Audio

News: Biden ‘State Of The Union’, Earthquake Relief In Turkey, Russia-Ukraine

February 8, 2023 – Jenny Mathers on the directions in which Ukraine and Russia are moving as Moscow prepares its spring assault. Plus: The latest on relief efforts in Turkey from the epicentres of the earthquakes, the day’s papers and the welcome return of the beaver.

News: Hong Kong Begins National Security Trials, EU-US Green Trade Dispute

February 7, 2023 Hong Kong’s biggest national-security trial yet begins. Plus: a trade dispute between the EU and Washington, the latest TV news and how the war is changing Ukraine’s historically patriarchal society.

Opinion: Biden’s Plan To Remake America, Ukraine’s Eastern Army, AI Lab Race

A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, President Joe Biden’s plan to remake America’s economy, Ukraine’s troops in the east are quietly confident (11:20) and the race of the AI labs heats up (18:10).

Joe Biden’s effort to remake the economy is ambitious, risky—and selfish

But America’s plan to spend $2trn could help save the planet

News: Chinese Spy Balloon Fallout, ‘Adani Scandal’ In India, Grammy Awards ’23

February 6, 2023: The political fallout of the sighting of a Chinese spy balloon above Montana. Plus: protests in India over the Adani scandal, the latest trade and economy news, and the 2023 Grammy Awards.

Reviews: ‘The Week In Art’

February 3, 2023: As we approach the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, The Art Newspaper has published an investigation that raises serious concerns that works of art taken by Russian troops from a museum in Kherson, Ukraine, in November 2022 may not be repatriated once the fighting ends.

Our London correspondent Martin Bailey tells us about his story. Plus, the Sharjah Biennial opens next week, and is the final biennial curated by Okwui Enwezor, who died in 2019, but set the blueprint for the show, entitled Thinking Historically in the Present. We talk to Nadine Khalil about the biennial and Sharjah’s place in the Middle Eastern art ecosystem.

And this episode’s Work of the Week is Invisible Man, Somewhere, Everywhere (1991) by the American photographer Ming Smith, a key piece in a new exhibition of Smith’s work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Oluremi Onabanjo, the curator of the show, tells us about the work.The Sharjah Biennial runs from 7 February to 11 June.Projects: Ming Smith, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 4 February-29 May. Ming Smith: Invisible Man, Somewhere, Everywhere, by Oluremi C. Onabanjo, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 48pp, $14.95/£17 (pb)

News: EU-Ukraine Summit, ‘Hello Hong Kong’, Chad Opens Embassy In Israel

February 3, 2023: The presidents of the European Commission and European Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

Plus: the new “Hello Hong Kong” campaign, Chad’s new embassy in Israel and Andrew Mueller’s irreverent round-up of the week’s news.

News: EU-Ukraine Summit, Russian Diamonds, Vienna

February 2, 2023: A look ahead to the EU-Ukraine summit. Plus: Belgium’s crackdown on Russian diamonds, the return of the ball season in Vienna, a flick through today’s papers and the latest from Copenhagen Fashion Week.

News: Finland-Sweden NATO Debate, Nagorno-Karabakh, An Aging Italy

Finland’s Nato dilemma: will the country go it alone without Sweden? Plus: the blockade of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, Italy’s ‘silver tsunami’ and what does the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index reveal about the state of the world?

News: The Last Boeing 747, New Zealand Inflation Rate, Book Stores Future

January 31, 2023: Monocle’s US Editor, Christopher Lord, joins us from Seattle as Boeing delivers the last 747 that it will ever build. Plus: how did New Zealand set the inflation target rate for the world? And what can we learn from Barnes & Noble’s expansion plans?