-off and the unravelling of a popular yen trade

    A montage of a trader on a stock market floor, a line chart and a Wall St sign
  • Monday, 8 July, 2024
    French parliamentary election 2024
    French parliamentary election tracker 2024

    Explore France’s snap election for the National Assembly in maps and charts

    Montage of people voting
  • Monday, 8 July, 2024
    French parliamentary election 2024
    In charts: how France’s far right lost

    A hastily assembled leftist bloc beat back the challenge from Marine Le Pen’s RN — for now

    Montage of, from left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen
  • Monday, 1 July, 2024
    French parliamentary election 2024
    RN opponents race against time to keep far right out of power

    Stocks and euro rise as some second-round candidates could be pulled to try to boost vote against Rassemblement National

    Marine Le Pen speaking to media as she arrives at the RN party headquarters
  • Monday, 1 July, 2024
    News in-depthFrench parliamentary election 2024
    Five takeaways from France’s election

    Far-right Rassemblement National has broadened its appeal but its path to a majority remains uncertain

    Montage of Jean-Luc Melenchon, left, Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron
  • Wednesday, 12 June, 2024
    News in-depthUK politics
    In charts: the legacy of 14 years of Conservative rule

    Next UK government must grapple with series of challenges in a nation still reeling from austerity, Covid and Brexit

    David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak against a blue background
  • Wednesday, 6 March, 2024
    UK Spring Budget 2024
    How high taxes and low growth have squeezed Britain’s top earners

    Background to Jeremy Hunt’s Budget is a historic hit to living standards, particularly for top third of UK earners

    Montage of a woman and a bar chart
  • Sunday, 3 March, 2024
    European equities
    In charts: why European stock markets are in crisis

    Policymakers try to revive IPOs and trading volumes but plans are fragmented and progress has been slow

  • Saturday, 24 February, 2024
    FT CollectionsWar in Ukraine: military strategies
    Ukraine’s war of survival enters third year

    How Russia’s full-scale invasion is bearing on each nation’s military, economy and politics

    Montage of soldiers, drones, Ukraine’s coat of arms and chart
  • Wednesday, 21 February, 2024
    News in-depthPakistan's economy
    How Pakistan’s economy fell into crisis — in charts

    High debt, low growth and raging inflation will challenge a new government lacking a public mandate

    A montage of a stack of Pakistanti rupee notes and charts
Previous page You are on page 1 Next page

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