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UBS Narrator
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UBS Narrator 2
all, UBS advice is our craft.
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Emma Nelson
You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on 12 March 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. Coming up, tapping the world's oil reserves. Less than two weeks into the US And Israeli war against Iran and there's already a need to call for the backup supplies of fuel. We'll ask how long term a strategy. This is also ahead in the next 60 minutes.
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Noora Al Kaabi
We don't want to escalate, we want to de escalate yet we want to make sure also we're following what can be done with the UN in terms of condemning and in terms of passing the right resolutions.
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Emma Nelson
The UAE's minister of state, Noora Al Kaabi tells us why she hasn't taken a more offensive posture in response to Iran's attacks.
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Sam Quilley
Plus, all of the skills that I've learned along the way, like dancing, performance art, fashion, theater, music, like they're all combined into this Sam Queeley project.
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Emma Nelson
We'll be hearing from the Aussie techno pop princess and Monocle favorite Sam Quilley. Plus, we'll go through the papers and hear the latest aviation news out of Asia as well. That's all coming up on the Globalist live from London. First, though, look at what else is happening in today's news. Chile's far right new president Jose Antonio Cast has addressed thousands of supporters vowing to restore the country by tackling crime and improving finances. South Africa has summoned the United States ambassador over what Pretoria has described as undiplomatic remarks. And music with English lyrics is beginning to lose its dominance in the charts with the streaming giant Spotify finding songs in 16 languages featured in the global top 50 last year. Stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on those stories. But first, of the many consequences of the widening war across the Middle east, one of the most widespread and urgent has been the effect on the world's energy supplies. Oil tankers have been halted or have become targets in the Strait of Hormuz, as have refineries. Prices have shot up and investors spooked. Well, to try to mitigate all this, the International Energy Agency agreed yesterday to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history. But will it be enough to calm things down? And how long will this last? Well, I'm joined now by Monocle senior news editor Chris Chermack to tell us more. Good morning, Chris.
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Chris Chermack
Good morning, Emma.
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Emma Nelson
So we have all prices. Oil prices have remained largely unchanged. Well, in fact, they've gone up. We now have the price of oil surpassing $100 a barrel.
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Chris Chermack
Again, that is the story, isn't it? You're talking there about a record release of strategic oil reserves coordinated by 32 countries around the world. And yet markets have moved in the exact opposite direction. They have actually moved up when it comes to oil. It does show you just how volat this situation is. What we've seen overnight is that Iran has basically taken this announcement and said, well, if you're going to release reserves, we're going to make life even more difficult for you. Two tankers have been struck in Iraqi waters overnight and Iran itself has even sort of taunted President Donald Trump saying, if you're going to do this, oil is going to rise to $200 per barrel because of the impact you've had on regional security. And regional security is what matter. So, yes, this is an incredible, this is a record announcement, a record release of oil, but it is not having a big impact on the markets.
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Emma Nelson
And this is a significant departure, isn't it, from the norm? Because most governments are very unwilling to start to tap into reserves, especially so soon after the start of a crisis.
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Chris Chermack
No, I mean, when you have a crisis, this is one of the responses that happens. The last time, of course, that this did happen was after Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine. So that was another similar moment of a shock to the oil markets. And the second largest release of oil reserves, about 100 under 200 million barrels. In this case, you've now reached this record 200 million per barrel. But the fact that if you look at it from the numbers, this is almost half of what the United States has in reserve right now. They have a little over 400 million barrels. So it shows you how rare this is as a step why countries don't want to do this regularly because of the fact that they really, they really don't have that much. And I think that's also points again in a way to markets, because markets want a long term solution. They don't see this as something that is necessarily going to impact them both because this Oil takes a while to actually reach the market, about 120 days. So it does nothing for what's happening right now. And they know that this isn't going to last because the US does not have enough reserves to keep this going for a long period of time.
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Emma Nelson
Indeed, there is that sense though, that there is international coordination happening here because the IEA has what it was created in the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis. There are 32 members, including the likes of Germany, Austria, Japan, US, Mexico, Australia. That sense though, that people recognize the severity of this crisis and have decided that actually acting as one is the way forward.
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Chris Chermack
Yes, I think that is one of the interesting aspects of what happened yesterday, Emma, the fact that you saw this coordinated announcement and agreement to release the strategic res, including countries like Germany releasing 20 million barrels, Japan releasing, saying it will release 80 million barrels, one of the biggest on that. So yes, there was a coordinated move here. So the symbolism of this is certainly important to show unity. Although it should be said there are certainly reports that in this case it was pushed very much by the United States. This would not have happened without the US of course, which is the one that wanted this to happen. But yes, there's a symbolism here. It shows how concerned countries around the world are about the lack of regional stability in the Middle east and the impact that it is having on oil markets and therefore on energy prices back home. So lots of countries want to do something about it. Nonetheless, the question is what can they really do short of actually stopping this war?
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Emma Nelson
Indeed, because there are two big things that are happening, aren't they, to put a block on the supply of oil. First and foremost. We have Iran, Israel and the US have all struck oil and gas facilities. So there are going to be long term consequences of the places, the locations where the energy is actually produced is, or pulled together is are going to be damaged. So there'll be long term consequences of that. Furthermore, we have the likes of Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE are cutting production. They're simply running out of space. There are two huge issues here.
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Chris Chermack
There are two huge issues which again points to this fact that you have also in a way, two separate things here, right? You have the short term and you have the long term. So the short term is the fact that oil is not passing through the Strait of Hormuz as well. And G7 nations and others are trying to get that up and running, promising to send a fleet that would help oil tankers to go through the Strait of Hormuz. Although whether that will actually happen, whether Any tankers would be willing to take that risk is another matter. They're also obviously promising to stop Iran from. To strike its navy, to limit the stockpile of weapons it has, so that it can. Cannot disrupt shipping, cannot disrupt oil. But nonetheless, to your point, Emma, what it has already done has caused a tremendous amount of damage. And so you have had Gulf nations, in particular Qatar as well, warning that they are not going to be able to get back up and running soon. This has caused great damage to their facilities. Not only damage, it's also, even in the case, I understand, of say, Qatar and liquefied natural gas. It just takes a while for these things to get up and running again once they've been shut down. So there are so many, many different elements to this. And that is really why, to go back to the original start of this, why markets kind of priced in this release of a record amount of oil from the strategic national reserves of countries.
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Emma Nelson
There is. There's some news just coming out of France. I think it's on the FT's website about. I think it broke about nine minutes ago. Total Energy has decided to cap fuel prices in France. Governments across Europe are now stepping up, trying to shield consumers, because ultimately, while all this is going on in the Gulf, this will start to affect prices at the pump across the world very, very soon. And it will also push prices up for consumers, whose products are associated with the production of oil and gas. We now have this sense that governments are trying to do something about this. I mean, how long can they do that?
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Chris Chermack
Well, that's the question, isn't it? I mean, there's only so much they can do. And so we are going to see a rise in prices. I think that we're already seeing a rise in prices. You know, Emma, I was in the United actually, as it happened, when the war in Iran started, you saw the immediate rise in gas prices. So, I mean, you see this immediate response to some of these things, and that's what many people around the world will be seeing, particularly when it comes to gas prices, petrol for their cars. But, yes, some countries are going to start taking measures. They're going to try and start maybe capping, as you say, with France, take whatever measures they can. But all of that is. That is really a temporary solution at the moment. So, again, the question goes back to how long this war is going to last. That's going to be the key question for whether countries can last through this and sort of put some kind of patches on prices and the supply of oil, for that matter. Or whether they're going to have to actually just accept higher prices around the world.
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Emma Nelson
One of the most unstable elements of all this is Donald Trump himself. His decision to say that there's practically nothing left to bomb in Iran, we've won the war, yet this is not abating. At what point does the domestic electorate in the United States send a message to Donald Trump that what he is doing is making their life more expensive?
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Chris Chermack
That's a very good question, Emma. It'll be interesting to see how that continues. Donald Trump himself spoke yesterday. He gave a sort of campaign style rally and as you say, his message is was kind of trying to have it both ways, saying the war was over, but it's also not done yet and we might as well finish the job now because we don't want to come back in two years time. So we don't know exactly what that means, how far he wants to go. Obviously the Iranian government, if you will, the supreme leader, the new one, Mashallah Khamenei, as far as we know is still alive. So he hasn't in that sense achieved that goal. So, yes, the question then becomes for the US how much are people in the United States going to react? There has been a huge amount of debate within the US Even within the MAGA movement itself about whether this is appropriate. Given all of the sort of US America first rhetoric that we saw from Donald Trump, of course, ahead of his entering office. This is something of a departure from that. But so far you haven't seen that. Obviously the Senate issue backed Trump's war powers, backed this war, the House of Representatives backed this war. So it's going to be a question, I think there in particular in Congress if you start to see some shift in voices because they are the ones at the end of the day that could come back and say we're going to put a measure forward once again to actually limit Donald Trump's ability to act in Iran. That is the concrete thing that can happen right in this. Congress does have that power if it wants to use it. So the question is, will it use it?
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Emma Nelson
Finally, a senior news editor. Chris, what else are you following on the desk today?
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Chris Chermack
Well, I'll be hosting the briefing later on today, Emma. So we'll be getting into some more of this. Also looking at the oil prices and whatever is going to be happening in the next few hours. Just from our conversation, Emma, as you know, things change pretty quickly at the moment.
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Emma Nelson
Indeed, thank you so much for that. That was Monocle senior news editor Chris Chermack. You're listening to the Globalist. Now. There have been more than 2,000 Iranian missiles and drones launched across the region since the United States and Israel began their war with Iran, with the UAE absorbing a large share of the attacks. Yet Abu Dhabi insists that escalation isn't the answer. Nora Al Kaabi is the UAE's Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign affairs. And she spoke to Monocle's Gulf correspondent in Zaman Rashid, who began by asking her why the UAE hasn't taken a more offensive posture in response to Iran's attacks.
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Noora Al Kaabi
I just want to say we stand in terms of protecting our sovereignty. But there is an aftermath. I mean, it's just a simple, I don't know, history lesson. If we will go into war, it means that there will be, you know, an effect that will, you know, that will just make it even worse. We don't want it to go worse. We don't want, we don't want to escalate. We want to de escalate yet we want to make sure also we're following what can be done with the UN in terms of condemning and in terms of passing the right resolutions for such blatant attacks. So I think you don't want to end up with a, you know, with another war next door. They're just, they're just literally next door. So the UAE is being very responsible. There are unprovoked attacks on the uae. But the UAE sounds unprovoked.
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Fernanda Augusta Pacheco
President Trump has said that this war is coming to a close. It doesn't feel like that on the ground here, though. Your excellency, again, as you mentioned, the, the, we've had warnings on our phone today. We know that there has been drones and missiles targeted towards our civilian infrastructure. Once again, Dubai Airport. And there's been injuries there. We know across the Gulf there has been other attacks. We know there's been three attacks on vessels out towards the Strait of Hormuz. So it doesn't really feel like that is the case to you. Is that the case? What Donald Trump is saying? Are we near the end?
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Noora Al Kaabi
Well, again, as a mom, I can just focus on the situation here in the UAE and in the region. We're doing our best to make sure that there's no impact in business. There's no impact in our logistical pipeline. Yes, the situation, hormones is disrupted. This is what I can say. I can say that the UAE entities are always on top of it, looking at, I mean, monitoring the situation in real time. The broader point is that Iran actions have consequences, which is beyond The Gulf, okay, beyond the Gulf. It's a global trade, it's everyone's concern. And I hope, I feel hopeful because the UAE as well, we got leaders and countries who are working with us and made hundreds of phone calls to our president just, you know, showing solidarity and condemning such attacks. So I think we have a more of a strong group of countries that are affected and that are, you know, keen for this to stop because it is affecting, it's, it's affecting everyone.
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Fernanda Augusta Pacheco
I'm currently just overlooking the entrance of, of the Strait of Hormuz. That's where I'm situated. And the suggestions and, and please go into this just as much as you can within your rebit. But, but the suggestions that Iran has, has planted mines in the water. There's hundreds of ships backed up that can't get through. Vessels, including a UAE flagged carrier, have been struck by Iran. What are the UAE's concerns about the Strait of Hormuz and what work is being done to get ships moving again?
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Noora Al Kaabi
I mean, the Strait of, as I told you, sorry, this is an area where it's handled by relevant UAE entities. And yes, the global supply chain is, you know, is disrupted when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz. It depends in terms of how much each country or each nation, you know, rely on it. For us in the uae, we're doing our best to monitor the situation. Of course the consequences are beyond again the Gulf. But this is just refers to my, my previous answer of that. Everyone wants to make sure that we deescalate and make this top because this is just one of, one of the examples that is affecting everyone.
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Emma Nelson
That was Nora Al Kabi who's the UAE's Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was speaking to Monocle's in Zamam Rashid. And you can hear more of that interview on tonight's edition of the Monocle Daily. This is the Globalist list. We turn our focus to some of the day's other news now. And Ukraine is running out of money to defend itself against the Russian invasion. So where can it secure its next tranche of funds? Relying on the US is no longer possible, for starters. And when it comes to the eu, it is not straightforward either. The bloc's leaders will meet next week in Brussels to try to convince the leaders of both Hungary and Slovakia to stick to a promise they made to approve a 90 billion euros. You're alone. Well, I'm joined now in the studio by Nina Dos Santos, international broadcast correspondent and former CNN Europe editor. Good morning Nina, good to see you.
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Nina Dos Santos
Good morning, Emma.
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Emma Nelson
This €90 billion, it would provide what, two thirds of the amount that Ukraine needs to continue fighting Russia until the end of next year, is that right?
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Nina Dos Santos
Yes, that's right. Well, originally at the end of last year, Ukraine said that it needed around about 65 billion euros per year over the next couple of years to stay financially solvent. There are concerns that this country could quite literally go broke, even possibly by the end of this very month if it doesn't get extra financial help. There has been some sort of reprieve coming from the International Monetary Fund. They've agreed just recently to lend Ukraine $8.1 billion. $1.5 billion of that has been dispersed straight away. So that to a certain extent keeps the wall from the door just in the immediate. But the reality is, is that also in terms of sort of signaling to Russia that Ukraine will be able to a financially solvent country that can also defend itself. EU countries know very, very well that they need to stump up a good few tens of billions of euros at this upcoming EU summit to signal that that's the case and they're supporting Ukraine.
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Emma Nelson
That would be reasonably straightforward were it not for the Hungarian and Slovakian leaders, Robert Fitzo and Viktor Orban. Yes, that's right. They're the problem children of the European Union's ability to get stuff done.
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Nina Dos Santos
The bete noire and Brussels has been dealing with them for quite some time, so they're quite used to this. You'll remember there was a big hoo ha at the end of last year when it turned out it wasn't actually these countries that were the impediment to giving Ukraine the money that it needs to stay afloat. It was actually Belgium member at that time because there was a lot of back and forth about whether or not the EU should be allowed to use frozen Russian funds inside a clearinghouse in Belgium to for that money to be given to Ukraine to help it rebuild itself and continue to arm itself and defend itself. At the end of the day they came out with one of those famous EU summit fudges where they agreed to lend Ukraine 90 billion euros that would be stumped up by all EU countries. And eventually they did manage to get Slovakia and Hungary on board with that. Now, their objective, this upcoming summit, is to get Hungary and Slovakia to stick to the promise of coughing up cash, to give Ukraine that, that 90 billion euros as a joint fund. Now what has happened in the meantime that has put the Hungarians and Slovaks off is that the main pipeline that elements their oil and gas needs that funds these countries or funnels to these countries. Russian oil and gas via Ukraine has been damaged by a Russian drone strike and Slovakia and Hungary claim that Ukraine isn't doing enough to repair that quickly enough because Ukraine has has no interest in helping Russia continue to sell Russian oil and gas. Remember that Slovakia and Hungary have a particular exemption to get this oil and gas from Russia because they're so dependent on it. And so that is where the sticking point is. If these EU countries cannot get Hungary and Slovakia on board because they need unanimous support to cough up this 90 billion, it's believed that some of the Baltic countries, the Netherlands and the Nordics can at least dump up about 30 odd billion for the time being to keep Ukraine going.
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Emma Nelson
This focuses minds, doesn't it? Because Donald Trump now looking almost exclusively at the Middle East, a lot of American military equipment now being deployed to the Middle east and some are saying this is what Ukraine could have been receiving. Is this again? And this is a question which we examine every time you're in the studio. Does this now focus Europe's mind?
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Nina Dos Santos
I think it does. But also remember, Ukraine as well is able to showcase its formidable drone technology. And what we've seen over the last two days is Ukraine sending delegations of drone experts over to Middle Eastern countries at their request to teach some of the Gulf states how to use that type of relatively cheap technology to defend themselves. So Ukraine has been able to put its, you know, the jewel in the crown of its wartime economy, its drone and unmanned warfare capability, you know, front and center stage of this particular conflict as well, to show the contribution that Ukraine has, has been making and its abilities to defend itself under, you know, onslaught from a much bigger, well, armed neighbour. So that is obviously the contribution that Ukraine is quite keen to make and has been able to over the last few days.
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Emma Nelson
Lina dos Santos, international broadcast correspondent, former CNN Europe editor and regular guest here on Monocle Radio. Thank you, Steltakem. On today's program, I think there's a
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Sam McClary
real challenge for us now into how do we bring those buildings up to standards and that people see that there is opportunity to, I don't know, kiss the frog and turn it into your prince or princess.
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Emma Nelson
We are at MIPIM in Cannes to find out more about the importance of making the office an essential and indeed attractive element of work. Stay tuned.
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UBS Narrator
Craft is a matter of perspective, a unique outlook, an obsessive attention to detail. With UBS Chief Investment Office Houseview, we're focused on identifying the latest investment opportunities and market risks to help you achieve your financial goals.
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UBS Narrator 2
So you get the big picture broken
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UBS Narrator
down into thought provoking insights delivered daily and curated by over 200 globally connected, locally active analysts. UBS banking is our craft.
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Emma Nelson
07:24 Here in London, looking at today's newspapers, I have Terry Stiazny, political journalist and author of Believable Lies, the Misfits who Fought Churchill's Secret Propaganda War. Good morning, Terry. Good morning. Good to have you with us. What have you spotted?
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UBS Narrator
Well, let's start with Politico. And I know you have just been talking about Europe and summit and attitudes to Ukraine and elsewhere, but it's quite interesting looking they are reporting, reporting that Giorgia Meloni yesterday speaking to the Italian parliament has really shifted her view on the war in Iran and saying that she issued what they called her strongest rebuke of the war so far in these remarks and saying that the interventions were outside the scope of international law. And it's sort of comparing this with the attitudes of other European leaders who, of course, people like Pedro Sanchez and Rob Yetton in the Netherlands and Macron who have all been talking about their degrees of opposition to the war. And I think Giorgia Meloni is now falling into the camp of one of those leaders who was initially more favorable and gave the US A bit more backing and is now slightly trying to sort of walk away from that as the conflict is going on and as we're seeing more impacts hitting Europe now.
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Emma Nelson
Why is this? Because she is famously known as the person who they will place next to Trump at difficult dinners. She's the one who will talk to him and who will listen to him. We've seen Pedro Sanchez in Spain who doesn't really care what Donald Trump thinks of him. We have issues with the United Kingdom. Macron is also criticizing Donald Trump. But to have Meloni join the chorus says what about where her loyalties lie?
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UBS Narrator
Well, I think it's interesting here. I mean, in this article in Politico it's describing this as a reflection of pressures closer to home, saying that the airstrikes have been deeply unpopular in Italy. People are worried about being drawn into another conflict. She's got troubles with her own coalition on a different issue, the issue of judicial reform reforms. And so, you know, she is under quite a lot of domestic political pressure here, it seems. And I think it's also something we've seen in the UK I think as well, not only not in the government so much, where the government's position has remained pretty much the same, but Actually in the opposition, where opposition parties on the right who had been quite favorable towards the US Intervention and now again, slightly backing away from this as they look at things like, you know, rising fuel prices, you know, this potentially being a longer conflict that the could end up being drawn into.
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Emma Nelson
Okay, let's move on to. Well, the Mandelson files published yesterday, while a tranche of public files were published yesterday talking about how Peter Mandelson ended up as UK Ambassador to the United States. It is not just a domestic story. This is it. This is. Has the wider implications of just how international the Epstein network was, not just in business, but in diplomacy. Yes.
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UBS Narrator
And I think also, you know, we've just been talking about how people dealt with Trump. And one of the interesting things that came out about in these files was the sense of urgency that there was within Downing street in the British government that we have to get a new ambassador in into Washington who can deal with Donald Trump. And so as a result of that, they ended up basically, as far as you can see, overriding a lot of the risk that Keir Starmer was warned about. He was warned in terms about reputational risk in hiring Peter Mandelson because of his ongoing relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. It shows that they knew that the two had still been in touch after Jeffrey Epstein was convicted, that, you know, this relationship was still close. And yet people within Downing street still decided that this was a risk worth taking, which I find, you know, really surprising, particularly given that Keir Starmer is normally seen as being such a cautious person, not someone who takes those kind of risks. But yet in the case of Mandelson, he was prepared to do that.
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Emma Nelson
Indeed. And we have the National Security advisor, Jonathan Powell, always a very, very cool head here, saying that he had raised concerns about the reputational risk of Mendelssohn's appointment, saying it had been weirdly rushed. And the general consensus was that, and I'm quoting here, the view is Peter is always a disaster and we always end up firing him. That is not to be doubted, but I wonder whether the context of Mandelson's appointment needs to be looked at, that Trump is a difficult charact and if there is any British, you know, sort of soothe, soothing voice, it can come from Peter Mandelson. And one wonders whether the United Kingdom's government said, okay, we will hold our nose if it means that we can maintain the relations with White House.
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UBS Narrator
I think, yes, this is one of part of the information that we haven't yet seen. And there are more files and WhatsApp messages and other information, emails and so forth that are still due to be released. But I think you get that sense if you look at the timing of it, all of this is going on in December 2024. And you think they obviously want somebody in place for the inauguration. They want to have someone there. They don't want the woman who was in post in Washington to stay on. And so they are prepared to cut corners and they were prepared to take this risk. And now that is something that is sort of rebounded.
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Emma Nelson
Let's talk about Noma Rennie. Red Zeppe has finally resigned after sort of a good few days of allegations that, that he was a terrible, terrible bully at noma. He's now resigned. He's issued in a video online. What does this say about the way that kitchens still work in the world?
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UBS Narrator
Yes, I think, I think we probably thought that a lot of this had changed. I mean, we're all familiar with it. You know, whether it's the bear, whether it's other famous chefs with the people yelling and shouting. And in this case, Rene Redzepi was, you know, accused of, of punching employees in the face and jabbing them and slamming them against walls. And I think people had thought that maybe fine dining had got past that, had sort of thought, no, you're not going to get the best out of your team if you shout at them and threaten them. And Reno Red Zeppe says he's now sort of had anger management classes and, you know, done some things to try and change and to try and do things differently. But I think it's that, it's that incredible level of perfectionist. And I think sometimes that kind of spills over into, you know, you haven't chopped this tiny little leaf absolutely perfectly. You haven't done, you know, the level of, of putting a blossom on top of the piece of fish with, with your tweezers. Absolutely right. It's so precise. And I think that if you're working to that level of precision, it's not to justify it, not, it's not to say it's fine, but that does seem to be what, what sets people off. And you know, you're under huge pressure in this very, a very pressurized environment. But I mean, looking at these reports about. So this has all come out as Noma was about to start an LA residency for four months. A pop up. This is not your average pop up. This is fifteen hundred dollars a ticket pop up. And despite these stories, the residency sold out in three minutes. So four months, sold out in three minutes. Still not going to get a table anytime soon.
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Emma Nelson
He trained his success as well. Terry Stiazny, political journalist and author of Believable Lies the Misfits who Fought Churchill's Secret Propaganda War. Thank you as ever, for joining me in studio. Now here's what else we're keeping an eye on today. Chile's new far right president, Jose Antonio Cast has addressed thousands of supporters vowing to restore the country by tackling crime and improving finances. Mr. Cast said he would cut illegal immigration and address organized crime as his inauguration ceremony prompted demonstrations in some cities. South Africa summoned the United States ambassador just weeks after he took up the post over what Pretoria says was undiplomatic remarks at a business conference. Leo Brent Bazelle, a conservative activist appointed by Donald Trump, criticised some South African policies on race. And music with English lyrics is beginning to lose its dominance in the global charts. The streaming giant Spotify found that songs in 16 languages featured in the global top 50 last year year. And those are the headlines on Monocor Radio. Now, what does exactly make a great office? As demand for workspace in our cities increases once again, designing places that prioritizes sustainability, quality of life and innovation has never been more important. Well, this was a key discussion point at this week's mipin, the world's largest urban festival, which is taking place in Canin for. And among the attendees was Sam McClary, who's the chief executive of the British Council for Offices. She spoke to Monocle's executive producer Carlotta Rebello about why offices remain critical urban infrastructure and what the next phase of the workplace might look like. Sam began by describing what the British Council for Offices does.
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Sam McClary
The BCO is a membership organization for anyone and everyone who is active in the workspace world, not just in, in the UK that we have international members and so we've got about 4,000 members, from architects, engineers to developers to fit out, contractors to the agents, to everyone who touches the wonderful world of workspace. And I guess how we're driving the workspace forward is bringing conversation to life. You know, talking about the challenges that are out there, trying to champion the changes that we're seeing, providing guidance, research, opportunities for our members to network and learn from each other.
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Emma Nelson
Well, one of the things we've learned so far is of course, how London's in particular London's office market is tightening
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UBS Narrator
and high quality office space is becoming
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Emma Nelson
scarce and it's at a crunch point. What challenges does that pose?
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UBS Narrator
And can it be used as an
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Emma Nelson
opportunity to rethink the city, rethink how it adapts to the existing state.
- [34:39]
Sam McClary
I think it absolutely should be used as an opportunity to rethink. I think we're in a really interesting point in the cycle right now in that there is, as you've said, the volume of development is so tight in London and the demand for best in class space is incredibly strong. The thing that I always think about is that, so grade A stop and the grade A demand is actually a small part of a much bigger market. And when you look at the UK and London in particular, most of that market isn't grade A, it's everything else. And I think there's a real challenge for us now and something we need to sort of turn towards into. How do we bring those buildings up to standards that they can take some of that demand and that people see that there is is opportunity to kiss the frog and turn it into your prince or princess? And I think we have to look at ways to do that for the existing office stock.
- [35:40]
Emma Nelson
You're touching there upon this idea of retrofitting, which we know there's always a
- [35:44]
UBS Narrator
debate, retrofitting, demolishing, what do we do?
- [35:47]
Emma Nelson
But in this particular case, when we
- [35:49]
UBS Narrator
look at offices and the places of
- [35:51]
Emma Nelson
work, I guess what does a good retrofit look like?
- [35:55]
Sam McClary
I think there's some really interesting examples of sort of the deep retrofit that we're seeing across London and the UK and then a much gentler touch because we've done a really strong piece of research recently looking at viability of sustainable buildings outside of the Big Six. And, you know, no surprises for guessing it's not very viable outside of the Big six, unless you re approach your definition of sustainable buildings. And we know that most sustainable building is building that's already built and occupied. And so with some of that soft touch retrofit that we can do to bring those buildings up to standard, I think, you know, maybe that's what good looks like, actually. How do we enable buildings that are already active to just be a little bit more efficient now?
- [36:48]
Emma Nelson
One of the other issues as well is the idea of stranded assets in
- [36:54]
UBS Narrator
older buildings, in particular older office buildings.
- [36:57]
Emma Nelson
How can cities, not just London cities
- [36:59]
UBS Narrator
in general, prevent such large parts of
- [37:02]
Emma Nelson
their commercial stock from becoming obsolete?
- [37:05]
Sam McClary
I think partnership and collaboration is the answer there. And we've seen it, you know, even here at mipin, we've seen some announcements about our local authorities stepping in and helping with the viability crisis that there is at the moment. So if we can create proper partnership with local authority, with the funding packages that are out there to enable those developments to come forward. I was having a conversation earlier about what are some of the things that we can just pull on to enable that second restock to not become stranded because we can't convert everything to something, something else. We do need workspaces, a vital part of our infrastructure. You know, if we're looking to growth, we need businesses to flourish. Don't we need innovation to happen? And that happens in a workspace. So is there some sort of funding mechanism that we can put in place that enables those slightly lower grade buildings to step up? And I was talking to Nuveen actually, and they have system that they're using out in the States is doing just that. And I understand that there's a bit of interest in creating those kind of platforms over here in the uk.
- [38:16]
Emma Nelson
When I was reading ahead of our interview, a bit of things you've said in interviews before and a bit of the work that you do, I think I came across this idea that you've
- [38:24]
UBS Narrator
described the Office as a form of national infrastructure. And that was.
- [38:28]
Emma Nelson
It really struck out me, stuck out
- [38:29]
UBS Narrator
to me because it's quite fascinating.
- [38:31]
Emma Nelson
Tell me a bit more about that
- [38:32]
Sam McClary
for those people that don't know. Sometimes I can get on my high horse about certain things and you know, that's not always great, but sometimes it is. And I've been getting really frustrated that whenever we're talking about national infrastructure or critical infrastructure, everyone immediately goes to housing, which of course is important. And you know, we do need to deliver better and more housing, but we also need workplaces and workspaces. And when I look, look at the, the power of the office and what it delivers to place, to me that makes it absolutely critical. You know, there's so much data and insight out there that shows you that if you have a really strong office offering in a city, you get better retail, you get better restaurants, you get better public amenity because you've got a critical mass of, of people who are coming in and we, you know, people are coming back to the office, aren't they? It's not a ghost town anymore. So we have to start thinking about offices as creators of place, you know, creators of innovation, as I've said, and critical infrastructure. It's got to have the same understanding in central and local government as housing does. It's so important.
- [39:49]
Emma Nelson
Sam, final question I need to ask you. Does the BCO have great offices?
- [39:59]
Sam McClary
Do you know what? We are a very small team and we are really focused on delivering for our members. Here's my politician Answer. We have do you know what a great office comes with great culture? And I have a fantastic team around me. We have a few things that we'd like to be better in the office, but we work in progress and I think for me it's about how the people that are in your office connect with each other. And we usually leave with a smile on our face and that makes it a great Office.
- [40:28]
Emma Nelson
That's Sam McLary, chief executive of the British Council for Offices, talking to Monocle's Carlotta Rebello at the Mippim Real Estate Fair in Cannes. You're listening to Monocle Radio. 1440 in Phnom Penh, which is where we head now for a roundup of aviation. And for that we are joined from Cambodia by Matt Driscoll, editor of Asian Aviation magazine. Good afternoon, Matt.
- [40:54]
Matt Driscoll
Good afternoon. Good morning to London. I hope everybody's doing okay.
- [40:57]
Emma Nelson
We are doing very well, thank you indeed for asking. Let us just have a broad overview of what is happening to the Asian aviation industry as a knock on effect of everything that is happening in the Gulf, given just how much the Middle east is seen as sort of a connecting cub globally, but especially to where you are.
- [41:18]
Matt Driscoll
Well, it's, you know, short answer, it's a big mess actually, even for Asian airlines. I'm looking right now on one of my computer screens, I've got flight radar up looking at the big hole, the empty hole that is the Middle East. With Qatar shut down, Bahrain shut down Dubai, there's a lot of traffic kind of circling around there. But I think they got hit by either some drones or some missiles today as well. Well, so there's not much traffic there. And what I'm seeing here in Asia is every airline, Singapore, Air, Cathay, Pacific, you name it, they're all increasing fuel charges because the price of oil, of course, I think today even it was up over US$100 a barrel the other day. I think today it's over $100. So all the airlines, and keep in mind, fuel makes up about 25 to 30% of an airline's fixed costs. And so Cathay Pacific, for example, I just got an email about 10 minutes ago. Short haul flights, the fuel surcharge is doubled. Medium haul flights, the fuel surcharge has doubled. And same with long haul flights, doubled as well. So everybody's trying to, you know, cover their clock costs and it's just a right mess.
- [42:39]
Emma Nelson
And the covering of the cost is what passed directly on to the passenger. But if you are a tourist, you will not want to spend Extra money. And if you are a business, you will see this as a, as a moment when you do not have extra expenditure.
- [42:54]
Matt Driscoll
Well, that's the problem. I just finished a column where I talked about this that comes out in the magazine. But and I saw some prices the other day. Day a flight from, I think it was Seoul to London went from 500 and, you know, 500 or so US dollars to over 4,000 US dollars. And if you're a, you know, if you're just a regular tourist, there's no way you're going to pay for that. And if you're a chief financial officer, you're going to say, hang on, you know, if Covid taught us anything, maybe we don't have to do that business trip. Maybe we can do it on a zoom call, maybe we can do it on a teams call. Let's see what we can do to save the money because we don't want to pay the money right now. And anybody going anywhere near the Middle east, it's just not safe.
- [43:41]
Emma Nelson
And also the long term effects of this one, I mean even if this conflict, conflict were to end today, which is unlikely, you would have long term knock on effects of this. I mean, you've written in your column about the, the fact that there is a speculation that, you know, order books for Boeing and Airbus are sort of slight, not quite as secure as they could have been. So if you're, if you're a flag carrier in, let's say, I don't know, Vietnam or even Kazakhstan, two countries whose flag carriers have ordered a big number of Boeing 787 Dreamliners. Are you now reconsidering this?
- [44:17]
Matt Driscoll
Well, a lot of them are. And it's not just Boeing and Airbus, it's the lessors as well. Well, that actually we're doing booming business. It was a good time to be a leasing company. But you know, and the thing is it doesn't, it's not like, okay, the war ends today and then everything goes back to normal. You've got planes that are parked in strange places, they have to get back to their bases. You've got pilots that are out of position, you've got other air crews that are out of position. So you can't just, just flip a switch and it all goes back to normal. And now again, because these costs are, and keep in mind too, airlines run on such thin margins. They are a hamburger and a Coke away from making money or losing money on a per passenger, per flight basis. So the margins are incredibly thin. And if you've got, you know, a billion dollars worth of airplanes that you've ordered and all of a sudden you're going to take a hit and you're not able to fly right now, like Qatar Airlines or Qatar Airways or Emirates or Etihad, you're going to say, well, maybe we need to hold off on that order a little bit. The problem with that is if depending on where it is in the order stage, if it's a firm order or if it's not a firm order but it's a letter of intent or a memorandum of understanding, then there are major penalties that you have to incur. But as I wrote in the column, you have the magical get out of jail free card called force majeure that, you know, hey, a war started and, you know, we've got to rethink what we're going to do.
- [46:01]
Emma Nelson
Matt Driscoll, editor of Asian Aviation on the line from Phnom Penh. Thank you so much for joining us on the Globalist
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UBS Narrator 2
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Emma Nelson
Now to our favorite Aussie techno pop princess. Sam Quilley is known for her delicious mix of Cynthia Electro and nostalgic disco, not to mention some rather impressive high kicks on stage. They have made an extreme impression on Monaco Radio's Fernanda Augusta Pacheco, who sat down with Sam to talk to her about her new album, Jawbreaker and more.
- [47:21]
Fernanda Augusta Pacheco
San Quilly, what a pleasure. I'm a big fan and I love Jawbreaker. My first question to you, how would you compare Jawbreaker with Blonde Venus? Because I can hear more of your voice in Jawbreaker. Yeah, I do see the difference. Although I love Blond Venus as well.
- [47:37]
Sam Quilley
Yeah, I think like the first album was me really experimenting and it was very club Euro dance type of record. And exactly like what you said in Jawbreaker. I wanted to really use a more sincere side of my voice, experiment with singing lower with no auto tune, have more disco influences. Yeah, it's kind of just like a step up, I feel, from the first one, but the same as you. I love the first one so much. They're both like amazing in their own ways.
- [48:05]
Fernanda Augusta Pacheco
So they, they are good match.
- [48:07]
Emma Nelson
Yeah, they're a good match, but there's
- [48:09]
Fernanda Augusta Pacheco
something quite even vulnerable in some of the tracks. I love Love Lasso. I think it's so nostalgic and. And there's a certain romance to it as well. It's one of my favorite songs as well. What do you think of Love Lasso?
- [48:20]
Sam Quilley
Yeah, this one is definitely more vulnerable and sincere. Like you said, it's about like a. A toxic love that you keep going back to. And also the chorus is very, like, haunting in a way.
- [48:33]
Matt Driscoll
So.
- [48:34]
Sam Quilley
Yeah, I love this track too, but I love them all. It's so hard to pick a favorite.
- [48:53]
Fernanda Augusta Pacheco
I just want to know a little bit more about you. I know you're from Australia, from Sydney. Did you always from the young age, wanted to perform? Because I know for you it's not just singing, but it's about the dance, the outfits and everything. So tell us about your experience and. And when did you move out of Australia?
- [49:09]
Sam Quilley
Actually, yeah, I left Australia very young, like 17 or 18, I think, because I knew that there was more to the world that I had to discover and see. So very young and I was kind of already dancing and performing, working professionally, and I was writing songs, but more for pleasure. And yeah, I think that it's a great place. Like, I love my. My childhood in Australia, but I knew that I needed to get out and see the rest of the world and experience. I had lots of questions and. And I was looking for answers, I guess.
- [49:44]
Fernanda Augusta Pacheco
And I guess you found it in Paris. But before, I just want to ask a question because I was reading an article about you and Lesing Hawk and just want to make sure that I corrected my French. Were you even an assistant to a magician in a cruise?
- [49:57]
Nina Dos Santos
Is that.
- [49:57]
Fernanda Augusta Pacheco
Is that true? I love that.
- [49:59]
Sam Quilley
Yeah, I was a magician's assistant. Really was in like. Basically whenever I become obsessed with something, I really commit to it. And that phase was. Was like magic. This magic show I was doing, we were doing like big illusions and stuff. And I think that all of the skills that I've learned along the way, like dancing, performance art, fashion, theater, music, like, they're all combined into this Sam Quilly project now. I love like a magic moment also in the show.
- [50:28]
Fernanda Augusta Pacheco
You love magic, right? Who doesn't like magic? And you, you live in Paris. Paris. So tell us. I see your music fitting Paris very well because they love their electro there even more than in London these days.
- [50:41]
UBS Narrator 2
So.
- [50:41]
Fernanda Augusta Pacheco
So tell us what you think about the city. Does it match perhaps?
- [50:45]
Sam Quilley
Definitely. Like, I love the French touch music in Australia. When French touch was first popping off, I was like, what the fuck? Like Daft punk justice, you know, this Kind of sound was amazing to me, so it's definitely influenced my work a lot. A lot. And also my collaborator, Marlon, he is French too, so he produced the first and the second album. And I think that the combination of having this, like, Parisian, Australian combination, along with like, all the other places that I've been in the world, like Hong Kong, the Philippines, it's just like a very interesting combination of inspirations and sounds, basically.
- [51:24]
Fernanda Augusta Pacheco
And it's Model from La Fam as well, which I know. Yeah, I know you also worked with Dan before as well as a singer as well.
- [51:30]
Sam Quilley
Yeah, exactly. So that was really great working with him. It's very organic to work together. So this is like the best way to make art is when it's just flowing naturally. It's not forced.
- [51:43]
Fernanda Augusta Pacheco
Well, we're talking a lot about Paris, but one of my favorite songs from the album is always London Town. I mean, and that's actually a clubby bagger. I love it.
- [51:51]
Noora Al Kaabi
Yes.
- [51:52]
Nina Dos Santos
And.
- [51:52]
Sam Quilley
And it's so funny, we were just saying on our way here that it's the first song on the album. It was the first single. And now it's the first night of the Jawbreaker tour, and it's in London with London Town. So I'm so excited, and I hope that all the Londoners really appreciate this song tonight that I wrote in the city.
- [52:14]
Fernanda Augusta Pacheco
Yeah, I'm sure they will.
- [52:27]
Emma Nelson
That's Sam Quili. They're talking to Fernando Augusta Pacheco. You can listen to the full interview and others on the Monocle Weekly. You're listening, though, to the Globalist. 7:52 here in London. But we head to Texas ish, because we're going to find out about south by Southwest, the festival, which for the first time is bringing all its events together in across seven days in Austin, Texas. Joining me now in the studio, Karen Krasanovich, film critic, regular Monocle Radio contributor, to sort of unpick the enormous event for us. A very good morning to you, Karen. How are we?
- [53:01]
UBS Narrator 2
I'm good. Yes. South. South By.
- [53:03]
Matt Driscoll
Whoa.
- [53:04]
UBS Narrator 2
They'd call it South By.
- [53:05]
Emma Nelson
Oh, right, sorry.
- [53:06]
UBS Narrator 2
That's okay.
- [53:06]
Emma Nelson
I got it wrong already. We're only 30 seconds into the item and I've already failed.
- [53:11]
UBS Narrator 2
No, no, no.
- [53:12]
Emma Nelson
Rescue us, Karen.
- [53:13]
UBS Narrator 2
Yeah, Sxsy, try and say that first time in the morning is more than a film festival. Cause go to Cannes and Venice and others. This is a kind of convergence where you get tech, you get economics, you get politics, you get music, conferences, journalism. Everything is sort of thrown together in this one time span. And Neo. It's a lot to take on board. And because I specialize in film, I focus on the film part. But there's just so much going on. Your head will spin.
- [53:47]
Sam McClary
Indeed.
- [53:47]
Emma Nelson
I think we were talking before we came on air here. We do, ladies and gentlemen. We just thought I'd let you know Davos with better music is how it's been described.
- [53:57]
UBS Narrator 2
I think that sums it up really well. It really does. And the whole point of this is to get people talking to each other. And whether it's tech or whether it's film, I mean all of these things exist in a confluence. I mean, you're influenced by another sector and so it's actually quite fertile and quite important and it's very exciting because you never know what's going to be on. But I mean, I do have other things. A few films. I got a handful of films. The opening film is I love boosters and boosters are shoplifters, basically. And this is directed by Boots Riley who did Sorry to Bother your. And this is. This is apparently the hot ticket. It's got Kiki Palmer lakeith Stanfield and Demi Moore as a vicious high end shop owner and she's discovering that people are stealing from her and reselling it. Then we've got the sequel to Ready or Not which stars Samara Weaving and again, it's sort of an eat the rich battle for survival. If you've seen the first one, it's more of the same. And the one that I'm actually. Well, there's two that I'm sort of excited about. One of them is Television over your dead body. A lot of these are black comedies. So this is a marital satire by a couple, Jorma Taccone and. Oh, sorry, that's. Sorry, that's director Jason Segal. And again, Samara Weaving, she loves south by as a dysfunctional couple who go to a cabin only to discover they're trying to kill each other.
- [55:23]
Emma Nelson
Excellent. What a surprise. I mean, these films that are coming up now and they get sort of their moment in the sun at south by Southwest did it.
- [55:36]
UBS Narrator 2
There you go.
- [55:36]
Emma Nelson
Thank you. The issue here is what or the thing that the event does is showcases smaller films or niche films. Anything with Demi Moore is going to obviously have a fairly sizable budget in it. But the fact remains is what is the kind of feeling or the tone by the choice of films that are on show there?
- [55:57]
UBS Narrator 2
It's relaxed. It's kind of a younger Sundance. I mean, Sundance used to be what south by was just for film. It would be these Sort of fresh, new, kind of slightly ragged films, Eccentric, very niche ones that you wouldn't see at your multiplex unless they were a mouth. You know, word of mouth hit. And that's the kind of things that you get at by south by just really quirky films. Quirky, but well made. There's no excuse for having a badly made film these days. And that's really what it's about. So it kind of follows. I don't want to say hippie or boho or anything like that, but it's relaxed and open to what you might want to see.
- [56:36]
Emma Nelson
And what does that do in terms of the sort of shining a spotlight on what might be the quirkier films on earth? I mean, you talked about the issue of people being shown. Well, films being shown because of word of mouth. How much is that still a part of cinema? We hear nothing but negative headlines about the. The lack of creativity, big production houses just going for the remakes and knowing the things that they can bank and it being a major threat. But when it comes to the smaller films, what roles do they still play?
- [57:08]
UBS Narrator 2
Well, there is always an element of risk and creativity. And if you don't take a chance, you're not gonna have. What is it you miss 100% of the baskets you don't shoot. So it's taking a risk that these films are gonna find an audience that's gonna set them alight. It's gonna expand our minds. It's gonn from films that we know and stories that we know and show us different stories, and maybe that will change our minds about how we live our lives. I mean, that's a broad statement, but that's really the kind of thing you get. For example, if you go to a festival, you will hear, oh, this is the film to see. That's the film to see. But very rarely are the films that are mooted to be the ones to see, the ones that actually are the ones that make you excited. It's usually the quieter films. It's the film that a friend of yours will have seen and say, you've got to see this or. And so these are the films that the marketing isn't pushing. I think that's probably the best way of putting it.
- [58:03]
Emma Nelson
So, okay, just briefly recap. We have got 30 seconds. If you are in Austin, Texas and listening, hello. But if you're just thinking about where to sort of pick and choose your new quirky films, what are we looking at? Karen?
- [58:16]
UBS Narrator 2
I would just say grab a ticket to virtually anything because it's going to be difficult to get a ticket to the hot tickets. So take a chance. Don't even read about it. Just make it a time that you can make and just go and sit down and see something you don't know anything about.
- [58:29]
Emma Nelson
And if you can't, go to Austin, Texas, because it starts today, we've just been hearing that flight prices are expensive at the minute. What should we go and see wherever we are in the world?
- [58:39]
UBS Narrator 2
Oh, gosh, Quirk. Well, you can also hold out for London south by which is in June, so you can start reading up about the virtual lineup that's coming up there.
- [58:51]
Emma Nelson
Excellent. Our homework has been issued. Karen Krasanovich, film critic and regular Monocle Radio contributor, thank you for for joining me in the studio. And that's all the time we have for today's program. The warmest of thanks to the producers, Angelica Jopson, Anita Riota and Chris Chermack. Our researcher was Annelise Maynard and our studio manager was Elliot Greenfield, with editing assistance by Lily Austin and by Christy O. Grady. After the headlines. More music on the way. The Briefing's live at midday here in London. The Globalist is back at the same time tomorrow. I hope you can join me for that if you can. But for now, from me, Emma Nelson, goodbye. Thanks for listening.
- [59:39]
UBS Narrator
With ubs, you have a truly global partner incorporating new technologies, innovative approaches and unexpected opportunities, leading you to insights that help answer the questions that matter. Delivered with passion, care and unmatched expertise. Because it's about rising with the dawn
- [59:58]
UBS Narrator 2
each day, knowing that we can do even better.
- [60:01]
Emma Nelson
That's what banking is to us.
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UBS Narrator
Not just work, but a craft.
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UBS Narrator 2
UBS advice is our craft.