The perfect soundtrack to start your weekend comes courtesy of Monocle's editors, hosting out of our studios in London and Zürich. Each week you'll hear postcards from our correspondents, alongside contributions from special guests joining to discuss the week's big stories.
Isabel Hilton, founder of China Dialogue, joins to discuss tariffs and all the news from Beijing. We also consider how Chinese people are using Tiktok to make light of the news, Germany's coalition takes form and which books have been banned from the US Naval Academy's library? Plus: Monocle's Rory Jones speaks to UK designer Lee Broom about his collaboration with Spanish porcelain ceramicists Lladró at Salone del Mobile in Milan.
As Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs caused chaos this week, geopolitical risk analyst and author Charles Hecker joins Georgina Godwin to unpack the US president's push to roll back globalisation. Plus: Monocle's luxury markets editor, Brenda Tuohy, speaks to the creative director and founder of MB&F at Watches and Wonders in Geneva. Finally, Zimbabwe-born singer-songwriter Eska joins us in the studio to discuss her music and the event she co-curated, ‘Love to Love You Baby: Donna Summer Reimagined'.
UK correspondent for Austrian magazine ‘Falter', Tessa Szyszkowitz, joins Georgina Godwin following her trip to Silicon Valley to discuss today's #TeslaTakedown protests and the local backlash to Jeff Bezos's Venetian wedding. Plus: Monocle's Toronto correspondent, Tomos Lewis, explores independent bookshop Flying Books at Neverland. Then: Sanjoy K Roy and Anand George discuss food and music at the inaugural Voices of Faith festival.
Daniella Peled, managing editor of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, joins Georgina Godwin to discuss the week's news and culture, including protests in Turkey, Israel embracing Europe's far-right and drones on Mount Everest. Plus: Hay Festival CEO, Julie Finch, joins the programme to discuss the 2025 spring lineup. Then: journalist and friend of Monocle Radio, Juliet Linley, joins from Zürich, where Monocle's Hanami Market kicks off, selling authentic Japanese goods and treats.
Historian and writer Alex von Tunzelmann joins Georgina Godwin to discuss why the latest averted US government shutdown could signal a sea change for US politics and more of the week's news and culture. Plus, Monocle's Balkans correspondent, Guy De Launey, joins from a protest in Belgrade and we hear from Eugene Serebrennikov and Vicente Garcia Morillo, co-founders of the New York-based design studio Burn & Broad, on their new One World Flag project.
EU and far-right politics expert Marta Lorimer joins Emma Nelson to discuss how the bloc can respond to Donald Trump's new foreign policy. Plus: Monocle's Robert Bound speaks to the co-founders of the Kyiv and Miami-based Voloshyn Gallery at Spanish art fair Arco Madrid. Finally, Georgina Godwin heads to Adelaide Writers' Week for the final leg of her literary travels.
How did yesterday's talks between Zelensky and Trump go so wrong? International journalist Nina dos Santos joins Emma Nelson to unpack the disastrous meeting, plus more of the week's news and culture. Then: Georgina Godwin continues her literary tour of Asia and film critic Karen Krizanovich speaks to Fernando Augusto Pacheco ahead of tomorrow's Academy Awards.
Ahead of Germany's federal election on Sunday, we hear from a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund, Sudha David-Wilp, at the Munich Security Conference. Plus, communications consultant Simon Brooke joins Emma Nelson for a look at the week's news and culture stories while Georgina Godwin continues her literary tour of Asia, including a stop at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival.
Emma Nelson and Yassmin Abdel-Magied take a closer look at the week's key global stories and cultural moments. Plus: Georgina Godwin brings us the latest from Weligama, Sri Lanka. We also speak to Di Speirs about the BBC National Short Story Award 2025.
Emma Nelson and Terry Stiastny break down the week's top global stories and cultural highlights. Plus: Georgina Godwin brings us the latest from Galle, Sri Lanka.
Emma Nelson and Alex von Tunzelmann explore the week's top global stories and cultural highlights. Plus: Georgina Godwin brings us the latest from Jaipur.
Emma Nelson and Stephen Dalziel explore the week's top global stories and cultural highlights. Plus: WEF insights from Hub Culture's Stan Stalnaker and the latest from Georgina Godwin in Kolkata.
Georgina Godwin and Charles Hecker discuss the week's top global stories, delve into cultural highlights and a chat with Peter Florence about his two exciting initiatives: The Conversation and European Festivals Forest.nn
Georgina Godwin is joined by Vincent McAviney to discuss the week's highlights and share stories from the international papers.nn
A fast-paced round-up of the week's news and culture, hosted by Georgina Godwin from Midori House in London.
A fast-paced round-up of the week's news and culture, hosted by Georgina Godwin from Midori House in London.
Join Georgina Godwin and Charles Hecker reflect on the week's top news stories and cultural highlights. Plus: an engaging conversation with Ferdia Lennon, the winner of the prestigious Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Comic Fiction Prize.nn
Join Georgina Godwin, Tyler Brûlé, and Latika Bourke for a roundup of the week's news and culture in this Christmas special, broadcast live from our festive market. Plus: a conversation with Monocle's Paris bureau chief, Simon Bouvier.nn
Join Georgina Godwin and Charles Hecker for a round-up of the week's news and culture. Plus: a conversation with Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls, writer and director of ‘Grand Theft Hamlet'.
Former first lady Melania Trump and future US health secretary, RFK Jr, are teaming up to improve the president-elect's diet. Then, Europe prepares for Trump tariffs and Cop29 discussions go into overtime. Join regular Monocle Radio commentator Vincent McAviney and Georgina Godwin for these stories and more of the week's news and culture. Plus: arts specialist Issabella Orlando explores how crafted goods from homewares to clothing can inspire us to consume less, value more and forge lasting connections with the things we own.
Georgina Godwin looks back at the week's news including president-elect Donald Trump's picks for his future cabinet, X (formerly Twitter) users decamping to Bluesky and the purchase of Alex Jones's ‘InfoWars' by satirical publication ‘The Onion'. Joining Georgina is Isabel Hilton, founder of China Dialogue and current chair of the judges of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non Fiction. Plus: we hear from one of the judges of the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards, Vivian Godfrey, about British readers' continued love affair with Japan. Finally, Monocle's Michael Booth speaks to the Copenhagen-based publisher behind the Gold Medal winning “Most Beautiful Book in the World”.
After a “magnificent victory” for Donald Trump in the US election, Charles Hecker and Vincent McAviney unpack this week's news. They discuss Musk's call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, the three men charged with an “Iran-linked” assassination attempt and how world leaders will win Trump's favour in his second term. Plus: journalist HJ Mai speaks to voters in Washington and Monocle's Chris Cermak on the health of democracy with Moldovan election officials.
With the US election just three days away, producer and investigative journalist, Hannah Cogan, joins Vincent McAviney for a look through a selection of US election stories. They'll discuss the post-election legal challenge, a documentary on the burnout of US election officials, protest art and more. Plus: Monocle's senior foreign correspondent, Carlota Rebelo, and US editor, Christopher Lord, on their experience speaking to people on the ground in Atlanta, Georgia, including former city councillor Kwanza Hall.
Russia analyst and author, Stephen Dalziel, joins Georgina Godwin to talk about the week's news and culture, including Israel's retaliatory attacks on Iran, the latest on the US election and cocaine in Coca-Cola. Stephen also gave us an insight into his experience translating the late Alexei Navalny's memoir, ‘Patriot', as well as meeting his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, in London. Also on the programme: Monocle's Hannah Lucinda Smith takes us to Minoa bookshop in Istanbul and Monocle's George Ruskin gives us a tour of the best culinary spots in Taormina, Sicily.
Monocle's Amy Van Den Berg meets the creative director of the Frankfurt Book Fair to get a read on the mood ahead of the industry's largest event. Then: the editorial director of Cheerio Publishing, Darren Biabowe Barnes, discusses independent publishing in 2024. Plus: Charles Hecker joins to go through the latest news and culture, including Russian troops in North Korea, the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and a new book on British food.
From Monocle's Quality of Life Conference in Istanbul, we hear insights from US submarine officer Taylor Sheppard on maximising quality of life underwater. Then: award-winning author, playwright and essayist Kate Mosse joins Vincent McAviney to talk about her research process and the release of the fourth and final part of her Joubert Family Chronicles series, ‘The Map of Bones'. Plus: writer at large for ‘The Nightly' Latika Bourke looks back at the week's news including the continuing conflict in the Middle East, Barack Obama's comments on the US election and art protests.
After a week of escalating tensions in the Middle East, Yossi Mekelberg, associate fellow with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, joins Emma Nelson to reflect on the week's news from the region. Then: Monocle's Helsinki correspondent, Petri Burtsoff, tells the story of a restored cultural icon in the city, and we learn about the future of digital art with the CEO of Lumen Studios, Jen Roebuck, and the director of The Lumen Prize, Gillian Varney.
The 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly concluded this week but what did it achieve? What can we expect from Keir Starmer's meeting with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday? And what is behind the surge in popularity of South Korean skincare in the UK? Georgina Godwin and international broadcast correspondent, Nina dos Santos, discuss this and more of the week's news and culture. Plus: Monocle's Gunnar Gronlid attends the opening of the world's first commercial CO2 capture-and-storage facility in Norway, and we get the latest on The Book Hive, a UK-based independent bookshop and publisher, with the owner, Henry Layte.
Author and political correspondent Tessa Szyszkowitz joins Georgina Godwin to talk about the pager explosions in Lebanon, seeing Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza in London and fashion at political conferences. Plus: Monocle's Mae-Li Evans heads to Amsterdam for the Glue design festival and ‘Financial Times' senior business writer Andrew Hill looks ahead to the 20th edition of the FT's Business Book of the Year awards.
Author Kate Kruimink joins Georgina Godwin to talk about her award-winning novella ‘Astraea' and China Moses discusses her music ahead of the London Jazz Festival launch party. Plus: Charles Hecker on British diplomats accused of spying in Russia, soaring coffee prices in Italy and the 2024 Ig Nobel Prize.
After the deadly school shooting in Georgia, United States, cultural historian Gavin Plumley and Georgina Godwin look at the judicial process in the country and the political impact of the shooting in an important election year. Across the pond in the UK, Oasis and Ticketmaster have been dominating headlines - Gavin and Georgina reflect on ‘dynamic pricing', as well as a survey of Britain losing pride in its past and why this is actually encouraging. Plus: Monocle's Andrew Mueller speaks to the President of Radio Free Europe about the vital work they do to bring uncensored news to countries like Ukraine, Russia, and Afghanistan.
Why has Brazil banned X, formerly known as Twitter, and how will this ban actually work? Ozempic is in the news again but what's the newly discovered potential benefit of the drug? And Germany's far-right Alternative für Deutschland is expected to make gains in two state elections tomorrow – what is the mood on the ground? Author and political journalist Terry Stiastny joins Georgina Godwin for this and more of the week's news and culture. Plus: with Vinted and Depop encouraging more people than ever to sell their used items online, Bookshop.org has launched a used-book platform called Bookloop that aims to benefit indie bookshops and authors. Bookshop.org's partnership manager Mark Thornton tells us more.
The Democratic National Convention ended on Thursday; political analyst Charles Hecker returns to ‘Monocle on Saturday' to discuss the highlights from the event and flick through the global papers. Plus: Bristol-born street artist Sickboy discusses the link between graffiti and political unrest, and music producer Oscar Osicki talks about translating different genres of music to film scores.
Why are the Swiss Alps the perfect setting for creativity? Join us for a special programme from the St Moritz Makers & Shakers festival as we meet Swiss high jewellery designer Angelo de Luca, yoga instructor Viviana Ferrari and Rémy Bailloux, co-founder of Garde-Manger patisserie and delicatessen. With Monocle's Tyler Brûlé, Sophie Grove and Nic Monisse.
Live from Maison Allianz. Andrew Mueller is joined by Olympic historian Philip Barker to discuss the legacy of this year's Olympic Games, and Joachim Roncin, director of design for Paris 2024. Plus: Monocle's editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, joins from Gstaad, our roving Olympics correspondent, Kieran Pender, talks about the few marquee events remaining and we explore France's best-kept tourist secrets. Allianz is a Worldwide Insurance Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Andrew Mueller hosts the show from Paris to mark the end of week one of our Maison Allianz residency. Allianz is a Worldwide Insurance Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We speak to our editorial director Tyler Brûlé about soft power at the Games, journalist Colette Davidson tells us why Parisians are starting to regret leaving the city and we get the latest from the action with Kieran Pender. Then: Kevin FitzPatrick, New Balance's global vice-president of running, tells us about his company's Olympic ambitions. We also meet the duo behind Eve Roger Athletics, a sportswear brand launched during the Games, which combines African culture with athleticism. Plus: journalist Paul Osbourne on team Australia and aviation news.
Monocle's editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, and Monocle's Deputy Head of Radio, Tom Webb, join Georgina Godwin from Paris to reflect on the Olympic Opening Ceremony, and look ahead to the games. Plus, the CEO of the Affordable Art Fair, Will Ramsey, talks about the global art market and building community with artists and galleries. Finally, politics expert and lecturer, Marta Lorimer, joins Georgina to talk about French politics and her view on the Olympics, as well as Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, and - is Kamala “brat”?.
Latika Bourke and Georgina Godwin look through the week's biggest news and culture stories. Plus: Thomas Heyne, co-founder of Scorpios, discusses ‘Encounters', this year's cultural programme at Scorpios Mykonos, which brings together art, nature and technology.
Charles Hecker joins Georgina Godwin to talk about the Democrats' dwindling support for Biden, the future of Paris and ‘The New York Times' list of the best-selling books of the 21st century. Plus: the founder of Weatherglass Books, Neil Griffiths, talks about co-founding a small publishing house and the Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses.
After 14 years of a Conservative government, Labour leader Keir Starmer has led the party to victory in the UK, becoming the new prime minister. Political journalist, Vincent McAviney, joins Georgina Godwin to talk about reporting on election night, as well as the elections in France, Iran and the US, and whether we say the word “like” too much. Plus: Monocle's Gunnar Gronlid reflects on the future of the animation industry with award-winning directors Adam Elliot and James A Castillo, and artist Tayo Irvine Hendrix talks about the debut of her ‘Heartbeat' exhibition at the black-tie Henley Festival.
Thursday saw an extraordinary US debate between presidential candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump; what happened and what comes next? International journalist Isabel Hilton joins Georgina Godwin to discuss the fallout of the event and the global reaction, the comparatively uneventful debate in the UK, Bradford Literature Festival and the latest news from China. Plus: Monocle's senior news editor, Chris Cermak, speaks to the debate director of Braver Angels, Jessie Mannisto, about its debate watch party and how they are fighting political polarisation.
Monocle brings Switzerland to Midori House. Alex Herrmann, UK & Ireland Director of Switzerland Tourism, joins Georgina Godwin to tell us all about the different regions and Swiss delicacies at Monocle's Swiss Summer Market. Plus: Georgina and political journalist Terry Stiastny flick through the global papers and Monocle's Helsinki correspondent, Petri Burtsoff, explains how the wider Nordic region is celebrating midsummer this weekend.