Monocle on Saturday (October 5, 2024): 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.
Monocle Radio Podcast (October 4, 2024): Russia’s new law exempting defendants from criminal liability if they join the army, the Iran-backed Houthi militia carry out a drone attack on Tel Aviv and the lives of children on Ukraine’s frontline. Plus: we dive into protest architecture.
Monocle Radio Podcast (October 3, 2024): How close are the Middle East’s two greatest foes to all-out conflict? Then: German chancellor Olaf Scholz and French president Emmanuel Macron meet in Berlin, Singapore’s former transport minister is on trial and we get an update on Hurricane Helene.
Plus: a visit to Christie’s Asia flagship and there’s a reshuffle at Celine.
Events in the Middle East were moving so rapidly this week that the stunning assassination of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last Friday, killed by an Israeli heavy bombing raid, already feels quite distant. By Tuesday morning Israeli forces had launched what was called a “limited, localised and targeted” ground operation against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Hours later, Iran responded with a barrage of ballistic missiles aimed at targets across Israel.
To put things in some kind of perspective, the coming week also marks the first anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel, setting in motion the brutal chain of events leading to the deaths of more than 41,000 Gazans by Israeli bombing, last week’s dramatic events in Lebanon and Iran’s military response which many now fear leaves the region close to full-blown war.
Five essential reads in this week’s edition
1
Spotlight | The ‘marriage competition’ that divided South Sudan Underage marriage is illegal in South Sudan yet so commonplace it rarely attracts attention. But the case of Athiak Dau Riak, who her mother says is only 14, has gone viral, polarising her family and the country. From Juba, Florence Miettaux reports
2
Science | Telescopes that could save us from death by asteroids The existential threat from a large meteor is real, but two next-generation telescopes are about to make us safer, writes Robin George Andrews
3
Feature | The shapeshifter: who is the real Giorgia Meloni? She’s been called a neo-fascist and a danger to her country. But the Italian prime minister has won over many heads of Europe. Should we be worried? By Alexander Stille
4
Opinion | Trump v Harris and a battle between the sexes There are clear reasons why women are running from Trump, but men are flocking to him – and it’s vital to understand why, argues Jonathan Freedland
5
Culture | Will Ferrell’s road trip of trans discovery Saturday Night Live writer Harper Steele came out as a trans woman in 2022 at the age of 61. Her friend of 30 years Will Ferrell had questions. So what else to do but jump in a van, cross the US, and make a documentary about it? Guy Lodge reports
Times Literary Supplement (October 2, 2024): The latest issue features‘Canon Fire’ – Emma Smith and Brian Vickers on authorship in the golden age of theatre…
Monocle Radio Podcast (October 2, 2024): We get the latest from Iran and the US after a long night of activity. Plus: a look at Marine le Pen’s embezzlement trial, the latest design news and a hunt for the oldest DNA.
In the first of a new series exploring England’s varied landscapes, John Lewis-Stempel discovers a paradise for wildlife amid the bleak desolation of the estuary
Pretty Chitty-Bang-Bang, we love you
Mary Miers reveals the origins of Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, as Ian Fleming’s beloved magical flying car prepares to turn 60
Travel
Rosie Paterson digs out some private hideaways
Steven King experiences how the other half lived as he stays in the homes of some illustrious names
A trip to Tuscany is the perfect tonic for Pamela Goodman
The rest is history
Michael Hall examines the noble art of history painting through the output of such masters as van Dyck, Rubens and Fuseli
Inigo Lambertini’s favourite painting
The Italian ambassador picks a profound classical work of art
Homesick for the olden days
Carla Carlisle takes a wistful look at history and admits we didn’t realise we had it so good
A Georgian triumph
John Goodall reveals the eight winners in this year’s Georgian Group Architectural Awards
Handsome and genteel
In the second of two articles, Jeremy Musson charts the revival of George Washington’s Mount Vernon mansion in Virginia
The legacy
Carla Passino hails the founders of the peerless Wallace Collection
Our last hurrah
October is the time for filling up winter stores, says Lia Leendertz
Bury me in a willow-shaped coffin
English osier beds are enjoying a revival, finds Jane Wheatley
Another string to the bow
Harry Pearson meets Britain’s master luthier Roger Hansell
The good stuff
Hetty Lintell goes wild for jewellery
Interiors
Bright and beautiful paint and wallpaper, with Amelia Thorpe
London Life
Rosie Paterson follows the V&A’s precious cargo
Samantha Cameron is in the hot seat
Jack Watkins relives Primrose Hill’s Death Pyramid plan
John Goodall asks whether enough is enough for the capital’s skyline
The world on the doorstep
Caroline Donald visits the gardens of China, Italy and Africa without leaving Seend Manor in Wiltshire
Kitchen garden cook
Melanie Johnson on quince
Foraging
John Wright gets imaginative in the kitchen with sweet chestnuts
The show must go on
James Fisher can’t see beyond an England cricket win in Pakistan
Monocle Radio Podcast (October 1, 2024): The latest from Lebanon, Czechia’s coalition crisis, the Mozambican soldiers operating out of Total Energies’ natural gas plant, why sex has returned to cinema and news from the world of architecture. Plus: we report from Paris Fashion Week.
Monocle Radio Podcast (September 30, 2024):Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, was killed in a huge Israeli air attack on Beirut. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says that the assassination will change the balance of power in the region. What happens next?
Also in the programme: Mexico bids farewell to Andrés Manuel López Obrador and welcomes its first-female president, Claudia Sheinbaum; Russia eyes a satellite deal in West Africa; and Jakarta braces for a mayoral election. Plus, we discuss the UN’s meeting on the “slow-motion pandemic” and we head to Ibiza Town for a gastronomic tour.
Monocle on Sunday (September 29, 2024): Georgina Godwin, Terry Stiastny, and David Schlesinger on the weekend’s biggest talking points.
We also speak to Monocle’s contributing editor Andrew Mueller in London, foreign correspondent Hannah McCarthy in Beirut, and Monocle’s editorial director Tyler Brûlé in Paris on the latest from Lebanon. Plus: Monocle correspondent Mary Fitzgerald on her trip to Kyiv with Brussels think tank Friends of Europe, and Monocle’s Balkans correspondent Guy De Launey on the latest news from the region.
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
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