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UBS Narrator
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Georgina Godwin
You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on 17th February 2026 on Monocle Radio. The Globalist in association with U.
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Paul Waldy
Hello.
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Georgina Godwin
This is the Globalist broadcasting to you live from Midori House in London. I'm Georgina Godwin. On the show ahead, we are entering.
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Paul Waldy
This golden era of relations between our countries and not simply because of the alignment of our people, but because of the relationship that you have with the President of the United States.
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Georgina Godwin
Viktor Orban gets a gold star from Marco Rubio. We'll be in Budapest to see how this ringing endorsement from the US Secretary of State just prior to Hungary's election was received and how the rest of Europe is reacting. Then we'll hear from Belarus opposition leader and we'll go through the papers with the Globe and Mail's Paul Waldy. We'll have a roundup of climate news and join our contributing editor in Zurich for an update on stories about the.
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Tom Webb
Built Plus, I'm Tom Webb live from Milan with the latest from the Winter Olympics and details of what the King of Sweden has been up to.
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Georgina Godwin
We're looking forward to it, Tom. That's all ahead here on the Globalist live from London. First, a look at what else is happening in the news. Iran and the United States begin high stakes nuclear talks in Geneva today amid rising military tens. Rubbish is piling up on the streets of Havana as US Pressure on Cuba intensifies. And dozens of Australians linked to suspected Islamic State fighters remain stranded in a Syrian detention camp after a failed transfer. Do stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on those stories. Now, the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is hoping the April elections will deliver a fifth straight term for him. It's likely to be his toughest test since taking office 16 years ago and he's called in the big guns for support. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Budapest yesterday on his way back from the Munich Security Conference. He enthusiastically endorsed Orban. Tellingly, the only other European country Rubio visited on the way back from Munich was fellow Eurosceptic nation Slovakia. Well, we head now to Budapest where Lilly Takash is a journalist at the Hungarian Independent Newspaper 444. Lily, many thanks for taking time out of your day to explain the situation to us. Can you, can you tell us what Rubio said about Trump and Orban at their joint press conference?
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Lilly Takash
Yes. Hello, Good morning. First and foremost, the most important message was to emphasize how good their personal relationships are and how beneficial these personal relationships are for Hungary and the Hungarian people. He didn't say so many things concretely about the cooperation between the actual countries of the United States of America and Hungary, but he again again emphasized the personal nature of this relationship. And he was actually even asked whether this good relationships between Hungary, the golden era between the US and Hungary, would continue if Orban were not to re elected in April. And Giulio Bio didn't give any concrete answer. He again started to go on about how good the relationships between Donald Trump and Orban are beneficial for the country. So I think that was the most important message because apart from that, we know that some kind of nuclear energy agreement were signed, but no details were disclosed about that. So the main message again was emphasizing the personal nature of the relationship, which is quite beneficial for the governing party because they are, they tried to focus their campaign on visualizing Orban as like a very experienced major member of the international politics, whilst Peter Madhya, his main opponent, is being visualized as someone unreliable who wouldn't find his way in the international politics and he couldn't keep up with the shenanigans of international politics, in contrast to Orban.
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Georgina Godwin
I mean, is this blatant intellectual election interference by Rubio?
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Lilly Takash
I mean, it kind of is. He didn't, didn't say openly you should vote for Fides, but I mean, that would have been the next step. So. But of course it isn't framed by the government and their government and media empire as an interference in the elections, but normally we would say it is because each case, when any member of the international politics isn't openly endorsing the opponent politician, Peter Modior, but says just some kind of supportive message regarding him, they instantly start to talk about election interference. So, yeah, it's not really a level playing field, I would say.
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Georgina Godwin
You mentioned there this nuclear deal, there were no details. But is this perhaps a reason why Rubio is so keen to align with these populist led Eurosceptic countries? Is it to do with energy?
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Lilly Takash
I think, well, from the one hand, of course it is to do with business, which is always important for United States foreign policy. But from the other hand, I think it aligns more with the message of The National Security Strategy, which was disclosed in November and the draft version came to light, and it was of course, said that the US should work closer with countries such as Poland or Italy or actually Hungary, where populist forces are stronger, and that they should cooperate more with these countries so that they could just distance them from the European Union, which is of course not Donald Trump's favorite construction in international politics.
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Georgina Godwin
And of course, having only gone to Hungary and Slovakia, I wonder how the snubbed European leaders like Mertz or Macron or even Meloni reacted to this.
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Lilly Takash
Well, I think, you know, when Rubio delivered his speech in Munich, some analysts and politicians at the side, they said that it's the more conciliatory speech than that of Antony Mans of last year. But, you know, if you deconstruct the message, the message was kind of the same. It was just delivered in a more polite way. And the fact that Rubio from Munich went directly to Fito and to Orban. So to visit those Euro skeptic leaders of Europe who are actually endangering any kind of cooperation within the European Union, and this is one of their primary goal, actually, I think it shows that the message of the US Regarding Europe didn't really change in the last year. So I would say that, yeah, those leaders of Europe who are actually in favor of getting a stronger European Union, of course could be critical of these moves by the U.S. i mean, I.
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Georgina Godwin
Wonder how this visit sits alongside Hungary's relationship with Brussels.
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Lilly Takash
I don't think that these relations could get any worse, to be honest. They are really on an all time low. Orban's main enemy is actually Brussels. Now, just this weekend, he has this State of Union speech with his party and he said that talking about Putin is bullshit, while the real danger comes from Brussels, which was, I think, kind of almost an open Putinist narrative, which he said officially on his official event in front of the press and in front of his whole party. So I don't think that this could really endanger our relationships anymore with Brussels.
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Georgina Godwin
How have the citizens of Hungary reacted to both his and Rubio's remarks?
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Jessica Bridger
I wouldn't.
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Lilly Takash
I mean, it's campaign. We have two months before the election. So I think we are all living in a bit of altered state of mind here because of the campaign crazy that is going on. And that has been going on for a couple of months now. So it actually depends whether you support the government or not. For those who support the government, Orban's international endorsements, of course, it's a huge Success because it was the US Secretary of State. They don't come here every month, so it is a big case or a big win for them. But the opposition supporters say that, okay, it's just like an election interference. And why are we focusing on this? And why aren't we focusing our attention on our internal problems that we actually do have at home? So I think it's a very open and visible difference between the two parties and the two camps of supporters of these parties that while Firidas is trying to focus on Orban's international importance, the opposition is focusing on internal problems that we have in Hungary and that they say that the government should take care of. And I think their supporters are echoing these differences as well.
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Georgina Godwin
And finally, with the elections looming and campaigns in full swing, what are polls telling us so far about the possible results?
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Lilly Takash
Well, of course, it depends which polls you are watching, but mostly the independent polls or those pollsters that are not directly or visibly but indirectly related to the government. They all say that the opposition is ahead of Orban. But again, the those pollsters which are very close to the government, they are of course publishing pause saying that Orban is ahead and that he's most likely to win again. But those aren't the only ones. But again, we still have two months. The campaign is getting ugly and ugly by the day. So it's still a long time ahead of us until the midst of April.
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Georgina Godwin
Lily, I'm quite sure we'll be checking in with you regularly before then from Budapest. That was Lily Takesh, journalist at the Hungarian Independent newspaper 444. This is the globalist. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has won every presidential election Belarus has ever had. In 2020, he was challenged by pro democracy activist Sergei Tikhanovsky, who he had arrested and held largely incommunicado. Tikhanoski was released last June, but during the time he was in prison, his wife Svetlan Tikhanovskaya, who replaced him as a candidate, has become the principal voice of Belarusian opposition. Well, Monocle's contributing editor Andrew Muller spoke to her at the Munich Security Conference and began by asking her how difficult it is to keep the world's eyes on Belarus at a time of such heightened global geopolitical tensions Democratic movement.
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Svetlana Tsikhanoskaya
We are doing everything possible to keep attention on Belarus because now it even more strategically important because if before Belarus was about humanitarian case, about political disaster in Belarus, now it's about security issue. We see how new dynamic in Belarus regarding threatening of Ukraine, threatening of our European partners. So we have to Be very cautious about what is happening in Belarus. And we have to alarm our international partners that Belarus might be be used again as launching pad for acts of aggression. So we are here to first of all, you know, to promote Belarus and course regarding the humanitarian task because still thousands of political prisoners behind bars. But moreover, just keeping in mind this security danger, you know, in the region.
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Andrew Muller
What do you think is the nature of the threat? I mean, as things are, what is your understanding, understanding of the relationship between the regimes in Moscow and Minsk? Are they actually entirely on the same side? Is Lukashenko not still trying to chart his own path slightly?
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Svetlana Tsikhanoskaya
Look, Lukashenko is serving to Russia's interests, not to Belarusian one. And actually they both together with Putin they created this union state that allows Putin to use our territory wherever he wants. And we see how Russia integrates into our military system, media, economy, economy, education, process. So they just want to subjugate Belarus. We call it cryptian occupation. And of course all the attempts, you know, to drag Lukashenko from Putin, they will fail because they have the symbiotic friendship they ideologically, you know, on the same page. So Luanka always was pro Russian and never pro European.
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Andrew Muller
You did meet with President Zelensky in Vilnius in January. And I know we've spoken before that there was a certain amount of frustration on the part of the Belarusian opposition, that Ukraine saw those two things as a very, very separate question. Do you get the sense that the Ukrainians are shifting on this and that Zelenskyy does understand that it's all part of the same problem.
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Svetlana Tsikhanoskaya
I really see that our relationship with Ukraine has improved, you know, especially after the our meeting with President Zelensky. Hopefully soon I will visit Ukraine with official visit and of course there are so many issues to discuss. And I see how Ukraine starts maybe understood finally that Lukashenko is not the partner, that Lukashenko will not be forgiven for what he has done. So as Ukraine now like its leader in our region, so it's. They also might play a huge role in freeing Belarus as well. We all understand that the war in Ukraine will define, you know, the future of Belarus as well. So that's why of course we encourage the world to increase and continue support to Ukraine. But free Belarus is in the interest of Ukraine as well. So that's why I think that we will start long term strategic communication with the Ukraine, not about only the end of the war, but also about further cooperation between free Belarus and Ukraine.
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Andrew Muller
But when we think about how to bring about that free Belarus from where we are now is There any internal opposition in Belarus that you can actually work with? Or is all the pressure on the regime going to have to be from external opposition like yours?
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Svetlana Tsikhanoskaya
Look, of course, in such fight against, against dictatorship as ours, it's impossible to fight alone. We need democratic partners, allies to help us. So that's why internally, of course, we also have resources and people who are helping us. For example, there are so many people in the system who are leaking us information about how regime is earning money on the war, on the Russian war against Ukraine, for example, or our economy is war oriented at the moment that more and more enterprises are producing military stuff for Russia. So you cannot openly fight in Belarus because of still huge level of repressions. But people trying to walk underground, you know, to provide us necessary data for sanctions, for example, on the other hand, people are keeping united, you know, people didn't lose hope, people didn't give up. In Belarus, in exile we can be more, more active. We built alternate institutions of power, we formalized relationship with the democratic world. But of course, without external pressure, sanctions, policy of isolation, policy of non recognition and unity, of hopefully transatlantic unity, of course, we will not be managed alone, you know, to defeat the regime.
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Andrew Muller
You mentioned the political prisoners earlier, of which there are many still held in Belarus. And one thing obviously that has changed since last time we spoke, is that some have been released, among them your husband. Listeners, I think would be curious how strange that has been for the pair of you.
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Svetlana Tsikhanoskaya
Look, of course I'm so happy to see all the political prisoners who have been released, or rightfully to say, the deported from Belarus. But nevertheless, you know, it's a huge relief, you know, to hug your beloved, your friends. And now for me personally, of course it's easy because, you know, my husband is free and he can support me a lot. But also Masha Kalesnikova, Ales Beliatsky Nobel Peace Prize winner, is released. But nobody forgets for a moment that we still have thousands of political prisoners behind bars. And this releases shouldn't stop. And moreover, we have to alarm the world that the fact that people are being released doesn't stop Lukashenko from new detentions. You know, two people released, four are detained, so it's like revolving doors at the moment. So that's why we need to not only release political prisoners, but to achieve stop of repressions, systematic changes in Belarus. So that's why, why of course we encourage Americans to continue their humanitarian track on releasing people, but also we encourage Europe, you know, to intensify pressure on the regime, just to make this regime make more systematic changes in Belarus. So we are asking Europe not to follow American policy but to hold the much stronger cards in hand for for like bigger game.
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Georgina Godwin
That was the key Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tsikhanoskaya talking to Monocle's Andrew Muller. And for more of our coverage of the Munich security conference, do tune in to this week's special edition of the Foreign Desk premiering on Saturday at midday. London time. Still to come on the programme, I'm.
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Sheena Rossiter
Sheena Rossiter in Edmonton with the climate news. We'll talk about clean energy jobs in America and the schools preparing their students for them.
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Georgina Godwin
This is the globalist.
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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 Houseview, we're focused on identifying the latest investment opportunities and market risks to help you achieve your financial goals. So you get a 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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Georgina Godwin
It is twenty past seven here in London and we're going to continue now with today's newspapers. Joining me is Paul Waldy, Europe correspondent at the Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail. Good morning to you, Paul.
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Paul Waldy
Hi there.
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Georgina Godwin
Now, we have been following in our headlines these Iran talks, they take place in Geneva today. Trump isn't there, but he says he will be indirectly involved.
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Paul Waldy
That's what he says. He said that last night to some reporters on Air Force One that he would be indirectly involved. It's hard to know what that means. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, his sort of envoys are there in Geneva sort of handling these negotiations. And it sounds like both from Trump and from the Iranians that they're getting maybe a little bit closer to a peace agreement. Trump was sounding a little more optimistic about reaching some kind of agreement with Iran on its nuclear program. The Iranians were also talking more about how the US Is moving closer to a position it can handle. So it sounds like there may be some progress made, but of course, we're still a long way off.
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Georgina Godwin
I mean, there are many caveats here. I mean, for instance, there's a buildup of military hardware in the area.
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Paul Waldy
Yeah, there is. I mean, Trump has sent all kinds of warships into the area. There's, you know, the capabilities there on the US Side are enormous. Iran held some kind of military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday. So they're gearing up as well. It sounds also like there's quite a bit of difference in terms of what they're actually talking about, you know, Iran wants to keep the focus on its nuclear program and getting rid of sanctions. The US wants a more broader discussion about Iran's support for other organizations in the area and its stockpile of missiles. So I think there's even a disagreement about what they're talking about. But it sounds like things are a little bit better than they were maybe a few days ago.
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Georgina Godwin
And in terms of what Iran wants from here and what they've said in advance of the talks, they have mentioned territory.
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Paul Waldy
Yeah, I mean, they have. I think Iran's main objective is to get the sanctions dropped. You know, the regime is in real trouble there. The economy's in real trouble. I think their main objective is to somehow reach some kind of accommodation with the US that would see some lessening of economic sanctions on the country.
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Georgina Godwin
And how's the region reacting to these talks?
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Paul Waldy
Well, I think they're happier that things are more peaceful than they were before. I don't think anybody in that area wants to see the US Any kind of military action by the US which could prompt some retaliation by Iran, which could involve a wider conflict and get Israel involve everybody else. So I really don't think any country in the region is very keen on any kind of military buildup there.
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Georgina Godwin
How serious is Trump that there would be some kind of sustained military presence, which is what sources have leaked to Reuters saying that they're digging in.
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Paul Waldy
How serious is Trump on anything? Right. I mean, he changes all the time, so who knows? I mean, he's talked last week about a ramp and a cuttle deal or there'll be some kind of military action. He sent all these military hardware, aircraft carriers there. But then he talks yesterday about maybe reaching a deal. So who really knows where he's coming from?
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Georgina Godwin
Let's turn to Britain now. And these U turns that the government keeps performing, they do seem to be rather a lot of them, don't they?
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Paul Waldy
Oh, it's getting really embarrassing. I think one paper counted up 14 or something. And keep in mind, and you know, Keir Starmer and the Labour Party's only been in government for 18 months, not even two years, and they've made so many reversals. And this was another one yesterday, only hours after Starmer had sort of said in an interview that, you know, he was staying the course and there weren't going to be any more U turns. They did another one and that was this involved local elections. There were about 30 councils here where the elections had been postponed because of a reorganization they weren't supposed to take place until 2027. The Reform Party led a charge against this thing. It was anti democratic. These people were being denied a vote. And the whole thing was reversed yesterday when the government said, okay, now we'll go ahead with the elections. It's a huge victory for the Reform Party because they had led the charge on this. Nigel Farage, of course, is crying about this. It's another blow to Starmer, whose leadership has already been in question because of the whole Epstein scandal and Peter Mendelssohn. So it's really bad news for Starmer. They're going to have to pay money, the Reform Party, of all things, to pay their legal fees. They're going to have to pay a ton of taxpayer money to get these elections up and running. It's just there's no win in this for Starmer at all.
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Georgina Godwin
I mean, some might say that Starmer being willing to u turn when he sees that he's wrong is a positive.
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Paul Waldy
Yeah. But I think on this one, there's just no good outcome here. I mean, they were probably. They were taking all the heat for delaying these elections. Now they're gonna take heat for costing taxpayers money. They've handed reform a big victory. It's really something that they probably should have thought of a while ago. Now they argue that there was this legal fight that was underway over this thing and they were gonna lose, so they're kind of cutting their losses on that. That may be true, but why didn't they think about that a few months ago? This couldn't have just come up now. So you really have to wonder about the timing and the decision making here.
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Georgina Godwin
And also, let's have a look at what the likely results of those elections are, because it looks like the polls are saying reform is leading.
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Paul Waldy
Yeah, I mean, I think of these 30 councils, 10 are labor and they're all likely to fall likely to reform. A number of Conservative ones also are likely to fall to reform. So this is going to be even politically worse news for the Labour Party, for sure.
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Georgina Godwin
Yeah. Four of the county councils that are most affected apparently will be Norfolk, Suffolk, east and West Sussex. Now, I know that you're actually from Norfolk and that's currently controlled by Conservatives, is that correct?
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Sheena Rossiter
It is.
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Paul Waldy
And there's been a lot of talk up there about how this was going to work because they are redoing the whole district and of course that may take effect after these elections. So there are some issues about whether or not you're gonna be voting for people who will even be representing your area in a couple of years from now. So it is a complicated situation. But I think for now anyway, these elections are going ahead and, you know, we'll see what happens.
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Georgina Godwin
Yeah, well, coming from Norfolk, you won't be as directly affected by this next story as I am. But where I live in Zone two of London, all the local residents know not to take out their phone between the tube station and the time you get home. And that's because of kids on bikes, kids wearing hoods on bikes, electric bikes, going very fast. They just whisper you and take your phone out your hand. But the Met is now taking more action.
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Paul Waldy
They are and I mean they have cut down the number of phone thefts, but it is a huge problem in London. I mean everybody's affected by this and I think they had 70,000 odd phone thefts last year. That was down from 80 odd thousand the year before. The Met is claiming victory to some extent, saying that yes, they've done more patrols, they've got officers on bikes, they're using drones. But one of their issues really is with the phone companies. They're calling on Apple and other companies to make it hard, reactivate these phones once they've been stolen. And if that happened, they argue that would make this less attractive to the thieves. You know, in many cases now we're reading that These are kids, 14 year olds, 13 year olds, who are being lured into this and being paid to steal phones on their way to school. So yeah, it's a real problem in London and I think that, you know, whether the police can crack down on it enough or whether it is going to take some action by Apple and some of these other companies to make these phones harder to crack. That I guess will be the telling point.
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Georgina Godwin
I mean, sort of £350 for the latest phone.
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Paul Waldy
Yeah, you know, that's what they're paying some of these kids to steal them because they can resell them for obviously for a much higher value. There's kind of a. It's interesting though, the payments are declining in value as the phones are harder to reactivate. So the harder phones to reactivate, the kids don't get as much money for that. The Apple phones, which apparently are easier, they get more money for stealing those. So those become the prime targets.
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Georgina Godwin
Extraordinary. Well, take care of your phones, kids. Right, Canada. Oh my goodness, this big cheating row. Tell us more.
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Paul Waldy
It's been a huge issue. You know, Canada, this is the curling at the Olympics and there's been a big row over the Canadians. Men's and women team. The issue here is, of course, once you release the rock, you're not supposed to touch it again and give it maybe an extra push or an extra kind of guidance once it gets past what they call the hogline. Canada has been accused of doing this. The Canadian men and women's team have been accused of doing this. However, also a British player was accused of doing this as well. So. So it's become a huge issue in the curling world. And curling is one of these very genteel sports. You know, there are no umpires, there are no video reviews. The players are supposed to manage the game themselves, and that's generally what happens. So this is a big blow to the whole curling image of curling. And for Canadians, curling is a huge sport in many, many communities, particularly in Ontario and western Canada. It's a big, big deal. And this will be, you know, seen as a bit of a. Bit of a shock for Canadians who do view curling as a very genteel, happy, friendly sport. And to be kind of dragged into a big scandal is not going to sit too well.
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Georgina Godwin
I mean, Mark Kennedy got very sweary about this.
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Paul Waldy
He did? Yeah. That's the other thing. They mic these players up, unlike a lot of other sports, so you can hear everything they're talking about on the ice. And when this Ralph blew up between him and a Swedish player, it was all captured live on air, including every word he said. And so I think that that also kind of shocked people too.
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Georgina Godwin
Absolutely. Paul, thank you so much for coming in. That's Paul Waldy, who's Europe correspondent at the Canadian Globe and ma. This is the Globalist on Monocle Radio. Now here's what else we're keeping an eye on today. Iran and the United States are opening talks in Geneva today on Tehran's nuclear program, with Washington signaling it still wants a deal. Tensions remain high with the US deploying a second aircraft carrier to the Middle east and warning of military conflicts consequences if diplomacy fails. Heaps of uncollected rubbish are spreading across Havana, underlining the impact of tighter US measures aimed at restricting fuel supplies to Cuba. Washington says the sanctions are meant to push political change, while critics warn they are worsening daily life for ordinary Cubans. And 34 Australians, mostly women and children from families of suspected Islamic State military were briefly moved from a detention camp in northern Syria before being sent back for technical reasons. Prime Minister Antony Albanese says the government will not assist their return and has left open the possibility of prosecutions if they make it home. This is the Globalist. Stay Tuned. Now it's time to give you a roundup of climate news. And I'm joined to do that by Sheena Rossiter, Monocle's contributing editor in Edmonton. Sheena, we've just been talking about this Canadian curling cheating scandal. Is absolutely everybody in Edmonton discussing this too?
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Sheena Rossiter
Well, not necessarily everybody, but it certainly is a sad day for Canadian sport. I mean, curling, although it's not really one of my fortes or one of the areas that I prefer to practice, it's, it definitely is up there with hockey. And I mean, little fun fact, one of my, when I used to work at the cbc, we did have our Christmas party at a curling rink one year. So it is pretty popular as a sport. So it is, it is kind of up in arms. You know, people like to move rocks across ice.
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Georgina Godwin
Yeah, when you put it like that, it kind of puts it into context a bit, doesn't it? Let's talk about climate change, because in the US we're told that schools are implementing new programs, greening children's careers, so to speak. Tell us more.
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Sheena Rossiter
Yeah, in a way, this is very much future proofing careers in the direction because climate change is real and it is happening to despite that it being declared as a quote unquote hoax by the current president of the United States called Donald Trump. And as he continues to cut funding for schools, still schools, both in red and blue states are implementing a lot of these programs, particularly one in South Carolina in the Greenville county school district. Since 2023, they have had this center called the Innovation center, where they're cycling through different training programs every few years based on local businesses needs and they are specifically on renewable energy topics.
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Georgina Godwin
Huh. So how much is this an economic need more than a climate need?
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Sheena Rossiter
Well, recently in the recent years, clean energy jobs have grown faster than the rest of the US Economy. Just to give you an idea.
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Lilly Takash
Idea.
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Sheena Rossiter
By the year 2030, so just four years from now, about two thirds of all cars sold globally are expected to be electric. And more countries will be relying on renewable energy as their main source of energy. And as the US Is still a rather large player, a lot of these, the way that a lot of industries are moving globally, they really just have to keep up competitively globally to be able to adjust to environmental changes. This is a way to reduce costs both at state and federal level. So even jobs that have historically been considered more environmental jobs are adapting to these industry needs. And this is a big reason why a lot of these schools are making these adaptations. It's not just in the Carolinas, where this is happening. In fact, last year in Chicago, the third largest city in the United States States, the teachers union there, they successfully did bargain for several green initiatives to take place within that, that school district. And in D.C. in particular, leaders started adding sustainability lessons like hydroponic gardening to the district's agriculture program.
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Georgina Godwin
I mean, how much of a problem is this? We get so many disputed figures, and of course, you've got Donald Trump saying it just doesn't exist at all. But I'm told that According to some AI models, climate change could expose 1.1 billion people to hunger by the next century. That's a staggering number. Can you tell us more about that?
- [34:33]
Sheena Rossiter
Yeah, it really is. So just this is recent research that has been done by Giovanni Strattorn, who is from the European Commission, part of the Joint Research center in Italy. And what they found is that by 2100, climate change could drive a billion people into food crises. So just to give you an idea, more than 295 million people globally have experienced hunger or starvation last year. And that's because of conflict, displacement, climate change, and other economic disasters that came from the 2025 Global Report on food crisis. And it's just expected to get worse. So this figure that came out of this AI model, what it represents is the total number of human beings that we have alive today, number one, but as well as a bunch of people who are going to be born by this time and who are expected to experience at least one episode of severe food insecurity before the end of the century.
- [35:34]
Georgina Godwin
And how did the research come to this conclusion?
- [35:37]
Sheena Rossiter
Yeah, so she really developed this artificial intelligence model that, that. That predicted how climate change could spark severe food crises. So the model was calibrated using food insecurity data that came from famine early warning systems networks, and that basically also used past and future temperatures and precipitation data that was available in some of the large regions in the world. So the model found that if the world continues to emit a high level of greenhouse gas emissions, that over 1.1 billion people globally, including more than 600 million children, will have been exposed to at least one food crisis by the end of the century. Africa. The continent of Africa is expected to bear the heaviest toll of all this, with 170 million predicted to be exposed to a food crisis, which could be worse than starvation alone. That would be the equivalent of the population of Italy, France and Spain combined. Just to give you an idea of how many people that could affect.
- [36:49]
Georgina Godwin
Sheena, we need to leave it there. But can you give us a positive note before you go.
- [36:53]
Sheena Rossiter
Well, some of the good news is that in Africa, even though the model is showing this, there's a reduction in conflicts and cutting in fossil fuel burning exposure. This food crisis could drop rapidly after 2050. But this means that Africa would have to match a larger margin than Asia for reducing food insecurity by steering development towards mitigation and sustainability.
- [37:19]
Georgina Godwin
Sheena, thank you very much indeed. That's Sheena Rossiter there. Monocle's contributing editor in Edmonton. This is the Globalist on Monocle Radio. It is 1322 in Kathmandu. That's 8:37 in Zurich. Now, campaigning officially began yesterday for Nepal's House of Representatives selections scheduled for March 5th. It'll be the first national vote since last September's large scale anti corruption protests led to the collapse of the previous government. Government. The election is seen as a crucial moment that could shape the future of Nepal's constitutional system, raising the question of whether the country is heading towards stability or facing renewed turmoil. Well, I'm joined now by Deepak Adhikari who's a Kathmandu based journalist for publications including Nikkei Asia. Deepak, thanks for coming on the show. How would you describe the situation in Nepal right now?
- [38:26]
Deepak Adhikari
Oh, thanks, Georgina. The election is kind of a festival for Nepal because, you know, there is a lot of, you know, activities, you know, in fact, so many people are moving from their, you know, place to their, you know, ancestral homes and, you know, going on campaign rallies. The candidates, you know, visiting their constituencies and you know, asking for votes. And also interestingly this time around, the digital platform have been, you know, flooded with the, with the campaign, you know, materials, you know, the, the, you know, the digital, you know, kind of election campaign where the candidates are, you know, posting their, you know, campaign rallies, photos and their manifestos, places and you know, and, and, and the videos. So it's quite interesting and quite, you know, fun to be in Kathmandu right now.
- [39:18]
Georgina Godwin
So who are the main candidates and what are the main issues shaping the campaign?
- [39:23]
Deepak Adhikari
Well, there are more than 3,000 candidates across the 165 contines and there are 68 political parties in the fray. But the election will be fought between among four political parties, the Nepali Congress Party, which is a kind of central left. You know, then there is Communist Party of Nepal, unified Marxists and Dalinis, you know, traditionally a communist party but you know, more like a, you know, more kind of a liberal, you know, force. And there is this Nepali Communist Party which is mostly dominated by the former Maoist rebels who was A decade long war from 1996 to 2006. But the most interesting party is a three year old party called Rusty Supandra Party which is led by a former television journalist, Ravi Lamichane, who also was a former deputy prime minister and home minister. And recently this party is joined by Balindra Saha, a rapper turned mayor. So until recently Saha was a mayor of Kathmandu and is quite a celebrity, a huge following among people and he is touring the country, you know, visiting, meeting supporters and you know, and, and, and gaining a lot of traction.
- [40:46]
Georgina Godwin
And what is it? What are the issues? What do people in Nepal really care about? What will they be voting for?
- [40:51]
Deepak Adhikari
Yeah, the context is important. This came after the anti corruption, you know, anti mal governance protest by Genji protesters in September, which overthrew the, you know, UML and Nepali Congress, you know, coalition government. So the major issues are around unemployment, around economic growth, you know, lack of opportunities for the young people who leave the country. You know, more than a thousand, you know, people there, there are more than 2 million Nepalese working in Gulf and in Southeast Asia. And you know, so that's a huge destination because there aren't much job opportunities back home. So you know, earlier it used to be, you know, we need a road here, we need a bridge here or you know, power is not working, so basic amenities and you know, but now it's, you know, the issues are around economy, you know, around unemployment, around growth, around the aspiration of people, you know, around industrialization. So it's, it's interesting.
- [41:52]
Georgina Godwin
Now, does the diaspora get a vote? Do postal ballots exist?
- [41:58]
Deepak Adhikari
No, no, that's a huge issue. You know, actually they can make a huge difference because a lot of, of these workers, migrant workers, are, you know, telling their family members back home to vote this or that for that party. And they, you know, usually, you know, tell their relatives back home that the old parties did not, you know, did not achieve what they were promised for. And because of that we had to leave our home for job abroad. And now that's the reason you should vote for new political party. They could be better so they would influence the boards back home. But they are not allowed to vote because Nepal hasn't, you know, passed any law or have any kind of, you know, preparation for that.
- [42:38]
Georgina Godwin
Do you think this vote is a turning point for Nepal's political system?
- [42:44]
Deepak Adhikari
See, I mean, I, I don't think that there is be a huge, there'd be huge, you know, changes in terms of the governance or the constitution. But one thing very clearly that's Coming from the, you know, from the news reports and talking to people, is that this new political party, the Rustia Sultan Party, which I mentioned earlier, is likely to gain majority of votes, you know, and the old political parties that ruled Nepal for decades, who were the Genji, protested against them. The same bunch of leaders every year, you know, taking turns to rule. And they were quite old. These people, people would, you know, face significant loss in this election.
- [43:26]
Georgina Godwin
And finally, Deepak, what do you think will happen after the election? Will there be stability or will there be further unrest?
- [43:34]
Paul Waldy
It depends.
- [43:35]
Deepak Adhikari
Because this election is crucial in the sense that there is this polarization between old political forces and this relatively new political party led by the. These two men I mentioned, Ravi Lamishani and Balin Saha. And earlier, the government used, you know, criminal justice system to jail their opponents, the opposition political leader. So, and there is, there are corruption issues. So the fear is that, you know, if, you know, this new force wins and then, you know, then maybe the old political parties would be fearful that they may be behind the bars and there would be backlash or, you know, vice versa, you know, so there is this fear that, you know, in any case, so that's the reason the stakes are really high. Because losing could mean that you are behind bars because of the kind of persecution that the earlier governments, they, they monopolize their influence, the, you know, criminal justice system, you know, jailing the opponents. So that is a real danger of, you know, what happens after the election. Hopefully it will be peaceful, but, you know, also depends on who wins and how those who lose, whether they would accept the result, the outcome or not.
- [44:48]
Georgina Godwin
Deepak, thank you very much indeed. That was Deepak Adhikari speaking to us from Kathmandu. You're with Monocle Radio.
- [45:00]
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- [45:37]
Georgina Godwin
08:45 in Zurich, 07:45 here in London. And next we bring you some urbanism news with Jessica Bridger, that's Monocle's contributing editor, who is in our Zurich studio. Jessica, good morning to you.
- [45:49]
Jessica Bridger
Good morning, Georgina.
- [45:51]
Georgina Godwin
It's been a long time, right? Why haven't we spoken for ages?
- [45:54]
Jessica Bridger
It has. It's been, I think, a couple months. It's not that nothing's been going on in urbanism, but we just haven't discussed it yet.
- [46:01]
Georgina Godwin
Okay, well, we'll discuss it right now. Let's start with new cities. So this comes from an interesting piece in the New York Times. Tell us more.
- [46:10]
Jessica Bridger
Yeah, the journalist Conor Doherty wrote an article positioning that new cities and towns might be one way out of the housing crisis in the US and elsewhere. And then he connected this idea to some of the more eccentric ideas about Silicon Valley moguls building new cities.
- [46:25]
Georgina Godwin
So this is not a new idea, is it?
- [46:28]
Jessica Bridger
No, it's not. I mean, the history of new cities, as long as the history of cities, obviously, and purpose built cities constructed by or titans of industry isn't really new at all. So Wolfsburg, Germany, for example, the home of Volkswagen, population 130,000, was built for Volkswagen and it's still a thriving city and it's the heart of the company. Or Irvine, California, which was built newly in the 1960s by the Irvine Corporation and today is home to 300,000. So new cities aren't something that's going to solve the housing crisis. It's not a new idea. But, but positing that building kind of new urban areas, new concentrations for people to move into is just one way to look at how to provide more infrastructure, more housing, more job opportunities. Because we can't just build only housing. Right. People are coming to cities for economic opportunities, for social opportunities, for cultural offerings. So it's a little bit complicated and it's something that holds a lot of potential, but it has to be done well to really address this global push that continues toward increasing urbanization which we're seeing worldwide.
- [47:33]
Georgina Godwin
Is there a problem of ghettoization if it's, you know, for instance, just for say migrants or certain groups of people?
- [47:44]
Jessica Bridger
Absolutely. And there are a lot of lessons learned in that. You know, there's a very famous project in Mexico that happened where a kind of state run, but kind of a public private partnership built mass scale housing and that was built without proper infrastructure, without access to job opportunities. And it basically ghettoized the people who live there, leaving them with none of the critical infrastructure that you need to have a good life. And that's one example of many where kind of building new cities and separating urban areas. Satellites cities, let's say, can create too much difference. And then you have people who are completely disenfranchised.
- [48:28]
Georgina Godwin
Yeah, yeah. What about the tech titans and their techtopias?
- [48:33]
Jessica Bridger
So this is kind of, this gets into some really weird kind of frontier urbanism. So we have Elon Musk's famous Starbase, population of 500 and proposals for Similar kind of utopias from global tech guys. And there's even an entire movement toward charter cities which are creating independent city neo city states in countries that will take them. The former Stanford University economist Paul Romer is one of the most notable proponents of the idea. But there's a lot of movement toward creating these kind of legally and jurisdictionally separated cities, like parasitic micronations. And it's pretty weird. It's very frontier. The most wild and weird libertarian urbanists I know are involved, but most people won't touch this idea. But at the same time, that's how cities were always created. They came out of fiefdoms, trade towns, special economic zones. So how do we create new cities? Is more the question. And how do we do that? Well, and how do we integrate them? And then toward this kind of strange tech push toward cities where people are operating their own legal system, essentially. What do we do with that?
- [49:43]
Georgina Godwin
Well, part of creating a new city is to think about things like the humble curb. Now, there's been some development on this front. Tell us, tell us more.
- [49:51]
Jessica Bridger
Yeah, so the city of Boston just launched something called the Curb Lab, because the curb is a place in urbanism that is getting a lot of attention right now because it's the interface between the road and the pedestrian. And building elements of urban streets, of cities, of towns. And these traffic areas where cars are parked or traveling and where deliveries are happening account for up to 80% of our urban fabric. But it's the curb where rules are posted and where the city has a lot of control as to what happens in the important interface between the city's population and those moving by motorized vehicle. So the Curb Lab idea is Boston is trying to manage this space dynamically, so taking what needs to happen in a city. So at what times are there so many deliveries that there's not enough curb space actually for loading zones? And they can change those in real time. They can change parking spaces into loading zones and get through that morning rush of deliveries, and then once that's over, change it back to parking and accommodate people who maybe want to come into a city center to do shopping or to go out to eat and things like this. So it's a more dynamic way of managing one of the most important parts of the interface in a city between multiple modes of transit and use.
- [51:11]
Georgina Godwin
I think it sounds brilliant, and we should be doing the same in London. Just before we go, I know that you're a huge winter sports fan, you're a great skier and so on. You must be in heaven with the Winter Olympics.
- [51:22]
Jessica Bridger
Yeah, the Winter Olympics are always nice to see. It's really beautiful to kind of see the moving, human moments that happened, such as yesterday when someone who was in first place for slalom skiing then lost his position and left the course. And it's these emotional moments. But it's also, if we look at winter sport and we look at the Olympics in general, as an urbanist, I think it's about how do we do this sustainably? And Milan Cortina is an interesting example because they have reused a lot of venues. The athlete housing that was built in Milan will be repurposed as student housing. Cortinas can be dismantled. So how do we make a more sustainable Games where the arrival of the Games brings positive influx of urbanistic ideas and infrastructure into a city, rather than just being something that gets left and decays, as we've seen before. And that's the movement that we're really seeing pick up. And it's very inspiring.
- [52:19]
Georgina Godwin
And what's the answer? How do we do that?
- [52:22]
Jessica Bridger
So it has a lot to do with how to build things that can be reused or repurposed. And, you know, if we look at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics or 2012 in London, for example, there's a lot of good information about how to create positive urban development, possibly in areas that are fringe areas or areas where you can kind of make a little bit of a new city fabric and then integrate that using the major investments that the Games bring, instead of building one off structures that then are abandoned and decay. And an interesting partnership is now between the International Olympic Committee and UN Habitat to forward not only making the Games themselves more sustainable, but to grow recognition of the role of sport in the cultural and social life of cities and how to engage populaces in sport in the life of the city, whether that's special events or just day to day sporting venues and attractions that bring people together in urban space.
- [53:26]
Georgina Godwin
Jessica, lovely to talk to you. Thank you. That's Jessica Bridger, Monocle's contributing editor in. And this is the Globalist on Monocle Radio. It's 8:53 in Milan, 7:53 in London. And more news from the Olympics as we head to Milan, where our team is covering the Winter Olympic Games. And I'm joined now from the Allianz Winter Sky Lounge by Monocle's deputy head of Radio, Tom Webb. Tom, I miss you. We're not seeing you in the offers at all. You've swanned off to Milan for what, three weeks?
- [54:01]
Tom Webb
I know, and I don't miss you. Because I'm having the time of my life out here. It is so much fun. It's exactly the place to be right now. The sun is shining on us. It's been very, very wet. Of course, like most of Europe, it's been very muddy. You wouldn't have thought getting mud on your shoes in Milan, but finally it's all dried up. It's beautiful. Of course, I do miss you too, George.
- [54:20]
Georgina Godwin
Well, thank you, Tom. Now, you've been watching men's hockey.
- [54:22]
Deepak Adhikari
Hockey, yeah.
- [54:24]
Tom Webb
Hockey is so transformative because it's been slowly building in the city. There's been a lot of talk about Milan being a bit flat, the Olympic vibe not being here, but as the finals approach, the entire city that the streets are just filled with those big ugly T shirts and flags and actually I went along to a men's game last week. I'd been going to the figure skating. It's very, very refined. Refined and elegant. And then you go to the men's hockey and it is loud and brash and there's violence on the ice. There's been a lot of talk about the women's ice hockey because the US women's team have just been dominating, including a sort of five nil semi final win over Sweden. Canada narrowly beat Switzerland, securing the other spot in the final. The men's hockey has been equally entertaining. Canada have opened very strongly with a five win against Czech Republic. USA are getting wins and Finland, who everyone's been talking about Finland not turning up to the games, have been turning up to the hockey. They, they beat Host nation Italy 11 nil. Stefan Andrew are actually off to the hockey Czech versus the Danes. If you want tickets for Canada or USA, you're looking at €1500. You can actually snap up €30, €80 for other games.
- [55:40]
Georgina Godwin
Tell me, how is Milan doing as a host?
- [55:44]
Tom Webb
It's a wonderful thing to be part of because you're talking about the longevity of the games just now, how you can keep that momentum going. The city have been doing exactly that. Hosts, yes, Milano. Milano and partners, the mayor office, they're keen to showcase to journalists who have come here the beauty of the city. So that journalists that are coming to report the games can actually get a wider view of what's really going on. And, and there are lots of events that they've been hosting. They've been taking people to thermal baths, they've been taking people on tours of opera houses. I was given a rooftop tour of the dmo which is the. The third largest cathedral in the world. And you can go right up onto the rooftops in. And it is an astonishing thing if you come to the city, do book that tour, being up, up with the gargoyles. But in terms of hosts, they're warm, they're kind, they're very, very proud of what they've achieved. They're very, very proud of the Olympic opening ceremony. And all eyes will be on the closing ceremony.
- [56:43]
Georgina Godwin
Now, you've been hanging out with royalty, I believe.
- [56:47]
Tom Webb
I have, yes. The King of Sweden's in town. He's. He's an avid skier. He's a huge ambassador for the, the Winter Olympics simply because he just loves, loves sports. And he was hosting a reception for journalists at the Sweden House, or the Sweden arena, as it's called, along with Uniglo, which was delayed because he was busy watching the Sweden's women's cross country skiing relay. I don't know if you remember, there was a dramatic fall where one of the skiers lost one of their skis and she sort of scooted her way to the finish line where her teammate was. Got another skier and he was so glued and transfixed that they went from last to second. This reception was delayed, but then we got to meet. He's a very lovely man. He's the longest reigning monarch in Swedish history. And Uniqlo make the Swedish kit. I actually interviewed the COO of Scandinavia. You can listen to that interview on Monocle, on fashion. And it's quite fascinating how you can modernize and transform a clothing brand by partnering with the Olympic Games because it pushes technology. Of course, you've got heat tech already with Uniqlo, but they're now designing kit for people that have the most extreme needs up in the mountains. So do seek out that interview.
- [58:02]
Georgina Godwin
Absolutely. Tom, you've got just under a minute to tell us, just to tell us what's coming up on Monocle in Milan.
- [58:10]
Tom Webb
I will tell you what happened yesterday. We had Carlo Ratti, who designed the torch here, here at the Games, along with Christophe Doobie, the director of the Games. You're going to want to listen back to that or stay tuned in the next hour. We have the chairperson of Technogym, the Italian gym brand that is obviously global. Olympians use them too. And we've got the Basic Net CEO, huge fashion brand coming in. We're very, very excited.
- [58:33]
Georgina Godwin
Tom, thank you very much indeed. That's Tom Webb, Monocle's deputy head of radio, having a real party. It sounds like. Like in Milan now, as he says. Monocle in Milan will be live at 9am London time. And that's all for today's program. Thanks to our producers, Angelica Jopson, Anita Riota and Monica Lillis. Our researcher was Anneliese Maynard and our studio manager, Lily Austin, with editing assistance by Hunter Wang. After the headlines. There's more music on the way. As I said. Monocle in Milan follows that. And I'll be back on the brief briefing. That's live at midday in London. The Globalist returns at the same time tomorrow. I'm Georgina Godwin. Thank you for listening. With ubs, you have a truly global.
- [59:36]
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