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- [00:04]
Georgina Godwin
We're proud to support the craft of journalism. UBS brings you the latest news from around the world with the Globalist on Monocle Radio. Be part of an international network that brings together leading insights, research and technology across 24 time zones and 12 key financial hubs. With you at the centre of it all, UBS advice is our craft. You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on the 11th of September 2025 on Monocle Radio. The Globalist in association with U. Hello, this is the Globalist broadcasting to you live from Midori House in London. I'm Georgina Godwin. On the show ahead, it's a long.
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Scott Lucas
Past time to confront the fact that.
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Hans Grimmel
Violence and murder are the tragic consequence of demonizing those with whom you disagreed.
- [01:27]
Georgina Godwin
U.S. conservative activist Charlie Kirk, an influential ally of President Donald Trump, was fatally shot on Wednesday while speaking at a Utah university. We'll have the details. Israel's strike on Doha has sparked outrage and raised doubts about fragile ceasefire diplomacy. We'll have the latest from the region. We'll go live to Paris to hear about the swearing in of the new Prime Minister and the protests on the streets of France. We'll have a rustle through the front pages and a roundup of automotive news from our Total Studio.
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Dhurit Bunag
Plus, we want to use Thai design and Thai designer as a platform to foresee the changing in the design world.
- [02:06]
Georgina Godwin
We'll find out why Thailand wants to be Asia's design capital. And finally, as the National Gallery in London announces major developments, will ask what exactly constitutes modern art. That's all ahead here on the Globalist. Live from London. First, a look at what else is happening in the news. A Brazilian Supreme Court justice has voted to acquit former President Jair Bolsonaro of an alleged coup attempt, raising the odds of an appeal of a verdict. This week, US President Donald Trump halted the deportation of hundreds of South Korean Hyundai battery plant workers arrested during an immigration enforcement raid and proposed they stay to train Americans. And Nepal's health ministry says 25 people have now been killed and more than 600 injured in anti corruption protests that forced Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign. Do stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on those stories. Now, Charlie Kirk, the 31 year old founder of Turning Point USA and a close ally of Donald Trump, has been shot dead while speaking at Utah Valley University. His killing is a stark reminder of the rise in political violence in the United States and raises questions about security at public events. Well, joining me now is Scott Lucas, adjunct professor at the Clinton Institute, University College Dublin. Scott, thanks for coming on the show. Once again at very short notice, what do we know about how this attack unfolded?
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Scott Lucas
So Charlie Kirk, the right wing activist, was speaking at Utah Valley University, one of the first of 13 stops he was going to make trying to mobilize the support of young people for Donald Trump, for MAGA and for right, even hard right politics. And Kirk's been doing this for years. He's the founder of Turning Point usa. When he was a teenager, which has become an important element in the Trumpist movement. As he was speaking to them and just after he had been speaking about, indeed gun violence, he was in a courtyard and the shooter was on the roof of a building overlooking that courtyard. Kirk was struck once in the neck and the reports came out very quickly that he had been critically wounded. He was whisked away from the scene and he died shortly thereafter.
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Georgina Godwin
Has the shooter been identified or detained?
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Scott Lucas
No, there was a person who was questioned by police and initially the university came out and said that this person was a suspect in the case. But that person was later released indicating that he or she is not under suspicion. So now this person is still at large.
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Georgina Godwin
So you gave us a little bit of Kirk's history there. I wonder how significant his role was in shaping the US Conservative movement and indeed returning Trump to power.
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Scott Lucas
Oh, it's been vital. You know, if you go back to 2016, when Donald Trump first ran for president and Charlie Kirk had founded Turning Point usa, he was part of a group of relatively young people who were on the right, I would say the hard right. And they not only were significant in putting their points of view, they were significant in really whipping up a particular projection of American politics. This whole, as it were, confrontation with those who they didn't like, who they would characterize as being on the left, who they would characterize as being woke using this derogatory word. They were very forthright, for example, in standing against any limitation on guns. They were very forthright, standing for gun control, for example. They were very anti immigrant. So there. And at times, to be honest with you, not necessarily Kirk's, but others who were linked with him would even whip up, as it were, conspiracy theories. Donald Trump tapped into that. He tapped into the rhetoric that Charlie Kirk was putting out there. And it was especially important to, if you take it all the way up to 2024, because Kirk targeted young men as being a key force that could help get Donald Trump reelected. It's very, very forthright. Some would even say macho presentation of American politics. This emphasis on getting back to an American family with women in the home and men being the tough guys, the breadwinners. And again, it worked. I mean, you look at young men, they were one of the key reasons why Trump did get back into the white.
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Georgina Godwin
Finally, Scott, what does this say about the safety of political speakers in public?
- [06:58]
Scott Lucas
Well, I think it's important to say we're not just talking about political speakers, Georgina. And the reason why I say that is that yesterday, just as Charlie Kirk was being shot, fatally wounded, there were three students who were critically injured in a shooting in Colorado at a high school near Columbine, which is where, of course, almost 20 were killed in 1999. So it's the safety of all Americans. But in the case of political figures, you know, it's only a few weeks ago that you had two lawmakers in Minnesota that were shot in their homes, one who was killed, one who was critically wounded. So it's not just in public spaces. The fact here is in a polarized America, when you have voices, in fact, across the political spectrum that are not calling for dialogue but for confrontation, and when they portray their political opponents as the enemy, I'm afraid this feeds into what has been a series of political attacks that are likely not to stop.
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Georgina Godwin
Scott Lucas, thank you very much indeed. You're listening to the Globalist. Israel has followed its unprecedented strikes on Doha with air raids on Houthi positions in Yemen. The twin operation hitting Hamas targets in Qatar and Houthi camps and media offices in Sana' a have sparked international condemnation. Well, I'm joined now from Istanbul by Ruth Michelson, who's a journalist and Middle east correspondent. Ruth, thanks for coming on the program. How are Washington and Brussels adjusting their stance after this escalation?
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Ruth Michelson
Well, I mean, we've certainly seen after the strikes on Doha earlier this week that there was mounting criticism of Netanyahu, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and the choice of these choice of targets. At the same time, particularly in Washington, there seems to be another repeat of what we've seen time and time again, that the Israelis conduct an airstrike, choose a target, and there are major questions about how much information they gave to the Americans before launching this attack on a US Ally, a place that hosts the largest air base, American air base in the Middle East. And that is something that we're seeing playing out now, that there are real questions about the order of events and who knew what, when, whether the Americans were given an opportunity to tell Israel that it would, that there would be bad outcomes or it was something that they simply didn't want to happen if Israel were to strike a major ally.
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Georgina Godwin
Now you're in Istanbul. What has Turkey said about this?
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Ruth Michelson
Well, this is the attack on Doha is something that has obviously frightened Ankara in many ways, because it has continued this idea that, as we're seeing from some of the statements from Netanyahu yesterday, that if, you know, that the Israelis feel that there is justification to pursue members of Hamas in any location across the Middle East. And so we've seen plenty of inflammatory and quite extreme statements from Turkish officials, including from the Foreign Ministry, saying that the targeting of the Hamas negotiation delegation while ceasefire talks will continue, show that Israel does not aim to reach peace, but rather to continue the war, and saying that this is proof that Israel has adopted an expansionist politics in the region, what they labeled a terrorism as state policy. Now, this is something that we're starting to see a similar level of statements coming out of the Qatari leadership no longer talking in sort of diplomatic terms, although they have said that they want to see a large regional gathering in Doha in the coming days to talk about a response to the Israeli attack, but instead using a kind of extremely critical language of Israel's decisions to that we haven't seen them use until now, Talking, for example, the Qatari prime minister talking about the entire Gulf region being at risk as a result of Israel's actions.
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Georgina Godwin
And what about the eu? What's Brussels saying about this?
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Ruth Michelson
Well, we've seen a ramping up of criticism of Israeli policy, the idea that Israel will weigh consequences for Israel, primarily focused at accusations that Israel has starved people in Gaza and that there needs to be a realignment of the relationship between the EU and Israel as a result. So that also means a potential reconsideration of weapon sales and other forms of political support. But, I mean, we've seen time and time again that Britain, the EU and many of Israel's Western allies have often responded to Israeli attacks by saying that, you know, that this is a potential escalation, that there could be consequences in the future, and warning of potential further escalation, but very little indication in general in the long term that Israeli allies are willing to do things like cut off weapons sales to Israel.
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Georgina Godwin
So now that Hamas knows it won't be safe if it agrees to negotiate openly and in person, where does this leave any future prospect of peace talks? And will anybody be willing to host them?
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Ruth Michelson
Well, the Qataris have said that the talks are suspended while they assess their own internal security. I think there are also questions about who the negotiators might be. Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last year. He was previously the head of their negotiations team. He was certainly seen as the group's diplomat. This attack has now targeted people who are considered far more hardline than Haniyeh was. The indication that we've had in the past is that the group would be willing to move somewhere like Turkey, although there has been substantial resistance to that from Turkey's Western partners. But the risk is that because of an attack like this, that the remaining members of the Hamas political bureau would go somewhere like Iran, where then negotiations, ceasefire, talk, talks in the same model as the Qataris agreed to do, and they agreed to host Hamas where they are the interlocutor for Western partners that can't speak directly to Hamas, that that kind of format would be impossible in Tehran because obviously that is a place that does not have the same kind of diplomatic contact and has not used the same kind of diplomatic leverage as the Qataris have to be in this position of negotiator, which is why this attack was so jarring and would appear to really be about to cause a major shift in these potential talks.
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Georgina Godwin
Now, we know that Israel also hit Houthi sites in Yemen, continuing this whole tit for tat action with the group. I wonder how if Israel can realistically engage on multiple fronts at once without stretching capacity, fighting the Houthis also doing this, taking on various all comers, and how much there is a risk of contagion.
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Ruth Michelson
Well, the way that Benjamin Netanyahu has been speaking about this war since very, very early on is that he has told the Israeli public that he is fighting a war on what he describes as seven fronts. And so there is this idea of. Excuse me, there's this idea of that he wants to. He is showing the Israeli public that in his words, that he is defending them by spurring these attacks by Israel attacking across the region. But there are, of course, major questions about Israel's capacity to do that as well as to continue fighting its longest ever war in Gaza.
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Georgina Godwin
Ruth, thank you very much indeed. That's Ruth Michelson there. And this is the globalist. It's 8:15 seen in Warsaw. 715 here in London. Now, Poland shuts its border with Belarus at midnight tonight. This comes after Russian drones were shot down over its territory for the first time. Prime Minister Donald Tusk says the country is closer to open conflict than at any time since the Second World War. As Russia and Belarus prepare to launch their Zapad war games. Well, I'M joined now in the studio by Julia Jen whose Monocles researcher and and writer Julia, many thanks for coming in. As our listeners probably know, you are from Ukraine. How significant was the downing of those Russian drones over Poland?
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Julia Jen
I mean, it was pretty shocking, wasn't it? Waking up to that news? I was actually tracking the drones that were flying over Ukraine. You know, Ukraine suffered a huge attack that night. 500 plus drones in Ukraine's own airspace, as well as cruise missiles. And I was tracking them before I was going to bed to check, you know, are my family going to be okay tonight? It looked like the airspace above them specifically was safe. But then I noticed at the bottom of the list of where the drones were heading, suddenly it said Poland. And then it was kind of, one drone is heading to this Polish city, to Lublin, and one drone heading to Rzeszow, another Polish city, etc. Etc. And I was really shocked. I thought maybe I'm reading this wrong, but this is a huge escalation, really. And I don't know if we really have grasped the significance of this in more Western capitals, but I think it's really being felt in Poland and in other frontline eastern NATO states. This is the first time that NATO has engaged with Russian drones. This is a huge moment in this war. And it's important to point out that there have been 30 drones that have entered Polish airspace since the beginning of the full scale invasion of Ukraine. But none of them have ever been shot down. They may have exploded or they may have turned back into Ukraine to continue an attack there. But this is the first time that there has been engagement. It's been a test of NATO's capabilities, really.
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Georgina Godwin
And did NATO pass that test because it would appear that it exposed some gaps really in their air defense.
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Julia Jen
Yes, absolutely. So. Well, about a year ago there was a drone, a Russian drone, that entered Latvian airspace. And at the time, the jets, the NATO jets stayed on the ground and there was criticism of this. Why did they not go to counter the threat? Now we did have jets taking off here and shooting down four of these drones, but 20 entered. So we have another 16 that crashed on their own and they were said to crash near high value targets. So missile, sorry, sorry, military bases, this is an issue. Why are NATO using military jets, F16s to shoot down these very cheaply made, very basic drones? They're sort of like kind of the brute force. They're kind of like a stone being hurled through the sky, what Ukrainians are using. And this is a really interesting moment in where you Know, are NATO going to send instructors to go and learn how Ukrainians are shooting down these drones? They're going to be actually trained by the Ukrainians here. Ukrainians use a mobile defense team. So literally a pickup truck, you've got a machine gun on it. And that's how you shoot down these drones. Because the really difficult targets are the Cruise missiles, etc. They come later. These drones sort of clear the way, they distract. And NATO couldn't actually deal with just 20 drones that entered Polish airspace. Ukraine at that time was struggling with 500 plus. So this is an issue for sure.
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Georgina Godwin
And do you think that this was Russia testing NATO?
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Julia Jen
Absolutely. And I'm sure we'll talk about the ZAPAD drills later. But this is absolutely a moment in which, you know, several things are happening here. Russia is picking up intelligence on Poland, on their air defense systems because when these drones enter into Poland they actually have a lot of different sensors on them, they have a SIM card. They are picking up loads of intelligence that they wouldn't be able to just get otherwise. So they're picking up lots of information on how Polish air defense systems work, who respond, respond, who doesn't respond, that sort of thing, and what kind of units are engaged, how are units responding to them as well. Specifically units that are stationed along that Belarus border. So this is absolutely a test of NATO's capabilities.
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Georgina Godwin
Now we know that the Polish border with Belarus is going to close tonight and that is because of the ZAPAD exercises that you mentioned. What exactly are they? What's being rehearsed in these drills?
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Julia Jen
Yes, so these happen every two years and we know that the 2023 one was cancelled. That was cancelled because Russia is basically tied up in Ukraine. So they didn't have enough manpower, enough sort of equipment to even rehearse with. But now they're kind of gathering back strength. And what these drills are usually about are just about kind of enhancing that cooperation between Belarus and Russia. Russia really strengthening their hold on Belarus, on their kind of military and really testing that eastern border because that's, you know, those are all the Baltic states are along there and you' got that gap between the Baltic states and Poland, the Suwalki gap. And that's the bit that really Russia is really testing there and seeing what they can pick up and seeing what they can do there.
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Georgina Godwin
Could these ZAPAD exercises be used to mask another Russian attack as Ukraine warns?
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Julia Jen
Yes, well, this is what Ukrainians are talking about because the last ZAPAD attack that started Zapad, well, it was in the end attack it started in 2021 and it culminated in January, February. That was when the full scale invasion of Ukraine started in late Febr that year. So I don't know. I hope not. And I hope everyone is hoping not. I think everyone is hoping not, but they absolutely. I think we have to be on our guard. NATO is on their guard for sure for small incursions, perhaps little sort of decoy attacks, little distractions and so on. And it's really about sowing fear in the central European population. You know, the use of an. I think we'll talk about the reshnik, the missile tests that are happening there and Russia's really expanding their capability of that. But also, you know, in Central Europe, you have politicians like Orban who are really saying, let's sit down with Russia, let's rebuild ties because we don't want war with them. Look what happened to Ukraine. They didn't want to talk to Russia and this is what's happened to them. So let's not turn our cities, et cetera, into bombed outsides. And I think that's what's really driving that fear in Central Europe.
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Georgina Godwin
Yeah, as you say, there is a nuclear elevator. So I wonder, is Donald Tusk right? How dangerous is this moment for Europe?
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Julia Jen
I think it's incredibly dangerous. I think this is really could be the kind of the next step in all these little steps that Russia is taking. I think Russia likes to take these little steps. You know, the full scale invasion of Ukraine didn't just start then, did it? We had the annexation of Crimea, then we had the incursions in Eastern Ukraine. We had separatists, supposed separatist movements that were really being fermented by Russia. So it's little step by little step. And I think this could really be the next step.
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Georgina Godwin
Julia, Jenn, thank you. Still to come on the program, protests erupt in France. We'll cross to Paris for the details. This is the globalist. Each of us has a craft, a calling that inspires us. Whether it's how a coffee is brewed, a chair is built, or how money is looked after, there's a love for the work, a care that compels you forward. For us at ubs, it's about designing a unique outcome for you. Because whatever your craft may be, ours is built around helping you succeed. UBS banking is our craft. Let's continue now with today's newspapers. And joining me in the studio is Anita Riota, Monocle's foreign desk producer. Anita, we've just been hearing from Julia what a very Very dangerous moment this might be for Europe. And of course, one of the ways Europe is going to counter this is by spending more on defense. Italy is receiving 50, 15 billion dollars for military spending. Tell us more on this.
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Anita Riota
Yes, absolutely. So the EU commission has just allocated the funds for different EU member states for their defense spendings. These are loans that countries will then have to repay. And it is interesting to see, and it speaks to the moment that Julia was just telling our listeners more about. But to see also where most of the money went. So the biggest receiver recipient was Poland with 43.7 billion euros. Then Romania, France, even Hungary, which also Julia brought into the discussion with Orban is an interesting case study there. But they received over 15 billion euros. So the EU is spending vast amount of money to make sure that their member states are bringing their technology up to speed, are making sure their recruits are up to speed. And Italy received the fifth largest contribution from the bunch. So it's, it's a really staggering amount of money for how much these countries used to spend on this type of thing.
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Georgina Godwin
And of course, some Italian politicians are very angry about this.
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Anita Riota
Absolutely. The governing coalition, which is made up of three right wing parties, is splintering over this budget. So Matteo Salvini, the leader of Lega, or Northern League, says that only sovereign nations should be in charge of how much money they allocate to what types of spending. And he insisted that states should only be able to borrow to arm themselves and not, you know, he says, we're not building an EU army. So if then Italy and France are working on something together that needs to happen between the two member states and not at the EU level. So it is evidencing some fragmentation in that coalition.
- [26:01]
Georgina Godwin
I'd like to move on now to a story that I'm finding increasingly interesting. So at first it was just objects to Jeffrey Epstein's birthday book, and there were allegations that Donald Trump had contributed to it. This was published in the Wall Street Journal. He completely denied it. Congress, we've now seen that it does exist. Whether it was Trump or not is still unproven. Most people think that it was. But now Britain's been drawn into this because Peter Mandelson is the UK Ambassador to Washington and he also has contributed to this book and he's come out and admitted it and said that there's probably more to come. In the book. He calls EPST his best pal. This is causing problems for Keir Starmer, but surely if Mandelson resigns, as people are calling for, where does that leave Trump, it is.
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Anita Riota
You're absolutely correct. It seems like a story with a bottomless hole and it just keeps going and going and there are constantly new twists and turns. Look, it seems that there are so many different conflating elements to this specific moment in time. Listeners will remember that. So Keir Starmer's had Angela Rayner, his deputy pm, resign a few days ago over a tax mistake. So I don't know that he's probably gung ho to have another high profile resignation, this one probably even more in disgrace. You know, nothing has been proven again about Ambassador Mandelson's behavior or anything nefarious. But you know, calling Jeffrey Epstein your best pal is not going to go over well in this day and age. So it is interesting, Keir Starmer's own personal domestic politics. But you're absolutely right. Trump might be on his way in a few days. He met with Mandelson just earlier this week where they did not discuss Epstein publicly at all. But it is how are you going to fire an ambassador, have ambassador serving on your soil be asked to leave their post? And you as the leader of the free world, that same sort of mistake or stain is not enough to take you out.
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Georgina Godwin
Quite extraordinary. This is a story we will be watching with huge interest. Finally, quick look at New York Fashion Week. So that begins today and there's a story here about how Trump's tariffs are affecting it.
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Anita Riota
Yes. So as you mentioned, New York Fashion.
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Georgina Godwin
Week kicks off today.
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Anita Riota
I will leave the beautiful analysis of what we we will see come down the Runway to our fashion director, Natalie Theodosi. But what I did think was interesting is that it is the first major fashion week after the global tariffs went into effect. Effectively, designers preparing for a New York Fashion Week show had about five weeks when this information was released and they went into effect of how they were going to pivot their designs. Textiles, for example, textiles coming out of South Korea, like Organza, I read, are now up, are 15% more expensive. We have 35% tariffs with China. So all of these raw materials are becoming so much more expensive. And it's going to be very interesting and important for the broader fashion industry to see how these designers have gone about creating a sort of new retail environment for themselves.
- [29:40]
Georgina Godwin
Anita, thank you very much indeed. That's Anita Riota there. And this is the Globalist on Monocle Radio. Now here's what else we're keeping an eye on today. A Brazilian Supreme Court justice has voted to acquit former President Jair Bolsonaro of an alleged coup attempt and annul his trial over jurisdiction, breaking with peers and raising the odds of an appeal of a verdict. This week, however, the high court still seems likely to convict Bolsonaro of plotting a coup to remain in power after he was voted out of office in 2022. US President Donald Trump halted the deportation of hundreds of South Korean Hyundai battery plant workers arrested during an immigration enforcement raid and proposed they stay to train Americans, the Financial Times has reported. South Korea's president has warned that the immigration raid could chill Korean investment in America, and Nepal's health ministry says 25 people have now been killed and more than 600 hundred injured in anti corruption protests that force Prime Minister K.P. sharma Oli to resign. Soldiers are guarding Parliament and patrolling Kathmandu, which is under a curfew, as talks with demonstrators are being prepared. This is the Globalist. Stay tuned now for a look behind the headlines. Here's Monocle's Laura Kramer on a new bright spot in Neapolitan architecture, the silver.
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Anita Riota
Lining found in waiting for tardy Italian.
- [31:24]
Georgina Godwin
Transport is that, at least in Naples, the stations are worth spending time in. Artist Anish Kapoor's new Neapolitan station, the Monte sant' Angelo subway, is finally opening to the public today, almost two decades after it was commissioned in 2003. The station's new grand and elemental exterior is a long and curving form with the terracotta hue of earthenware and represents the latest piece in a network of artist design stations across the Campania capital. Naples transformed much of its metro system.
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Anita Riota
A decade ago with new stations designed.
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Georgina Godwin
By art artists and architects such as Oskar Tuskets Blanca and Alvaro Siza. Despite its late arrival, Kapoor's Shapley station will be welcomed by commuters, who tend to enjoy a little theater and design while on the move. As much of Europe struggles to keep trains running on time, other cities should take note. Where you wait can matter almost as much as how long you have to wait.
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Francesca Gavin
Wait.
- [32:31]
Georgina Godwin
That was Monocle's Laura Kramer. For more, you can sign up to our daily newsletter, the Monocle Minute. Head over to monocle.com minute this is the Globalist. It is 8:32 in Paris, 7:32 in London. France's new prime minister, Sebastian Leconu, was sworn in yesterday as block everything. Protests continued across the country. For President Macron, this is another gamble after a rapid turnover of prime ministers. Le Cornu is his fifth in just 21 months. The challenge now is whether he can steady a divided parliament, calm the streets and restore confidence at a moment when the French economy itself Looks fragile. Well, to discuss this, I'm joined by Florence Biederman, who is a journalist and political analyst and the former chief editor at afp. Florence, good to have you back on the show. What's the latest on the demonstrations? How widespread were they? Are they ongoing?
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Florence Biederman
Well, they don't seem to be ongoing, and let's say on a French scale, they were not that impressive. As you know, French have tradition to protest and demonstrate. The point is that there was officially some 200,000 demonstrators. There were demonstration and attempt to block the country in several big cities, but the police forces intervened pretty quickly that they were perfectly aware of what was going on. And so the country was not blocked. And it has not been like the pandemonium, the big blockade, you could fear. The problem is that there may be other actions coming. The problem for the government is, of course, the day the Prime Minister is sworn. It's not a good omen to start under this situation. And the trade unions have also called for a day of protest on 18th September, which means very soon, and this will probably be much bigger. And you can feel, in any case, there is this social unrest and deep social dissatisfaction in the country over. Over the political situation and over the situation as a whole.
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Georgina Godwin
What does Olokonu bring to the job that his predecessors did not?
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Florence Biederman
That's a very good question. What he brings, what he's supposed to bring. And by the way, you have to mention that he was in Macron's choice for the last time when he appointed Francois back, was not his first choice. He wanted already to appoint Sebastien Le Cornu. That means Macron really bets on him. He's a close advisor of him. He has been ministers in all his governments for seven years in a row, which is kind of an incredible challenge. And he expects, I guess, is presented as somebody who can talk with many people, who can even talk to the far right. By the way, he was criticizing because he had a meeting with Marine Le Pen that was kind of secret at the time. He is supposed to be a moderate, he's supposed to be a man of dialogue. But, you know, somehow you heard this already, that was already said, like for Francois Barou, his predecessor, for Michel Barnier, his predecessor. So there is a lot of skepticism on what he can achieve, because whatever his skills are, I mean, the situation would be the same in the the national assembly with three antagonist groups that obviously cannot really make alliance. At least they've been trying for months, and he didn't succeed. So what will he bring? Well, he has let's say a daunting task. And there is a lot of skepticism on the fact that he succeeds.
- [36:28]
Georgina Godwin
I mean, what can he possibly do to reassure nervous investors and steady the economy? I mean, this is what it comes to down to.
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Florence Biederman
Absolutely. He will have. Maybe he will be, you know, obviously his predecessors failed because there was a lack of dialogue, a lack of dialogue with his own centrist group and with the opposition. So what he can do is at least manage to have the budget, the 2026 budget, adopted because this was one of the. The reason the Baruch government fell, because people were protesting against this austerity budget. France has this amazing public debt that it has to rein in. So this was an austerity budget that was refused. So the first thing Le Carnier should do is talk to everyone. Already he convoked this morning, like all the heads of his centrist bloc, let's say, or alliance, to talk with them. And surprisingly, this is not what his predecessor did. So will all this dialogue, all this negotiation at least manage to, you know, stabilize the budget and to stabilize the situation? This remains to be seen, but this is definitely the hope for, I mean, the French people too, like.
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Georgina Godwin
And Florence, finally, what does this tell us about France's trajectory as it edges towards the 2027 presidential election race? Will Macron last that long?
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Florence Biederman
That's his hope. And in any case, it's more than a hope because he said he would never resign. And I think you can be living on this and this succession of governments, you know, supposing Le Cornue lasts only a few months, then you can be sure he will appoint another prime minister. His goal in any case, is to hang on till this next presidential election. So the trajectory is not good. When you think about it. You can see this as a political crisis. You see no solution to it. And the worry is that, like even the presidential election, whether it will bring any kind of people meeting together and deciding to work together under a new president. This is also something that is not sure at all. So definitely it's rather like more interrogation on the capacity of France stabilize itself. And that's very worrying. Yeah, politically, it's really worrying.
- [39:00]
Georgina Godwin
Florence, lovely to talk to you again. That's Florence Biederman speaking to us from Paris. This is Monocle radio. It's 1538 in Tokyo, 738 here in London. We cross now to our Tokyo studio, where Hans Grimmel, who's Asia editor at Automotive News, gives us a round of the car industry. Hans, good morning to you or good afternoon to you, where you are We've been following in the headlines this whole Hyundai story. And South Korea has dispatched an emergency response team to the US to repatriate those 300 nationals who were caught up in the immigration authorities raid. But now there are differing reports coming out that Trump may have said that they should stay, they should train American workers. Obviously it's knocking investors from Korea who are thinking about investing in America. What is the latest on this story?
- [40:03]
Hans Grimmel
Well, I think your description of mixed signals is correct. There seem to be some come and go about what's happening there. The South Korean government has dispatched a jumbo jet to go pick them up and bring them back home. They will were hoping to leave as early as Wednesday. That was apparently delayed on the orders of President Donald Trump and partly to talk about having them stay if they'd like to, to train workers or finish the job to keep the construction going. South Korean officials apparently argued that, well, maybe that's an option, but let's get them home first because they've been traumatized and are exhausted. And I think that the goal now is to maybe have those willing to go home or wanting to go home voluntarily repatriate themselves on Thursday. So that's where we stand with things. You're right. This seems to lay bare kind of a contradiction in some of the policies of Donald Trump. Trump and his administration, on one hand trying to stoke international investment in the US Economy and its businesses and on the other hand making it difficult to do so.
- [41:26]
Georgina Godwin
Is this going to affect Hyundai's overseas production.
- [41:31]
Hans Grimmel
Now? It doesn't seem to be affecting their overseas production because the plant there, that the vehicle plant is still operating normally. And this is a battery plant that was scheduled to come online later. So it was still under construction and not really supplying batteries yet for vehicles that are being used. But it's unclear yet exactly how long this interruption in the construction will last or how impactful it will be in the mid to long term. Also under review are other other battery plants being set up by the same Korean battery company, which is LG Energy Solution. They're setting up plants not only in Georgia where this plant was affected, but elsewhere in the United States, including a joint venture with Honda, Japan's Honda Motor in Ohio. There are differing reports too about the status of suspension of of construction at those plants as the companies involved to kind of review their visa status of their workers.
- [42:40]
Georgina Godwin
Now Toyota has been restructuring US Production too. Can you tell us more about that?
- [42:48]
Hans Grimmel
Right. That's a plan to maybe move some of their Lexus production out of their Kentucky plant and consolidate it at a Lexus plant or a plant that makes Lexus products in Indiana. They say that that is not related at all to the tariff situation. What they seem to be doing is to make some room in the Kentucky plant to introduce some new electric vehicles so they can increase EV production in Kentucky. That's curious, however, because the expected demand for electric vehicles in United States. United States is supposed to moderate going.
- [43:26]
Scott Lucas
Forward.
- [43:29]
Hans Grimmel
As things like the tariffs and things like the suspension or the curtailment of EV incentives in the United States take a bite out of demand. So it's unclear exactly how much space they need in the Kentucky plant to feed EV demand.
- [43:47]
Georgina Godwin
And finally, a very brief look at tariffs. As you were mentioning. The US says it will reduce auto tariffs on Japan to 15% later this month. How have carmakers in Japan been affected by tariffs so far? And if it's reduced, how far will the situation change?
- [44:09]
Hans Grimmel
Right. Well, you know, they started off before this tariff turmoil, started off with a 2.5% tariff in the United States, which is negligible, I guess you could say. Trump added on 25% to that originally, building it to about 27.5%, which was a huge hurdle for them. Through negotiations, they knocked it down to 15% total in late July. Then it's taken them basically two months to actually sign the executive order that would put those tariffs into action. So there were two additional months added on of the 25% tariffs even after they had brokered the deal. So that added on to the costs beyond what they were expecting. But at the end of July, they were already expecting all the six major companies that were doing business in the United States that are doing business in the United States. They they expected a hit of almost 20 billion with a B dollars of extra cost due to those tariffs this fiscal year. So they were expecting a huge hit from that. And right now their primary mission is how to whittle that down.
- [45:25]
Georgina Godwin
Hans, thank you very much indeed. I believe there's a big storm coming in in Tokyo, so keep safe there. There was Hans Grimmel, live from our Tokyo. And this is the globalist on Monocle Radio, iq, EQ and AI. Three components key to the craft of innovation at ubs. Because to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving age, you need a partner with decades of experience, endless passion for the work, and a finger on the pulse of leading talent technologies bridging human expertise with artificial intelligence, all to elevate you. UBS banking is our craft. This week, London played host to the global design and creative community as the World Design Congress took place at the Bruce Frutalist masterpiece the Barbican Centre. Over two days, over 1,200 people from 77 countries joined together to talk about how design can help improve quality of life and make better cities. One of them was Dhurit Bunag, an architect and design advisor to Thailand's Ministry of Culture. His participation in the summit had one clear focus to reframe Thailand as Asia's design capital and bring a global event to Bangkok next year. Monocle's executive producer and senior foreign correspondent Carlotta Rebelo caught up with Tuangrut earlier and started by asking him to describe the Thai design scene.
- [47:06]
Dhurit Bunag
I think one of the things is that we have a very creative people in Bangkok. They are very funny in a way and they are very professional in a way. The thing is that during the past few decades I think there are a little. There have been a compromise in terms of communication to the world of what their capacity really is. I think there is a time that, you know, the previous government, they have a very strong policy try to promote Thai designer throughout the world. And I think we are part of the committee that working on that Now. I think politically speaking, the government changed a little bit, we changed the Prime Minister. So I think we are not quite sure whether the policy will remain. But we as an entity, as a people, we want this to actually continue. So we're forming a new association called Thailand Designer and Architect association or tada. And I think we can work that group of people from the professional with the government agency to create a certain thing similar to this WBO is doing right now for this event.
- [48:08]
Georgina Godwin
Now the ambition here, you're here with.
- [48:10]
Francesca Gavin
Government agencies helping promote not just Thai.
- [48:13]
Georgina Godwin
Design, but this ambition to bring quite a big global event back home as well and bring these practitioners back home. What is the dream there?
- [48:21]
Dhurit Bunag
We have a strong ambition called trying to do this we call the Bangkok International Design Expo by November 2026. It's not only a plan, it's more like a project already. Okay. And we call this the world ends. And I think in the sense that we're trying to see the change and we want to use Bangkok as a point of hinge to mark the change in the design world globally. So it's not about promoting Thai design or Thai designer but we want to use Thai design and Thai designer as a platform to foresee the changing in the design world. So we ask the question, which is a very provocative question and the story and the word is the world ends and it's Actually the world ends in the way that the new world world will begin. So we question the integrity of the theoretical thinking in terms of design. Where we are going, where we came from. Okay. And what could be next paradigm for the design world. So that's why we brought up that question. Not for the favor of the country, but the favor of the whole global design community which people think that we are creating crazy. And why Bangkok? We are not even in Europe and in this central part of the global design community. But I think that is the right way of doing it because we want to shift that to the other side of the world conversation.
- [49:51]
Francesca Gavin
Well, that's precisely my next question. Because often professionals in all creative industries, not just designers, but I'll even speak.
- [49:58]
Georgina Godwin
For myself as a journalist going to conferences around the world. It is interesting how.
- [50:03]
Francesca Gavin
How by shifting where those conferences are and being placed elsewhere, the way you see the same issues changes, the same solutions changes, and your connections too.
- [50:13]
Georgina Godwin
So is the ambition here that, you know, by bringing the design world, the global design world to Bangkok, you're able to also help, you know, change the way some people might see their work.
- [50:25]
Francesca Gavin
Or might engage with one another.
- [50:27]
Dhurit Bunag
Exactly. I think for us, I think possibility of design world is very contextual. So if the context of the conversation. Conversation. Change, maybe you can see new conversation. Okay. So I think that is something we try to put radically for people in the design world to see. I mean, London is great. We right now in London and this is great, but we want to actually create the context of the conversation that can, you know, creating a new agenda. Right. So I think bringing to Bangkok is very ripe a position about it. I'm sure you're quite familiar with the city and it's very much chaotic. It's very much unpredictable in a way, but it's also very casual and fun. Okay. So I think in that kind of domain, it can actually make shift for things that might be a possible future also for the design world.
- [51:21]
Francesca Gavin
And I guess just finally, you know, when we think about design in Thailand.
- [51:26]
Georgina Godwin
You know, there's a very particular aesthetic.
- [51:28]
Francesca Gavin
That comes to mind.
- [51:29]
Georgina Godwin
There's have a deep respect for traditional techniques and craft and artisans and that connection to local makers, even when doing global projects, are those just some of the lessons that, you know, Thai designers can teach the rest of the world?
- [51:43]
Francesca Gavin
What, when you are coming to places like the World Design Congress here in.
- [51:47]
Georgina Godwin
London, I know that in this case you are in a big drive to push people to come to you, but what are some of the things you.
- [51:53]
Francesca Gavin
Feel like in this relationship and this.
- [51:55]
Georgina Godwin
Exchange of knowledge that you can maybe teach some of us too.
- [51:59]
Dhurit Bunag
So I think we have all this strong and deep essence in terms of our culture that can be a contribution to the world. And we would like to use this opportunity to promote more for you to understand. And I think it's more like a takeaway. Okay. It's not something that we will use it to create a trap for you to visit the Bangkok, but I think it's something that we want you to take away from the event or from the project that we are doing, so you. You can make use of that. Like you just said, craft and culture is something that can be a creative inspiration at the source. So we want to make that for your use. And I think if the global community can actually connect it through that possibility, it could be more exciting. We can be more exciting. You can be more exciting, and it's something that we want to see.
- [52:47]
Georgina Godwin
Doing great Brunag there. In conversation with Monocle's Carlotta Rebelo at the World Design Congress in London. London, you're listening to the Globalist on Monocle Radio. And finally, here in Britain, the National Gallery is lifting its 1900 cut off for its art collection. Backed by donations totaling 375 million pounds, it's announced a new wing and launched an international architectural competition. Competition? Well, for more, I'm joined by Francesca Gavin, editor in chief of Epoch Review and founder of Art Present Future. Francesca, thanks for coming on the show. Why was the 1900 cutoff in place for so long and why change it now?
- [53:35]
Francesca Gavin
I think that's really interesting. I mean, it's. It's quite a coup, and the whole of the art world is definitely holding their breath because it's a real redefinition of the boundaries between Old master modern and contemporary art. But I think it's just to do with timing, essentially. You know, this is the 200th anniversary this year of the National Gallery. It was very much established as a certain canon of what art was. And obviously, 200 years ago, 1900 was immensely contemporary. So I think it's just catching up with the times.
- [54:09]
Georgina Godwin
I mean, was that ban, that cut off period, always strictly adhered to?
- [54:13]
Francesca Gavin
There's a few blurry motions around it. Occasionally. We've seen things coming from the turn of the century. Obviously, there's a great room or two that's devoted to Impressionism and post Impressionism, with some of the greater paintings actually within the gallery. But in general, there's obviously been some contemporary interventions, but we haven't seen Anything like what we're about to see.
- [54:35]
Georgina Godwin
I mean, I wonder how this might risk overlap with the remit of the Tate.
- [54:40]
Francesca Gavin
There's a lot of collaboration happening between the director of the National Gallery, Gabrielli Finali, and Maria Balt. The Tate, obviously the Tate itself has been under quite a lot of financial pressures and been letting go a lot of stuff. And I think they're really struggling to keep up with their remit in terms of space and exhibitions and funding. And the National Gallery has. This is an unsurpassed donation from more than. The fundraising is quite, quite exceptional. They're going to be creating a very large new exhibition space. The whole entire building to house these paintings is almost the size of a Sainsbury Wing, which halts all the early monsters. So I think the collaboration with the Tate is actually going to be quite well done. I think there's going to be a consciousness of, because they're not buying an entire new body of work, some of it will be donations and some of it will be loans. So I'm sure there will be loans from the Tate collection from the 20th century will be inserted within the National Galleries collection.
- [55:31]
Georgina Godwin
I mean, what, what counts as modern art?
- [55:35]
Francesca Gavin
Oh, that's a really interesting word. Well, I mean, modern art is very much seen as 20th century. If we're thinking, if you go to an auction, if you're looking at modern art, we're looking at mid century art, essentially the big boys, Abex, etc and contemporary is really seen, 1970 onwards, kind of. But obviously now we're in the 21st century and that's all being redefined. I think those timescales shift quite naturally as we move through different kinds of mediums, through different kinds of aesthetics. But the focus, what's so interesting at the National Gallery, it's very much going to be about painting. They've made it quite clear that they're not going to be doing other mediums. They really want this, the National Gallery, to be the home of painting within London.
- [56:17]
Georgina Godwin
You've talked about this huge new wing that will be built and of course the astonishing size of these donations. Very unusual coming from the private sector in that way. Tell us more about the architectural design competition for this new wing.
- [56:29]
Francesca Gavin
Well, the building is going to happen in the2030s and they're only opening the design. It will be an open call and there'll be people able to apply, obviously with different proposals. So it's going to take quite a while before we actually see what the result of this would be. But if anyone knows the Section behind the National Gallery, there's a Cecil Hotel. It's that location which was actually bought, I think, around a decade ago. So I think it's going to be quite exciting. Obviously, the Sainsbury Wing is very much defining a kind of 90s form of architecture, and it's a very different look to the neoclassicism of the National Gallery. So I think it's going to be very interesting to see what they choose.
- [57:08]
Georgina Godwin
And finally, Francesca, what does the scale of this expansion. Expansion say about Britain's cultural ambition?
- [57:16]
Francesca Gavin
I mean, we really saw investment into the idea of London as a heart of culture around the millennium when the Tate Modern itself was built. And there was this huge burst when suddenly the concept of art being a mainstream thing, which actually also was investment, but also that attracted huge bodies of international visitors. And the National Gallery has an incredible location. It literally is at the heart of the city. So I think this investment on something public facing is really important. I think it's also important to note who the donors are, one of them being the Michael Moritz Crankstart Foundation. And that's a Time journalist who turned venture capitalist who's actually very involved in campaigning against MAGA and Trump. So I think there's also a political edge to this in terms of the opportunity and educational aspect of culture.
- [58:06]
Georgina Godwin
And where do we, as. As Britain sit in terms of cultural ambition when you look at Europe as a whole?
- [58:14]
Francesca Gavin
Well, I mean, the best thing about the National Gallery is it's free. I think that's one of the most amazing things that happened in the 20th century. We can visit this and I think in terms of how we define ourselves, I think that's really fascinating. Obviously, the Tate's reminisce or British art, and the National Gallery has always had a very European focus. So it's going to be really interesting seeing how they're expanding the position of London as a heart of international culture with a growth of post 1900 European, but also geographically expanded artworks. I think that's really ambitious, but something for us to be proud of. There's a culture that is something to define our country by.
- [58:50]
Georgina Godwin
Francesca, thank you very much indeed. That's Francesca Gavin there. And that's all for today's presentation program. Thanks to our producers, Anita Riota and Carlotta Rebelo, our researcher Daniela Brauer Smith and our studio manager, Elliot Greenfield. After the headlines, there's more music on the way and the briefing will be live at midday. In London, the Globalist will return at the same time tomorrow. I'm Georgina Godwin.
- [59:16]
Francesca Gavin
Thank you for listening, Sam.