The artist discusses Charlotte Gainsbourg, Uggs, and finding inspiration on Instagram.
By Louis Menand
I was born with melodies in my head, and I was looking for a way to hear them in the world.
By Bono
Two years in the making, the Chile’s new foundational document was summarily swatted down in a referendum. We ask how it went so wrong, and what comes next.
Data show a long-held view on fertility and prosperity is not as straightforward as thought; we examine the policy implications. And learning about HARM—the missiles causing so much harm to Russian forces.
Emma Nelson, Terry Stiastny, Tessa Szyszkowitz and Monocle’s Hong Kong bureau chief, James Chambers, unpack the weekend’s hottest topics.
Georgina Godwin and cultural historian Gavin Plumley review the day’s papers, Andrew Tuck’s weekend column and Andrew Mueller takes a look at some of the week’s weirder stories.
Gates to Southwark Park reopen minutes after announcement that 14-hour line was at capacity
The announcements were clear: the queue to see the Queen lying in state had reached capacity and was being paused for six hours.
The message went out over the public address system at train stations across the capital, on official government Twitter accounts and across the media shortly before 10am on Friday.
There was just one problem: the queue carried on. And on. In fact, just after 5pm on Friday the government announced that the wait time was over 24 hours, and warned that “overnight temperatures will be cold”.
Taiwan is a democracy with a strong human rights record and a high standard of living. But despite the country’s economic strength and elected government, the island state struggles to receive international recognition. Even in terms of corruption, Taiwan’s track record is better than that of some European states.
The problem is that Beijing regards democratic Taiwan, which seceded from the mainland in 1949, as a renegade province rather than an independent state. China is trying to isolate it internationally. Many fear that China has plans to attack Taiwan in the near future: The President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, has made it clear that his country is prepared to claim the island by military means. Beijing has been adopting this threatening stance for decades.
Thus far, the goal has been to annex the island to the mainland at some undefined point in the future. China’s historically questionable worldview would see this as reunification; from Taiwan’s perspective, it would be annexation. Both countries are highly armed – a war would inevitably cost many people their lives.
The film throws open a window on a nation that has been in a state of existential threat for decades; a country that is home to people who will defend their freedom at all costs – and also those who yearn for an imminent annexation with China.
The Globalist heads to Uzbekistan for the latest on the meeting between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. Plus: the Aukus security pact, one year on; how the EU plans to manage big tech; and Andrew Mueller’s round-up of the week’s news.
Northern Mali fell into the hands of armed jihadists in 2012. This resulted in the launch of the French-led “Operation Serval,” designed to liberate the occupied territory. But the crisis only worsened. The crisis in Mali is a story of failure.
The failure of a state, as well as the failure of the international community. This failure created a breeding ground for jihadists. How did it come to this? The crisis began in the early 2000s with the arrival of Algerian jihadists in Mali. At the time, their arrival did not worry those in power, who believed they would be safe if they left the jihadists alone.
As problems arose, the international community looked the other way, continuing to view Mali as an example of democracy at work in Africa. When the jihadists finally took control in the north and introduced Sharia law, France sent in the army. But without a political solution, the army was stymied. Aid money was embezzled and corruption was pervasive.
As France looked for an off-ramp, the crisis in Mali crossed the border into both Burkina Faso and Niger. In all of this, civilians are the forgotten victims. The violence in the Sahel has created more than two million refugees – a number that has quadrupled in less than two years. These refugees are settling wherever they can, as they struggle just to survive.
Scenes from the end of an Elizabethan age
Artwork by Eiko Ojala
The monarchy is an anachronism, yet it thrived under Elizabeth II. That holds lessons for her successor and for democracies elsewhere
Boomers Daily 