Julia Kollewe
Julia Kollewe is a financial reporter at the Guardian, covering how corporate decisions, market shifts and policy changes play out in pharmaceuticals, biotech, property, insurance and the wider economy. Her work joins business reporting with real-world impact, from drug shortages and Covid-era pharma profits to strikes by gig-economy drivers and warnings that rising unemployment can fuel social unrest. She brings more than two decades of experience in economics, business and finance reporting, drawing on work across major newspapers and specialist financial newswires.
Pharmaceuticals, biotech and healthcare markets
Kollewe’s financial coverage often starts with medicines and the companies behind them, and follows through to the patients and health systems affected. She reports on Covid-era pharmaceutical profits, including detailed coverage of Pfizer’s surge in sales and debates over pricing and profiteering as the company’s first-quarter revenues reached tens of billions of dollars. She also writes on drug availability and shortages, tracking how supply problems at the corporate and regulatory level translate into real pressure on health services and their patients.
Her beat description highlights pharmaceuticals and biotech as core territory, and this aligns with her reporting on global health-market issues and corporate decisions that shape access to treatment. Articles on international labour markets and social unrest also reflect how health and economic security intersect when jobs are scarce and public services are stretched.
The result is financial journalism that treats healthcare firms not only as profit-making businesses but as critical infrastructure for patients and public budgets.
Corporate decisions, regulation and energy
Kollewe tracks major corporate decisions in heavily regulated sectors, especially energy and industrials. She has reported on Shell’s decision to halt buying Russian oil and gas and to close its service stations in the country, setting that move within the wider pressure on multinationals over sanctions, reputation and compliance. Earlier coverage of British American Tobacco’s withdrawal from North Korea shows the same focus on how companies exit controversial markets and the financial and political context around those exits.
Her reporting extends to tax and incentive regimes that shape investment decisions.
She has covered changes to UK tax credits for film, television and video game producers, explaining how more generous audio-visual and video games tax relief is designed to keep animation and visual-effects work from moving overseas. She also appears in live business coverage around energy regulation, including updates on Ofgem’s household energy bill price cap and its impact on markets and consumers.
Across these pieces, corporate strategy, government policy and the financial implications for households and industries are treated as a single story.
Labour, platforms and working conditions
Labour issues and the social impact of corporate finance recur in Kollewe’s work. She has covered strikes by Uber drivers in the UK and abroad over pay and working conditions ahead of the company’s stock market listing, linking driver action to the firm’s valuation and investor scrutiny. That reporting treats gig-economy platforms as business stories and labour stories at once, showing how pay structures and employment models sit at the centre of market narratives.
Her pieces on global unemployment and social unrest examine forecasts from international agencies that joblessness will stay above pre-crisis levels for years, and that millions of new jobs are needed in rich and developing countries alike. In that coverage, economic indicators, employment numbers and social stability are handled with the same weight, underlining a consistent interest in how macroeconomic trends affect workers rather than just capital markets. Financial reporting here becomes a lens on social risk.
Property, insurance and wider financial coverage
Beyond pharmaceuticals and labour, Kollewe’s stated beat includes property and insurance, and she brings these sectors into broader business and finance coverage.
Her live business reporting for the Guardian has included sessions where regulatory announcements, market moves and corporate updates across utilities, insurers and property-related firms are captured in real time. Within these formats she threads together interest-rate decisions, consumer bills, corporate earnings and policy changes for readers who need a fast, integrated view of the financial landscape.
Her professional profile emphasises long-running work across business, economics and finance desks, drawing on experience at national newspapers and financial news services. That background shows in her ability to move between detailed company stories, sector-focused explainers and fast-moving live blogs without losing clarity.
Taken together, her coverage offers a consistent view of finance as a system in which corporate decisions, regulation and labour conditions all feed into the daily realities of patients, consumers and workers.
4 more finance journalists.
Abba Ihonde
Abba Ihonde is a content writer for Guardian Digital at The Guardian whose beat sits where crypto, fintech and mainstream finance meet. He focuses on how cryptocurrencies, trading platforms and digital tools are reshaping business and finance, especially through regulation, crypto policy and their impact on financial services. His explainer pieces follow the practical realities of traders, importers and growing businesses, tracking everyday crypto use in cross-border trade and the turn to stablecoins. He reports on retail trading platforms and market education, drawing on experience in cryptocurrency futures trading and earlier SEO analysis and editing roles to keep finance coverage clear and structured. Abba also writes on business visibility in the digital economy, policy and tax technology, and takes on broader news and lifestyle assignments, from security incidents to celebrity weddings.
Adam Clark
Adam Clark links fast-moving moves in global markets with clear, stock-focused takeaways for investors, combining breaking news with thematic analysis across equities and commodities. He is a reporter at Barron's, covering breaking news and markets, a role he took on in 2022 after five years with Dow Jones Newswires. His beat is how individual stocks, sectors and major indices react to shifts in the economy, monetary policy and corporate strategy, and what those moves mean for portfolios. He covers real-time moves in leading stocks and indices, high-profile names such as Alphabet and Newmont, and themes like technology volatility and gold market resets. He works in fast-turn news and longer market features, drawing on experience as reporter, editor and Insight columnist across print and digital platforms linked to Dow Jones brands.
Alasdair Ferguson
Alasdair Ferguson is a multimedia journalist at The National whose finance reporting is defined by a strong focus on culture, heritage and history. He uses archives, museums and cultural institutions to tell contemporary stories, linking public money and policy to how Scotland understands its past. He covers finance, culture, heritage, sport, arts and civic campaigns, often showing how decisions and events affect daily life and national identity. His work includes pieces on historic conflicts, museum photo releases, lost music, football history, large-scale supporter travel, arts festivals, television industry shifts and grassroots independence campaigns. He reports through news, features and multimedia, including podcast and video interviews. Across formats, he relies on concrete historical material, scholarly research and institutional sources to foreground why discoveries and campaigns matter now.
Alec Whitaker
Alec Whitaker is a senior court reporter for The Westmorland Gazette and also writes for The Mail. He stands out for reporting criminal cases in a tight, court-led way that links offences to fines, bans, compensation and other legal outcomes. His core beat is magistrates’ and crown court hearings, with regular coverage of theft, drugs, motoring offences, harassment, stalking and robbery. He reports on how the justice system turns behaviour into sentences and financial penalties, from short theft cases to serious drug charges. His pieces give the charge, the hearing, the pleas and the final order in plain terms. He also covers inquests and other court proceedings, and his work has included reporting for The Mail, The Westmorland Gazette and the North West Evening Mail.