Country Life Magazine – The November 2022 issue looks at what London would look like if the wrecking ball hadn’t held sway in the 20th century, the pros and cons of an open fire versus a wood-burning stove, and follows in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg — plus, it includes our annual Gentleman’s Life supplement.
Attaché – Our Montreal travel guide! What a place. It really feels like Montreal shouldn’t exist, it’s such a strange confluence of cultures. But I am so glad it does. And I finally got to experience my Montreal food unicorn – poutine. Glorious, wonderful, Montreal poutine. Absolutely worth waiting 43 years for! Montreal, you have my heart…despite the clogged arteries.
France and the French can remain globally relevant only in English. Or so says British journalist Simon Kuper in one of a series of articles published recently by Le Monde. According to him, French is losing its utility, while English reigns supreme.
BERNARD CERQUIGLINI
“The French Language Is Doing Just Fine, Thank You!”
Who better than this jovial linguist to champion the French language? Bernard Cerquiglini holds a doctorate in literature, formerly directed the Center for French and Francophone Studies at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie, and has been the vice-president of the Fondation des Alliances Françaises for the last two years.
It is now forty years since Melina Mercouri, the Greek Minister for Culture from 1981 to 1989, famous also as a film star and singer, addressed UNESCO’s World Conference on Cultural Policies to draw international attention to the campaign with which she would be identified until her death in 1994, the repatriation to Athens of the Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum. ‘We are not asking for the return of a painting or a statue’, she said: ‘We are asking for the return of a portion of a unique monument, the privileged symbol of a whole culture’.
The Painters of Pompeii
As images, ancient Roman wall paintings command attention for their bold compositions, vibrant and saturated colours, convincing naturalism and the fantastical mythologies they depict. As objects they also captivate for the dramatic circumstances surrounding their near- destruction, the miracle (or rarity) of their survival and the alchemical nature of lime plaster and pigment.
The land beneath our feet is what sustains us – from it we can produce food, construct shelter and build livelihoods. But, it’s also a cultural marker and a source of identity. Its control has been a long-favoured tool of colonizers, wealth hoarders and polluters, while its fiercest protectors – often Indigenous peoples – are criminalized, violated and dispossessed. This edition hears from struggles to take back the land in Brazil, Bangladesh, Kenya and North America. We also launch our new series ‘Decolonize how?’ which will explore what people are doing to dismantle the impacts – and current realities – of British-linked colonialism.
Monocle Films – Spain is one of the countries that our
editorshave consistently begged to visit over the years as they attempt to understand its wholesome hidden depths. Here are 10 things that have us hankering for more.
The empty promise of the Sixth Amendment, Siegfried & Roy’s rise and fall, a Guggenheim scapegoat, and independence for Puerto Rico. Plus stopping election deniers, Atlanta hip-hop, Orhan Pamuk, ABBA Voyage, a bygone Boston, new fiction, and more.