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Craft matters in small ways like how a coffee is brewed, and in not so small ways like how your money is cared for. Which is why for 160 years, UBS has elevated banking to a craft, tailoring unique strategies that combine human expertise with the latest technologies, all happening across 24 time zones and and 12 key financial hubs. With you at the heart of it all, UBS advice is our craft.
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You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on 6 August 2026 on Monocle Radio. The Globalist in association with U.
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Hello,
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this is the Globalist broadcasting to you live from Midori House in London. I'm Georgina Godwin. On the show ahead, A deadly attack on Kyiv raises questions about Europe's support as Ukraine looks to drone diplomacy to shift the balance. Then just who is partying in luxury nightclubs in Myanmar? Why is high end hospitality booming in the middle of a civil war?
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Then Australia's cities are not only highly livable, but they also meet us where we live decade after decade.
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Is where you live at 25 necessarily the right place for you in middle age? We head to Australia to see how its cities compare at different life stages. Plus, I'm joined by our editorial director Tyler Brulee and our design editor Nick Manise to discuss whether hotel makeovers are ruining perfectly good properties. And then we'll finish with a focus on the musical and cultural life of Japan. That's all ahead here on the Globalist, live from London. First, a look at what else is happening in the news. Iran has warned that any new U.S. attack on its territory would trigger strikes on energy infrastructure across the Gulf. Germany has opened a counter terrorism investigation after an explosives laden drone was found near a Runway at Leipzig Halle Airport. And Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney has mocked Donald Trump after a teleprompter failure as the international acclaim he's won for standing up to the US President contrasts with mounting pressure at home over the cost of living. Do stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on those stories. Now. Russia has launched one of its deadliest attacks on Kyiv this year, renewing urgent calls from President Zelensky for more missile interceptors as Ukraine struggles to defend its skies. Support for continued military aid is becoming more politically contested in parts of Europe. At the same time, Kyiv is pursuing what it calls drone diplomacy, signing long term defence partnerships that could reshape both its own own future and Europe's security. Well, I'm joined now from Chernivtsi in Ukraine by Olga Takariak who is a Ukrainian journalist and a Chatham House Academy fellow. Olga, it's lovely to have you back on the show. What happened in this latest attack? And where would you say the war stands now?
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Good morning, Georgina. So on the night of 5 August, Russia launched 24 ballistic missiles on Ukraine, targeting mostly Kyiv and the region. And in that attack, around a dozen people were killed and more than 20 were injured. And in this latest attack, Russia targeted specifically Ukrainian businesses. So, you know, big companies that provide logistics, that provide postal services and so on. So we know that Russia is targeting civilians deliberately, but it has intensified its strikes on Ukrainian businesses, kind of trying to destroy that semblance of normal life that still remains in Ukraine. When, you know, people can order goods via mail and receive them very quickly, they can still work, they can still use the railway services. So in this latest attack, the highest number of casualties was on the railway platform, for example, that was targeted in this attack. And Ukrainian leadership, Ukrainian government is saying, saying that, you know, it's kind of stressing at every meeting with its international partners that Ukraine is in desperate need of protection against the ballistic missiles because it is able, it has developed the technology to intercept Russian drones. It has developed the technology and it also has some, you know, support from the west in intercepting all other types of missiles. But it has run out of the Patriot missile interceptors, the system, the US Made system that Ukraine desperately needs to take down those ballistic missiles. There is no other protection against them. Ballistic missile arrives in moments after the air raid alert was announced. So people do not even have enough time to take shelter as opposed to other types of missiles where people just have more time to take shelter. And we know that President Zelensky asked President Trump at their latest meeting for these types of ballistic missile interceptors, but according to media reporting, the answer was no, because the US Also needs them. The US Used a lot of this system systems in its war in Iran to repel Iranian attacks on the Middle east countries. So the argument from the US Is that the US Needs these systems. It has a shortage of them and it cannot share them with Ukraine, and it makes Ukrainian population kind of reconsider. I'm seeing a lot of conversations in recent days again from Ukrainian mothers with children who have stayed in Ukraine for all these four years since the Volsky invasion started or who returned to Ukraine. Ukraine, they are thinking again, like, should we leave the country at least for the winter when more Russian attacks are expected.
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And I mean, it's not only the US that's pushing back on Western Air defense systems. There are political arguments in Italy too over future military aid to Ukraine. Do you think that's an isolated debate or are there wider cracks in European support for Kyiv?
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E
Well, I think it is connected very strongly to domestic political developments, you know, to domestic political infighting. I think broadly there is still general consensus on the EU level, on the international level of countries that continue supporting Ukraine, is continuing to support Ukraine is important that it is a matter of not just Ukrainian, but the European security. So I would say at this moment these are rather isolated incidents related to domestic political infighting. And there is no big threat at the international or the EU level of the hold of military aid. But there is an objective issue of a shortage of certain types of weapons, such as dispatch rate missile interceptors globally.
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B
Can you tell us about Zelenskyy's drone diplomacy? What is the concept?
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E
Yeah, so this is something that has been announced by the President a couple of days ago during his meeting with the Ukrainian ambassadors. There is this yearly reunion of Ukrainian ambassadors in Kyiv when all ambassadors come back to the Ukrainian capital and they hear from the President and they also tell him what they managed to achieve. So the President said during that meeting that Ukraine has managed to sign already nine drone deals with various countries and 15 more are being worked on. And the countries that these drone deals are signed with are mostly Nordic and Baltic countries. The President also made it clear last week during his meeting with the UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, that he really wants to sign a drone deal with the UK as well. So what do these deals entail? Basically, this is a cooperation, a bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and these countries on drones, which includes the joint production of drones. It includes Ukraine sharing its technology. It includes Ukrainian specialists assessing the air defence capabilities of the other countries who signed these deals. These drones, these drone deals, they are not public, so the texts have not been officially published. They kept in secret in a way. But for Ukraine, it's also a possibility to have this long term agreements with various countries because obviously they also foresee some funding of the Ukrainian weapons production, some continuation of, you know, investment from Western countries into Ukrainian defence. And of course Ukraine is at the frontrunner currently of the drone warfare. It has the hands on experience. It has the best in the world expertise on how to fight modern war.
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Well, so let's now hear from Jens Holzapfel, who's business director at Nordic Air Defense, that's a maker of drone interceptors. And they spoke to us about the challenges facing European startup companies in the
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sector, the government and the Military rely on legacy technology, legacy processes for acquiring technology, and they have very low risk appetite in terms of making a bet in a company where they not necessarily can see the immediate effect. And tragically, I think it has taken a war to sort of show Europe that we need to change this, because nobody really saw the impact of modern technology coming, as we have seen in Ukraine, where the Ukrainians bravely fight and iterate technology every day. And I think slowly, Sweden and most of Europe is waking up and seeing that we need to engage with startups to defend ourselves in the future. Before the second Russian invasion of Ukraine, we thought we only need smart tools, which sort of can make up for fewer numbers. But I think what we have learned in Ukraine is we both need innovative modern technologies for the battlefield, but we also need the numbers. So if we look at artillery, you know, the vast consumption of artillery shells in Ukraine, where Europe certainly needs to, you know, reintroduce manufacturing, we cannot only be reliant on a few manufacturing sites for artillery shells. So I think we need both sort of conventional warfare and boots on the ground and modern disruptive technologies and stay on top of both.
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So that was Jens Holsapfel, who's business director at Nordic Air Defense, on an episode of the Entrepreneurs, which you can hear in full on our online archive. I'm joined now by Chris Ch, who's Monocle's senior news editor. And of course, yes, what he's talking about is that you do need disruptive and new technologies and part of this is also strategy. So drone diplomacy that Zelenskyy's been talking about, and I wonder if that changes the relationship between Ukraine and its partners. Is Ukraine becoming a security partner instead of just a recipient of military aid?
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G
It absolutely is. And that's what's been so interesting. Also listening to Olga there at the top of the show as well. I mean, what you've seen from Ukraine, obviously, obviously, is that it has had to become more resourceful, as some European, but of course the US as well, have the resources have dried up somewhat or getting rich become more difficult as Ukraine has developed its own technologies, it's become more confident in that, and now it is reversing that trend, if you will, with these drone deals that Olga was talking about. The European Union reached its own drone deal with Ukraine just a couple of weeks ago, about three weeks ago now. And this is about developing common technologies between the European Union and Ukraine. That is a complete shift in the strategy. But one thing, and we could talk about briefly, Georgina, is that it is also shifting the conversation about whether aid should go to Ukraine at all.
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Absolutely. And as we've heard, Italy is really pushing back on this and is not keen on it at all. It's become a real internal political problem, an internal one.
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And I think it's interesting where it's coming from because in the case of Italy, it's coming from the center left. Giuseppe Conte of the Five Star Movement, he's been leading this charge saying, if Ukraine is now its own, own military power, then why does it need support from Europe? And I think that's interesting because before you would see it more from the far right parties that would be challenging aid to Ukraine. And it's this interesting debate, right, because there's a nationalist argument now almost for supporting Ukraine because they're helping Europe. And Ukraine has been very deft at that kind of diplomacy, saying, hey, we are helping you. We're not only fighting on the front line, but we are offering you drone technology. So now you're seeing it almost more from the center left, which says, we don't really want necessarily wars, we don't want this kind of aggression. We don't want to spend on defense ourselves. And therefore, why are we spending money on Ukraine? They are a adult military power. So it will be interesting to see how this plays out at a time where Europe needs actually more defense to be ready for any kind of threat from Russia.
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Chris, thank you very much indeed. That's Chris Chermak, Monocle's senior news editor. And before that, we heard from Olga Tukuriak who was speaking to us from Ukraine. Ukraine, this is the Globalist.
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Foreign.
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13 in Seoul, 713 here in London. Relations between north and South Korea have been largely frozen since diplomacy collapsed in 2019. Yesterday, South Korea's Unification Minister proposed dropping the term main enemy for North Korea and announced work would restart on a railway towards the border between the two states. So is Seoul laying the groundwork for a future thaw? Well, to discuss that, joined by Stephen Borovig, who's a journalist covering politics and the economy at Nikkei Asia in South Korea. Steve, welcome back to the show. What's behind this change in South Korea's attitude?
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It's not a change in this particular administration's attitude. The Unification Minister and the administration of President Lee Jae Myung are very much pro engagement. You know, they come from a political school that has long favored a more conciliatory approach to North Korea. It's based in, you know, a kind of left wing nationalism. The idea that the folks on Both side of the inter Korean border are, you know, the same people and ought to find a way of coexisting peacefully. And so the Unification Minister's comments reflect that. They reflect, you know, a kind of long standing idea that it makes more sense. It's, it's more in South Korea's interests, you know, in the interest of maintaining peace and stability and having a well functioning economy and having a population that can enjoy stability. It's, it's, it serves all of those objectives to not approach North Korea in an antagonistic or an aggressive way but to, you know, make gestures that hint at the idea that, you know, North Korea can be trusted to be a peaceful partner and that the two sides ought to find ways of working together. So it's, it's not a new thing. It's, it's, it's very old, but it seems new because you know, the current administration has only been in office for
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just over a year.
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But I mean this doesn't necessarily work both ways. Kim Jong Un's described South Korea as a hostile state. So I wonder realistically how much room this leaves for engagement.
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H
Well, that's just the thing. I mean for there to be engagement, there has to be buy in on the North Korea side. And as you alluded, all of the indications we have from the administration of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is that they're just not interested in this kind of thing that, you know, over the years Seoul has come to them with a lot of different cooperative projects that could be like excavating the remains of Korean War veterans from the demilitarized zone or you know, having cultural exchanges, having sports competitions or whatever it may be. But for quite a long time North Korea has just rebuffed all of these. And they've, in their state media, they come out and they, with, you know, pretty dismissive statements where they say that, you know, they don't trust the south and they're not interested in working with the south and that they see these kinds of things as lacking sincerity. They don't, they don't consider the south to be earnestly wanting to cooperate. They, they see them as only interested in kind of surface level projects, you know, things like connecting a railway or things like, you know, having a sort of a low level meeting. So yeah, there's, at the moment there's no strong indication that the minister's comment will lead to any re engagement.
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So do tell us about the railway. What's the background and what is the plan?
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H
Well, it's, it's an idea that's existed for a long time. You know, the kind of background is that if, if trains were to be able to traverse North Korea from the south, you would, at least in theory, be able to board a train in the South Korean city of Busan on the southern coast and then ride that all the way to Paris. I mean, that's obviously, that's a vision that's, you know, not at all realistic at this moment, but that's something that people here have long been working towards. This particular train, the idea is that it would connect Seoul to the South Korean city of Wonsan, sorry, the North Korean city of Wansan, which is on the coast, which is a, a quite scenic beach area. It's an area that North Korea has invested a lot of, in the infrastructure of, of turning it into a tourist destination and all the rest. And just beyond that, it's just symbolic. It's, you know, the concept of the division of the Korean peninsula is, you know, there's a lot of people here who feel like it was not something that the Korean people ever wanted and that it remains as a kind of painful symbol of everything that happened during the Korean War and the antagonistic state of the two sides ever since then. So I think the idea that the discussion around restoring this or working towards this railway is a kind of way of easing some of the pain and, and of carrying a kind of symbolic value that the north and south could get along and they could work towards a, a peaceful future.
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I mean, it is more of a diplomatic message, kind of signaling perhaps long term strategy goals, but unlikely to happen in the short term. I wonder though, if it carries any political risk for the South Korean government.
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H
I mean, I don't, I don't think it really does just because it's, it's saying out loud something that everybody kind of already knows. I mean, the, the nation's politics are divided by these two rival camps, one of which is, leans to the left and the other one is quite conservative. And on the left, as I laid out earlier, they've always believed that, you know, North Korea is really not that bad. You know, there are kind of ethnic brethren and we should find a way to work towards them. That it, it sends the wrong message to be, you know, buttressing the South Korean military and to be talking about North Korea as an enemy. On the other side, you have the conservatives who consider that mentality to be naive and who would remind you that North Korea is a nuclear power and has articulated ambitions of taking over the Korean peninsula. And really, for the sake of safety and security really ought to be taken seriously as a threat. And so these two sides have been going back and forth for a long time. And I'm sure that the conservative side, when they heard the, the minister's comments, they dismissed it as naive and not just as naive, but perhaps dangerous of risking South Korean national security. So this is the, the latest phase in a, in an ongoing conversation.
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Steve, thank you very much indeed. That's Steve Borovic, who's a journalist for Nikkei Asia in Seoul. Now, still to come on the program, We'll be crossing live to our Tokyo studio to learn more about city pop tracks like that one and about how a weaker yen has changed Japanese music festivals. This is the globalist.
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Craft is a matter of perspective, a unique outlook, an obsessive attention to detail. With UBS's Chief Investment Office House View, we're focused on identifying the latest investment opportunities and market risks to help you achieve your financial goals. So you get the big picture broken 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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Well, let's continue now with today's newspapers and joining me now is our senior foreign correspondent, Carlotta Rebelo. Carlotta, hello to you, you.
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Hi Georgina.
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We've just been talking about south and North Korea and a possible sort of reconciliation between the two. But I'm surprised anybody's got the time or the head space to think about it because big, big story there is South Korea's president ordering an all out response to a current huge heat wave.
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Absolutely. This has been an order to almost an unprecedented heat wave in the nation where, you know, the capital is forecast to hit 39 degrees Celsius. And extreme heat as we know at this scale really poses a big risk to our cities. And it's been ordered that ministries and local governments are now mobilizing all available personnel and the resources until this heat wave subsides. And this idea of protection and public health really is being highlighted. The last time that the forecast temperature was near this was in August 2018, which was the last historic heat wave. So this is going to be a tough couple of days, particularly for the
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capital Seoul and of course Korea, not the only place that's suffering. Italy's placed all 27 of its major cities on the highest heat alert.
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I
Absolutely. And I thought I'd bring you these two stories because as you can imagine, Georgina, given the latest temperature, these sadly are not the only two countries facing extreme heat. But it just shows you the scope and the impact that this is having across different parts of the globe. Italy has said that some areas will be close to 40 degrees as well. And as you said, 27 major cities. This goes all the way from the north to the south. And it means this red alert that there is a higher chance that there'll be an emergency and a health risk posed by these prolonged extreme temperatures. So now we know again that there will be deployed some personnel as well to be on standby and issued as well, warnings for people to avoid direct sunlight between certain hours, to stay indoors where possible, and to remember to keep hydrating, hydrated, including, of course, trying to. To drink less coffee, as we know, a drink that severely can dehydrate you and is not ideal for this weather.
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Well, of course, the political temperature is rising here between Brazil and Argentina. Tell us about this diplomatic rift between South America's two largest economies.
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I
Absolutely. So this is a story that has been bubbling for a week, a bit over a week now, which has to do with some attacks that have been made against Lula da Silva when last time that Xavier Milei was in the country. And now the latest move on this is that Brazil's government has announced that it is reducing its diplomatic presence in Argentina. I think just a step short from officially withdrawing. But it is the first time in recent history that such a move has happened between these two neighbors. You know, this is because Xavier Milei last week was in Brazil taking part in a summit in a conference by Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of the former president, who is Luda da Silva's main rival in the upcoming October election. And during that party convention, he referred to Luda Silva with many names and include one of them calling him a thief. And also other insults to the Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Muraj. And since then it's been quite tense. And exactly as I said, Georgina, these are, you know, the two largest economies in South America. So this rift, if it doesn't get solved, and particularly with the upcoming elections in October, it could really change the way things are happening in the region now.
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Big changes underway in the world of cinema. Because I've noticed, and in fact, Alpais has picked this up too. Smoking is making a strong comeback in film and television. Have you. Have you noticed that? I suddenly see people fagging all over the place. And I'm a smoker, so this is probably why I see it. And you, Carlotta, I just have to big you up here. You completely gave up, what, a couple of years ago ago?
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Yes, it's been Six years now. Can you believe it?
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Almost.
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Oh, my God.
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Six years since you ceased being my smoking buddy. I feel like you're a bit of a traitor, actually. I feel betrayed.
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I
Well, maybe. Maybe now you. With this romanticizing of tobacco. I'm not going to say I might come back, but maybe. Georgina, you will join me. But as soon as I saw this story while I was bragging this morning, and I immediately thought of you because. Yes, exactly as you said, we had been seeing, and I know that our own Fernando Augusto Pacheco has spoken about this many times on Monocle Radio. We had been seeing this decline of, you know, cigarettes and smoke on TV and in film, and suddenly there's been a bit of a comeback. And El Pais has picked up on that with a really excellent piece, citing a few examples of the tobacco's return to pop culture and that nicotine is no longer being seen as this legal vice. That was out of fashion. This is how they put it. But they back it up with some interesting data, too. They cite a report by the Truth Initiative that revealed that in 2024, 51% of the 152 highest grossing film in the US contained images of smoking. And that was up 10% from the year before. So we're seeing this increase. And I really love this piece because it's something that we've all observed in pop culture. And I think it's quite nice to romanticize a bit of smoking. You know, it adds to the mystery of a film, don't you think?
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B
You know, I really do. And it makes me think of those sort of old, old movies and the first kind of sort of movie stars. And you'd see these wonderfully elegant pictures with them, you know, holding a cigarette out. In fact, you were talking about Fernando and he. He's slightly obsessed with that period, as we know. And he once took a picture of me. We were in some bar in Zurich where you were allowed to smoke. And he's got this lovely picture of me with the kind of cigarette held at an angle. And every time he sees me now in the corridor, he always, like, makes that gesture. In fact, I'm gonna put it on insta for you to have a look at. Okay?
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That's the deal. And I think we need to repeat that sometime soon.
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Yeah, and just kids don't smoke. Okay, That's a good thing. Carlotta Rebelo, thank you very much indeed. Carlotta is Monocle's senior foreign correspondent. And this is the Globalist on Monocle Radio. Now here's what else we're keeping an eye on today. Iran has warned Gulf states that any new U.S. attack on its territory would trigger retaliation against energy infrastructure across the region. Region. Tehran is pressing Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman to persuade Washington to return to negotiations. Germany has opened a counterterrorism investigation after an explosives laden drone was found near a Runway at Leipzig Halle Airport. The interior minister described it as a new level of hybrid threat, though investigators have yet to establish who was responsible. And Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney has mocked Donald Trump after a teleprompter failure, joking that unlike like a certain world leader, he did not see it as a conspiracy. The quip comes as Carney enjoys growing international stature for confronting Trump over tariffs and declaring the rules based global order to be over, even as soaring food prices pose an increasing political challenge at home. This is the globalist. Stay tuned. It's just coming. Coming up to 1300 in Napadoor. That's 8am in Zurich. And next on the Globe list,
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That
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is not the sound of nightlife in Berlin or Bangkok. It's a nightclub in Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon. While much of the country remains engulfed in civil war, a wealthy military connected elite is partying on at the same time, after more than five years of fighting, there are fresh signs of diplomacy. Well, I'm joined here in the studio by Dr. Ronan Lee, who's a research fellow at Loughborough University with a focus on Myanmar. Ronan, it's lovely to have you back in the studio with us. Who are these party people?
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J
Well, they're connected with the military. They're the children of high ranking generals. They're the in laws, they're the cousins. They're people connected with business interests within Myanmar who themselves, of course, have connections with the military. And they're folk who are connected with the illicit narcotics trade as well because that's where a lot of the money comes from, too.
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B
So how is there so much wealth when much of the country's been completely devastated by war?
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J
Well, what we're used to seeing from Myanmar is images of civil war. We're used to seeing stories about the economy collapsing and the currency's collapsed 80% since the start of the civil war. But there's a reason that the military fights on and there's a reason the military's able to fight on. They're able to buy expensive equipment, fighter jets and other armaments. And they do that because the country's rich in natural resources which they exploit. If the only thing that they were trying to do in Myanmar was Dominate a population of people who they would tax, they would very quickly find that they could not dominate them because they wouldn't be able to pay for the military equipment that they need to do that. And the people would be able to rise up against them and remove them from power. But there is immense natural resource wealth in Myanmar. There's oil and gas, there's rare earth mineral, I mean, serious quantities of rare earth minerals in northern Myanmar in particular. Again, these are hot zones in the civil war. This teak in particular, timber. Some of the world's richest teak forests are in Myanmar. And the country is the world's largest producer of heroin and likely also of methamphetamine. So there's a massive illicit narcotics trade. So at the highest, there is intense amounts of concentrated wealth. The elites have huge sums of money that they can access and they want to spend it. But that is not the experience of ordinary people in Myanmar. Half of the country is mired in poverty. I mean, half the country is literally living below the rate of poverty that you would expect. Those who aren't are genuinely struggling. A third of the country is reliant on food aid. And there are millions of people internally displaced within Myanmar. But the elites, those connected with the military and business interests connected with the military, have access to large sums of money and they want to spend it
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B
and they're not ashamed about it. I mean, it really tells us who thinks that they're going to be in charge after this is all done.
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J
Oh, that's exactly right. I mean, what this says is they believe that they are. They believe that the military is on a trajectory where it a win. There is a history of this happening in Myanmar. I mean, in 2006, the wedding, the daughter of the former dictator Than Shui was videotaped and those videos were smuggled out of the military's control and were circulated around Myanmar. And people were shocked at the lavish nature of the wedding of champagne and of. Of pearls and diamonds and gold at a time when the country was. Most people in the country were living in poverty. And in many respects, that's seen as the moment that his viability as the dictator ended. So there will be some concern among the military about these images, but not now. They are, I think, now convinced that they are on a pathway towards victory. So they're less concerned about these images seeping out. I think it's also worth noting that I think because of social media, there's less shock in the public about these images as well. There will be less. This will shock the conscience of ordinary people in Myanmar less than it did in 2006, because social media has made people in many respects kind of immune to images of huge amounts of wealth and of the role of influencers. And there'll be some sense that some of this is plaguing acting, but it's not. This is genuine wealth. These are people spending millions of dollars in a country where most people are living in poverty.
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B
So, Ronan, tell me, where does the civil war actually stand five years on?
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J
Not in a great place for the opposition as of today. There has been, there has been, there have been some reversals. It's by no means a done deal for the military, but the military behaves as though they are going to win and they have a strategy to. In many respects, the biggest problem for opposition forces within Myanmar, those who want to remove the military from power, is that they're diverse. Now, in some respects that's a benefit because there's different groups can take on the Myanmar military, but they lack a central command. And I think that that is contributing to just strategic problems. It allows the military to run an effective divide and rule strategy. They can move this, their resources to parts of the country that they need to at different times. And the opposition just isn't simply quick enough to respond to that. So there has been a move, I think, over the last six months in particular, away from a sense that opposition victory was inevitable. I mean, if we're having this conversation, 18 months ago, there would have been many people who would have thought the Myanmar military were on the way out. But time and again they've shown that they're incredibly, incredibly difficult to winkle out of political power.
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B
Ronan, thank you so much. That's Dr. Ronan Lee, who's a research fellow at Loughborough University with a focus on Myanmar. This is the Globalist on Monocle Radio. Now for a look behind the headlines, here's Monocle's Blake Matich on how a trio of Australian city fit different stages of life.
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D
Australian cities used to compete, now they complement Quality of life. Rankings are all the rage these days, in part spurned by Monocle's own annual list. But sometimes it's worth introducing an indefinite article and considering the quality of a life. Because as the general gist of years proceeds into decades, you start to realise that quality of is not a constant. What constitutes a good life at 25 rarely resembles one at 45 or 65. But in the three Australian cities that made Monocle's Quality of Life survey, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, we see that it's possible to have a national quality of life ecosystem, a sort of country wide relay in which each city takes the baton for life's various stages. Sydney's central playground is its harbour, which divides the city but unites Sydneysiders. As a deckhand in my teenage years, I came to know the harbour better than most. But I've never ceased to be astonished by its big blue belly. The bottle green coves that shallow into little blonde beaches and mangrove creeks rusting in the setting sun. Like all paradises, Sydney is a great place to go grow up and grow old. It's a diurnal city. Locals rise at dawn and settle at dusk. Children enjoy a playing outside until dark childhood, the loss of which elsewhere in the world is the lament of many parents. It's safe, sun drenched and given that sport is as central to Australian life as SBF50 and going barefoot, there's no shortage of activities to keep the ankle biters occupied. This means that it's also the sort of place that where if you ask about nightlife, they'll tell you about the possums, bandicoots and flying foxes. None of which sadly are names of bars. The water dictates almost every aspect of metropolitan life. Where we socialise, how we get around and above all what we aspire to. The local religion is real estate nirvana, a mere matter of water views. But this property obsession does not make for easy living. When you're a young adult, Melbourne doesn't have all that bother of panoramic beauty. And without the pressure to live a perfect life, you can have an interesting one instead. While Sydney encourages early rising, Melbourne convinces you to stay out late to order that post dinner espresso and find the next bar on Smith Street. Hence the city's embrace of a shabby chic aesthetic. And why once my twenties were in full swing, the grungier and more open minded Victorian capital seemed like the place to be. Melbourne enabled me to live in diverse inner city suburbs where you don't have to be a ring tailed possum to go out at night. There's always something to do with vibrant music and art scenes, perpetual sporting action and excellent dining options. Don't be dismayed by the lack of Michelin stars, because Australia has its own system. Using hats. And Melbourne's well earned reputation as a coffee capital means that you're never far away from a perky piccolo. But in this national relay, Perth is the curve runner. Melbourne's possibilities make it an ideal setting to explore yourself. But when middle age comes creeping up on you in A pair of orthopaedic sandals, you might want more space and less clatter. The consistency and stability of Perth means that it's the West Australian capital's time to shine. Now, I might not have lived in Perth, but the more time that I spend in said sandals, the more I realize the subtle attraction of a smaller city that has its act together to settle down, spread out and make a laid back lifestyle your own. Perth is hard to beat. After all, on the city's riverine foreshores, you can enjoy more hours of sea sunlight than any other Australian city. What is more, multiple recent infrastructure projects have smoothed links between the city, the airport and the suburbs. Sometimes you need to go to the world's most isolated city just to get away from it all. But at the end of all our exploring, the batten returns to Sydney for life's final straight. We prize balance again. We want ready access to both the slow road and the fast lane. We want to start the day with an early morning sleep, swim a cappuccino at the Surf Club and finish it with a harbour cruise to a show at the Opera House. One city cannot be expected to meet your quality of life needs forever. Our priorities shift as we grow into different versions of ourselves. Australia's cities are not only highly livable, but they also meet us where we live, decade after decade. So when it comes to the quality of a life, Australia has it all.
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B
Indeed, that was Monocle's Blake Matic. And for more you can sign up to our daily newsletter, the Monocle Minute. Head over to monocle.com minute. This is the Globalist on monocle radio,
- [42:20]
A
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 technologies. Bridging human expertise with artificial intelligence. All to elevate you. UBS Banking is our craft.
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E
Now.
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B
Hotels are constantly reinventing themselves. Some emerge refreshed, while others lose the very qualities that made them special in the first place. In his latest column, how to ruin a Perfectly Good hotel, Monocle's editorial director and chairman Tyler Brulee asks why so many hotel renovations get it wrong. Well, Tyler joins me now from a Monocle favorite. The Villa Arnica in Lana, a town in Suttiral in northern Italy. Tyler, hello to you.
- [43:29]
C
Good morning. Guten Morgen. Buongiorno, Georgina. Good to hear from you.
- [43:34]
B
And you, Tyler. You were really quite riled when you wrote that piece what prompted you?
- [43:39]
C
Well, I think it's an ongoing problem, you could say, because I think on one side, hotels. And of course, you could say, these are the property owners or these are the groups managing properties, feel that they have to keep up with the times. And maybe there is a part of that, but sometimes it's only a coat of paint that might be required. It is dealing with the nicks and dents on a wall when someone throws open their suitcase. What is not required is that the bar gets completely redone, that you need totally new headboards with a completely different pattern than maybe the one that you liked that was there before. And I would say this is one thing, Georgina, when you check into a hotel, a hotel you really love, and maybe the deputy manager or the manager comes up to you when you pull up and you arrive and they say, oh, it's so great you meet to see you. We've got one of our new upgraded suites for you, or your favorite room has been redone. You're thinking, absolutely not. What's the reason? Why did I come to this hotel in the first place? Why do I come again and again? Because I like it exactly the way it is.
- [44:42]
B
I mean, I wonder if the problem is that too many owners are chasing trends rather than thinking about the people who actually stay. They're loyal customers like you.
- [44:51]
C
I think that's part of it. And. And you can see that there's generational changes and time, and you see, oh, let's chase a younger audience, which is fine, but oftentimes is that younger audience. If we're talking about the top end of the market, let's be honest. Yes, there are many young people with a lot of money to deploy. But at the same time, in terms of the stable lot, maybe the people who are going to be able to stay a little bit longer probably like things just the way they are. But of course, there is that fountain of youth component working with the newest interior designer, you know, the architect of the moment. And oftentimes architects are very good at doing new buildings. If you want to build a whole new hotel, hire an architect. If you want to do good interiors, maybe stay away from an architect.
- [45:39]
B
I want to bring in our design editor now, Nick Moniz. He's here at Midori House with me. Nick, I wonder if you agree with Tyler. Have too many renovations become about creating something that perhaps photographs well rather than somewhere people want to return to?
- [45:54]
K
Yeah, I think to Tyler. Tyler's point there. And I assume you're poolside, Mr. Brulee.
- [45:58]
C
I'm not quite poolside, but I can see the pool from where I am.
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K
With a coffee in hand, of course.
- [46:04]
C
Coffee, Coffee on table. Exactly.
- [46:05]
K
This is exactly what. No, but I think that's it. And I've stayed at Villa Arnica before and maybe, maybe this is to that point it's the idea that you know, the people there, they know your name, they get, they, they know your coffee order, they know where, where you're going to be setting up in the morning versus this whole, the whole other side of the industry. And Tyler kind of touched on it there with architects maybe not focusing necessarily on the interiors. Maybe the people running the hotels are catering to the camera, not to their actual guests. And I think there's this push and pull of maybe there's a fear that we might not get the people through the door if we don't have some sexy images online. But the reality is if you talk and build relationships with your guests, it's gonna be a place that you're gonna wanna come back to again and again and again. And I think just again using where Tyler is right now, Villa, that, that's a Tyler favorite, but it's, it's a Monocle favorite as well. We've so many of us have been and stayed there because it becomes, the marketing doesn't become those photos for Instagram or TikTok or whatever. They, the marketing becomes that word of mouth and, and then that, that also feeds into something good for the hotel because it becomes about them attracting the people that, that understand the service that they're offering. So it becomes this beautiful kind of cycle of guests and hoteliers coming, coming together.
- [47:19]
B
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So Nick, Linda Borenke had some quite pre essent remarks to make.
- [47:28]
K
Yeah, she's a brilliant interior designer. She works across the globe. She's a Budapest born London based creative and we had her actually this week on Monocle on Design and we were talking about this exact thing, we were talking about hotels in the lead up to the summer holiday season. So she, she's worked across Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney, New York. Lived a very nomadic life. She was a model before becoming a designer. Travel is a huge influence on her design approach and as a result the projects that she accepts. So she actually worked on a project called Osborne House in New South Wales in Australia's Southern Highlands. And I stayed there last year and it sort of was where our friendship developed because she'd taken what was really quite a tacky, rundown 1980s hotel, dated actually to the 19th century. But it at last kind of had a facelift in the 80s, was not a place that you necessarily wanted to stay. And she did this wonderful job of, I guess, pulling out the essence of what this 19th century building was. So each room is unique. Everywhere tells the story. There's all these kind of like little moments that you can escape to, whether that's the bar or the restaurant or the spa. And it's really just a moment of pure joy and relaxation. You're able everywhere that you are, you're able to kind of connect with the landscape around you, but also the history of the space. You feel like you're on a cinema set. And I don't know if that's necessarily a good thing, but for me, what she was getting at was that she didn't want to recreate a home. She didn't want you to feel that home away from home experience. And that's exactly what we talked about.
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J
I think hotels need to have a
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B
role in shaping people's aesthetic idea, on
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J
design idea, on service, of culinary experience.
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A
That aspect of the service itself and it being personalized and the hotel itself providing you an unforgettable experience. It goes way beyond the home away from home idea or the design itself.
- [49:28]
J
It comes down massively on operations and
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A
locality and giving something that you can
- [49:35]
B
only get in one specific location. So that's Linda Barunkay there. Tyler, what's your take on what she has to say?
- [49:43]
C
Fully agree. I just want to also say, Georgina, for our listeners in the last 15 minutes, and this is for Nick Moniz, we had too much Australia on this program. That's just a small point I need to make and too much of a celebration of Perth. I like the notion that she picked up on the idea of operations because again, you can commission the best architect, you can have the best designers, you can bring in the best lighting firm, hopefully to work on your property. But if you don't have a solid head of rooms, if you don't have a solid head of housekeeping, if you don't have someone, of course, who is very strong in terms of just a sense of arrival, all of that completely, completely falls apart. And I think oftentimes hotels say about who's our community manager and who's managing our social media, yes, of course, important things. But if the fundamentals are not right and then I think this is where you can often forgive hotels which are maybe a little bit dusty, hotels that maybe have a few nicks and dents in them, then that's absolutely fine. Because if the operations are solid, if the Linen is crisp if the water pressure is good. All of these, all these basics that we want from a good property, it comes down to that. So I think just, you know, the point Ms. Marquez making is spot on and we can never forget operations.
- [50:58]
B
I mean, is there a specific Hotel Tyler, that you wish had been left alone?
- [51:03]
C
Oh, goodness. Maybe that is an after or day before an after book. Georgina. There's many properties that come to mind and there's some that are reasonably well done. We did a celebration recently of the Park Hyatt in Tokyo. Again, a favorite of ours and I think a favorite of many of our readers and listeners as well. Just amazing project that was rendered by John Morford on the interior side. And we were so nervous when they shuttered the hotel for 18 months and thought, okay, are they going to completely ruin it? Are they going to tear out the soul? And that wasn't the case. It really feels if you didn't really know the Park Hive before, if you'd only seen the film Lost in Translation and that was your only relationship with the hotel. It generally looks absolutely the same. But I'm just trying to rack my brain now thinking of just like absolute shockers when it's come to renovations and where a hotel has completed completely gone wrong. And I am trying to come up with them, but it's one of those lists thinking, should we be a little bit diplomatic early on a Thursday morning or not. But actually I'm heading south and obviously I'm in Northern Italy at the moment. I can actually think of a number of hotels actually in Forte de Madame. So of course a very nice resort area, lots of family run hotels, 19 rooms, 30 rooms. And I would say that's actually a little stretch of coastline where I feel most of sort of the really sort of dear sweet, you know, pensiones where you would used to stay have completely been, you know, destroyed, along with the room rates as well because they have to pay for these renovations, Georgina. You know, rooms that used to be maybe €200 a night are now €2,000 a night. And the charm of course is it's been ripped out of so many of these mid century properties and not one comes to mind. But I've been struggling to find a place which hasn't gone through a horrendous, this renovation.
- [53:15]
B
Yeah, Tyler, thank you very much. And Nick, just before we go, Tyler is, I think probably rightly so, complaining that there's too much Australia.
- [53:23]
K
And I had nothing to do with
- [53:25]
L
that historically, just to be clear, I
- [53:27]
B
just have to say I am about to go to Perth. So I'm looking for hotel recommendations. But the recommendation I keep getting is if you want to go to Perth and you're looking for a hotel, the answer is, well, stay in Fremantle.
- [53:39]
K
Not a bad suggestion. I will, I will counter that. There's an amazing one called the Alex hotel in near the Perth CBD. Preserves a 1920s brick and stone street frontage. Absolutely gorgeous.
- [53:49]
L
I'm sorry, can you see the train to Freeman?
- [53:51]
B
Listen, our editorial director says no more Perth. Okay? We're not interested in your hometown. Thank you, Nick Moniz, who is our design editor and also to our editorial director and chairman, Tyler roulet. This is the globalist on monocle radio. Well, finally on today's show, let's get some use from the Japanese culture scene. I'm joined now from our Tokyo studio by Patrick Sam Michel, a Tokyo based music writer, including for the japan times and the blog make believe melodies. Patrick, lovely to have you on the show. Japanese music festivals, tell us about those.
- [54:54]
L
So Japanese summer music festivals have been a central part of the Japanese entertainment calendar since the mid-1990s when there was a real boom in, in bringing these festivals that showcased both western artists and domestic artists. And for like the past two decades, they've been very like, I'd say 70% focused on international artists and maybe the rest filled with local performers. But in recent years, and especially clear this summer, owing to the weak yen, which has really put a lot of the companies that organize these festivals at a disadvantage, it's kind of shifting where there's now more and more of an emphasis on Japanese artists instead of western ones which have become too expensive to bring over.
- [55:45]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell us about the London city pop festival.
- [55:50]
L
So, yeah, even though festivals here in Japan are changing a lot, a lot of Japanese artists are heading out into the world and that includes this coming weekend at an event called city pop win, a festival being held in London that features a lot of very prominent artists representing Japanese city pop, most notably the artist Masayoshi takanaka, who's actually on our playlist.
- [56:14]
B
Actually, we play a lot of takanaka
- [56:17]
L
and that's one of the reasons that they can build an entire festival around this sound. Because in the past decade, this kind of like Japanese take on funk and r and b and disc has captured the attention of younger listeners via the Internet. People discovering artists like takanaka and just being like, oh wow, I've never heard anything like this. You know, I never would have found this before. And it's resulted in city Pop. A very nebulous term that is. It's kind of debatable whether it was ever a real term used in the 80s here in Japan, but it's turned into a legitimate genre all of its own.
- [56:54]
B
Yeah. Let's just have a little clip of Takanaka her, shall we? That is so fabulous. It's really kind of endorphin and dopamine inducing, isn't it? It's kind of happy feeling. Pop.
- [57:22]
L
This has made me want to just like go straight to the beach. Like, I just want to run out of the studio and just like bask in the st and the cool vibes.
- [57:29]
B
Yeah. Listen, I want to know about Chikawa. So this is this animated movie that's kind of really popular, but a bit dark, right?
- [57:40]
L
Yes. So the film centers around the characters known as Chikawa in Japanese. They're basically a collection of like really tiny fuzzy animals that look like cats or rabbits. And in theory they're just similar to the likes of your hello Kitties or your rilakkuma, like just very cute mascots that you see everywhere on, like, keychains and pencils and whatever brand is willing to use them. This movie, however, which has soared to the top of the Japanese box office and has had one of the biggest openings of the year, features darker themes about, like, guilt and murder and like, what is revenge? All kind of weaved into this summer movie that's also, like, presented for kids who are on summer vacation right now in the country.
- [58:34]
B
That sounds a little odd. Listen, thank you very much indeed for talking to us, Patrick. And before we go, I just want to tell listeners that if you are in London and you're into Japanese culture, Meiko Kawakami, who's written the book Sisters in Yellow. Now Meiko was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. She'll be at the South Bank Centre on 28 August here in London. I'll be having a conversation with her and in preparation I've read all her previous works and can I just tell you what an amazing Japanese author she is? And that's all we have time for today. Thanks to our producers, Chris Chermak, Hassan Anderson and Thomas Waterhouse. Our researcher was Nkelen Martin and our studio manager, Christy o', Grady, with edit getting assistance from Hunter Wang. After the headlines. There's more music on the way and the briefing is live at midday. In London, I'm Georgina Godwin. Thank you for listening.
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A
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