Monocle on Saturday (September 28, 2024): 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.
Monocle Radio Podcast (September 27, 2024): As international calls grow louder for a three-week ceasefire in Lebanon, Allison Kaplan Sommer joins Georgina Godwin to discuss the likelihood of a pause in fighting.
Plus: Monocle’s Christopher Cermak looks ahead to the Austrian elections and Karen Krizanovich joins us for the latest in the world of film.
In the space of a few days, the focus of Israeli military operations appears to have shifted decisively from Gaza in the south to Lebanon in the north.
A dizzying escalation between Israel and Hezbollah began last week with exploding pagers and walkie-talkies and culminated in a ferocious Israeli bombardment of alleged Hezbollah military targets, killing hundreds of people.
With Iran’s support, the Lebanon-based Shia militia has conducted a background conflict with Israel since the 1980s. Is this the intensification that finally signals all-out war?
Five essential reads in this week’s edition
1
Spotlight | The brutal truth behind Italy’s migrant reduction A Guardian investigation reveals EU money goes to forces involved in abuse, leaving people to die in the desert and colluding with smugglers
2
Technology | Why aren’t humanoids in our homes yet? The development of robots is dogged by technical and safety challenges. But the dream of a multipurpose domestic droid lives on, writes Victoria Turk
3
Feature | An Israeli and a Palestinian discuss 7 October, Gaza – and the future Could Couples Therapy’s Orna Guralnik and former participant Christine try to understand one another without the conversation breaking down?
4
Opinion | Zelenskyy needs Biden to back his plan to win peace In besieged Kharkiv, Timothy Garton Ash saw how Ukraine is approaching a perilous moment. To turn the tide, it needs to decisively knock back Russia
5
Culture | Chappell Roan on sexuality, superstardom and the joy of drag She’s gone from obscurity to the A-list, but not without struggle. Kate Solomon talks to the singer about teenage angst and her queer inspirations
Monocle Radio Podcast (September 25, 2024): Joe Biden delivers his final address as US president on “how the world should come together”; attacks across the border between Lebanon and Israel escalate; and why union leaders at Boeing have rejected a “best and final offer”.
Plus: we have the latest on the US election and headlines from the world of technology.
Monocle Radio Podcast (September 24, 2024): Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and other leaders make their case in New York and Washington; the US helps Taiwan make China-proof drones; why the Swiss object to biodiversity; and Australia’s supermarket scandal.
For years, the former President has claimed that undocumented immigrants vote illegally. That fiction is now the explicit position of the Party establishment. By Jonathan Blitzer
Don Luigi Ciotti leads an anti-Mafia organization, and for decades he has run a secret operation that liberates women from the criminal underworld. By D. T. Max
Lauren Boebert has a “tribal” design on her midriff, but there’s competition from John Fetterman and the tattoo caucus—and don’t forget John F. Kennedy or Theodore Roosevelt. By Charles Bethea
Monocle Radio Podcast (September 23, 2024): As world leaders flock to New York this week for the 79th UN General Assembly, Emma Nelson talks to Julie Norman and Mark Lowcock to discuss how the crisis in the Middle East will affect the proceedings.
Plus: we find out what the election results might mean for Sri Lanka’s economic future and check in at Milan Fashion Week.
Monocle on Sunday (September 22, 2024):Emma Nelson, Yassmin Abdel-Magied and Stephen Dalziel on the weekend’s biggest talking points. We also speak to Monocle’s editorial director Tyler Brûlé in Zürich and Monocle’s correspondent in New Delhi, Lyndee Prickitt, for the latest headlines.
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
