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Patti Waldmeir

Contributing Columnist

Patti Waldmeir is a contributing columnist based in Chicago. From 1980 to 2020, she was a correspondent for the FT based in London, Washington, Johannesburg and Shanghai. Patti started her career covering the continent of Africa and went on to become US Editor of the Financial Times. She spent a decade as US legal columnist before moving to Shanghai to cover China for the FT for 8 years.

Patti graduated from the University of Michigan and was awarded a Marshall scholarship which allowed her to obtain an MA from the University of Cambridge in the UK.

Email Patti Waldmeir @WaldmeirPatti  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)
  • Monday, 30 December, 2024
    Health
    The great American alcohol debate

    New research and changing social attitudes may usher in a low-booze era in the US

    Illustration of a bar, propped up at an angle by a stick with a piece of string attached to it. Underneath the bar is a glass of beer
  • Tuesday, 24 December, 2024
    OutlookUS immigration
    The migrants who face becoming political pawns again

    Many of those bussed in by the Texas governor have been absorbed by Chicago but could now have their lives upturned again

    Venezuelan migrants as they wait for a ride-share at the 1st District police station in Chicago
  • Monday, 9 December, 2024
    OutlookRetail & Consumer industry
    American homes get ready for a Christmas light bonanza

    The annual holiday-display-synchronised-to-Jingle-Bells version of retail therapy turns out to be inflation proof

  • Monday, 25 November, 2024
    Film
    What the US can learn from ‘Wicked’

    Glinda and Elphaba’s journey to friendship offers guidance for a fractured America

    Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in  Wicked
  • Tuesday, 5 November, 2024
    OutlookUS presidential election 2024
    ‘We want to show we can stand with someone who votes differently’

    Democrat and Republican pairings hit the polls in a divided America

    Jim Mayer and Peggy Prichard hold a sign saying: ‘We’re Red and Blue voters committed to holding America together’
  • Wednesday, 30 October, 2024
    OutlookUS presidential election 2024
    Like Michigan, the US is neither red nor blue

    It is difficult to see the upcoming poll settling things definitively anywhere in the country

    Rally goers cheer before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
  • Monday, 21 October, 2024
    OutlookEnvironment
    Migratory birds fly into a miasma of human making

    This year the migration of the Midwest’s rich avian life has been visibly disrupted — but treats for the enthusiast remain

    A flock of American white pelicans rest on the Mississippi River
  • Monday, 14 October, 2024
    OutlookUS presidential election 2024
    Wisconsin’s vote on the edge as immigrant scare stories spread

    In the final leg of the US election campaign, even the quietest towns are being dragged into the border war

    Supporters cheer Donald Trump as he speaks during a campaign event
  • Monday, 30 September, 2024
    OutlookSport
    Fears for Little League baseball in the US as children’s sport commercialises

    Traditional neighbourhood games are losing out as youth sport becomes a multibillion-dollar industry

    Southeast Region celebrate after the game against Asia-Pacific Region at Lamade Stadium in Pennsylvania
  • Thursday, 26 September, 2024
    FT Film32 min
    America divided: the women who vote for Trump | FT Film

    Why Republican women back Donald Trump - despite sexist language, legal troubles, and abortion politics

    The women who vote Trump
  • Monday, 16 September, 2024
    OutlookChildcare
    Why childcare in the US is a problem for us all

    This is not just an issue for parents — employers need to be part of the solution

    Black and white photo from 1942 of a room full of toddlers having a rest period on small beds at a nursery
  • Monday, 2 September, 2024
    OutlookUS politics & policy
    Americans are losing faith in four-year college degrees

    Education experts say the decline in enrolment is spurred by a falling birth rate and student debt crisis

    Bascom Hall on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Monday, 19 August, 2024
    OutlookEducation
    Pressure to ban mobile phones in America’s schools intensifies

    Restrictions on the use of devices have been shown to improve students’ performance

    Schoolchildren on smartphones
  • Monday, 5 August, 2024
    OutlookHealth
    Are we fooling ourselves that owning a dog is good for us?

    Conventional wisdom may say animals make us healthier and happier but research differs

    Dogs being walked
  • Monday, 1 July, 2024
    US presidential election 2024
    A poor presidential debate unites red and blue swing state voters

    Republicans and Democrats in one of America’s most narrowly divided counties found comfort watching together

    Guests watch a debate between President Joe Biden and presumptive Republican nominee former President Donald Trump
  • Monday, 24 June, 2024
    OutlookDetroit
    Building blocks are laid for Detroit’s architectural renaissance

    GM and Ford hope to revive the city’s pride through projects centred on two iconic sites

    Michigan Central Station
  • Tuesday, 11 June, 2024
    Race in the US
    70 years after Brown, integrating US schools remains a challenge

    Desegregation made a difference — but not enough of one

    Nine-year-old African-American student Linda Brown (first desk in second row from right) sits with her classmates at the racially segregated Monroe Elementary School, Topeka, Kansas, in 1953
  • Tuesday, 28 May, 2024
    OutlookPollution
    Disasters like Ohio’s ‘burning river’ can spark clean-water revolutions

    A fire in 1969 caused by industrial pollution shocked the US to its environmental senses

    Images of a fire on the Cuyahoga River in 1952
  • Monday, 13 May, 2024
    OutlookSport
    Do the Chicago Bears really need a new stadium?

    Critics fear taxpayers will be on the hook for construction of infrastructure needed for football team’s proposal

    An artist’s impression of the Chicago Bears stadium project
  • Monday, 29 April, 2024
    OutlookUS presidential election 2024
    Swing states look to Latino voters — as turnout attempts get under way

    They’ll make up one in seven of those eligible to go to the polls for the presidential election

  • Monday, 15 April, 2024
    OutlookScience
    Cicada-geddon: a rare insect event draws fans to the Midwest

    Trillions of cicadas are set to emerge after years of sleep for a once in 221-year occasion

  • Monday, 1 April, 2024
    OutlookDisease control and prevention
    Syphilis: an age-old disease stalking modern America

    Widespread testing for this treatable if embarrassing condition is being hampered by lack of access to healthcare

    A 17th-centuryngraving of a physician preparing medicine to treat syphilis. A patient lying in bed drinks from a glass
  • Monday, 4 March, 2024
    OutlookUS presidential election 2024
    What voters think about Joe Biden and the age issue

    How much will perceptions of the capacities of the elderly president and his not-much-younger rival influence the outcome of elections?

    Smiling Joe Biden wearing aviator sunglasses and opennecked shirt with blazer
  • Monday, 19 February, 2024
    OutlookClimate change
    Sinking skyscrapers, new beaches: Chicago faces the climate crisis

    The city has reinvented itself before and may need to do so again

    A view from Montrose Harbor over Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline
  • Monday, 5 February, 2024
    OutlookDonald Trump
    The Trump supporters stalked by doubt and conspiracy

    Former and current fans in the Midwest debate how many of his 2016 voters he needs to win a close presidential race

    A smiling man wearing the Auto Workers For Trump red T-shirt
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