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UBS Narrator
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 12 key financial hubs. With you at the heart of it all, UBS advice is our craft.
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Vincent McEvin
You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on 5th December 2025 on Monocle Radio. The Globalist in association with U.
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Live from London, this is the Globalist. I'm Vincent McEvin. Coming up, President Putin receives a warm welcome from Indian Prime Minister Modi while President Macron wraps up his visit to China. We'll assess how it's gone. We'll discuss allegations of fraud and funding misuse at the EU's diplomatic academy.
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Andrew Muller
Then we learned that aggrieved French folk appeared weirdly intent on making a live action pancake.
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Vincent McEvin
It's Friday, so we'll get Andrew Muller's wry take on what we've learned this week.
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Rosanna Pike
After that, if you go out and set out to be funny, you probably aren't funny. So it's because I didn't try to be funny.
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Vincent McEvin
The UK's top prize for the funniest fiction, Georgina Godwin meets the winner. Plus the day's papers and the latest news from the art world. That's all ahead on the Globalist, live from London.
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First, a look at what else is happening in the news. President Putin has warned that Ukrainian troops must withdraw from Ukraine's eastern Donbas region or Russia will seize it. Rejecting any compromise over how to end the war, leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have signed a peace deal aimed at ending their long running conflict at a summit hosted by President Trump in Washington, D.C. and the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia will all boycott Next year's 70th Eurovision Song Contest after it was decided Israel can continue to compete. Stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on those stories. But first, Russian President Vladimir Putin was warmly greeted at Delhi Airport last night by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he began a two day visit. Despite Moscow's illegal invasion of Ukraine and allegations of war crimes, Modi happily posted a picture of the two in the back of his official car smil, yelling and laughing, with a caption labeling Putin a friend and declaring that the two peoples have benefited greatly from their time tested friendship. To discuss the relationship and the visit, we're joined by Maya Sharma A journalist based in Bangalore. Maya, good to have you with us once again. First of all, what's on the itinerary for this trip and why is it happening now?
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Maya Sharma
Well, yesterday there was a one on one dinner between President Putin and Prime Minister Modi. It was a longish one is what we heard. We don't know yet what was actually discussed there. But after that dinner, President Putin has had a busy morning. He went first to the Rasharpati Bhavan where he met the President Draupadi Murmu and then off to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial, traditional visiting place for many leaders who actually visit India. And he paid his tribute there, writing in the visitor's book as well. Right now there's a summit going on at Hyderabad House. This is the 23rd India Russia annual summit. They've been meeting every single year alternately in Moscow and in Delhi. So that meeting is on right now and a joint statement is expected after that. But that doesn't end President Putin's day. There's then a state dinner hosted by the President. So that will wrap up the day today. It's been a busy time and it's been a busy day. And now, well it's, it is the scheduled time for that annual summit.
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Vincent McEvin
I mean given Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine and numerous alleged war crimes, listeners in Europe and the west might be slightly shocked that Putin is sort of receiving the full lavish state visit. Why is this relationship still so tight?
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Maya Sharma
That is correct. That definitely people of the west, the European countries, America as well will be very, very puzzled by India's closeness to Russia and the personal equation apparently between Russia, Prime Minister Modi and President Putin. In fact, interestingly, just before the visit, three envoys of European countries, that is the United Kingdom, Germany and France actually wrote a joint op ed for one of the country's leading newspapers talking about this in the invasion of Ukraine, talking about what Russia has done and that it's not interested in ending the war and that it has no respect for human life. This was replied to by the Russian envoy to New Delhi. He replied in the same newspaper. And the Minister of Ministry of External affairs was not very happy with this newspaper venture by the European diplomats and did say it was unacceptable but they've let it rest there. So yes, India is also very keenly aware that the west does not really understand this relationship but it does have a very long history. I mean we're not just Talking about the 23 years of this summit going on. It goes back to Soviet times. India tried then to have A non aligned approach to world leaders, to world countries. And they are still trying to do that very delicate balancing act. They are not totally able to rely on the United States under Trump. Whereas it may be very interesting from the point of view of the Europeans, but probably Putin and Russia are seen as more reliable in the context of relationships with India. It's a historical relationship. There are strong defence ties. There's a lot of defence equipment which Russia has sent to India and trade is fairly good as well. And at a time when India, US Relationships are a bit rocky right now with those very high tariffs, India is looking to make sure that its friendship with Russia stays strong. And perhaps, who knows? Yes, perhaps it is a signal as well to the west to say that India will make its own decisions diplomatically.
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Vincent McEvin
And let's just talk about those trade and security ties. I mean, there have been calls for India to sort of stop buying Russian oil. That's heavily sanctioned elsewhere in the world. But the, I mean, the trade in military goods you mentioned there, I mean, we're talking submarines, planes. This is really significant, isn't it?
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Maya Sharma
Oh, yes, absolutely. Russia has been the biggest supplier of defense equipment to India. And in the recent skirmish, the recent troubles between India and Pakistan, it was said that the Russian equipment served well during that time. And while India has indeed been trying to diversify, to not rely so much on Russia when it comes to equipment, they're looking at other countries like the United States, France and others, and also trying to boost India's own domestic defence supply. But the fact is it's still the largest supplier. And also there is that Russian inventory which India has, which requires Russian cooperation as well. So yes, defence wise, it is a huge, huge partner. There's talk of a nuclear submarine. Fighter jets are already here. Russia is also trying to sell some more fighter jets as well to India. So defense, yes, is very huge on oil. India has started to reduce its purchasing of Russian oil because of the pressure on it by other countries, by other Western countries. But it's still still a significant portion of the amount of oil that India imports is from Russia.
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Vincent McEvin
I mean, Modi and Putin, their personal relationship, it was very warm welcome. I mean, going to the airport to greet him right off the plane. Do you think there are similarities between the two leaders? They're sort of the sort of strongman mold.
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Maya Sharma
Oh, yes, I think there are quite a few of those around the world. And yes, you're right, when Prime Minister Modi actually went to the airport, was right there on the tarmac giving one of his Traditional hugs to President Putin as soon as he disembarked from the plane and posting on X and other social media as well, talking about the India Russia friendship being a time tested one. Delighted to welcome my friend President Putin to India. Certainly they have expressed and shown this closeness before. Prime Minister Modi rode in Putin's car in their earlier meeting this year in China and even from the airport in Delhi they rode together in the same car. These are all signs of a kind of closeness which they want to, which they may certainly feel, but they also want to express as well to the world that they are together. Russia also signaling that it does have a friend in India, even if it's being cold shouldered by much, much of the world. So there, there is that strongman bonding, yes, for sure. India has also not directly criticized the actions in Ukraine as much as the world would have wanted. It has said that it's not an era for war, but it's tried to find a balance between Ukraine and Russia. They have been talking to Zelenskyy as well. But a kind of balance which India is trying to achieve with what success is not yet very clear. But it's certainly not taking a side against Russia that is definite.
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Vincent McEvin
There can be a gap though between a government and its population. I mean, I'm struck, you know, he's going to the sort of Gandhi monument today, of course, famous for Indian independence. And India has long been and you know, many would say justifiably a critic of colonial given relationships on your northern borders of territorial integrity. That's something really important as well. What do Indian people think about the fact that they're so close to a country which is waging an illegal invasion and committing documented crimes, war crimes, that that is the sort of bedfellow that they've ended up with.
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Maya Sharma
There have been posts on social media saying that if our closest friends are Russia and China, then perhaps it is in fact a cause for concern when it comes to democr democracy. But there is that historical context of India's closeness with Russia and the Russian people. There is that context for sure. And there's also, with the rising nationalism in India, a certain sense that India is not necessarily forced to listen to what the United States wants to what Trump says, to what Europe says. There is a feeling that this is a way of asserting India's independence when it comes to international diplomatic ties. And there was a survey which kind of looked at what India felt about Russia and it was largely positive. There was a large percentage of people who felt positive towards Russia that is again based on history. It's again based on, as I said, perhaps trying to show the world that India will take its own decisions, even if those decisions don't follow what Europe and the United States might like to hear from this country.
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Vincent McEvin
Maya Sharma, journalist based in Bangalore. Thank you very much. This is the Globalist.
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It is 811 in Brussels and 711 here in London. The EU's former foreign policy chief, Federica Modorini, has been forced to resign her post as rector of the College of Europe after she was formally accused of fraud and corruption as part of an EU investigation into the misuse of funds. Two others, including a top EU civil servant and a manager at the college which trains diplomats, have also been accused of fraud. To discuss, we're joined by Stephane de Vries, European affairs correspondent at Euronews and BNR News Radio. He joins us from Amsterdam. Stefan, good to have you on the program again. For those who might not have heard of it, what exactly is this college?
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Stefaan de Vries
Well, it's actually the elite school in Europe for future civil servants, academics, people who work on very high places in European countries. It is very, the education is of a very high level. And you could basically consider it as the, well, the top civil servant school in Europe. It is in Bruges in Belgium. And if you look at the CVs of many MPs and people work now in Brussels, many of them have attended this very prestigious college. So the accusations come as a bit of a shock because it has been a college with a very good reputation. And what happened this week is, of course, a stain on their image.
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Vincent McEvin
So what exactly is alleged to have happened with this money?
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Stefaan de Vries
Well, allegedly, investigators suspect that confidential information about a tender for a new school, the diplomatic academy training, training program for junior diplomats, was awarded to the College of Europe because the College of Europe allegedly had information that was leaked to the benefit of the college before the contract was officially awarded, and therefore, it was undermining fair competition with other schools. Now, Mogherini and her colleagues were released after questioning, but since the investigation is still ongoing, the suspects are still, well, they should be at the disposal of the police, of the investigator. So basically, it is a classical case. It looks like a classical case of inside information.
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Vincent McEvin
And what's been the reaction in Brussels?
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Stefaan de Vries
Well, of shock, of course, because there are many former students of this school in Brussels. Mogherino had a very good reputation as the former chief of foreign affairs, the high representative of foreign affairs, about 10 years ago. So that this happened at their school, this college of Europe led, of course, to a lot of shock. Mogherini resigned from her positions as a rector yesterday, and another implicated senior figure also stepped down. So, yeah, it does cause a lot of uproar. Brussels bubble, if you can say so.
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Vincent McEvin
And is there sort of much of a threat to Ursula von der Leyen standing over this?
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Stefaan de Vries
Well, not directly, because the College of Europe is not dependent on the European Commission or any other European institutions. But of course, the scandal arrives at the moment when the EU is also in the process of adopting its first anti Corruption Directive, which is a new law meant to standardize sanctions and oversight across all member states. And of course, this very high profile school corruption probe proves that there may be a problem in the highest layers of the European Union. But there is no direct link between Ursula von der Leyen and Mogherinha. But it is a test whether EU institutions will be able to police themselves under new rules. But this case also risks further, of course, eroding public trust in EU institutions, even though in reality the two have nothing in common. But for the public, of course, when you say College of Europe, people will make the association with the European Parliament. It is not good for the image and for public trust in the institutions.
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Vincent McEvin
And finally, I've got to ask you, you are in Amsterdam. The Netherlands is one of the countries that is pulled out of another European institution, that is the Eurovision Song Contest. What's the reaction been like there?
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Stefaan de Vries
Well, the reaction here at the breakfast table this morning, my son of 11 is a big fan of the European Song Festival. He was very upset. But in general, this was something that was inevitable already from the beginning of this year. The Dutch public broadcaster Avro Tross, which is usually the organizer of the festival in the Netherlands, they have said, we don't want to participate when Israel also participates, which is really a break with Dutch traditions. The Netherlands traditionally have been one of the strongest supporters of Israel since the creation of the state. So this is really. It was. In general, the public agrees with the decision of the public broadcaster. But at the same time, the European Song Festival is extremely popular in the Netherlands. I think the feelings will be mixed. There's a strong opposition against the events in Israel and Gaza. In the Netherlands, huge protest marches have taken place over the last few months. So in general, the public will probably support this decision. But it is also a break from a very long tradition. And I think also many people will be upset that the Netherlands next year will not be there in Vienna, at the European Song Festival.
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Vincent McEvin
Stefan de Vries, thank you very much. Still to come on the program.
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Well, we'll hear more about why this Sabrina Carpenter song is making the news in Andrew Muller's what We Learned. This is the Glob List.
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UBS Narrator
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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Vincent McEvin
Well, let's continue now with today's newspapers. And joining me here in the studio is Phil Clarke, professor of International Politics at SOAS University of London. Phil, good to have you back in the studio. What's on your eye today?
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Phil Clarke
I think in my patch, the big story is the peace deal that was signed yesterday between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. This is in relation to a conflict that's been going on for just over two years now. It involves a rebel group called the M23 that invaded Kuwait, Congo, a couple of years ago. It's backed by Rwanda. There's been a huge death toll in the thousands. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced. So many people in the region have been holding their breath and hoping for this, this peace deal to come about. But there are some real doubts about whether the peace actually will hold and whether this agreement translates into an end to the hostilities on the ground.
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Vincent McEvin
I mean, Donald Trump makes quote, unquote, peace agreements it seems, every other week at the moment. Are these actual agreements or is a reality TV moment for him?
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Phil Clarke
I think it's more the latter, unfortunately. I think the telltale is that even in the last 24 hours, we've seen the conflict continuing. We've seen violence between M23 and the Congolese army. Again, there's been more displacement of the population in North Kivu Province, which is one of the hotspots in this conflict. One of the difficulties in this particular peace deal is that Trump is trying to do what he's been trying to do with Ukraine and Russia, which is do a critical minerals deal as part of this peace agreement. Both Rwanda and Congo have control over minerals concessions in the eastern part of drc. They've made big promises to the US Most of those concessions at the moment are already held by Chinese companies. So it's not even clear on the economic part of this agreement that the parties will be able to deliver what they've signed, let alone also following through on the peace part of this. So it's very. It's a very tangled process, but I think there's a lot of skepticism in the region about what this agreement will actually mean.
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Vincent McEvin
And what do you think might happen next?
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Phil Clarke
I think, unfortunately, the conflict is likely to continue. And one of the other weaknesses in the Washington agreement is that the M23 weren't present. And the reason for that is that Rwanda continues to deny that it's backing M23. So I think what we're likely to see is Rwanda may withdraw some of its own army forces out of eastern Congo, but they will leave M23 in place, and Rwanda will continue to use M23 as a proxy. This process, if it was going to be serious, not only needed Congo and Rwanda to sign the deal, but it also needed M23 around the table. And I think their absence is a glaring indication that, unfortunately, this agreement won't translate to peace on the ground.
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Vincent McEvin
Well, we're going to shift to Miami, which will play host to the G20 next year. But Donald Trump is using it to ratchet up his diplomatic war with South Africa.
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Phil Clarke
This has been rumbling on Vinny for months now. South Africa has just ended its own presidency of the G. The G20 summit was in Johannesburg only a few weeks ago. The US Boycotted that summit, and now the US Itself is taking over the presidency. But they're. They're using this moment in Miami to put yet another shot across our South Africa's bowels. What's the basis of this fight between these two countries? It really comes down to two things. South Africa has been a very vocal opponent of Israel's genocide in Gaza. And it was South Africa that launched the. The International Court of Justice case against Israel in relation to Gaza. The other issue between the US And South Africa is that the US has been accepting white refugees from South Africa, claiming that there is a white genocide going on in the country. And, of course, South Africa is absolutely refusing to accept that false narrative. So these two countries have had a rocky last year or two, but that fight is now playing out in the G20 context. Context.
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Vincent McEvin
How much of a hand in this, though? Two notable South Africans, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, have. Do you think?
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Phil Clarke
Yeah, I think they're a big part of this. It was no accident, I think, that we saw the US Mount the campaign to have those white refugees come to the US Very soon after Trump was elected. And Musk really rose to prominence in those early weeks of Trump's presidency. So I think Musk in particular was a big part of this, at least in a sort of visible sense. But I think, too, the likes of Thiel in the back background seem to have Trump's ear. One of the other ways that this story may play out is that South Africa have been leading the charge to get the African Union to a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. And in order for the African Union to get that, it will need the support of the us. There's a danger here that the African Union might also suffer some backlash because of South Africa's leadership of that charge within the un. So this is a diplomatic spat that's going to play out on lots of different angles.
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Vincent McEvin
And for South Africa, I mean, the G20 is an important forum to be at, isn't it? Will there be much damage from skipping a year, or will it just sort of be business as usual after this Miami one's done?
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Phil Clarke
It'll be a difficult time because South Africa wanted to use the G20 not only to project itself as a global power, but also as a place where, for example, it could lobby the US on tariffs. One of the real concerns in South Africa is that the US tariffs that are being threatened at the moment will harm South African agriculture in a major way. So there's a real concern in Pretoria about this particular diplomatic fight, but. But neither party will be stepping back from it anytime soon.
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Vincent McEvin
Well, moving to Europe and the news that Eurovision, its 70th annual competition next year, will be missing some attendees. That's Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Slovenia. We've discussed it slightly already this morning, but their broadcasters have pulled out. What did you make of.
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Phil Clarke
It's interesting that it's the four national broadcasters who've said that they won't participate in the next Eurovision, but it seems that these four countries, as far as I can tell, will still send performers to it.
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Vincent McEvin
No, no, they. I don't think they are.
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Phil Clarke
Oh, is that right?
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Vincent McEvin
Yeah. So they won't send performers and they won't even broadcast the show. And for Spain, which is one of the sort of Big Five funders, that's quite a big drop in income for it, right?
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Phil Clarke
Right. Okay. Yes. Yeah. Because many of the reports this morning were just emphasizing the broadcasters, but I had wondered, what' to the performers. But you've cleared that up for us. And it's interesting, I think, that the likes of the BBC and the Austrian national broadcasters were very quick to come out and say, no, we are in support of Israel attending Eurovision. So, again, we're seeing these diplomatic spats play out in very unusual Spaces. I don't think anybody would have thought a few years ago that Eurovision would become as politicised as it has, but clearly this is an important global space and I guess the likes of Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and the Netherlands are trying to use whatever forum they can to make a point about the ongoing genocide in Gaza and Israel's actions there. So. Yes. So suddenly what was typically a kind of artistic and cultural moment has become a bit of a geopolitical flashpoint too.
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Vincent McEvin
And I mean, why do you think we're getting maybe a distinction between cultural and sporting? Because we had the Olympics last year where Israel participated with relatively no protest. It is, I think, set to. To maybe be in the World cup next year. I mean, you're not sort of getting the same kind of flashpoints. There's very much in sport, isn't there, historically, a bit of a, like, keep politics out of sport movement. But that doesn't seem to work in other international forums.
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Phil Clarke
I think that's right. I think there's perhaps a greater political awareness in the cultural space. And I guess we have seen Eurovision in the last few years used as a place for other types of protests. You know, we've seen protests in favor of Ukraine and sort of anti Russian sentiment being expressed in that space. So I guess what we're seeing around Gaza within Eurovision is not new. This seems to be a trend. But you're right, it's something that sport is struggling with is what is its place here. Which is ironic in many respects, because if you go back to the apartheid era in South Africa, in fact, the sporting boycotts against the South African states were a really important part of dismantling the apartheid regime. So there was a time when there was a global political consciousness around sport, too, but there seems to be much less of that at the moment.
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Vincent McEvin
Well, that leads nicely onto our final story. And it is the FIFA draw later today, isn't it, for the World Cup? So nations will find out which of the other countries they'll be playing in the sort of in the early rounds. But Gianni Infantino, the head of soccer's governing body, has made a big play to cozy up to Donald Trump, hasn't he? And even we think, awarding him a little prize today.
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Phil Clarke
Quite remarkable, Vinny, that given after Trump did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize, FIFA, which had backed Trump very heav heavily for the Nobel, then turned around and said, look, it's okay, Donald, we're gonna create our own Peace prize, the FIFA Peace Prize, which they will be awarding today. And I think most Pundits think that Trump will receive that prize. I guess there's a sort of terrible irony in all of this that we've seen Trump and Rubio and others floating around the Congo, Rwanda peace deal in the last 24 hours and, you know, framing themselves as peacemakers. And as I suggested earlier, I think that's a fairly flimsy piece. Fast forward 24 hours. Trump is going to lauded by FIFA for his supposed peace role. And I guess the other sort of backdrop to this is Infantino has become a real FIFA fanboy. He uses almost every public opportunity he can to praise Trump for his global diplomacy and his domestic even rocking up.
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Vincent McEvin
In Israel during the signing of the quote, unquote, peace.
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Phil Clarke
Indeed. Quite, quite remarkable. So I guess, you know, we were just talking about, you know, the difficult relationship between sport and politics. I mean, this is a very peculiar entanglement where FIFA basically have just become a mouthpiece for Trump's administration. And it's going to culminate in Infantino, I think, giving Trump the FIFA Peace Prize later today.
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Vincent McEvin
And just finally, he is quite lucky in a way, isn't he? Because there's a picture in this article that you've raised. This was last year, the U.S. playing host to the inaugural FIFA World cup, which was a bit of a nonsense tournament, but Trump on the stage with Chelsea, who won then as a leader, he's going to get a World cup, an Olympics, a G20 and the American Quincentennial. He's got all these sort of big international moments and we've all seen, though, with the World cup, that he's threatening the kind of whole thing talking about moving games away from certain, what he sees as Democrat cities, the Republican ones. If you're a big organization like the Olympics, like FIFA in the us you really have to manage him, don't you?
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Stefaan de Vries
You do.
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Phil Clarke
He's an incredibly volatile character. And also there's the issue of US visas. So this is one of the things that FIFA has been worried about is.
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Vincent McEvin
In recent immigration raids. I mean, soccer fans in America are predominantly from Latinx backgrounds, aren't they?
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Phil Clarke
Exactly. And the last couple of World Cups in Qatar and in Russia, in fact, there was visa free entry for people holding tickets. The US so far has said they will not implement that policy. So there's a real concern about, even if you have bought a ticket to World cup matches, if you, if you're from particular countries, whether you'll be able to enter the US next year.
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Vincent McEvin
Yeah, I don't think it's going to be a particularly fun atmosphere. Is it really okay? Phil Clark, professor of International politics at SOAS University of London. Thank you very much. You're listening to the Globalist on Monocle Radio.
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Now here's what else we're keeping an eye on today. President Putin has warned that Ukrainian troops must withdraw from Ukraine's eastern Donbas region region or Russia will seize it. Rejecting any compromise over how to end the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out ceding any territory. Leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have signed a peace deal aimed at ending their long running conflict at a Summit hosted by US President Donald Trump in Washington D.C. but ahead of the summit there was an escalation in fighting in the resource rich eastern democratic economy Congo between government forces and rebels believed to be backed by Rwanda. The Netherlands, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia will all boycott Next year's 70th Eurovision Song Contest after it was decided at a meeting of 50 state broadcasters and the EBU. Israel can continue to compete. An agreement was also reached to strengthen voting integrity rules to prevent the alleged interference seen this year by Israel's government, which reportedly helped their act reach second place through the public voting.
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And Warner Bros. Discovery has entered exclusive negotiations to sell its film and TV studios, including the HBO Max streaming service, to Netflix. The two companies could announce a deal in the coming days, assuming talks don't fall apart. This is the Globalist. Stay tuned.
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It's 1531 in Beijing and 831 in zone Zurich. French President Emmanuel Macron is wrapping up a three day state visit to China during which he's had lengthy discussions with President Xi on a plethora of pressing matters. But the pair have still found time to take a visit to a panda breeding center to discuss Sino Franco relations. We're joined now by Jonathan Fenby, journalist, author and former editor of the South China Morning Post. Jonathan, good to have you on the show. How's this visit coming? Gone well.
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Phil Clarke
Good morning.
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Jonathan Fenby
It's gone okay on the surface, but there's one sees very little sign of progress from what's been released and what the two leaders said last night after their meetings.
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Macron it's a very difficult hand for Macron to play. At the same time he wants to put push European presence vis a vis China, particularly on Ukraine and push get some give from Xi on support from Russia, but he seems to have got nowhere there. And on the trade front, China's deficit with China's surplus with France, France's imports of Chinese gold goods just go on goes on increasing.
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Vincent McEvin
Well, if we look at that trade issue first, I mean, what was Macron hoping he might be able to get out of this trip?
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Jonathan Fenby
Well, he's, he's hoping for, interestingly, more Chinese investment in France and more potential for Chinese companies to exploit the domestic Chinese market market. But that market is not very promising at the moment from recent signs. And also for cooperation in aerospace, Airbus sales to China, and.
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Opening up for more opportunities for Chinese farm products, including cognac.
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Vincent McEvin
And turning to security, France has been a forthright ally of Ukraine, whilst China has tacitly approved of Russia, Russia's illegal war. Macron reportedly urged Xi to apply pressure on Putin to broker a ceasefire. Will it have any effect?
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Jonathan Fenby
Not from what has been said after the talks, and not from all one's reading of the Chinese position. China sees Russia as an ally in its bigger struggle with the United States and with the west in general, and France has to choose where it is.
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Vincent McEvin
And do we know if the discussions turn to Taiwan at all?
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Jonathan Fenby
Not really. We haven't had any information on that, except that Wang Yi, the Chinese Foreign Minister, did say when Macron arrived that he hoped France would back China in its dispute with Japan over what the Japanese Prime Minister said, which was interpret about Taiwan, which was interpreted in Beijing as being interference in its domestic affairs.
- [35:53]
Vincent McEvin
Despite not making much progress, the pair did get some time for panda diplomacy.
- [35:59]
Jonathan Fenby
Yes, indeed. And Macron was out jogging. They went to the southwestern city of Chengdu, which is a big center for Chinese high tech development.
- [36:13]
And she.
- [36:17]
Patted Macron's back, as it were, by accompanying him there. He normally doesn't accompany foreign visitors outside Beijing, and Macron and his wife Brigitte are visiting Panda reserves, which are a big high point of the Sichuan area around Chengdu.
- [36:41]
Vincent McEvin
China recently reclaimed two lone pandas to France, something it's done with other countries as well as relations have cooled. But apparently there was a promise of new pandas soon.
- [36:52]
Jonathan Fenby
Yes, new pandas will be on their way and more European statesmen will be on their way to Beijing to try to. To establish Europe as a big player in the game with Beijing and Washington?
- [37:10]
Vincent McEvin
Well, it's likely to have been President Macron's final visit to China. Do you think he's taking a kind of long view of what's happened during his time since he was elected in 2017? Do you think he's played the country right as he grasped it and understood the relationship?
- [37:27]
UBS Narrator
No, he.
- [37:28]
Jonathan Fenby
The difficulty with the relationship is that the French keep, like all Europeans and most other people around the world keep buying more and more of Chinese goods, and this helps the Chinese leadership to balance the economy. Given that domestic demand in China is very low and production of manufacturing goods in particular is very high, and short of putting up big protectionist barriers, there's very little Europe can do about it.
- [38:02]
Vincent McEvin
Jonathan Fenby, journalist, author and former editor of the South China Morning Post thank you very much. You're listening to Monocle Radio.
- [38:21]
And now, as it's Friday, here's Andrew Muller's whimsical roundup of what we've learned this week.
- [38:27]
Stefaan de Vries
Have you ever tried this one?
- [38:31]
Andrew Muller
We learned this week that we are living in a veritable gilded epoch of those incidents when some or other authority figure attempts to co opt popular culture in the service of a broadly authoritarian agenda, then gets roundly yet yelled at by the creator of the culture in question. And those are always outstanding fun as all right thinking people agree.
- [38:56]
We learned that the custodians of the social media accounts of what remains of the White House had thought it would be amusing to soundtrack a gloating clip of arrests by U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, with the Hitler song Juno by popular warbler Sabrina Carpenter.
- [39:18]
A selection possibly made because the song's lyrics reference handcuffs, although so far as we understand it, in a context other than the detention of suspected illegal immigrants, or indeed of US Citizens and green card holders who looked a bit foreign to otherwise unemployable men who enjoy dressing up as soldiers anyway, we learned that Carpenter was unamused, inveighing on social media as follows, as will now be read by Monocle's celebrity disgruntlement desk chief Anita Riota.
- [39:48]
Vincent McEvin
This video is evil and disgusting.
- [39:51]
Rosanna Pike
Do not ever involve me or my.
- [39:54]
Amorose Abra Amma
Music to benefit your inhumane agenda.
- [39:57]
Andrew Muller
And we learned that broadly similar grievances had been vented on behalf of a turtle, specifically this turtle.
- [40:05]
Vincent McEvin
Hey, it's Franklin.
- [40:08]
Andrew Muller
For reasons from which we may have learned much about the approximate reading level of US Secretary of Defence who thinks he's Secretary of War but isn't Pete.
- [40:16]
Maya Sharma
Hegseth Controversy continues to follow Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tied to military strikes against alleged drug boats After Friday's Washington Post report raised concerns of possible war crimes, Hegseth took to social media over the weekend. Weekend he posted this quote, fake book cover titled Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists.
- [40:45]
Andrew Muller
Yes, we learned that Hegseth had commanded his preferred AI slop generator to rattle up a bogus book cover depicting children's cartoon character Franklin the Turtle unloading a rocket propel grenade at drug runners from the door of a helicopter. And we learned in few uncertain terms from Franklin's copyright holders that they did not envisage any such addition to the series, which mostly includes more wholesome titles such as Franklin Has a Sleepover, Franklin Goes to School, Franklin's Class Trip, and the Franklin Chainsaw Massacre. Alright, we might have made up one of those.
- [41:20]
Maya Sharma
Now the Canada based publisher behind the these books was not happy. On Monday, Kids Can Press posted this statement writing quote, franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy and inclusivity, and strongly condemning violent or unauthorized use of Franklin's name or image, which directly contradicts these values.
- [41:45]
Andrew Muller
We learned anyway, and once again how far the United States has travelled down whichever road it is presently on, mostly by measuring the distance between the current US Secretary of Defense picking fights with a series of children's books and say, such hypothetical historical comparisons as Robert McNamara feuding with Paddington Bear or Edwin Stanton challenging Louisa May Alcott to a duel.
- [42:12]
Ow. Something something Turtle, something something America, something something shell of its former self.
- [42:21]
We assumed you'd seen the payoff coming, so didn't think it was worth spending too much time on the build up. Hope that's okay.
- [42:31]
Appreciate your understanding. We did learn, however, that the present US Administration's attitude towards Latin American drug runners is perhaps more nuanced than the jut jawed table banging of Pete Hegseth might lead to one to believe, as we learned more about the parameters of President Donald Trump's mercy tonight.
- [42:49]
Phil Clarke
The former President of Honduras serving time in a US prison walking free after.
- [42:53]
Andrew Muller
A pardon from President Donald Trump over the weekend.
- [42:56]
Phil Clarke
Juan Orlando Hernandez was serving a 45 year federal prison sentence after being convicted.
- [43:01]
Vincent McEvin
On drugs and weapons smuggling charges just last year.
- [43:04]
Phil Clarke
Or did we can you explain more.
- [43:06]
Maya Sharma
About why you would pardon a notorious drug trafficker?
- [43:10]
Phil Clarke
Well, I don't know who you're talking about.
- [43:12]
Andrew Muller
Our sympathies at this difficult time to whichever Hernandez or Hernandez were supposed to have been pardoned. And it is of course a total mystery why Donald Trump of all people should have become preoccupied with the plight of a bellicose conservative nationalist with a recurring habit of disputing election results, an inner circle of obvious crooks and dingbats, a long career of dodgy dealing with dubious characters, and a well chronicled history of looting the public purse. Being imprisoned after serving two terms as his country's president.
- [43:43]
But returning to the subject of news stories likely to queue up a somewhat laboured introduction to an underwhelming punchline and we'll be needing to wake the house accordionist. Could someone please give Marcel a kick?
- [44:01]
We learned that aggrieved French folk appeared weirdly intent on making a live action pancake.
- [44:07]
Amorose Abra Amma
I can't wait to try this.
- [44:09]
Stefaan de Vries
Tell me more.
- [44:10]
Vincent McEvin
See where this goes.
- [44:11]
Andrew Muller
We learned that Jordan Bardella, leader of the national rally party, having barely dusted off the flower thrown at him while visiting an agricultural fair in Vesoul, had been hit on the head with an egg in moissac.
- [44:26]
Absolutely killing it with the sound effects. This week, we learned that French plod had, yes, cracked case, whisked a suspect into custody and so forth. Almost as if they had decided that flour was one thing, but an egg. Oh, no, that's an oath.
- [44:44]
Vincent McEvin
Boo.
- [44:45]
Andrew Muller
For Monocle Radio, I'm Andrew Muller.
- [44:51]
Vincent McEvin
Thank you as ever to Andrew. This is the globalist on Monocle Radio.
- [44:58]
UBS Narrator
I can eq, 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. Ubiquitous. Yes, banking is our craft.
- [45:34]
Vincent McEvin
Earlier this week, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction, the UK's most prestigious award for the year's funniest novel, marked its 25th anniversary with not one, but two winners. Rosanna pike took home the 2025 prize for her dazzling debut, A Little Trickery, while a special vintage Bollinger Prize honoured the late Mar Luchuka for her much loved classic, A Short History of Tractors in Ukraine. By tradition, the winning novelist also receives a pig named after their book. Monocle's Georgina Godwin caught up with Rosanna, who woke up this morning not only with a Jeroboam, a Woodhouse collection and a national prize, but also with a porker called A Little Trickery snuffling around somewhere in rural Britain.
- [46:25]
Rosanna Pike
Yeah, I mean, it's sort of in the process of sinking in. It's such good news. And, yeah, I was just absolutely delighted.
- [46:32]
UBS Narrator
And your book is such a joyful language rich romp through 16th century England. So tell us a little bit about Tib Ingelby and this wonderfully unruly world that she inhabits.
- [46:44]
Rosanna Pike
The book is based on a true story. It's based on the story of a medieval con woman who is known as the Holy Maid of Leinster. And she was a woman who pretended to be Ancient angel in a church in Herefordshire. And she got herself a real cult following. People were coming across the country to see her and she made a lot of money and I sort of stumbled across this true story. There's not loads, not loads and loads of research done on her, so I did have the kind of room to be imaginative about it. But it's about this woman who did this amazing hoax and she wasn't the only person who was faking a miracle at the time. There were lots of people doing it, but hers was probably the most audacious and. And it was different because she was a woman. And the story kind of follows her life up to this point of doing the hoax and the hoax itself, but it sort of explores why she would do that. So she's based on someone who is very, very desperate. She's homeless, she's an orphan. And we sort of follow her as she wends her way across England and ending up in this church.
- [47:52]
UBS Narrator
So, I mean, comic fiction is a notoriously slippery beast. How did you find your rhythm? That mix of. Of bite and warmth and mischief that clearly won the judges over.
- [48:03]
Rosanna Pike
Honestly, I think it's probably just organically happened because I didn't mean to write something.
- [48:12]
Funny. I didn't go out to be funny. I think maybe it just sort of happened with her voice because it's a very voice driven narrative and the voice came to me really easily. It was so nice to write in Tib's voice. And it is quite different. She sort of almost speaks in like a dialect, dialect. So I think maybe it's her turn of phrase and that just. That really was quite just. It just sort of happened. But I think, I guess if you, if you go out and set out to be funny, you probably aren't funny. So it's because I didn't try to be funny.
- [48:46]
UBS Narrator
I mean, the thing is, to write a book at all is a tremendous achievement. To then have your debut novel honoured in this way is extraordinary. I mean, this must really. I mean, be setting you up for a wonderful.
- [48:59]
Rosanna Pike
Oh, I'm so. I'm so grateful to the judges that they, that they liked it and that they gave me the award because I think at this stage in my career to have this vote of confidence means so much because you naturally are so kind of doubtful of yourself with the first novel and, and it's all just. You don't really know how it's going to land. And people are generally want to buy books by authors that they know. So debuts are notoriously difficult to kind of sell. And so the fact that this is, you know, being recognized is, is so great because it hopefully means people will take a bit of a punt on buying it.
- [49:36]
Vincent McEvin
That was Rosanna pike, winner of the Bollinger Everyman Woodhouse Prize for comic fiction, speaking to Monocle's Georgina Godwin. A Little Trickery is published by Fig Tree and it's out now. You're listening to the Globalist on Monocle Race Radio.
- [49:52]
Andrew Muller
Join Monocle every weekday and let the briefing guide and inspire you through uncertain times, always keeping you ahead of the curve.
- [50:00]
Amorose Abra Amma
It's devolving to a point where we're at odds with each other instead of.
- [50:04]
Andrew Muller
Letting our political leaders do the dirty.
- [50:06]
Phil Clarke
Work, so to speak.
- [50:07]
Andrew Muller
Heavyweight coverage, no white noise, and always delivered with a smile.
- [50:12]
Stefaan de Vries
The gray areas lead to a lot of sort of awkward conversations and the sudden the English dislike more than awkward conversations.
- [50:19]
Andrew Muller
Keep your appointment with the briefing every weekday at 1300 CET noon in London here on Monocle Radio.
- [51:01]
Vincent McEvin
And finally, for a roundup of the latest arts news, we're joined by arts journalists for outlets including Wallpaper, artnet and the New York Times. And she's a regular Monocle contributor to Amorose Abra Amma, you're not here in the studio with us today. Where are you in the world?
- [51:19]
Amorose Abra Amma
I am just down the road at home in Holloway.
- [51:23]
Vincent McEvin
Ah, okay. You're not then to Art Basel Miami Beach.
- [51:28]
Amorose Abra Amma
No, but I am seeing all the wonderful social media posts which are making me wish that I had decided to go to Art Basel Miami beach, especially.
- [51:38]
Vincent McEvin
With how cold it is here in London today. Well, I know. How is, how is the market faring there?
- [51:45]
Amorose Abra Amma
The market is faring very well. I think people were kind of buoyed after a good freeze and then a very good Art Basel Paris showing steady improvement. And then an exciting auction week in New York with 2.2 billion worth in total sales across that week. And it's kind of come to a point with art bars on Miami beach, which kind of rounds up this kind of art market year year with lots of big ticket sales like we used to see a couple of years ago, which I think is making everyone invested and who works in the around the art market feel a lot better about things.
- [52:25]
Vincent McEvin
And are we spotting any sort of trends for what people are wanting at the moment?
- [52:31]
Amorose Abra Amma
It's a little safe. I mean, we are seeing some emerging purchases as Yvonne Thomas Caribbean Shore. I mean, and that was of $375,000. And we're seeing mainly kind of like blue chip gallery sales. For example, Hauser and worth reported six sales that exceeded 1 million on the first day. And that was led by George Condo, very kind of safe artist. That was for 3.9 million. We had White Cube sold a Richard. Richard hunt sculpture for 1 million and a Willem de Kooning for 3 million. And Rauschenberg also sold on the first day for 1.5 million. So you're seeing great art, but safe purchases. A lot of these artists are, you know, known, famous, tried, tested. So people aren't kind of. It's not a speculative market, but people are willing to make those purchases with which, you know, last year maybe wasn't happening quite so much.
- [53:38]
Vincent McEvin
Well, moving from Miami to Sydney now and there's an opening there.
- [53:45]
Amorose Abra Amma
Yes, this is a wonderful exhibition. This is curated by the artist Tony Albert, much loved kind of art star Tony Albert, who has Indigenous heritage. And it's the Indigenous Art Triennial that opened in Sydney and it's the first time this has happened. It's the fifth triennial, but it's the first one since the no vote happened two years ago, which I think rocked the country and created a lot of conversation around Indigenous artists and representation. It was a vote against a national referendum which voted against having a specific body to represent in the Aboriginal communities in Parliament and created a lot, you can imagine a lot of discussion, a lot of problems. It's the first time there's this big national exhibition right in the heart of Sydney by the harbour, which showcases Indigenous art.
- [54:41]
So it's after the rain and it celebrates renewal, resistance and rebirth. And it's a kind of. It's 10 large scale projects commissioned by the gallery and by Tony Albert to kind of look at these issues. And I guess they're looking at it as a kind of let's start again. Here we are a kind of rethinking and a representation of their cultures and very emotional moment, I think, for the art community in Australia. And it looks like just such a wonderful show, just showcasing Indigenous art, historic and contemporary, referenced and realised.
- [55:25]
From across the country. So not focusing on one particular area, it also focuses on the Northern Territory where I made my report for Monocle earlier this year, looking at Albert Namajira and the area of Alice Springs. But it covers a whole range of different peoples from around the country. And I think just a wonderful, exciting moment and a chance to come, kind of start again.
- [55:51]
Vincent McEvin
And is it trying to sort of, you know, process what happened? Is it trying to, you know, remind people of legacy?
- [55:59]
Amorose Abra Amma
What.
- [55:59]
Vincent McEvin
What have you interpreted it as being about?
- [56:02]
Amorose Abra Amma
I think it's a bit of both. So we've got kind of. They've recreated Albert Namajira's house. And he was, I think, the first Aboriginal person that was allowed to buy a house, house and build. Buy and build a house. And it's a very small kind. I visited it when I was there. It's a small kind of property and a really beautiful location by a river. And they've recreated it in glass and created all kinds of paintings, kind of talking about the history of that area onto this kind of like glass structure which. Exactly the dimensions of the house, it's not huge, huge that sits in the central gallery. And around that they've installed all this different work. And so I think it's talking to legacy, but it's also talking about the current community, what people are making now, people's concerns now. And I think it's that kind of pivotal cultural moment where people are looking back, but they're also looking forward. And that's what I read from the shows that I'm seeing online.
- [57:12]
Vincent McEvin
And finally, speaking of looking forward, the art review Power 100 list has just been released.
- [57:19]
Amorose Abra Amma
Yes, the art world quakes when this comes out. Everybody reads it, everyone gets so excited. And the number one most powerful person in the art world has been announced as Ibrahim Muhammad, the young Ghanaian artist who is represented by yq. He's a bit of an art star, but what he did once he became quite successful was to move back to Ghana and build red clay this in Tamale in. And it's kind of like amazing art center, educational center, and they invite people to come in. I think there was no airport there, so he pulled an airstrip and so people can fly now to visit him there. He's just. Just that he's kind of very entrepreneurial, but he has a very deep, intuitive.
- [58:12]
Kind of emotional practice again that looks at history, but is also looking at Ghana now. And he's very beloved. And that's who they've decided is number one. And they've referred to him as a totemic artist. But yeah, so that's quite exciting. And a lot of the people on the list are people running institutions. There are a lot of artists. There's YL Shawke, who I think is a really fantastic artist who looks at kind of the history of Egypt and the West.
- [58:46]
Vincent McEvin
I'm afraid we're going to have to finish there because we're out of time this morning. But thank you for joining us. That's all for today's program. Our producers were Monica Lillis and Angelica Jopson. Our researcher, Joanna Moser and our studio manager was quite Christy o', Grady, with editing assistance from Mariella Bevan. After the headlines, there's more music on the way. The Briefing is live at midday London time. The Globus returns at the same time tomorrow. I'm Vincent McEvin. Have a great weekend. Thank you for listening.
- [59:29]
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 each day, knowing that we can do even better. That's what banking is to us. Not just work, but a craft. UBS advice is our craft.