Changing Times: Ben Taylor on going digital, breaking stories, and sacking Neil Francis

Changing Times: Ben Taylor on going digital, breaking stories, and sacking Neil Francis

Changing Times: Ben Taylor on going digital, breaking stories, and sacking Neil Francis


The editor of The Sunday Times has lost his keys and is running late. This doesn’t augur well for our interview over breakfast at Café François on Stoney Street, London, a five-minute walk from his office. Everyone I’ve spoken to about Ben Taylor has told me he’s fantastically busy, constantly pressed for time. He has a still-massive paper to edit, all kinds of digital stuff going on, meetings with corporate people, marketing people, contributors, politicians – there’s no end to it. He arrives in an apologetic rush, 20 minutes late, and orders scrambled eggs on toast within 20 seconds of…