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- [00:04]
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Emma Nelson
You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on 22 July 2026 on Monocle Radio. The Globalist in association with U. Live from London. This is THE Globalist with me, Emma Nelson. A very warm welcome to today's program.
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Indaman Rashid
Coming up, the change will be driven through the prime Minister's office in an extended operation based here in Manchester.
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Emma Nelson
We find out why a city in the northwest of England could be put on the global stage by its former mayor turned British prime minister. We'll examine how secondary cities such as Manchester could find their role on the map. Also ahead in the next 60 minutes,
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Tyler Brulee
the one way to embolden a bully is to capitulate. And I don't think we should embolden Mr. Trump, who clearly is a bully.
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Emma Nelson
Tariffs are back. This time, Canada is targeted by the US President Trump with 50% levies on exports such as cement, wine and hockey sticks. Our editorial director, Tyler Brulee will join us from Zurich to give us his his view. We'll look ahead to day three of the Farnborough Air show, plus the papers and what to read this summer. That's all coming up on the Globalist live from London. First, a quick look at what else is happening in today's news. President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed Ukraine's top general in one of the biggest shakeups of the military leadership since the start of Russia's full scale invasion in 2022. For the first time in four decades, US airlines will be allowed to fly directly Lebanon and OpenAI has admitted that its advanced artificial intelligence model autonomously hacked another tech company. Stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on these stories. But first, the geography of the first few days of Andy Burnham's tenure as UK's prime minister could not be, not could not be more recognisable. A trip to Buckingham Palace, a speech outside number 10 Downing Street. The location screams Great Britain and more specifically, London. But buzzing away in the background is Manchester, where Mr. Burnham served for a decade as mayor. Manchester's symbol is the worker bee, an excellent example of 19th century city branding. It denotes unity, a sense of self made place and of a worker mentality. Well, Mr. Burnham wants the world to know about Manchester. How can he make a city in the north a global hive? Well, to tell us now more, I'm joined now in the studio by Monacle's editor in chief, Andrew Tuck. Good morning, Andrew, good to see you.
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Andrew Tuck
Good morning. I'm very pleased to be here.
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Emma Nelson
So for the first time in the 15 years that monocle Radio has been on air, we can now about the finest city in the world. Dare I say it that myself and what Steph Tungu and I are both bankunians, we're frankly quite grateful. Thank you.
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Andrew Tuck
Well, Emma, as a, as a regular listener to the Urbanist, you'll know that Mr. Burnham has been on the Urbanist, I think more than once and talking about Manchester because he has been an incredible ambassador for his city in all sorts of ways. And actually one of the interesting things is he did rock up over the last few years to many events which were putting the spotlight on, on cities, on the networks of cities around the world. And he wasn't shy about seeing Manchester, you know, as a proper global city. He wasn't stuck in regional politics, he was at global events for city leaders, for other mayors finding out best practice, seeing what he could be doing better as well, not just resting on his laurels.
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Emma Nelson
And the transformation of this city is phenomenal. I mean, growing up in 1990, there were 500 people living in the city centre. It's astonishing to think that when you go to Manchester now and you see luxury tower blocks just springing up left, right and centre, but it's this transformation has turned it into a city which now performs twice as well as that of the UK as a whole. I mean, how has he done that?
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Andrew Tuck
Well, I think there has been some fair winds blowing in his direction. Now, let's not undermine anything he's done or anything that the local leadership has done. But I think over recent years you have seen even from Conservative governments, a sense that if they want to win votes in the north, they would have to be better at delivering regional economic growth. So even like someone like David Cameron, he did try and take the cabinet out of London. There were meetings around the country. He did go to Leeds and have a cabinet meeting there in the city. He went to Bristol, he tried to get out of London, but he couldn't really break the shackles of the power of Westminster in the way that Burnham is trying to do. And you've also seen in recent years, organizations such as the BBC devolving its centre of power to other places around the uk, but particularly to Salford, where they have this huge centre. And there again, you see the BBC goes in and of course they take some staff up and they employ a few more local people. But what's been really impressive is you see the trigger that has for other media companies in the region, for other people who are supplying services to that industry. So I think what Burnham's been good at doing is attracting in other organizations and then seeing the ripple effect, because this is in a broader sense what he sees as the benefits of having devolution. If you get power and ambition to be moved across entire country and you have numerous centres of power that you can ignite change.
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Emma Nelson
You can ignite change, but it has to be cross party agreement, which is what Bernam was very good at. What he's also pioneered, though, and pulled really strongly on the idea of inward investment. It has bank of New York here, IBM, booking.com, the government service, GCHQ there. It's a city that for a very, very long time. I remember when Siemens was first attracted to Manchester in the early 1990s, and it was a sense that it was a city that leapfrogged the capital and decided to go directly to get where to find the action. How important is it for a city to do that in order to establish itself without living in the shadow of its capital?
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Andrew Tuck
Well, look, we're talking here about the UK today, but when you look across Europe, across the world, our political system and our geograph geography has played badly for us in many senses, because we have always looked to London until the last 20, 30 years when we did begin to devolve power. But if you go to somewhere like Germany, you don't really find people in Munich complaining about those people over in Berlin, maybe a little bit. They know that the power and the regional authority that sits in Munich, that's where their power base is. And if you have these federal countries, it's the same in Switzerland. When you go to Switzerland, does it really matter that people are meeting in Bern? That's seen as almost like neutral ground. What you want to know is that in Zurich, in Geneva, in the various cantons, that you have this devolved sense of power. And what I think Burnham has the ability to do over his term is he is a really strong proponent in devolution in all sorts of ways, that if he can shift the power base not just to Manchester, but, but to other places across the uk, then he could begin to resolve some of our problems. Because what you don't see here in Britain is, you know, that even people who oppose devolution to Scotland or felt that Wales shouldn't have its. Its own Senate, that they. They don't now say, let's roll it back, let's pull back. Once that's happened, on the whole, people tend to see the benefits of it. So I think he is in it, that that will play pretty well. And the other interesting thing about that is that when things then do go badly or don't quite go to plan, you kind of have yourselves to blame a bit. So then the debate comes much closer to home.
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Emma Nelson
How much is personality politics important in here? Because, I mean, you mentioned Munich a moment ago. I mean, Marcus Soder in the south, in Bavaria, is very, very much a continued noisy presence in the German political landscape. You've interviewed Andy Burnham. I've interviewed Andy Burnham. He's obviously managed to get himself out there and be interviewed and be present. Zoram Mandani's doing it in New York as well. One wonders whether the momentum of a secondary city or a secondary location is only maintained by the person who thumps the tub for it.
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Andrew Tuck
Well, we'll see, because obviously there'll be a new leadership in Manchester as well, which is going to be hard for anyone to take on that mantle. When Burnham has said for at least one day a week he intends to be going and working from Manchester, he wants to continue for that to be a base. And we should also just stress that this devolution in question here in the UK comes with this interesting caveat, that he. He does want to have a number 10 of the north. It sounded a bit of a catchphrase, but apparently is effectively already up and running. And he will make sure that meetings happen in the north and that Cabinet ministers will go and work in the north as well. But already in the past week, apparently they've already been approaching senior civil servants and saying, look, do you want to relocate out of London? We will assist you in relocating out of the capital. And then if it's not just like a caravan like under Cameron, where the Cabinet moves around the country, but you have a physical base, they're saying the Heron House in, in Manchester is going to be the first place earmarked for Cabinet meetings, then I think that will also really devolve power and shift the balance of how his government operates. Let's just say that this is all wonderful and his representation is amazing. So he's got more northern MPs in the cabinet than ever before, I believe. Certainly More women in the cabinet, as a cabinet that is for the first time ever has more women than men. So he is, you know, I won't say tick the box, but he has certainly got a team that is diverse, representational, all those things, three Welsh MPs but it still doesn't solve the problems unless they work together. They don't then start putting, you know, I'm more of a Humber person, you're more of a, you know, a Birmingham person. It still needs a lot of cooperation and it shouldn't ignore the really terrible poverty that sits in London, for example, just because the size of the city, there are more poor people probably in London than Manchester. Even if the longevity rates, when you look at somewhere like the Humber versus London, you just live less for not as long in the north. Your house is worth less. The salary that you take home on average is worse in the north. But it shouldn't, we shouldn't forget the real fundamental problems in the likes of Cornwall and Devon where there's huge poverty even here in the south. And so his opportunity is to be a Prime Minister for all but not to have in his government people kind of representing the north, but just be from the north.
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Emma Nelson
It has to also involve the cooperation and participation of the very large, other huge parts of the rest of a country's society. When Andy Burnham came down to be sworn in as a member of Parliament, his train was delayed and it, it and eyebrows were raised in terms of we can talk about Manchester or secondary cities as, until we're blue in the face, but unless you have the rest of the country jumping in and saying yes, we will build the right rail services, yes we will make sure that the airports are good and yes, the education is up there. Manchester has excellent education and very good and huge, huge international airport. Everybody else has play ball here, don't they?
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Andrew Tuck
Yes, you touched on a few things there. So there is no advantage for the south and having a poor north because what happens, you just attract more and more people to the same few cities where services are stretched educationally. You talked there about Manchester and we were talking just before we came on air about for example, the educational institutions in a city like Manchester, which are some of the best in the world. And you see a lot of southern people going to Manchester, going to Sheffield, going to Durham for their, for their education. So actually in a middle class world, there's lots of people already taking advantage of what they see as the opportunities in the North. And as we know again before we came on air, many of Those people stay. It's influential what happens to you between the ages of like 18 and 22, whatever. And it's quite likely that you put down the sorts of routes that make you think, actually, I could run a business here. This is, this is my kind of hometown. And everybody you speak to, who's been through the education system up there from, who's come from all over the world or all over the countries, go and study there, they all come away with a feeling that that was a city that they were proud to have, have learned in.
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Emma Nelson
Monacle's editor in chief, Andrew Tuck. Thank you so much for joining me in the studio. You're listening to the. 7:14 here in London. It's day three of Farnborough International Air show here in the UK to bring us up to date, I'm joined now from Farnborough by Murdo Morrison, head of strategic content at Flight Global. Good morning, Murdo.
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Andrew Tuck
Good morning.
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Emma Nelson
How is the trip to Farnborough at the moment? It is when I would imagine people like you have it marked in bold in their calendars. Is it terribly good, fun and exciting?
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Murdo Morrison
It is tiring, but it is very exciting. It's the big point of the year. So for the whole aerospace and defence industry, everything is sort of around Farnborough. So everything's oriented towards Farnborough in the first half of the year. It's very much the high point of the year.
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Tyler Brulee
Yeah.
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Emma Nelson
So what have you spotted in the last couple of days?
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Murdo Morrison
Well, we've been very busy. We produce a show daily, a print show daily at the show. So we've got the whole team over covering everything that's at the show on the airline side, on the defense side and on the business, aviation, advanced air mobility, everything. So it's been a very, very busy show, perhaps not a, a landmark, Farnborough, in terms of big headline orders or announcements. We might see some of that today because we've got the new government, new cabinet in place and we're expecting a major announcement on the defense side on the UK industrial side later today. Details yet to emerge on that, but that's going to be one of the big stories on the airline side as well. We've seen perhaps again, not many big orders from big name airlines, but a sort of steady rather than spectacular series of airline orders. And really with the spoils shared between all three, between Airbus, Boeing and Embraer. And then I think the other big theme of the show is that advanced air mobility, this is something that's been electric aviation, this is something that's been around for. Talked about for 10 years, but it's really coming together now. And we've seen two of these aircraft from the Vertical Aerospace and Beta, a US company flying at the show for the first time. So it's the first time we've actually seen an aerial display of these electric aircraft. And then all the other players in the market, Joby and Archer and Eve, are all here with a very, very big presence. None of these aircraft are certificated yet, none are in operation yet, but a lot of them are flying and they're looking very much to a world where of sort of air taxis and electric freight aircraft in the next few years.
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Emma Nelson
Let's talk a little bit about the commercial aspect. You talked about the carving up of the spoils by Airbus, Boeing and Embraer. I think the total commercial aircraft order Commitment is nearly 400 aircraft after two days of the show. How is that compared with other years?
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Murdo Morrison
Yeah, it's roundabout. As I said, it's probably not one of the highest years ever, but it's not a disappointing year. So it's fairly steady. You've got to take that 400 figure with a little bit of a pinch of salt, because that includes options, it includes confirmations of orders. So an order might have been announced before with an undisclosed customer and now the customer is being disclosed announced. So that's not necessarily 400 aircraft order that were never going to be built before. And I think the other thing to point out is that, of course, you know, these orders, while they're relatively, you know, firm, a lot of them, they may never happen. These are, these are aircraft, these are orders for aircraft that are going to be delivered in the2030s, sometimes in the mid-2030s. So it's a very, very long horizon. And, you know, I think you've got to just take that with a little bit of a pinch of salt. But at the same time, it does sort of reflect that the industry, despite everything that's been thrown at it, remains pretty robust and pretty optimistic about air travel. Demand for air travel in the future.
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Emma Nelson
Indeed. And it's not just passenger air travel either. We have the likes of freight being bought and an awful lot of the likes of. We're just looking at the likes of freight companies, MSC and Uganda and also
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Andrew Tuck
all
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Emma Nelson
getting involved in freighter, in buying aircraft. Is there a sense that the demand for new aircraft is right across the board?
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Murdo Morrison
Yes, right across the globe and right across the board. And of course, on the freight side, we've seen that fall a little bit from the sort of the, the highs of COVID when everyone was at home and E commerce absolutely exploded. But we're still seeing that rise. And we all buy everything off the Internet now. A lot of that stuff comes to the west, comes to Europe and North America from Asia and a lot of that comes on planes. Of course, when these planes land, the big planes land, it has to sometimes be distributed quickly on smaller aircraft. So we've seen demand for cargo aircraft will continue to rise long term. That's going to be a big growth area in the future. And as I mentioned there, when I was talking about advanced air mobility, one of the uses that these small electric aircraft could be put to is small flights, whether it's delivery drones or sort of larger pilot aircraft doing kind of flights of several hundred kilometers, perhaps delivering urgent cargo. And that might be whether it's just overnight, your overnight Amazon or whatever, deliveries to, you know, medical supplies, blood, organ transplant stuff and everything. So there is that side of the market which at the moment you, the only thing you can really use is a helicopter which is very, very expensive and not particularly environmentally friendly. So that's one of the exciting areas that we could see these sort of electric, small electric aircraft being used in.
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Emma Nelson
Murdo Morrison, thank you so much for joining us on the line from Farnborough. Murdo is head of strategic content at Flight Global. Still to come on today's Globalist.
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Fernando Gos of Pacheco
Hello Em, I'm Fernando Gusto Paeco and today I'll give you my summer media diet. What magazine to take to the beach, the album to listen to and the juicy South African series you cannot miss.
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Emma Nelson
And we'll be talking about Japanese men in shorts. More from Fei later on the programme.
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Emma Nelson
821 in Zurich, which is where we head now to have a look at today's newspapers. Joining us from Studio 4 in our Zurich headquarters is Noel Salmi, travel and culture writer, contributor to publications including Afar magazine and Travel and Leisure. Good morning, Noel.
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Noel Salmi
Good morning, Emma.
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Emma Nelson
How's Switzerland looking today?
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Noel Salmi
Switzerland is absolutely gorgeous today. Wonderful weather, blue sky.
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Emma Nelson
It's great, wonderful. And what are we going to be doing with it? Are we going to be in the water or Are we going to be in the mountains?
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Noel Salmi
It's actually cool enough to not have to go into the lake, actually to go into town and have a nice lunch with someone.
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Emma Nelson
Excellent. Will enjoy your lunch. Before that, let's work up an appetite with the papers. You want to start with an item in the New York Times?
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Noel Salmi
Yes. Well, as you had said up front, Emma, President Volodymyr Zeletsky of Ukraine announced yesterday that Major General Mykhailo Drapatier would be the new commander in chief of the armed forces after he sacked General Oleksandr Syrsky. And as you might as, of course, you know, protesters have been protesting in Ukraine since last Thursday after Zelensky removed the Defense Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, after just six months. At 35, Fedorov had obviously been Ukraine's youngest ever defense minister. But he was credited with making drone warfare the most lethal weapon in Ukraine and really modernizing the way that they were fighting and using rapid techniques, innovation to keep ahead of Russia. He'd been fired, he said, because Ukraine's top generals had blocked his reforms with bureaucratic impediments and ignored data and that General Syrsky had sort of pushed him out. So demonstrators had been chanting Syrsky out. And it looks like this new appointment may please the demonstrators because the new general, just new head of the Armed Forces Drappetier, had issued a public statement in support of Fedorov last Thursday saying that the troops had a partner in the Ministry of Defense that provided for their needs and demanded changes in approaches. And Fedorov himself also wrote in a post yesterday that he was really happy about this new appointment of General Trapatier.
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Emma Nelson
That is the Ukrainians struggling with their military strategy and their leadership. It is possibly as a result of the fact that they can no longer rely on the lights of the United States to be such a trusted partner. But there's a. There's an article in the New York Times as well which talks about why the United States might not be concentrating so much on Ukraine. Probably because it spent so much money on Iran.
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Noel Salmi
Oh, my gosh. Yes, that is correct. So yesterday, Defense Secretary Peak headseth appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee in Washington and requested as much as $70 billion in emergency spending after nearly five months of war. Senate Democrats and even some Republicans expressed their doubts about the need for so much money in addition to the 1.5 trillion that the Pentagon is already asking for its upcoming defense budget. The Democrats. The top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, Senator Patty Murray of Washington, said the administration was trying to sell us as an emergency request, but this is not the normal appropriations process. And she said this wasn't for a lack of money but a lack of poor planning. And in fact, the BBC I was looking also said, cited a couple of sources, including Democrats, that said that they actually believe, Hegset said that the war so far had cost $37.5 billion and they actually believe that it's costing a lot more than that.
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Emma Nelson
And it's that sense that this is all going to trickle down to the American public.
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Noel Salmi
Yes, that's right. I mean, there was another senator, Senator Christine Gillibrand of New York, who basically said the Trump administration is asking for unlimited money for bombs while Americans cannot afford to feed their families. And another Democratic senator, Gary Peters, called Hagseth a failure and said that Trump had created another forever war. So hopefully, hopefully Americans are seeing this and it will have an outcome at the ballot box in November.
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Emma Nelson
Let's move to an article in the Guardian which is if anybody's heading off to Denmark and to Jutland for their holidays, they should read this.
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Noel Salmi
Yes, they really should. So Danish authorities are advising tourists to stand still and make eye contact to establish dominance if they see a wolf while on holiday in the Jutland Peninsula. So wolves were not in Denmark for 200 years, but in 2012, the first started returning. Since wolves are now protected in the EU, there are 49 wolves in Jutland and normally they stay away from tourists, but apparently some younger ones have started to approach tourists. And so this is really a cause for concern. So, Emma, if you happen to find yourself in front of a wolf, not only should you keep calm, but you should also, if the wolf doesn't go away, you should shout, clap your hands, wave your arms, and in the event that you are attacked by a wolf, you need to fight it as best you can, maybe using a blunt instrument that you just happen to be having on hand. There haven't been any attacks on people yet, but a couple of ponies were killed recently and some right wing parties said that the wolves should be shot as a result.
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Emma Nelson
Great. Excellent advice for us all as we head out into the world. Take a blunt instrument with you in case you're attacked by a wolf. I've written that down. Finally, let's talk about ants. I once ate ants and I developed an allergic reaction to it. It wasn't very pleasant. And this is something that actually has led to some consequence, not my encounter with the ant, but there's a restaurateur in. Where is it? In Seoul in South Korea who's trying to put ants on the menu but it's not happen?
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Noel Salmi
Yes, that's correct. So the BBC is reporting that this restaurant in Seoul which has remained nameless, it's a two Michelin starred restaurant and there are 10 of them in Seoul. So I suppose if you wanted to investigate you could figure out which one. But the owner of this restaurant is facing a one year jail term for using ants as dessert garnish. And ants are not among the 10 insect species that are approved for human consumption in Korea which these include grasshoppers, locusts, two spotted crickets and so on. They also want to fined him 10,000 pounds. The prosecutors estimate that 49,000 ants imported from the US and Thailand were used in several dishes over the years. The owner is fighting back or protesting at least. He admitted to serving ants but said that they were used as a small part of the restaurant's 15 course menu as a topping for sorbet and that diners could opt out of the toppings if they wanted.
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Emma Nelson
I'm not sure whether I want an ant sorbet or to be attacked by a wolf. Noel Sami, travel and culture writer, contributed to publications such as Afar and Travel and Leisure. Thank you so much for joining us from Zurich. You're listening to the Globalist. Now here's a look at some of the stories we're keeping an eye on today. President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed Ukraine's top general. It's one of the biggest shakeups of the military leadership since Russia mounted its full scale invasion in 2022. The armed forces commander Alexander Syrsky has been replaced by a younger general, Mykhailo Drapati. The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Washington is still willing to engage in diplomacy with Tehran, but Iran isn't serious about talking. The US has carried out an 11th consecutive night of strikes on Iran. For the first time in four decades, US Airlines will be allowed to fly directly to Lebanon. The decision was made following a meeting between President Trump and his Lebanese counterpart. And OpenAI has admitted that its advanced artificial intelligence model autonomously hacked another tech company. It then stole the information it needed to pass an internal evaluation. This is the Globalist. Stay tuned. 15:30 in Tokyo, which is where we head now next because yesterday the Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takeichi unveiled her first economic policy blueprint. The government is moving away from its long standing focus on fiscal discipline and placing greater emphasis on investment led economic growth. Well, I'm joined now from Tokyo from our Tokyo studio by Fiona Wilson Monocle's Tokyo Bureau Chief. Good afternoon, Fiona.
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Fiona Wilson
Hi Emma from very hot Tokyo.
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Emma Nelson
We'll come to hot in a minute. And what people are and are not wearing. There's going to be a theme to the, to the rest of this program and it involves shorts. Fiona, just outline for us what the new economic policy is all about because it marks a big change, doesn't it?
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Fiona Wilson
Yeah, I mean this is the blueprint. It comes out every year. It sort of sets out the mission for the Japanese government. Everyone's been watching this because Sanae Takaichi came to power in October. This is the first one she's done. And there have been hints that she's a big spender. She's in favor of a lot of spending to boost the economy. Now that always rattles the market. They don't like that, particularly if they sense that she's also. The government is also trying to persuade the bank of Japan to keep interest rates low. That's so that their debt, it's already completely out of hand. The debt to GDP ratio in Japan is more than 200%. So there was already a hint of that. A preview of this thing came out on 30 June and the markets were spooked. They didn't like it. There was a sense that there wasn't enough kind of, of independence for the bank of Japan. And in the final version that we've just seen this week, they did mention that they emphasized that independence of the bank of Japan to show the government's not trying to control the interest rates. Still is a slight question mark about Takaichi and her approach to the economy. But the basic, the outline was that she was saying let's go for investment and, and growth. I think anyone in the UK will have heard that talking about a growth led economy. Whether it works out or not is another matter. But they're looking for quite ambitious targets. I mean it said 1% growth, that would be lovely. That has not been what Japan has been actually achieving. So the numbers they were looking at and saying that they'll achieve these certain levels by these dates did depend on that 1% growth. And actually in Japan we've been seeing more like, like 0.4% growth. So, you know, a few questions definitely, but I think the bigger picture was it was about investing in the country, investing for long term growth rather than short term gain.
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Emma Nelson
And why does she believe that this is the moment to do this?
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Fiona Wilson
I think, you know, there's a feeling that, you know, the Japanese government has been under Investing that's been talked about for a long time. And this blueprint did talk about how generally globally that governments are much more involved, internationally governments are more involved in a kind of public private investment and Japan needs to get involved in more of that. So that was what they identified. 17 fields they were really going to be investing in. It's things like semiconductors and it is a shift for Japan. But I think at the moment the reaction was actually worse when this first early draft of the blueprint came out that the markets didn't like. That's slightly been tidied up. So I think, I think the initial surprise is not so much this week.
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Emma Nelson
Indeed, I think in June the government bond yields went up to sort of a multi decade high, didn't they, in June when details of this economic policy were made public. Is there a sense though that Takechi is at risk here of meddling with Japan's monetary policy here in a way that has not been done before?
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Fiona Wilson
Yeah, I mean, she says she isn't so, you know, she said that it's up to the bank of Japan to decide interest rates. So I think she's tried to make that absolutely clear. You know, the bond market read into it whatever they can. But I mean, I think that she's tried to say no, she's not trying to control interest rates. But you know, obviously everybody knows that if you are spending a huge amount of public money, you don't want interest rates to be any higher. So, you know, that is, you know, I know she's saying that she's not trying to control the bank of Japan, but I think that independence of the bank of Japan will be critical to keeping the markets calm.
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Emma Nelson
Finally, while I've got you here, talk to me about men in shorts and Japanese offices. The New York Times has gone rather big on it.
- [35:31]
Fiona Wilson
I mean, must we. What a terrible idea. Sorry to any colleagues in shorts. But yeah, I mean, you know Japan, we have the image of the salaryman in a suit, a tie, very buttoned up, that in the summer has long since disappeared. I mean, since 2005 Japan's had this cool biz policy where, you know, government offices, they said, okay, air conditioning has to be absolutely no lower than 28 degrees. But to compensate, you don't need to wear a tie anymore. Go for an open neck shirt. Now, many people thought this was a step too far, but. But the Tokyo governor, Governor Koike has just gone a step further and said workers can actually wear shorts because we need to cut energy. Obviously poor old resource poor Japan is absolutely paying through the nose now for oil and everything else. And they need to cut energy costs. So Governor Koike is leading the way by saying that her workers at the city hall can turn up in shorts. I've seen some of the box pop from some of the colleagues who are not loving that so, so much. But you know, she made a fair point, I think, which is that, you know, you don't need to be buttoned up. It's just too hot. And it happens to be incredibly hot. Since April, we've got a new term in Japan, kokushobi, which means brutally hot day, which is a sort of official term when it reaches 40 degrees, which it did do actually not in Tokyo or I think north Tokyo, Kumagaya has got there today. But you know, it's just saying, you know, this weather is really, really difficult. And also, you know, Japan summers annually, they get hotter and hotter and they're record breaking every year. So, you know, we need to adjust, dress accordingly.
- [37:12]
Emma Nelson
And have we heard of this new concept that the New York Times talks about, about leg hair harassment, which describes a sense of grievance some women feel when they are forced to observe their male co workers legs.
- [37:23]
Fiona Wilson
I absolutely love that. I love that they kind of had a term for it. I mean, I don't know if people have articulated exactly what it is. It's more a sense of surprise. I think people just feel that is too casual somehow, it's too intimate. And you know, Japanese offices have definitely relaxed over the years, certainly in the time I've been here, but they're not that relaxed. And I think shorts really, that's just too far.
- [37:47]
Emma Nelson
Fiona Wilson, thank you so much for joining us from our Tokyo studio. You're listening to the Globalist, Eight thirty seven in Zurich, 2:37am in Ottawa. Now, does Canada depend on the United States to stay alive? Ask the US President Donald Trump, and he'd certainly think it does.
- [38:08]
Andrew Tuck
They need us to survive.
- [38:10]
Indaman Rashid
Without us, there's no way they can survive.
- [38:12]
Andrew Tuck
But they've been very, very tough over
- [38:14]
Emma Nelson
a period of the last 50 years. Well, Trump's bullish assertiveness towards its neighbors has returned, this time in the shape of 50% tariffs on products as diverse as hockey sticks and wine. Mr. Trump says Canada has treated the U.S. unfair. So I'm joined now by Tyler Brunet, Monocle's editorial director and chairman from our Xeric studio. Good morning, Tyler, how are you?
- [38:36]
Tyler Brulee
Good morning, Emma. Not in the Zurich studio actually, but just down the lake in Zurich this morning in shorts I might add.
- [38:42]
Emma Nelson
Excellent. Well, don't take them to a Japanese office, I think is the bit of advice there. Let's talk about Donald Trump and Canada. He says the Canadians have treated America unfairly. Is he right?
- [38:56]
Tyler Brulee
I think this is he's feeling this now, Emma, because Canada has managed to really not blink so far. And that is really where it's at. I think that certainly many in Washington and a few in Canada as well thought that the nation would buckle by now. And this is why we're seeing, yes, let's call them very politely enhanced and new tariffs against Canada, which are supposed to kick in within the months.
- [39:26]
Emma Nelson
Indeed. And as you mentioned, you know, the idea that Canada has not blinked yet. Will this latest round of 50% tariffs, will it make pulses quicken in Ottawa or is this just another twist in a very, very long plot?
- [39:40]
Tyler Brulee
Well, we've heard that Mark Carney and team, they're going to intensify their discussions with Washington. They're going to step them up because it looks like there might be the makings of some easing between relations between both Washington and Mexico City. Does that apply some pressure on Canada to also come to some type of deal? Unlikely that it's going to be a total deal. But are we going to see a ratcheting down of tariffs? That is possible. It's also summertime, though, as well, and part of Ottawa is emptied out. Of course, North America is not Europe. You don't see a complete demobilization across July or across the month of August. But both presidents and prime ministers will be taking holidays. Their teams will be heading off. So I'm not convinced how intense those conversations are going to be during sunny months.
- [40:37]
Emma Nelson
Indeed, it does create, though, a bit of a waiting game for the businesses who are still trying to do their work and can't afford to sit back and people can't afford to do business in Canada and US when they don't know what's going to be around the corner.
- [40:54]
Tyler Brulee
Well, that's part of it. But I think the bigger issue is and this where it goes to the other side of the border, the Canadian side of the border, that over the last few months as Canada's been living with this, there is really a feeling of, look, we are a G7 nation. We are making our own way in the world. Canada has also proven and we have to take a step back as well and say, is this well and truly about tariffs? Is this well and truly about the fact that of course, liquor shelves across many provinces in Canada, you go to Ontario, of course, Premier Doug Ford is really leading the charge against the US And I think is also egging Mark Carney on Prime Minister Carney and saying we really cannot buckle. We have to really hold our line. And I think Canadian consumers, if we look at it really from a B2C perspective, they're quite happy drinking wine from Italy, Portugal, Australia, Chile and elsewhere. They're not necessarily saying, I have to have my finest bottles from Washington State or California. But behind that as well, there's been a couple of other things that have happened where this sense, Emma, of really dependence. And let's look at defense being a key part of it. Of course, Canada is in line to buy F35Pfeiffer, but there's of course, a big story. And then what we've just seen, in fact, that it looked like Boeing was going to land a deal for some airborne early warning aircraft. It felt like it was a done deal. And then Saab went and got the contract. And of course, really, it doesn't rattle Washington because they've got lots of aircraft, they've got lots of systems to sell to people all over the world. But when one of your biggest trading partners says actually, well, we can go with the Swedes, and in fact, actually we make an aircraft in Canada, it's the Bombardier Challenger airframe or Global Express airframe, and we can put the Saab system on top of it, that says something again after so many years, decades, that Canada, of course, has been buying
- [43:09]
Emma Nelson
from the U.S. and indeed, when you look at that as sort of the global positioning. But if you are Canadian and you are seeing, let's say, for example, the wine disappearing from your shelves from California, what appears to be happening is that if you are a Canadian producer of alcohol, they can't make enough local vodka to restock the shelves. So one wonders how that changes the mentality of a Canadian when they see actually that Canada can just step up.
- [43:35]
Tyler Brulee
Well, first makes it sound like the whole nation's a bunch of boozers. But listen, I think that there is these things also make you a little bit more crisp and nimble as well. So this is maybe one of the good parts of the story, that it also forced Canadian brands to say that maybe they need to be showing up at trade fairs in Europe, they need to be showing up at trade fairs in Korea, that they shouldn't just be relying on selling their products south of the border. Of course, this has to get resolved at some point. It's absurd that we have this trade war going on between two of the world's longest standing allies, two of the world's most resource rich nations. But put all of that to one side, it does make people look elsewhere. I think it forces people to be a little bit more entrepreneurial. Not great in the short term, but I think net, net at the end of it, I think this is going to make for a more agile Canadian business landscape or is making for a more Canadian agile Canadian business landscape.
- [44:40]
Emma Nelson
So the clock is running. I think it's 28 days until these tariffs, the 330 kick in. The prime Minister Mark Carney says that they are looking at all options. Do we know what they might be?
- [44:51]
Tyler Brulee
No, we don't know what they might be. But I come back to trying, listen, trying to get a deal. Not convinced, as I was saying earlier, that this is going to happen during the summer months. But again, there's not a total demobilization. Yeah, the discussions, of course, with Ms. Sheinbaum in Mexico City does apply. Maybe a little bit of domestic pressure. It's a pride issue. Of course, we saw all three leaders standing in the bulletproof box at the World cup final. So maybe that does put a little bit of pressure on Ottawa. But then you have to remember that again, it's been Canada, the only other nation aside from China that has really chosen to retaliate. And this is, you know, it's quite extreme because of course, clearly Washington and Beijing have long been at odds. That's not the case between Washington, Washington and Ottawa. And I think that's something which of course really irks the current administration, particularly the president that your neighbors are standing up to.
- [45:55]
Emma Nelson
Tyler, quick question in your shorts. What's on the cards today?
- [45:59]
Tyler Brulee
Cards today? Well, just a beautiful day in Switzerland. Emma Lake is missing you. I've got to zip down to Geneva for some meetings, but hopefully the beauty of SBB of Swiss Rail, it will get me down down there for lunch and back for a bit of a lake time this evening back in Zurich,
- [46:17]
Emma Nelson
Tyler Brulee, Monocle's editorial director and chairman, joining us on the banks of the Zurich A. Thank you so much. You with Monocle Radio,
- [46:27]
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- [47:07]
Emma Nelson
A roundup of news from the Gulf. Now joining us from Dubai is our Gulf correspondent, Indaman Rashid. Good Morning, Indy.
- [47:14]
Indaman Rashid
Good morning, Emma. I too am in my shorts, but on my balcony in 65% humidity. So sweltering as I speak to you this morning from the Gulf.
- [47:23]
Emma Nelson
I feel woefully overdressed, but thank you for painting us that picture. Right, let's talk about the US And Saudi Arabia have made a nuclear deal which could permit the Saudis to use nuclear power to fuel their stations.
- [47:37]
Indaman Rashid
Yeah, this is really interesting because if there was any concern that the US And Saudi were at loggerheads because of the war in Iran, I think this story quashes that completely because President Trump has approved an agreement with Saudi Arabia that could potentially provide the kingdom with uranium enrichment capability for its civilian nuclear program. Now, this was first reported in the Wall Street Journal last night, but this decision is likely to be announced today. It's a 30 year deal which is expected to involve US firms in developing the program within Saudi Arabia and it could allow for the building of a uranium enrichment facility inside the kingdom. What I would say is that it's long believed that Israel is currently the Middle east only nuclear armed state. And Pakistan has a defense pact directly currently with Saudi Arabia, which has said its nuclear program is available to the country if it's needed. But under this agreement with the US they could very much make their own. And I think it really just widens up the outlook or the future of this region and particularly with the war currently going, going on inside Iran. Remember, a war that was primarily down to the fact that the US And Israel does not want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. But of course, as we know, it's opened up to much more than just that, Emma.
- [48:59]
Emma Nelson
Indeed. And when we look at Saudi Arabia's position within the region, we are now seeing, I think there's been several months where the Saudis and the UAE ministers have been absolutely slugging it out on social media. Incredible. 10. And it now looks like things are calming down.
- [49:18]
Indaman Rashid
Yeah, we've spoken about this over the last few months and at a time when you'd expect the Gulf nations to be tightly knit given the war on their doorstep, it's not necessarily always been the case. And if the phrase a picture is worth a thousand words is relevant, it definitely is with this story because there's a photo that's emerged of the Vice President of the uae, Mansoor bin Zayed, the brother of the President, and the brother of the Saudi ruler, Khalid bin Salman, also the Defense Minister, with their arms around each other, which was taken a few days ago and the image was shared on X With the quote, saudi Arabia and the uae, a story of brotherly relations and a deep rooted partnership. And then not so coincidentally, at 7pm Riyadh time yesterday, the two media authorities of the countries released similar social media posts, basically affirming the close historical ties between the UAE and Saudi. This is coordinated, it's choreographed diplomacy after the kind of. Two Gulf heavyweights, as you mentioned, Emma, have been embroiled in these clashes over a number of issues and that's included opposing sides in the war in Yemen and Sudan, oil output leading to the UAE leaving OPEC and the. And then just last week there were reports that the banking payments from Saudi to UAE were blocked. And of course, in March, the uae, and we'd spoke about this previously, had banned Saudi TV Al Arabiya's social media accounts in the country. So it's not been the best of relationships. But now it seems that publicly they're trying to convey a different message.
- [50:53]
Emma Nelson
Monocle's Gulf correspondent Inzamin Rashid. Thank you so much for joining us from Dubai. You're listening to the Globalist live on Monocle Radio Video. It's 7:50 here in London and you might have detected a small amount of hesitancy in my voice because Fernando Gos of Pacheco has just walked in in the shortest pair of shorts I've ever seen a human being in. Good morning, Faye, our senior correspondent and the great ambassador of the cut off trouser.
- [51:28]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
I've been talking about shorts for years.
- [51:31]
UBS Announcer
For years.
- [51:32]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
For decades, perhaps. Even so, I think Tink shorts is winning in the world. And I've heard the news from Japan that men are kind of allowed these days, even if you have a serious job as a lawyer, to actually go with your pair of shorts. I think that's fair enough.
- [51:46]
Emma Nelson
Indeed.
- [51:47]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
It's getting hotter in the world.
- [51:48]
Emma Nelson
It is, yes. And possibly one of the only pleasant effects of climate change. But there's a lovely thing in the New York Times that we spoke to Tokyo bureau today chief Fiona Wilson about a little bit earlier about how the Japanese are, you know, not just, you know, loosening the tie, but they're now wearing the shorts. And there's a thing that says there's a lovely man called Nobura Watanabe, he's an environmental official in Tokyo and he's now wearing a T shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. He says, everyone says I look younger, I seem more approachable, and I feel I can relax the whole office. I mean, do your legs relax the whole office first?
- [52:25]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
I think they do And I have one thing very quickly to tell you. You know, my petition for short started from a young age. When I was a kid, I used to study, well, just for two years in quite a conservative school. Men couldn't wear shorts, just trousers. But it was quite hot. So me and a group of students, we actually signed a petition asking for this to change. It did work. It wasn't just me. I had some of my colleagues behind me. So, you know, it started from a very young age. Emma, just a little, you know, something for you back. I don't think I ever told you that.
- [52:57]
Emma Nelson
No. And that's a wonderful story. Thank you so much for your social campaigning to bring shorts. You also are a big fan of Speedos, perhaps. Don't start a petition for those, please, if you don't mind. Right, let's move to the fact that we have a lovely new summer newspaper being published by Monocle Med Mountains and more. Talk us through it.
- [53:14]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
Well, I think it's a beautiful newspaper. Of course, it's not out yet, but it will be next week. So I'm just giving you a little teaser, of course, about the vibe. So I'm gonna give you some cultural tips and some of them will be featured indeed in the paper. But first, I think we should start with music. And I've selected this album as the album of summer. And I selected one of the tracks from the album. I mean, the name of the album is called Holiday. And I have to tell you, it's.
- [53:42]
Emma Nelson
What's it about, Faye?
- [53:43]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
It's about Holiday and the singer Silva, Brazilian. He was inspired by the sea and the sounds of Carnival. And he's known for, you know, playing around with different genres. But he said for this album, he wanted to keep things simple and sunny. And by the way, Holidays R O L I D E I He's making a joke is the way Brazilians would write the word holiday. So it's kind of a little bit of a joke in the. In the title there. But I chose one track for you. It's called so Smile of Pure Beauty.
- [54:29]
Murdo Morrison
Right.
- [54:29]
Emma Nelson
So you like that? This is like doing the global countdown, but at 7:53am I couldn't be happier, frankly. So listen, listening to that, before the program began, there was a general consensus that this is happy, but it's kind of a bit like a disco for the under fives. How do we feel about that?
- [54:46]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
You know what? I think he was deliberate. He wanted that simple simplicity, and I miss that simplicity in the charts. If you look at the Brazilian charts at the Moment. There's quite a lot of funk and country music, some quite harsh beats, I would say. And this harks back to Holiday. We need this kind of music. But I would recommend everyone to sit down in their homes with a drink in their hands listening to Holiday. The way Brazilians say it.
- [55:12]
Emma Nelson
Okay, how do we say it?
- [55:13]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
Holiday. It's quite similar to Holiday, actually. It's a bit confusing.
- [55:18]
Emma Nelson
I shall have to listen back to that later to find the difference. But thank you so much for helping us. You spell it different.
- [55:23]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
Yes.
- [55:23]
Emma Nelson
Okay. And who is Silva?
- [55:25]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
Silva is a great musician from Vittoria. One of my favorite. I've been following his career for. For years and years. It was a pleasure talking to him. My interview with him will be also Monaco Radio quite soon, when the newspaper is out.
- [55:37]
Emma Nelson
Excellent. Fantastic. Right, so we've got that. We're bouncing around, you know, after quite a lot of fizzy drinks, loving that song. And then we're going to have to settle down and read. So we. We have. Obviously, we have Monocle, obviously, we have Confect. And obviously you have M. Le Magasin du Monde, which is such an exquisite publication.
- [55:58]
Fiona Wilson
Where.
- [55:59]
Emma Nelson
Where are you taking us with? Where are I. Where are our eyes going?
- [56:02]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
They're new publications in town. And you know what? These days, I don't like that question anymore. Do you prefer to go to the beach or to the mountains? Both. I'm sorry. You know, we're open.
- [56:12]
Emma Nelson
You want everything out of.
- [56:13]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
I want everything shorts. So I'm here on the beach and I'm reading the latest copy of Montamont. You know, Montamont is. We know they make great Alpine guides. They are based in Innsbruck in Austria. I know how much you love Austria. I also had the pleasure to speak to Mike and Isabella Rabenstein. So they decided to launch, actually a magazine which is all about stories from the mountains. And they will have two issues a year. A summer one, which is just out, and the winter one. And, Emma, I think you would like the first issue because there's a lovely feature about a hotel that we both stayed. The Grand Hotel Belvedere in Wengen. So there's a lovely kind of feature in that hotel, but also they go to South Tyrol and more. It's a beautiful, beautiful title. So I think it's quite a nice read for the summer when you're on the beach or in the mountains.
- [57:01]
Emma Nelson
Absolutely incredible. Just taking a little glance at it. It just transports you immediately, the images that they bring. You know, the typical ones of a, you know, a cow staring out of a barn window. There's even some sort of, you know, some vests being hung up outside a farm. They just transport you to the most gorgeous, gorgeous place. Finally, once we've read that, we need to get ourselves into an absolute tizzy with a. With a. With a drama about people marrying, being married to lots of other people, which
- [57:31]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
is what you want to see.
- [57:33]
Emma Nelson
It's really not what I want.
- [57:34]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
It's what you want to see in the summer, you know, but, you know, I love a. Well, I love a surprise as well when it comes to tv, but this came out of nowhere. It's a South African Netflix production called the Polygamist and it's kind of sexy, it's fun, It's a bit trashy. It's like a telenovela. Vibes, but high production values as well. I am addicted. There are 22 episodes right now. We have a little trailer, just so you see the vibe. Shall we have a listen before we talk about it?
- [58:05]
Emma Nelson
Are you recording?
- [58:07]
Fiona Wilson
Two decades later, you still have this
- [58:09]
Emma Nelson
effect on each other. What's your secret?
- [58:25]
Fernando Gos of Pacheco
No wonder it's been number one in 16 countries. It's fun TV. It's that kind of relaxing thing that you watch in the evening. The Polygamist on Netflix from South Africa.
- [58:35]
Emma Nelson
Goodness me. Fernanda Agosta Pacheco sorting out our summer intense easy minute. Thank you so much for joining me in the studio. And that's all the time we have for today's programme. The warmest of thanks to all my guests and to the producers, Christy o', Grady, Laura Kramer and Thomas Waterhouse. Our researcher was Nkedi Martin and our studio manager was Steph Chungu. After the headlines, there's more music on the way. The briefing's live at midday here in London. The globalist is back at the same time tomorrow, but for now, from me, Emma Nelson, Goodbye. Thank you very much for listening. Sam.
- [59:42]
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