Martin Waller (born 27 March 1957) is a former financial journalist and

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''.

Early years

Waller was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to parents Clifford Thomas Waller (b. 1930) and Diana Campbell Stewart (b. 1931), who were brought up in north London and married in 1955. He spent his childhood in southwest London.

Education

After being educated at King's College School, he studied law from 1974 to 1977 at Hull University, a period he has written about in highly negative terms. He has described having left "on the first train out, the day after my last exam". He has never returned to the university. He graduated with a 2.2 degree. Waller then studied journalism at the Thomson Regional Newspapers course in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

in the autumn of 1977.

Career

He worked for several years at Thomson Magazines on Construction News and got his first job in the City at the Exchange Telegraph (

Extel The Exchange Telegraph Co. Ltd. (also known as Extel) was created in March 1872 specifically to distribute financial and business information from the London Stock Exchange and other commercial markets direct to subscribers. The company establishe ...

) wire service. Waller then joined ''

'' as a junior business reporter in April 1988 and has worked in a number or roles in the business department, including about a decade writing the city diary. He took over the Tempus investment column in June 2010. In 2008, Waller was interviewed by iBall of Interactive Investor International, in which he was described as having "ruffled a few feathers in his time" and being "renowned for delivering the most entertaining and informed city diary in Britain". In February 2009, he wrote an article named "Guarantee for Guernsey's Rock depositors tax belief", believing that people were depositing money into the island to dodge taxes. He was criticised for not understanding the subject matter. He has called

Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of international private business self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature by engaging in or supporting volunteering or ethicall ...

"box ticking driven by external pressures rather than a genuine desire to do business in an ethical way." Clare Rodway has described Waller as being "famous for his acerbic wit". Waller has criticised

PowerPoint Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program, created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc. It was released on April 20, 1987, initially for Macintosh computers only. Microsoft acquired PowerPoi ...

presentations, saying they are counter-productive and people cannot read while hearing a speech simultaneously easy. In 2009 Waller publicly criticised

Mehdi Hasan Mehdi Raza Hasan (born July 1979) is a British-American political journalist, broadcaster and author of Indian descent. Hasan has been the host of ''The Mehdi Hasan Show'' on Peacock since October 2020 and on MSNBC since February 2021. In 2 ...

of the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'' over an article questioning Vince Cable, then

shadow chancellor The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The title is given at the gift of the Leader of the Opposition and ...

for the Liberal Democrats, over actions taken when Cable was chief economist at Shell. Hasan replied in the ''Statesman'' rebuking Waller, saying he "who specialises in fawning profiles of City slickers, now seems to have fallen in love with politicians and their PRs too." In March 2014 Waller was named as Financial Journalist of the Year at the City of London Wealth Management Awards. He left The Times on 31 May 2018. Waller now writes on an occasional basis for the online publication East Anglia Bylines writing on subjects such as economics, politics and business.

Personal life

Waller tweeted and wrote a blog entitled 'Tom Paine's Bones'. The blog was described as "observations by a fifty-something financial journalist on business, morality, the morality of business and things that make me really angry". The blog has also reflected his interest in history, music, mainly jazz and rock, religion and science fiction. Waller has described his politics as "fairly left wing but with a libertarian tinge". The blog is now dormant. He is still active on Twitter. He is married with two children and moved from London to Woodbridge, Suffolk in October 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waller, Martin British financial writers 1957 births The Times journalists Living people Alumni of the University of Hull