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- [00:04]
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 and 12 key financial hubs. With you at the heart of it all, UBS advice is our craft.
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Emma Nelson
You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on the 4th of May, 2026 on Monocle Radio. The Globalist in association with U. Live from London. This is THE Globalist with me, Emma Nelson. A very warm welcome to today's program.
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Gabriel Lee
Coming up, our partnership helps us secure
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Francis Collings
the energy we both need, underpins the trade and investment that leads to more jobs and helps keep us safe in a more uncertain world.
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Emma Nelson
Strong allies throughout. The Australian prime minister welcomes his Japanese counterpart. We'll look at a relationship which endures. Also ahead, Armenia becomes the latest location for world leaders to try to navigate a global crisis. While you're there, asks Yerevan, can we join the eu, please? We'll examine a country trying to better its luck while its guests are in the house.
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Davide Bertillaccio
Plus, you have to fight to maintain this place in these conditions and maintaining this DNA which makes it so special.
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Emma Nelson
We'll hear just what it takes to take an historic property and turn it into a very beautiful hotel. Plus, the papers come from our Paris studio today. And we hear about Alaska Airlines taking the leap to go long haul. That's all coming up on THE Globalist live from London. First, a quick look at some of the other stories we're following today. President Trump has said the US Will help to guide stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz. An Australian inquiry has opened public hearings into the anti Semitic shooting that killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Sydney's Bondi beach last December. And three people are believed to have died after an outbreak of a virus on board a small polar cruise ship in the Atlantic. Stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on these stories. But first, Japan's prime minister has arrived in Australia on a visit which is hoped will strengthen ties with one of her country's strongest allies. Prime Minister Sanae Sakichi touched down on Sunday after sharing her country's updated regional strategy in Vietnam. So to talk about what this means for both countries, let's hear now from Paul Osborne. He's a reporter based in Melbourne, where the time is, what, 1600? It's just gone 4 o' clock in the afternoon and Also, John Nielsen Wright is Fuji bank professor of Japanese Politics and the International Relations of East Asia. University of Cambridge Good morning and good afternoon to you, Paul. Good morning to you, John.
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John Nielsen Wright
Good morning.
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Paul Osborne
Good morning.
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Emma Nelson
Good to have you with you both with us. Paul, let me begin with you. We've had a press conference in the last couple of hours. Anthony Albanese, Sakatsenaya Takechi standing next to each other. What were they saying?
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Paul Osborne
Yeah, you heard a little bit of it at the start of the program. And both very happy as the talks concluded with agreements being signed on issues like access to critical minerals, on greater defence cooperation, but also crucially, as we heard the Australian Prime Minister there, Anthony Albanese, say energy security as well. The meeting is in part about strengthening bilateral relations and part of that is about trying to counter China's regional influence. But of course also in the wake of the crisis in the Middle East. Japan is a critical supplier of refined light oil to Australia, about 35,000 barrels a that is vital for aviation fuel, for gas, oil and in turn, Australia is Japan's biggest supplier of liquefied natural gas as well as 70% of Japan's coal needs. So there's a mutual energy dependency there which is a central pillar of the relationship right now. The crisis triggered by the war in Iran prompting the two nations to just shore up that supply of energy. But they wanted to take the alliance further. They talked about a whole range of other issues as well, though energy was very much the backdrop of the talks.
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Emma Nelson
John, let's bring you in here. I mean we all talk about special relationship, which is an exclusive word, sorry, exclusive phrase usually used when it comes to the United States and the United Kingdom. But could we actually say that Japan and Australia have a special relationship here insofar as it endures most weather conditions?
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John Nielsen Wright
Yes, I think that's a fair characterization. I mean, it's striking that this visit to Australia, the first time that Prime Minister Takechi has been in Australia and the last time we had an important visit was by Prime Minister Kishita three years ago. Today is the 50th annual. This visit represents the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Japan Australia Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation. So this is a long standing partnership but there's no doubt that it's been taken to a really new level with this focus on economic security. As the last speaker mentioned, this idea of economic security is a response not only to the immediate challenge of what's happening in the Middle east, but it's also very consistent with Prime Minister Takechi's focus on the importance of security resilience across a whole range of different issues and what the Prime Minister is trying to do with Australia, but also with other partners. Before coming to Australia, she was in Vietnam. She's looking to create, if you like, almost a lattice work of security cooperation with like minded partners. This is how the Japanese are referring to their relationship with Australia as a way of dealing with a much more uncertain security environment in the region. Not least because the United States, with all of its focus as it is now on the Middle east and having depleted a large number of its military assets, is arguably less well equipped to deal with the security challenges of the Indo Pacific. And that's why I think we should see this partnership between Australia and Japan as very much a response to those deeper structural challenges.
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Emma Nelson
Paul, your response from the Australian side here. This key anniversary in relations between the two countries, this desire to deepen relations across trade, tourism, defence and more, what John has just mentioned there from the Japanese point of view is being mirrored by the Australians. Indeed.
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Paul Osborne
And that original treaty, the basic treaty, which was signed 50 years ago, the anniversary was marked during that news conference, was of course negotiated in the context of the Middle east oil shock of the 1970s. So there's a certain echo behind the scenes of today's agreement with that treaty back in the 1970s. In a similar way, Australia sees itself engaged in a wider project here, trying to deepen engagement with what they would see as like minded middle powers. We've recently had the Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney here. We've had the EU's chief aside, von der Leyen here, that there are efforts by Australia to shore up these alliances around the world. Now, neither Australia nor Japan is going to want to actively harm the relationship with the United States. The Japanese prime minister called that indispensable during the news conference today. But both are also, you can see, concerned as to whether the United States will return to the old status quo once Donald Trump is a figure of the past, or whether this signals a bigger structural shift, which is something they need to adapt to. And yes, energy, as I say, was the backdrop for this. But there's also talk about greater defense cooperation. There's gonna be a movement to take cyber into the areas where Australia and Japan cooperate on defense. Indeed, one newspaper this morning, the Sydney Morning Herald reporting calls from a former senior Australian defence leader to consider leasing Japanese submarines as a sort of backup plan if the United States were to lose enthusiasm for the Aukus submarine deal, if that were to falter. The claim was, well, actually this relationship with Japan could give you access to submarines that could fill that gap.
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Emma Nelson
John, how would the Japanese feel about being the backup plan?
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John Nielsen Wright
Well, I mean, they wouldn't want to be characterized as a, as a fallback position, I think. I mean, they share the same sensitivities. The indispensable critical alliance relationship is with the United States and they don't want to do anything that would imperil that. I think it's quite striking that the Australian Foreign Minister has come out and said very explicitly Japanese participation in Aukus is not on the cards precisely because neither Japan nor Australia wants publicly to in any way suggest that that deal is vulnerable. Even though the reality is that Donald Trump has been dragging his feet on that critical issue. In terms of the precise nature of potential expansion of the defence relationship. We had an important agreement between the defence ministers of the Australians and the Japanese in April signalling a new agreement to provide 12 frigates, Mogami class frigates from Japan to Australia. That's a huge and very important step forward. It's made possible by the recent decision by the Japanese to relax the prohibitions on arms exports just a few days ago. But the submarines themselves, some people would say technically they're not well suited for the environment that the Australians are functioning in. That's a more fine grained issue, if you like. I think the bigger issue is the question of where are there opportunities for synergies between Australia and Japan in defence? Those have been, well, I think, identified with the April agreement. And at the same time, how do both Canberra and Tokyo maintain their fractious relationship with the United States?
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Emma Nelson
Paul? I mean, the idea of the United States pushing countries together is one thing, but when you look at Albanese and Takaichi, two very different political characters of two very, very different, different political positions as well, how well do these two get on? Because at the end of the day, we all know that that's effectively what really counts.
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Paul Osborne
Well, they certainly seem to. The interactions between them at the news conference today certainly seemed very relaxed. At the end of Anthony Albanese's statement, he was talking about how they were going to spend more time together later in the day, which would include a discussion of a mute mutual affection for heavy rock. So there's a personal bond perhaps there, but as you say, Takeshi's talked about sometimes as sort of Japan's Iron lady in a reference to Margaret Thatcher. That couldn't be a more different political background than Anthony Albanese died in the wall. Australian labor but circumstances can make strange political bedfellows Japan and Australia find themselves in a position where, where they not only need each other to shore up those energy supplies because of the actions of their biggest ally, the United States in the Middle east, but also wondering, can they would they be able in five years, 10 years, 20 years, to rely on the United States in the same way that they have for so long? So in the same way that the United Kingdom is talking about deepening its relationship with the EU and feeling it needs to pivot more to Brussels, you know, Australia is looking to its regional allies to strengthen those relationships because it can't be certain that the relationship with the United States will return to the way it was 10 years ago, say, when America was talking about the Asia Pacific as its main area of concern.
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Emma Nelson
Paul Osborne, based in Brisbane, and John Nielson Wright Fuji bank professor of Japanese politics and the international relations of East Asia at the University of Cambridge. Thank you both very much for joining me on THE globalist. It's what? 10:12am in Tbilisi, 7:12am here in London. Now, Armenia is playing host to dozens of world leaders this week for the 8th European Political Community Summit. The likes of the Canadian and British prime ministers are at the conference with the aim of holding face to face meetings on issues of such as the U.S. iran conflict. Dozens of European leaders are also expected to attend the first ever EU Armenia summit, as the former Soviet nation hopes will bring it closer into the European fold. Well, to tell us more, I'm joined by Joshua Casera, who's a senior analyst in South Caucasus at the International Crisis Group based in Tbilisi. A very good morning to you, Joshua.
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Joshua Casera
Good morning.
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Emma Nelson
It's a big day for Yerevan, not just one meeting, but two.
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Joshua Casera
Yeah, very much. This is a huge event for Yerevan. I don't think there's been anything of this scale in independent Armenia's history.
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Emma Nelson
So explain to us a little bit about why Yerevan has suddenly fallen into the spotlight for holding two major meetings.
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Joshua Casera
Right. So this is the first meeting today is the European Political Community, which is something that it's kind of a broad, diffused group that started after 2022, after the Russian invasion of UK for a bigger group of countries to talk about that. So it's EU member states, but also uk, Turkey, Ukraine, the Caucasus states, for example, Balkans and so on. And now they're having two summits a year, one in an EU country and one in a non EU country. And last year they announced that Yerevan would host one of the summits this year. And Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, Armenia's longtime FOE, would host one in 2028. And so, you know, both of these countries have, have been increasing their ties with the EU since 2022, especially Armenia. Armenia has been a Russian ally for a very long time, but in the series of conflicts it had with with Azerbaijan this decade, Russia was not able to come to Armenia's aid in the way that Armenia wanted, was not able to fulfill its security obligations. And so Armenia has been trying to diversify its foreign policy orientation, especially by building ties with the eu. Armenia says now it's trying to work towards accession with the eu. It's hosting an EU mission on the border with Azerbaijan. There was just a new mission announced, another EU mission aimed at combating what they say is Russian disinformation. And then, as you mentioned, coming right after this European Political Community summit is the EU summit, which I think is a pretty clear signal from the EU that they want to support this direction. The EU is very interested in boosting ties with Armenia as well. And another thing to note is that just in one month, Armenia is having pretty critical parliamentary elections. And the main challengers to the current government, led by Prime Minister Nicole Pashinyan, they are all advocating for Armenia to instead repair its relations with Russia rather than this strong move towards the West. And so this has been a little bit of a. There's a little bit of a geopolitical cast to the election. And this also appears like an EU attempt to show their support for Pashinyan in this race.
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Emma Nelson
It's an interesting situation that you describe there that Armenia has suddenly decided to look towards Brussels because, like a jilted lover, that Russia didn't step up when it needed it in its. In its conflict with Azerbaijan. But the interesting thing is what for Europe is it. Is it something that it. That there's a general desire to increase the fold and to bring Armenia in it. But what is in. What's in it for Brussels to have Armenia part of the, part of the
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Joshua Casera
eu, I think, here in the Caucasus as a result of the war in Ukraine, Russia, which has been the hegemon here for a very long time, has been distracted and its resources drained from this region. And so I think the US to some degree, but especially the eu, have seen a kind of strategic opening here. And so you see a lot more action and activity towards kind of bringing these countries more into the western fold. While Russia is, is engaged in Ukraine for Maraemia.
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Emma Nelson
The EU summit, the first of its kind, is about telling the European Union, here we are here and we are, are ready. What could Armenia bring to the party.
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Joshua Casera
Well, like I said, they, they're very eager to be to some degree a Western ally in the region. I think that there's some questions remain about the degree to which they are willing to go towards the West. I think they're also, at the same time they're not seeking to abandon their relationship with Russia. I mean, Pashinyan still goes to Moscow quite regularly and other officials even more often. They meet with Putin and other senior Russian officials regularly. They're trying to not completely abandon the relationship with Russia, but they want a balance to that. They want the EU and the US as well to be able to balance that relationship.
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Emma Nelson
Joshua Casero, who's a senior analyst in South Caucuses, the International Crisis Group in Tbilisi. Thank you so much for joining me on the program. Still to come on today's Globalist.
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Sophie Monaghan Combs
For the next six months, Venice will not only take the temperature of contemporary art in 2026, the city will also play host to a much bigger story about which conflicts and countries deserve uproar in the public imagination.
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Emma Nelson
Why Geopolitics has caused a major upset at this year's Venice Biennale. Stay tuned.
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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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Emma Nelson
Let's head to Paris now to have a look at today's newspapers. Joining us from Studio 5 on in Paris in the 2nd arrondissement is Francis Collings who's Paris based foreign news correspondent, regular voice here on Monocle Radio. Good morning, Francis. How's Paris looking on May Day?
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Francis Collings
Paris looks beautiful whatever day it is, as you know, rain or shine, it always has something about it.
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Emma Nelson
Okay, stop showing off. It's not May Day that was May the first. But, but it has been one of those, one of those weekends where you had the quintessentially French angry story which broke absolutely everywhere. You had an angry the unions get involved. What is allowed to open and not open on May Day? The Sebastian Le Cornu going and ordering a baguette because this is all being channeled through the the sort of like the funnel of a row about bread.
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Francis Collings
It is a very French story. Protests, demonstrations and baguettes. That goes to the very heart of the matter because on Labor Day, which has taken very seriously in most countries but Certainly here it's a public holiday, it's a non working day. Essential services, hospitals, hotels can remain open. They must pay their staff double. Everybody else gets a day off. But there's confusion about whether bakeries can open and labor inspectors, a year ago, and you can see how this went down, reported five bakers to the authorities for opening, for operating. They were hauled before a court. All got acquitted. But that, of course sparked an enormous debate across France. Last week, the government was encouraging bakers to work on May 1st. They're bringing a law in, but it is a little bit vague at the moment. Hence, as you say, the Prime Minister, Sebastian Le Cornou, going to a bakery in Saint Julien, chap toell in the center of France and waving baguettes around. In fact, he didn't just have one, he said, give me four baguettes. To say baguettes are important on May 1st. But the law is not yet in place that is going to protect the boulangerie and the workers there. The unions, of course, as we know, very strong in France, they say that no employee is really true to volunteer to work on Mayday when they're seeking a work contract. They also fear that workers, all workers, will have to work on the holiday. They say that social history shows us each time a principle is undermined, exemptions gradually increase until they become the rule. But then joined in were other professions who feel excluded. There was a joint statement on Friday from the French Confederation of Butchers, the Organization of Fishmongers and the Shellfish Sellers of France. Not the easiest thing to say this time of day, who said that the decision was very unfair. So they want to be working. The unions say we don't want anyone working. The bakeries, well, some of them did open, but they still run the risk of prosecution for selling their baguettes.
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Emma Nelson
Goodness me. Thank you for that. Francis, forgive me. Detect a slight smile in your voice when you're telling me this story. How reflective is this of modern France?
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Francis Collings
Well, the thing is, I mean, France does get a bit of a bad press. You know, I saw a comedian a few years ago, I won't say who, who said that. You know, when the broadband goes down in France, they set fire to Renault in the streets. They do like to protest, but generally it is protection of workers rights that is taken very, very seriously. A lot of workers rights that we've seen disappear in, in other countries, notably in the UK with zero contracts, that wouldn't stand in France. So any slight thinning out of protection of workers rights, people are on the street pensions. We saw protests two years ago over, over pension plans. It's something they hold very dear, and I think it's great. I think they need to protect people because they regard that working life is sacrosanct and there should be full protection for people who work through a whole career.
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Emma Nelson
Thank you for that, Francis. Right, let's cast our heads ahead to the French presidential elections, which are next year. I believe we're sort of getting an idea of who the runners and riders are now. We have Emmanuel Macron, who cannot run because he's already had two terms. We have Marine Le Pen, who cannot run because she's committed a crime and is barred from running, but she's going to fight it. But we do have one candidate now. He's thrown his hat in, into the ring, and he is an unsurprising candidate from the far left.
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Francis Collings
This is Jean Luc Melanchon, bit of a firebrand on the far left, leader of La France Ensoumies, France unbowed. Yeah. He announced yesterday he's going to be standing in next year's election. Not surprising. We knew he was going to stand, but he's basically getting out ahead of the pack because the election is going to be very interesting. As you say, Macron cannot stand, so that leaves a big gap, gap in the center. No one is entirely sure how that's going to be filled, if it's going to be filled, or is it going to be a very unlikely coalition of various center, left, center right parties. I mean, we do have a rather uncomfortable government set up at the moment, which is based on a spread of various different interests and parties. So Melanchon is trying to force the timetable, saying, look, I'm the default leader of the left. He's trying to lock in the leadership of the left before any rivals can organize. Because the other, other parties from the left, the Socialists, the Greens, are still debating their own alliances or primaries. And he's pressuring basically the others to either support him or split the vote. But as you say, without Marine Le Pen, whose appeal I think is coming up next month, she may not be able to run. But still very high in the polls is her party and Jordan Bardella, who is her protege. And then we have people like Edouard Philippe, who's a former prime minister of the Horizon Party, who could occupy that center vote, a man who is still, at the moment, and I think still was when he was prime minister, mayor of La Havre on the. On the French coast. But he's regarded as someone who can tie a number of votes together, but no one has clearly come out and stated, this is how it's going to happen, this is what I'm going to do. Until we had Mellon Shawn yesterday announcing his run for the election next year.
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Emma Nelson
Anyone excited about it?
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Francis Collings
Is anyone excited about it?
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Emma Nelson
Are they too angry about their bread?
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Francis Collings
They do get very excited about their politics and their elections, but I think it's more time to when, when it happens. And he certainly can carry a crowd. I've seen him speak. He's a very good orator. And I think he was out the other day shouting about bread as well. So, you know, he's been a busy man.
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Emma Nelson
Excellent. We look forward to the upcoming events. Let's move to another rather unlikely firebrand that has caused an enormous amount of upset in Europe. A lot of focus at the moment is on the German Chancellor Friedrich Matz, who has basically stood up to Donald Trump about the way that the Americans are running the conflict in Iran. And as a result, we all saw this weekend Donald Trump saying that he was pulling at least 5,000 troops out of Germany. The papers are sort of divided, aren't they? We have the likes of the Guardian and indeed the New York Times this week saying actually Germany's overplayed its hand here. Some others, though, are suggesting that actually Merz is just doing what other European leaders have done in the last six months, which is gently but firmly bat Trump away.
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Gabriel Lee
Yeah.
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Francis Collings
And in some cases even more firmly if you take into account the Spanish prime minister who's been very strong on his stance against the war and against Trump. Yeah. He gave an interview yesterday to ARDTV in Germany and said, I'm not giving up on working on the transatlantic relationship, nor giving up on working with, with Donald Trump. But the rail came from an interview he gave last week. I think actually he was talking quite openly to some students where he spoke about the war against Iran and said an entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership, especially by these so called Revolutionary Guards. He also said, we've got a different view of this war. That's no secret. I'm not the only one who feels that way. So I think what he's essentially trying to do is prevent a, a large policy dispute turning into a full blown rupture in US German relations. I mean, the complicated part of this is that Mertz is not entirely popular at the moment in Germany, but generally American forces, Americans are. I lived in Berlin in the 90s and it was really quite odd. The, the devotion to, to American forces. Understandable after the war. But they have a very strong relationship with American culture, with everything that comes from the United States. So it is a confusing time. Then again, we have to say that slowly but surely, if you think about Keir Starmer, who is no Churchill, according to Trump, having problems with the US President, Giorgio Maloney of Italy as well Spain, there is a slight, slow burning consensus of people pushing back against Donald Trump, but of course, they're slightly fearful of what will happen. He says he's pulling 5,000American troops out of Germany. I think they have about 35,000 in total. It'll take about 12 months. Knowing Trump, he may pull 5,000 out and slip 6,000 in. You never quite know what's going to happen over the next year. But it is an interesting dynamic that's happening in Europe where they're slowly, carefully and quietly trying to build some sort of coalition of opinion to say to Trump, you've got to get this sorted out.
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Emma Nelson
Francis Collings, based in our Paris studio, thank you so much for joining us on THE globalist. The US President Donald Trump has said that the United States will help to guide stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz. He said vessels belonging to what he described as neutral and innocent bystanders will be helped, but they won't be able to return to the strait until the conflict with Iran ends. Public hearings have opened into the anti Semitic shooting that killed 15 people at a Jewish festival on Sydney's Bondi Beach. The attack last December was Australia's worst mass shooting in three decades. The former mayor of New York City and key ally of Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, has been admitted to hospital. He's thought to be in a critical but stable condition. And three people are believed to have died after an outbreak of a virus on board a small polar cruise ship in the Atlantic. The World Health Organization has confirmed the outbreak of hantavirus, which is usually spread by rats. The ship was sailing from Argentina to Cap Verde. This is THE globalist. Stay tuned. We head to Italy now, where the jury of the Venice Biennale has resigned in protest just over a week before the annual festival is set to begin. To have a look behind the headline, here's Monocle's associate editor of Culture, Sophie Monaghan Combs.
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Sophie Monaghan Combs
This week sees the start of the Venice Biennale's vernissage, but there is disquiet in the city of Canals. The run up to the Art Olympics has been dominated by an explosive row over who's taking part. The resulting Ferrari has now reached its crescendo. The entire Biennale jury has resigned and the Italian Minister for Culture has launched an investigation into Russia's personal pavilion. The Russian pavilion is a grand building in Venice's Giardini prime real estate in Biennale terms. For the first time since the full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, the building will be used to showcase the country's chosen artists. Russia owns its Giardini building and the Biennale's constitution says any country recognized by the Italian government is entitled to take part. To some extent, then a country can decide how and when, when they participate. Now, not only Russia's return, but the inclusion of Israel in the event has caused consternation throughout the art world. For the next six months, Venice will not only take the temperature of contemporary art. In 2026, the city will also play host to a much bigger story about which conflicts and countries deserve uproar in the public imagination. There will be much more than paintings and sculptures reflected in the waters of Venice.
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Emma Nelson
And that was Monocle's Associate Editor of Culture, Sophie Monaghan Kumse. For more you can sign up to our daily knit newsletter, the Monocle Minute. Just head over to monocle.com minute. Now. One of the most anticipated showcases at this year's Salone del Mobeli was Alcova, a platform for forward thinking design that offers a counterpoint to the more brand driven side of Milan Design Week. With more than 130 exhibitors across two locations, there was plenty to take in. So Monocle's Hassan Addison sat down with Alcove's founders Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima
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Joseph Grima
to find out more.
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Emma Nelson
Hassan began by asking Valentina what she felt was missing from Milan Design Week. When the exhibition first launched back in
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Joseph Grima
2018, when we were journalists in 2007, 2008, the Milan Design Week was was still full of independent designers that could afford being even alone in a garage and people would go. Then when we talk about doing Alcova, we couldn't see a platform that was able to give to the designer the possibility to get an affordable space on one side and be visible in the incredible amount of of events that Salern del Mobile became. So the gap we were filling was precisely to create a platform to make visible this kind of design.
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Valentina Ciuffi
So with that brief in mind, in terms of putting Alcova together, I've read that you look for design that is forward thinking and even design that shifts paradigms. How would you sum up the approach you take to curating?
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Unnamed Alcova Curator
Yeah, I mean curation selection is partly appropriate as a term in the sense that there is a selection, but we very rarely actually get involved in defining the direction the content goes in. We look for projects that tickle our curiosity, that we find interesting ourselves. And they can be of very, very different kinds. They can be independent designers, graduates just at the college or the way up to big companies like Casino. We're not. There's nobody who is sort of precluded from taking part in Alcova simply for being something, galleries, institutions. But we expect all of our participants to somehow question their own role in some way. And that's what we like to use Alcova to do.
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Valentina Ciuffi
So in terms of that, what are you seeing in the work this year and what's changed in how designers are thinking?
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Joseph Grima
This is, I think the formula of Alcova is staying authentic. I mean, I can't see an incredible change between the First Alcova in 2018 and Alcova Now. Of course, if specific kind of environment or political problem is nowadays, maybe many more designers will be addressed that. But the way of approaching the idea of what design is is very similar. It's less furniture and more a device to understand the world on one side and thinking about a possible future for world.
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Unnamed Alcova Curator
The work is still quite research driven in many cases, but many designers are really coming to terms with the fact that the conventional trajectory of industrial, industrial design and production is not the only path to getting products into the market. A lot of people are making their own work, they're sort of self fabricating, so to speak, and they're finding a market for that. There's a need, there's a desire, and that means the people, I think are starting to become a little bit more comfortable with launching their own brands, becoming kind of micro entrepreneurs. And I think that's reflected in the work in previous years. When we started out in Alcova, the work was experimental, but a little bit less polished or finished. I think nowadays we're seeing incredibly polished work, incredibly well finished pieces that are really ready, that are all already on the market and that are competitive with industrially produced pieces. And that's fantastic to see.
- [36:28]
Valentina Ciuffi
You mentioned the success of Alcova. It's gotten bigger. You've got more designers on display, more artists on display than before. Do you have to be careful now about how you go forward when putting together the next one in terms of protecting what the essence of it was when you started in 2018?
- [36:45]
Unnamed Alcova Curator
Absolutely. I mean it's every year we ask ourselves this question and reflect on how to preserve, keep the magic alive. It's incredibly fragile as A concept as a model, but we really believe in it. And it, it takes a lot of effort. It kind of comes, we hope it comes across as effortless, but of course, making things look effortless is the hardest task of all. And I think it's. It's driven by passion very much of everybody who works on it. And, and that's what gives it that distinct feeling of energy and of good spirits.
- [37:20]
Valentina Ciuffi
Given the fact that Salone and Milan Design Week have changed in terms of what they used to be to what they are now, there's much bigger, bigger brands, brands that maybe aren't even to do with furniture and making. It's changed the type of person that comes when someone comes to Alcove. What would you recommend they take to the exhibition itself?
- [37:39]
Joseph Grima
Less of an Instagram installation necessarily. We know about which big brands are you're referring to. They have all the right to do what they are doing. Milan is so full of possible audience for any business at the moment. But Alcova is really, you see, when you come inside, here is a city within the city, it's a park. You take your time and you spend time also talking to the young designers. So it's not a matter of wow. We have some wow moments, but we have a lot of stories and the approach is take your time, listen, talk to the people, and I think you will discover interesting things.
- [38:24]
Emma Nelson
That's Valentina Ciufi and Joseph Grima of Alcova at Salone del Mobile in conversation with Monocle's Hassan Anderson, here with the globalist. Now, how do you grow an historic brand without losing what makes it so special? Well, that's a challenge faced by Davide Bertillaccio. He became CEO of Villa d', Este, La Colizione and the hospitality group brings together some of Italy's most important and beautiful hotels, including the Villa d' Este on Lake Como. It's a property which is more than 150 years old. Well, I caught up with Davide at the world's biggest luxury travel expo, iltm, in the French town of Cannes to find out how he keep history alive while still moving things along. He began by telling me about the importance of maintaining a hotel's identity.
- [39:20]
Davide Bertillaccio
For me, understanding first of all the. The sense of place. But the most important part is the DNA of the property. And if you consider that Villa d' Este has built this very iconic reputation by itself over the past several century and a half, my task was try to maintain that nowadays when you come
- [39:45]
Emma Nelson
in and when you go to Villa d' Este, There is a huge sense that you have arrived at a very, very special place and it cannot be changed. When you are there, though, as you know, as the new CEO, having worked in hospitality and luxury for so long, is there a sort of a little itch to change things and then you have to stop.
- [40:04]
Davide Bertillaccio
Terrible itch.
- [40:05]
Emma Nelson
What do you. Terrible itch. So what do you do about the itch?
- [40:11]
Davide Bertillaccio
Well, let me tell you a story, which is funny because you just said something I was mentioning yesterday. You know, over my 35, 36 years in the professional, you know, in the hospitality, I have to admit that Villa d' Este is the most, I wouldn't say scary, but the one, the professional property that makes me feel intimidated. When I moved to Villa d', Este, the first thing I had to understand was the feeling, you know, the guest and the people staying there. I wanted to understand why a place like that enjoys 70% of repeat guests since over 50 years, in some cases 60. Why we have a grand nephew coming to Villa d' Esta with a picture of their grand grandparents in the gardens. And they want to take exactly the same picture, like 60 years after, 70 years after. And I start asking, you know, the guest and the people I was meeting in there what exactly they wanted me to do in my capacity. And guess what? They were telling me, don't do nothing. Don't turn this place into another property. You have to maintain, you have to fight to maintain this place in these conditions and maintaining this DNA, which makes
- [41:34]
Emma Nelson
it so special, which is very hard to do. It's even arguably harder than putting a new change and a new face on it.
- [41:41]
Davide Bertillaccio
Well, first of all, I said, okay, fantastic. I got a job where I have to do nothing and I will even get paid at the end of the day, which makes sense. But given my, my way of seeing things, I took that as a full commitment. So I had to change my mindset completely and try to honor what this guest have been living and enjoying over the past 50, 60 years, but trying to move into the 21st century. So, okay, let's look at the past. Let's live out of the past glories. But now is the present present. And we need to look into the future.
- [42:14]
Emma Nelson
There's an Italian novel called the Leopard and the most important line is it in order for things to remain the same, we have to change. So what, so what did you change?
- [42:25]
Davide Bertillaccio
Well, I tried to. It wasn't nothing technical, although we, we are in a way because, you know, technology now plays an amazing like part in hospitality, I think was Trying to recreate what Villa d' Este was offering to the guest. Over the past 150 years, Villa d' Este was renewed for a lot of competition. Villa d' Este is well known for the love for the motors. You may recall Concor D Eleganza, which has been held, is the oldest actually classic Concorde in the world. And in three years, years, we are going to celebrate 100 years. So we try to keep this pristine and bring it back to life, polish them and maintain them. Because at the end of the day, not many properties can offer the same.
- [43:17]
Emma Nelson
Looking ahead to La Colizione, you are now bringing in other very beautiful and very big properties into the family. You have Villa La Massa in Florence, and then you're going to get the Palazzo Venezia in Como and another one in Chernobyl. That is such a big family. Small in number, but huge in size. So how do you then learn from that? Or what are you going to be trying to do in the next two, three, four years without doing anything but making sure that something is done? It's such a hard job.
- [43:52]
Davide Bertillaccio
First of all, open the places up, which is is the most important thing given the investment, substantial investment made by the shareholders without doing nothing. It's exactly what we are gonna do. I think we are gonna try to replicate what Villa d' Este is well known for, authentic Italian hospitality. And if you consider that the place has been run family after family and we still have the privilege of being owned by a very prominent Italian family, which make the difference. Because in a world where there are very few left, for me it's a privilege, you know, serving a family that has been preserving Villa d' Este for generations. And I think at this point probably is over 40 years. 40, 45 years. And the fact that we can continue that generation after generation, I think is the main focus. So if we manage to replicate what we've been doing in Villa d' Este in the other places, I think we will be successful.
- [45:02]
Emma Nelson
That was Davidi Bertillaccio, who's the CEO of Villa d' Este, La Colizione. You're listening to the globalist
- [45:12]
UBS Narrator
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- [45:47]
Emma Nelson
We enjoy a roundup of news from New Zealand now. And joining us from Wellington is the field correspondent at Radio New Zealand, Charlotte Cook. Charles, I believe the time is, is what, 1845. So it's nearly, nearly time for dinner. How's, how's Monday evening looking?
- [46:03]
Charlotte Cook
Oh, I'm pretty hungry now that you mention it.
- [46:06]
Emma Nelson
Excellent. Well, we won't keep you for too long. We'll let you crack it on with it. What news do you have for us from New Zealand?
- [46:13]
Charlotte Cook
Well, I have what I love is one of my favorite stories because this one comes down to a good old fashioned Information act release. So our Foreign Minister Winston Peters has office released some emails about the stance that they might take over America's strikes and Iran's war. Now this has started a bit of a political spats between two leaders. So that's over. The release of these emails that show the Prime Minister, Christopher Larson, within days of the U.S. israel War in Iran starting, he wanted to move the government's position to showing more, and I quote, explicit public support for the US and now our Foreign Minister, he wanted to walk a more, more careful line. And so this has all got messy because the Prime Minister didn't actually know that these emails were being released and he says that they mischaracterized his views. So the Prime Minister then said that the releasing of these emails was actually the Foreign Minister putting politics ahead of national issues. And this has resulted in a crisis meeting and an acknowledgement that Mr. Peters had made a mistake in releasing those without a heads up. And I mean this all just sounds like politics, right? But it's a big deal because New Zealand's government is an MMP and there's a coalition set up. So it's made of three parties on a deal that we actually had two different deputy Prime Ministers and they each did a stint over the term. And so right now we're about six months out from our general election. And this is a really interesting, I say, insight into the inner workings or the behind the scenes because at the same time that these emails were coming out there was this very difficult, quite hard to watch press conference held by the Prime Minister where he really struggled to articulate New Zealand's position and stance on the war. And so this has been really, quite, quite an interesting saga in New Zealand with all sorts of people really coming out of the woodwork. And even the questions of will there be an early election because the coalition's falling apart has been quite interesting.
- [48:23]
Emma Nelson
Well, I mean just looking at the way the Radio New Zealand has covered this, you know your team is very, very good at exposing these, these issues. That Christopher Luxon, the Prime Minister has experience in terms of taking control of the narrative because you know, just looking back at your previous cast, it says Luxon's meeting with other world leaders but then it's, he's struggling to talk about the legal, legal basis for the, for any kinds of attack. So, so, so just deciding which side people are on is hard enough. And then I misspoke. Luxon clarifies comments on US Israeli strikes. Luxon forced into another correction over Iran. Apparently he snuck into the house to correct records. It doesn't do not hit his sort of any kind of reputation for stability any favors, does it?
- [49:11]
Charlotte Cook
No, he has really struggled on this matter and our Foreign Minister has decades and decades of, of, of experience. He's in his 80s. Like he, he, he has played this, this part many times. And at the same time we've also seen polling for the National Party, the, the Prime Minister's party really struggle and there has been talks about him being rolled which he's come out and said, you know, no, I've got, I've got the full caucus's support. But he has really struggled on this kind of foreign policy way of expressing himself and coming across clearly and communicating where he and the government is at.
- [49:50]
Emma Nelson
Let's move on to another story about the Christchurch mosque shooter has had his appeal against his conviction dismissed, hasn't he?
- [50:02]
Charlotte Cook
He has. And well, Brendan Tarrant, he wanted to appeal his convictions for the 2019 mosque shootings, but the court has declared it is utterly devoid of merit to do so. So the terrorist was sentenced to life in prison after killing 51 people across two mosques in Christchurch, as you said. And so earlier this year during a week long court of appeal hearing in February, the terrorist claimed that he was forced to plead guilty to 92 charges because he was irrational as a result of his prison conditions. And because of that he wanted to set his convictions aside and to stand trial instead. But in the same week he also fired his lawyer and tried to file this appeal 505 days after the window for the appeal had had closed. And so this week, or just in the past week, a unanimous decision released by three judges from the Court of Appeal, they declined the terrorists application for leave and his application to abandon the appeal against his convictions. And I'm going to quote here, they say Mr. Tarrant has failed by a considerable margin to adequately explain the extraordinarily long delay in filing his notice of appeal. The facts concerning Mr. Tarrant's offending are beyond dispute. He has not identified any Arguable defence or indeed any defence known to the law. So they've really come down strongly here. And I will say the sentence again, Mr. Tarrant's proposed appeal is utterly devoid of merit. And now this is a huge deal for New Zealanders, is a horrific moment in our history. And, and every time this comes up, we know that survivors and victims are retraumatized by the whole process. And he's kind of come out a few times in, in his prison sentence wanting to make legal headlines and fight various claims. And, and each time that happens, the families just get more and more upset and that's another kind of dragging themselves through this experience. And so they're really, really relieved that, that this has been shut down and they don't have to see him stand trial for, for something that he has been sentenced on. I mean, there is still a risk he could be called as a witness during the coronial process. But, but largely they are, you know, taking this as a way to move on and hopefully don't need to keep bringing up that resilience that they have had to over the last, what, eight years.
- [52:38]
Emma Nelson
Charlotte Cook, field correspondent at Radio New Zealand. Thank you so much for joining me on the line from Wellington. We wish you a very good evening. You're listening to the Globalist on Monocle Radio. Finally on today's programme, it is a bold move in the middle of a fuel crisis to launch a major new long haul route. Even more brave if yours is a fairly small name and even braver still if you happen to be based in Alaska. But Alaska Airlines is doing just that and more than a thousand of its staff wanted to join in for the inaugural flight. Only four apparently made it. I'm joined now by Gabriel Lee, Monocles transport correspondent, currently to be found in Malaga. Good morning, Gabe, how are you?
- [53:34]
Gabriel Lee
Good morning. Doing fine, thank you.
- [53:35]
Emma Nelson
So lots of excitement as what, 1100 staff wanted to be on the flight. Only four got to go, is that correct?
- [53:42]
Gabriel Lee
Right, yeah. Well, they wanted to prioritize, you know, as much as they, they love their stuff, I'm sure they wanted to prioritize paying passengers for this, for this route. No doubt. So, yeah, it was a, it was a tough competition.
- [53:50]
Emma Nelson
Okay, so why is Alaska deciding to send its aeroplanes to Rome?
- [53:56]
Gabriel Lee
Yeah, this is very interesting. This marked its first ever transatlantic flight. Alaska Airlines Airlines, relatively, I mean, they're a large airline, but they have traditionally flown smaller aircraft around the US this all kind of started with their acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines and these aircraft they're using to send to Europe are actually, they were originally going to be in the Hawaiian Airlines fleet. So, so this, it's sort of a strategic move they've done to say, okay, we're going to take these 787s, base them in Seattle and, and launch all these long haul routes and sort of become a new, a new Alaska Airlines. While the Hawaiian Airlines aircraft are based in Honolulu and mostly focus on, on flying in and out of there as two separate brands but one airline. So it's a kind of, it's something they've been planning for quite a while as part of this acquisition. So at the moment, maybe a very difficult moment to try and do this with fuel prices high, all that. And this is a very competitive route that you're looking at. I mean, out of Seattle, just in general, a lot of competition. They're launching London soon. That'll be especially cutthroat competition. Many airlines already serving that. So yeah, definitely. Bold move is the right way to put it.
- [54:54]
Emma Nelson
Indeed. I mean, I mean, just listening to what you're saying. History tells us that the transatlantic route is one of the hardest to make work in terms of business.
- [55:07]
Gabriel Lee
I mean, on the one hand you have a lot of people who want to do these transatlantic flights. A lot of Americans want to go to Rome, want to go to London. But yeah, it's really intense competition and traditionally fairs haven't been in competition incredibly high on transatlantic routes either. So, so at the moment it's, it's a, there's a lot of things we don't know exactly about. How things are going to go, how fuel prices will, will change, go up or down, how fares might have to go up and whether people will pay these fares. But Alaska Airlines is kind of going full steam ahead and sort of launching themselves as this new airline to the world. Many, many outside of the US may, may not have even heard of them or know much about them. And they're, and they're trying to position themselves as a very premium carrier with this new livery that sort of evokes the northern lights and it's a whole thing. It's kind of. I'm very impressed by it and I
- [55:53]
Emma Nelson
hope they succeed, which is good to know. I mean, you just sort of hinted at where the next question's coming from is where are they positioning themselves in the market? Because yes, the transatlantic route is super busy. Bargain airlines cut price, airlines never work. So is, is the idea to go in the opposite direction?
- [56:11]
Gabriel Lee
Yeah, I think they're seeing that, you know, this trend that has sort of been been ongoing for for several years already where you see that not only business travelers, but also this sort of growing list group of kind of premium leisure travelers, as they put it, willing to spend money on a quality product on a nice business class seat to, to fly, to holiday, like to, to Rome, to, to London, this and that. They're also flying to Asia and you know, sort of, they're, they're saying they will build out this network out of Seattle to various long haul destinations. So yeah, I think as we've seen with many airlines that they, they've decided that the way to go is to, is to say, hey, we're premium. And also we're offering something a little bit different. Alaska, very much positioning themselves as kind of bringing the Pacific Northwest in a broad sense, you know, a little bit of Alaska, but really that kind of Pacific Northwest thing to the market. That's something a little bit different. Whether people will care about that or you know, be willing to pay extra for that, I don't know.
- [57:05]
Emma Nelson
And making it different on board as well. I mean, you said the livery is lovely, but in terms of what it feels and, and, and you know, what it travels like, that idea that you've got to get the airline's identity absolutely nailed right in the interiors more than anything. One of the usual tricks that they do with us is playing a very clever safety video. Air France do it, I think better than anyone else I've ever seen. What's Alaska Airlines doing?
- [57:31]
Gabriel Lee
Yeah, well, that's also an interesting thing because they've never had a safety video before. And that's because they've only flown short haul narrow body aircraft that don't have screens, scenes in the, in the seats. So they've always done a manual safety demonstration. So this has also marked the first time they've ever had a real video and it's quite nicely produced. And mostly it's kind of they're placing people in Seattle or in some of the destinations that they are launching or have launched. And there's actually a funny little clue in there and potentially a clue that's interesting because for a moment we see Sydney, Australia in the video and that is not on their route map at the moment. It would be kind of a surprising choice for them to do that. But it does appear everything else that appears is a destination that they're either planning or have launched. And then they show all the sort of Seattle, Pacific Northwest, you know, special landmarks, things like that to remind people. I mean they are called Alaska Airlines, but really they're a Seattle based airline essentially at this point.
- [58:21]
Emma Nelson
Gabriel Lee Monocles transport correspondent, joining us on the line from Malaga. Thank you so much. And that's all the time we have for today's program. The warmest of thanks to all my guests and to the producers, Angelica Jopson, Tom Web and Hassan Anderson. Our researcher was Josephina Gomez and our studio manager was Mariella Bevan. After the headlines. There's more music on the way. The briefings live at midday here in London. The Globalist is back at the same time tomorrow. I hope you can join me for that if you can. But for now from me, Emma Nelson, goodbye. Thank you for listening. Have a great week.
- [59:01]
John Nielsen Wright
It.
- [59:39]
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