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Craft matters in small ways, like how a coffee is brewed, and in not so small ways, like how your money is cared for. Which is why for 160 years, UBS has elevated banking to a craft, tailoring unique strategies that combine human expertise with the latest technologies, all happening across 24 time zones and and 12 key financial hubs. With you at the heart of it all, UBS advice is our craft. You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on 14th October 2025 on Monocle Radio. The Globalist in association with U Hello, this is the Globalist broadcasting to you live from Midori House in London. I'm Georgina Godwin on the show ahead. At long last we have peace in the Middle east.
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And it's a very simple expression, peace in the Middle east. And we've heard it for many years.
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But nobody thought it could ever get there.
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And now we're there.
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Or are we? We'll examine the prospects for Gaza and Israel. Nuclear armed neighbours Pakistan and India have long been at odds. But how does Afghanistan fit into the mix? We'll examine the latest developments. We'll have a browse through today's papers and celebrate our new Monocle publication designers on sofas. Then we head to Portugal to analyze what the local elections there tell us about the direction in which the country's heading. We'll have a roundup of retail news and then we'll turn to Monocle's Sophie Monaghan Combs Freeze.
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London comes to town this week. I'll be filling you in on what to check out in Regent's park and beyond.
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And finally, we'll end in our Tokyo bureau with our Asia editor Fiona Wilson. That's all ahead here on the Globalist. Live from London. First, a look at what else is happening in the news. French President Emmanuel Macron rejected calls to resign and blasted his opponents on Monday as his latest government was threatened by two no confidence motions that could bring it down by the end of the week. Madagascar's President Andre Radiolina has reportedly fled the country following mass protests led by Gen Z activists that have toppled much of his government. And the organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest have postponed a vote on whether Israel should be allowed to compete next year. Do stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on those stories. Now Israel is celebrating the return of its remaining living hostages, 20 in all, under a US brokered peace deal that also freed around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. A ceasefire seems to be holding, aid is finally reaching Gaza and leaders are gathered In Egypt, trying to build a lasting settlement, Donald Trump addressed the Knesset suggesting a pardon for Benjamin Netanyahu and soaking up a standing ovation, a performance that's driven both, that's drawn both praise and derision. Well, I'm joined now from Tel Aviv by the journalist and Middle east correspondent Ruth Michelson, and here in the studio by Monocle's senior news editor, Chris Chermak. Thank you both very much for joining me. Ruth, if we could start there in Israel, what was the main thrust of Trump's speech? Apart from the many name checks and self congratulation, was there much substance to it?
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Well, I mean, first of all, it was very long and he said that himself. He one point blamed other people for keeping him late. I mean, I think the main takeaway was that he essentially said at one point, you know, like, this has to be an end to the fighting. And he encouraged Benjamin Netanyahu to essentially reap the benefits that come with peace and to see this as an opportunity. Because to me, I think it's incredibly significant that Trump, before getting on the plane to come to Israel, said, no, no, this is an end to the war, this is absolutely the end of the fighting. And we haven't seen Benjamin Netanyahu talk about what's happening in the same way. He has not used the same language, whereas Trump came in here and said, no, this is an end, this is a ceasefire. You will think about the opportunities that come from not fighting, but actually the reality on the ground that has been crafted, if you like, or that's emerging as a result of Trump's 20 point plan and the kind of negotiations we've seen in Sharm El Sheikh, it's much more vague. The sense of what happens now is really wide open. The idea that, you know, there's very few specifics in this plan and so there's really a sense of tension, not necessarily about whether the ceasefire will hold, although that, that is part of it, but for it to hold, for there to be a durable peace. The same thing that Trump is talking about from Sharm El Sheikh, where he keeps calling this a comprehensive peace agreement. Well, that would require details that just haven't been handed out yet.
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I mean, Chris, I wonder how this is playing in Washington, particularly the suggestion of a pardon for Netanyahu.
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Well, when it comes to something like the pardon, Georgina, I mean, these sort of off the cuff, off the cuff comments are expected at this point from someone like Donald Trump. So I don't think there's been that much focus specifically on that. But in general, I think what's been interesting looking at DC Is that, you know, whichever papers you read, whichever focus there is, there is a lot of credit given to Donald Trump for getting us to this stage. But then, depending what you read, the focus is on whether he should, say, get the Nobel Peace Prize now or maybe there is still a little bit more work to do. Has Trump merely, as Ruth was kind of pointing out there, secured a ceasefire? But what happens next? And that's where also comments like that to Netanyahu, he kind of went both directions in that speech. He also said that Netanyahu can be a difficult man to deal with. And I think that's going to be the key question going forward. We got to this stage because Donald Trump put a certain amount of pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu. That's what was also so fascinating, frankly, about that Knesset moment yesterday. Right. Because Netanyahu and Israel hardliners didn't necessarily want this piece. And yet now that they have it, they showered all of this praise on Donald Trump, kind of trying to turn this in their favor. The question going forward will be, therefore, does Trump stay involved in this? Does he continue to put pressure on Israel when it comes to the next steps, the second phase of this deal? And just to add to that as well, a key question, there will be kind of what kind of support he gets from the United States, because we have seen a shift in polling and the public in the US which has been really interesting over the last month or so, that there is a shift. There was a New York Times poll showing more Americans sympathize with Palestinians than with Israel in the last month. That was a huge shift from the last few decades. It'll be interesting to see whether that shift continues or if now that there's a ceasefire, support starts to shift back towards Israel.
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And, Ruth, have we seen any tangible progress from Egypt thus far?
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Well, we've seen that Trump got the Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi and the Emir of Qatar, and also the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to sign what he called is some sort of peace agreement or talking about the commitment to peace in the region. And it's basically just a very nice statement that doesn't necessarily translate into any kind of policy. And so, I mean, Trump also said while sitting next to Sisi yesterday that the negotiations would continue and would still be going on. But it sort of seems like that key pressure that he did bring to bear and that the White House brought to bear, or that Wyckoff and even Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner, used to, you know, see results in the first phase. Although we also understand that when we're talking about the exchange of Israeli hostages for thousands of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons, large numbers of them without charge, that agreement was already in place, or this was something that both sides had already agreed to long before they went to Sharm el Sheikh a few weeks ago. So the expectation that we're going to see concrete results on what is ultimately the much stickier and more difficult parts of diplomacy about long term reconstruction, the long term role for Israeli forces or movements of Israeli troops inside Gaza, which threatens to become something of a permanent occupation, much more akin to what we see in the West Bank. And, you know, these kinds of thorny, difficult questions. This is the real apex of this is where you need careful diplomacy. You need to be thinking on a years long timeline. And instead what we're seeing is this sort of projection from Trump that, well, it's all been worked out because we've, you know, we've had people sign things and the prisoner and hostage exchange is done. So it feels very likely that his attention might turn elsewhere because he believes he's solved the situation. He's received massive praise from withinside Israel and overseas. And so without that kind of serious pressure that we saw before, the results that we're likely to see feel questionable.
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Absolutely questionable indeed. Thorny problems remain. Chris, as we've heard from Ruth, what in your opinion, are the biggest challenges for lasting peace?
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Well, I think it's going to be fascinating to watch, as Ruth was outlining there, this relationship that Trump has with leaders in the region. When he was in Sharm House, he praised the role of others as well, Egypt and Erdogan of Turkey for example, as well. But the focus really was on him. Right. All the world leaders focused on him. They've learned over the last nine, 10 months that you have to ingratiate yourself to him, even if he's going against you, because that's how you get your own policy through long term. I just flagged there too. It was interesting that the Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas president also had a relatively warm embrace with Trump, even though he was denied a visa to attend the UN General assembly in New York. So everyone is learning how to play this game. But to Ruth's point, the key question is going to be, does Donald Trump actually stay engaged, as many of the leaders in the region hope, in order to get this to a proper finish line?
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Yeah. And Ruth, finally, I wonder how this is being viewed in the region. Are people optimistic? And I don't just mean the politicians.
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Well, I mean people that I spoke to yesterday in Hostages Square here in Tel Aviv, there was really this sense that this just, they need this to be the end. People are desperate for this to be the end. But what that really means, I mean, you know, there's a risk that it feels like the end, but that then actually very difficult things are happening behind the walls and places that people who live in Tel Aviv can't necessarily see further afield around the region. I mean, there's, I think that there are real questions about the reconstruction and what that will look like. And so a sense of optimism about that. I mean, I think after two years of war, at the same time as you see people feeling, you know, truly desperate to want to see real justice, the foundations for a genuine long term lasting peace, I think people are emerging from this just with more questions than answers at the moment.
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Ruth, thank you very much indeed. That's Ruth Michelson, Middle east correspondent in Tel Aviv, and Monocle's Chris Chermack here in London. Thank you both. This is the Globalist. It's just coming up to 1113 in Islamabad, 713 here in London. The Afghan Taliban. India and Pakistan are locked into a complex triangular relationship. India and Pakistan have their problems with each other, obviously, but India has been trying to mend its relationship with the Taliban by announcing the reopening of its embassy in Kabul and welcoming the Afghan foreign minister for a week long trip, the first since the Taliban's return to power. Meanwhile, both Afghanistan and Pakistan accuse each other of triggering skirmishes along their shared border and giving contradictory reports on what exactly has happened. Well, to make sense of it all, I'm joined by Lyn o', Donnell, who's a columnist for Foreign Policy magazine and former Kabul bureau chief for afp. Lyn, it's really lovely to have you here in the studio in London. What a treat. Thank you for coming in. Let's begin on this Pakistan Afghan border. What's been going on?
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It's a continuation of hostilities that have been raising their head over the last four years. Since the Taliban came back into power. The Pakistani authorities, the government, the military and the intelligence services supported the Taliban's war against the Republic, which was backed by America and NATO allies for 20 years, and then seemed to think that once the Taliban won, with their help, the war in 2021, that they would have a convenient puppet government in place in Afghanistan as a foil against India's regional ambitions for dominance. You know, you have the two big powers in Asia. You have India and China. China is a very big backer of Pakistan. Pakistan backed the Taliban to push the and the Western allies out of Afghanistan and to keep India in its place, as it were. That didn't quite work out as the Pakistanis had hoped. And the Taliban, once back in power, basically said, well, now we don't need you, we're on our own. See you later. And transformed Afghanistan into a safe haven for what the United Nations Security Council counts as almost two dozen transnational terrorist and jihadist organizations. Amongst them, Afghan Taliban allies that are fighting against the Pakistani state. And the Pakistanis are a little bit annoyed about this. And so they have been retaliating intermittently over the past few years, most recently drone strikes in Kabul against who they hope to, to be the leader of what's known as the Pakistani Taliban. The TTP and the Afghans have. Well, the Taliban have retaliated over the border with skirmishes, each side claiming high casualties and saying that this will go on.
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So, I mean, it's not necessarily state sponsored action from Afghanistan, but what is, I think, slightly worrying is that Saudi Arabia recently signed a mutual defense pact with Afghanistan. I wonder if this could lead to contagion. Is Riyadh likely to come to Kabul's defence?
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I doubt that very much. And it is state sponsored if you count the Taliban as now being the Afghan state. I don't see, you know, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are very close allies. The Pakistanis train the Saudi military. So I think that this is more likely to be a, you know, a diplomatic pact rather than something that turns into a military backing by the Saudis for any action that the Taliban might take. And the Saudis don't recognise the Taliban diplomatically as the legitimate authority in Afghanistan anyway.
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So of course India is bending the other way to make amends with Afghanistan and the Taliban government. What's driving that?
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A couple of things. I think the Indians have been really in a quandary over the last four years about what to do. They had very close relations with the previous republic. They spent an awful lot of money on soft power. Whereas the Pakistanis were funding and arming the Taliban to keep the war going. The Indians were building the parliament, building roads across the country. They had hospitals, medics, schools, real soft power, proper support that one would hope for. And in return they were bombed and attacked and murdered by the Taliban throughout the war there, including, you know, terrible, terrible attacks on clinics and hospitals and the embassy in Kabul and destruction of roads out in the boonies where the Indians were putting a lot of money and effort. But since the Taliban returned, oh, and also, it's worth noting that Sikh and Hindu communities, you know, in Afghanistan, there have been Afghan Hindus, Afghan Sikhs, as there have been Afghan Jews. And they were punished, terribly, attacked and murdered by the Taliban. And that went on even after the Taliban came to power. And a lot of those communities were airlifted out of Afghanistan to India for their own safety. The Indians have wondered, what the hell do we do? You know, we've got very, they're very close by. They want to have relationships, but also they want a pushback against Pakistan. So what do we do? It's better to be the friend of our enemy, our enemy's enemy's our friend, than to allow a ganging up against us. Okay, that's one thing. But also, I think there is a hope that by having a relationship with the Taliban, they have an ability to control their nefarious propensities. So it's quite confusing. They also want to be able to do trade. Trade will be worth a few, quite a few tens of millions of dollars. They can take fruit and minerals from Afghanistan. And also in the same way that some Western countries, Germany, even the United States, are moving closer to the Taliban, they want to be able to deport Afghans who they don't want in the country, illegal immigrants. So on quite a few levels, but I would say one is the hope to control terrorism and also, unfortunately, the possibility of transforming Afghanistan back into a proxy battleground between India and Pakistan.
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Lyn, thank you so much. That's Lyn o', Donnell, columnist and former Kabul bureau chief. Now still to come on the program.
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The results are in for Portugal's local elections, and it has solidified the position of the center right. But can a mayoral win in Lisbon be explained by a fragmented left more than a win of the right? We'll go through it all.
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Carlotta Ravello there. She'll be in the studio with us in a little while. This is the globalist iq, EQ and AI, three components key to the craft of innovation at ubs. Because to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving age, you need a partner with decades of experience, endless passion for the work, and a finger on the pulse of leading technologies, bridging human expertise with artificial intelligence, all to elevate you. UBS banking is our craft. Well, let's continue now with today's newspapers. And joining me in the studio is Terry Stiastheny, political journalist and author of Believable the Misfits who Fought Churchill's secret propaganda war. Terry, welcome, welcome. Thank you for coming in. Of course, every front page is about the hostage release, so a lot of them actually taking it very much from the human angle. We're hearing the stories of, of this reunification and all very emotional.
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Yes, that's right. I mean, if you look at the front pages of certainly most of the British newspapers today, the Guardians got, you know, pictures of people celebrating in Hostage Square. And the Times has a lot of stories of, you know, the families and, and the stories of the surviving hostages who have, of course, been returned. And a lot of them, I have to say, you know, they're very moving to read. Particularly they talk to the family of Omri Miran, whose two daughters, you know, don't remember their father and who will see him sort of pretty much in the first time in their memory. And they're describing, saying, you know, that he's home, learning the words Daddy, you know, say, planning to go and meet their father when he's coming back. You know, do I remember I told you, Daddy's coming home soon. Daddy's here, here. Daddy's come back from Gaza. You know, there are things that really are very emotional as well. And also the two twin brothers who'd both been held separately in, in captivity and were able to meet each other again, you know, so, so wherever you look in the papers, you know, obviously Galli Berman and Ziv Berman are the two twins who then put their football shirts on once they were released from, from captivity to, to celebrate. So, you know, obviously, of course, as you've been discussing already, there's, there's still a long way to go, there's still a lot to happen. But, you know, today I think it' important to remember particularly these human stories.
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Absolutely. Let's cross to France now. As we've been reporting in our headlines, it's a very difficult time and today is particularly difficult for Le Cornue and Macron.
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Yes, this is interesting. I mean, if you look at Le Figaro has a lot of very helpful guides to help you follow today in French politics. And they're talking about, you know, the, what they call the high risk day for Sebastien Le Cornu, he's saying, so his day probably started already. I imagine he's already up and at it. But at 10 o' clock he has the first cabinet meeting at the Elysees, the first cons de ministre, and he's got, they've got to discuss the budget, got to try and work out if there is a budget that they can get through really saying that it hasn't changed that much from the budget that they tried to get through, you know, already, but he's got to try and cut the budget deficit. Then he's. Once he gets through that at 3 o', clock, he has to appear before the national assembly and do, what do you call it, sort of a big declaration of policy. So he has to, you know, go in front of all of all of the French members of Parliament and try to persuade people basically not to vote his government, not to vote his government down. But as the paper points out here, there are still no confidence motions in front of him. And if he is not convincing enough, and if he can't persuade the members of the other political parties to vote for him, he has to have 289 votes. Or if his opponents have to have 289 votes and the government would fall again and then we would be back to, to where we started pretty much last week.
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The Figaro's got quite a fun take on it.
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Yes, this is fine. So if you are a sort of a French politics obsessive, or even if you're just quite interested in it, you can go on the Figaro and they've basically got kind of a game, you know, can, can you manage to, to get to the right number of votes for a vote of no confidence? And they've got the French, the hemicycle of the French Parliament and you can click to add as many as you choose of each political party. So you can say add the socialists, you've got 69 MPs and then you can take, if you think some of them won't vote for the, for the voter of no confidence and work out, you know, and it'll suddenly go and it will tell you that, you know, you've got enough votes for a vote of no confidence. And, and see, I mean, actually I've tried going through this game a couple of times and it is quite hard not to get to, you know, a vote of confidence. It's quite hard to get the block that would support Le Cornu. And you realize that this is probably what French politicians are doing in real time, working out exactly how many votes they get. And, you know, is this a government that can actually survive?
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And it looks like from that possibly not.
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Well, yeah, this is, this is the difficult thing and it's quite interesting looking at what Emmanuel Macron, and this is reported in the British press as well, was saying. You know, of course, he was off in Sharm El Sheikh yesterday and again, he's facing calls to resign from opponents and from people in his own block as well. But he, he is basically being, being very Macron and just saying, you know, no, I'm, you know, the end of my term in, in 2027. And he said as he arrived for the Gaza summit, never forget that the mandate given by the French people to the President is to serve, to serve and serve and to provide answers to the questions of everyday French people. That is the only thing that matters. The rest is the government's business. And he's saying that the political support forces that instigated the destabilization of the La Corne government are solely responsible for the chaos. So he's trying to say, you know, this is everybody else's fault and not mine. And here I am being, you know, on the international stage and this is my job and I'm going to carry on doing it.
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Now Politico is diving into the whole migration debate. This is hooked to the EU interior ministers meeting on migration and discussions over returns procedures.
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Yeah, and I think this is, you know, it's obvious a story that has been going on for a while. And this is the interior ministers meeting in Luxembourg ahead of the summit next week. And I think it's quite interesting to look at what the Danish EU presidency is trying to do, because they want to have a plan to send my migrants, unsuccessful migrants, to what they're calling return hubs, so places outside of the EU to try and make decisions for the block as a whole. And of course, you know, Denmark's got quite a strict immigration policy itself and it wants to have this, you know, pretty much for everybody else. And the immigration minister for Denmark, Rasmus Stockland, says across the EU we're currently only returning a small share of third country nationals illegally staying here. And he says that's unacceptable. But what they want to do is basically have a policy, whereas if were refused or sent back from one EU country, that would then apply for all of the other countries rather than, say, moving on to a different country and trying to get through the system there. But as, as Politico points out, they say finding a deal won't be easy because it says it, because it incentivize countries on the edge of, of the EU to make deportation decisions and then allow people to go elsewhere and sort of, you know, send these on saying Italy would just reject everyone and let them cross the Alps and go to France or Germany and then, you know, push the problem onto other countries. So I think, you know, we're going to see this obviously it's a big topic in the UK as well where, where the government's pretty much, you know, has, has ideas in line with those of some other EU countries. So I think, you know, this is something that's going to keep going over the next few weeks.
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Yeah. And finally to the Guardian. I love this headline. Nature's Labubu. Why, why are Gen Z unboxing conkers now? Much to here, a Labubu we should remind people are kind of vaguely devilish looking dolls with sort of spiky exteriors and they come in mystery boxes and conkers of course.
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Yes. People who are not. Yeah. This is, is, this is peculiarly British thing but collecting conkers. So horse chestnuts, you know the ones with the, with the spiky shells. I mean I can't resist collecting conkers. I'm still, you know, I'm far too old for it. But if you go around in any kind of wooded area, any park in, in London in the UK you will find beautiful shiny conkers that come in their spiky shell and there's something really lovely and tactile about them. So if I'm out for a walk I can't help but pick, you know, my desk is covered in them at the moment and my coat pockets are full of conkers. But apparently Gen Z have discovered these and, and it as a British kid in the playground, what you used to do in my age is put holes through conkers, tie a string on them and hit you your, your opponent's conquer. This was a playground game which has pretty much died out because schools thought it was too dangerous. But Gen Z apparently have discovered the, the joy of the conkers. But they like to like make little videos of out of their shells and put those on the Internet. But honestly attach them to a string and hit your friends. Conquer with them. That's what you're supposed to do.
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I'm not sure that I can go along with that violence. Thank you very much indeed. Terry Stoney there. Journalist and author of Believable Lies the Misfits who Fought Churchill's Secret Propaganda War. Brilliant book. You should get it. You're with the Globalist on Monocle Radio. Now here's what else we're keeping an eye on too. Today, French President Emmanuel Macron rejected calls to resign and blasted his opponents on Monday as his latest government was threatened by two no confidence motions that could bring it down by the end of the week. France is in the midst of its worst political crisis in decades as a succession of minority governments seek to push deficit reducing budgets through a truculent legislature split into three distinct ideological blocks. Blocks Madagascar's president Andre Rajoelina has reportedly fled the country following mass protests led by Gen Z activists that have toppled much of his government. In an address from an undisclosed location, Rajiolina said he would not allow Madagascar to be destroyed, remarks that have only deepened public anger and fueled the uprising. And the organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest have postponed a vote on whether Israel should be allowed to compete next year. The European Broadcasting Union says recent developments in the Middle east prompted the cancellation of the November meeting, with the issue now set to be discussed in person in December, though it's unclear whether a formal vote will still take place. This is the Globalist. Stay tuned now for a look behind the headlines. Here's Monocle's Nick Moniz with some in house news. A look at our latest news. Book Designers on Sofas.
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The focal point.
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Of Tatiana Bilbao's home is a huge soft dream sofa from flexform, designed in 2010 by Antonio Citerio. With goose down cushions, rough hewn linen blend fabric and slender metal feet, it.
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Has withstood more than a decade of.
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That was Monocle's design editor, Nick Monice. The Monocle book of designers on sofas is out now. Head over to monocle.com to order your copy today. This is the globalist. It is 8:33 in Zurich, 7:33 in Lisbon. In May last year, Chega, Portugal's far right party, became the second largest force in parliament when the country voted in snap national elections On Sunday, national local elections took place and the previous results led to fears that this might be another big win for Chega. Well, to look at how that actually panned out, I'm joined now by Monaco's senior foreign correspondent, Carlotta Rebella, who is of course from Portugal. Good morning to you, Carlotta.
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Good morning, Georgina.
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What was the buzz before the election and what did the results now in the major cities tell us?
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Exactly as you described it before these local elections, we had national elections where Suga became the second biggest political force. So throughout the campaign for local elections, it was this threat and this expectation that Suga was going to completely change the way mayoralties and local councils look throughout the country. Now that we know the results, that wasn't the case. Now, Suga did win three city halls for the first time and that is a rise from previous local elections. But it is far from the earthquake, the political earthquake that they had predicted was going to happen. And this is what I find quite interesting because it really shows shows that at a more local level, the party is struggling to have the same cut through. You know, it is a party that revolves around its leader and he is the person that those who sympathize with the views or feel heard by the views of the party. It's usually what he is saying on TV, in campaigns, in debates, etc. But then when you go to a smaller scale and talk about the candidates for city hall or for local councils, they don't have the same, the same charisma, the same level of cut through. And I think this was really evident in these results. And we need to remember that local elections, you know, you are voting within your own community. And maybe there's a reason why they are struggling to be heard by their own community.
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Absolutely. Just a quick look to focus in on Lisbon. Just unpack that result for us.
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G
Yes. So Lisbon is quite interesting. Carlos Moede is the, the mayor who was seeking re election, got re elected. But the whole narrative up until election day was that this was a city that was discontent with its mayor. And we need to remember there was the tragedy of the funicular in Lisbon that marred a lot of this election. You know, it happened right before the debates between mayoral candidates for Lisbon began. So of course it was part of the discussion. But Lisbon faces a lot of other issues, as you know, issues to do with housing. And this has to do with the influx of wealthy immigrants into the city that have skyrocketed house prices and people are feeling priced out of the city. But also more basic things like increasing the number of buses in the city, implementing bigger and better routes. Trash collection has become an issue when it Wasn't an issue before. And Carlos Moedez was very much seen as the reason why all these things were happening. Now, clearly the electorate felt other way because he did get reelected. But there are questions to be asked about the role that the left played here. His main opposition was Alexander Leiton, who is from the PS of the Socialist Party. And there was a huge debate. It was a Socialist party in coalition with three other parties on the left, except the cdu, which is the coalition that includes the Communists and Communist Party. And there was a lot of conversation about about if CDU should drop their candidate and pledge support to Alexandra to ensure that there would be a mayor that would be left leaning. And the result is that we got Carlos Muedez reelected. But if you combined the votes between the Communist candidate and ps, the left would have won. So now there's a lot of a postmortem that the party is doing of where it stands.
- [38:08]
A
And what does this mean then for the presidential election which comes up in January?
- [38:13]
G
Exactly. We are in voting mode than Portugal. Last year was legislative election, now we had the local elections and next year is presidential. And it really is doing two things. It's going to put the focus back in Andre Ventura, that is the leader of the CH Party who is running for president. And while president's runoffs are not meant to be a party nominating it, it's you as an individual who decides to run. Of course, we know that certain individuals have the backing of certain political affiliations. So the focus will be back on him. And this whole idea of it being a party that revolves around its leader will become evident. But then I think for the Socialists, there is a real test here because ever since they lost the elections for Prime Minister to the Social Democrats to the center right, they've been in a bit of an existential crisis. And Lisbon and Porto, we need to say, were seen as the chances of the party to come back. And in both instances it lost in Porto was marginal rate was a matter of thousands of votes, was so, so small the margin. And Porto has had an independent mayor for the past two terms. So now the Social Democrats are back, but for the presidential elections, this is really going to be a survival test of what is the future of the Socialist Party. Of course, the future is not in question, but who the new leader, how the new leader will shape up and what this new era of the party looks like.
- [39:41]
A
Carlotta, thank you very much indeed. That's Monocle's senior foreign correspondent, Carlotta Rebelo. This is the globalist on Monocle Radio. Now I'm delighted to be joined in the studio by retail expert and brand consultant Rebecca Tay for an update from her sector. Good morning to you, Rebecca.
- [40:30]
B
Good morning, Georgina.
- [40:31]
A
So apparently we all want to buy second hand clothes.
- [40:34]
D
Yes.
- [40:35]
B
According to a new report, that's the case anyway. So bcg Boston Consulting Group have released a report with Vestiere. So it is actually co authored by Vestiere. It's worth pointing out, but they've stated that the secondhand market is going to be growing or is growing three times faster than the first hand market.
- [40:52]
A
And we call that vintage now, of course.
- [40:54]
B
Yes, exactly. There used to be rules around what vintage was, but now I think if it's two seasons old, it can be vintage. But yes, secondhand is growing. Everyone's buying it apparently, whether it's from Vestiere. But there's, you know, of course there's also vinted and depop and even Facebook, Marketplace and of course ebay.
- [41:11]
A
So this comes as Vestier Collective's announced a new CEO.
- [41:14]
D
Yes.
- [41:15]
B
So Max Bittner, who's been there for quite a number of years, I think he was about there for about seven years, has been replaced. His replacement is Bernard Aosta. They've said that there's a little bit of a change in strategy or at least that Bernard believes more strongly in the new strategy in that Maximilian did not. So he has bid goodbye to Vestiere. And I think this new strategy is really about kind of innovation and harnessing AI. And in the report with BCG, they really talk about DPPs, which are digital product passports. So really basically harnessing technology as it goes into the future.
- [41:48]
A
Yeah. Now one of the reasons that we are buying secondhand is this backlash against fast fashion. And we're seeing one prominent fast fashion company really suffering under Trump's tariffs.
- [41:59]
B
Yes. I have to say, say I'm not too sad about this one, but Shein has had its worst, its second worst monthly performance from the past three years. So their sales declined about 8% just for the month of September. And this is really due to the tariffs and the, the, the scrapping of the dimin de minimis policy, which was basically that anything coming to the US that was valued under $800 could go without any tariffs. So obviously I don't think there's anything on Sheehan's website like that is maybe even over $100, let alone $800. So hundreds of thousands of mostly young people were purchasing items and, you know, really contributing to this fast fashion economy.
- [42:40]
A
I've never actually seen anything made by Shein. But online the designs look amazing. But I'm told that in person, in actual, if you feel them, that's not the case.
- [42:50]
B
No, they're very, very scrappily. You wouldn't be surprised if you saw a loose thread or. And then if you pulled that thread that it would kind of come apart. I think the main thing that's the problem. Problem is, yes, sort of underpaying garment workers and this whole contributing to this fast fashion. But it's just this, the idea of none of this clothing is really circular. Nobody is wearing this again for a second time. Most of the people that are buying these are actually really only wearing them maybe a handful of times, if that. And so it's really just, it's really just contributing to this disposability of fashion.
- [43:23]
A
Yeah. And compare that to Uniqlo, which is doing incredibly well. Its fifth straight year of record profits.
- [43:29]
B
Yes. This is incredible. I think, you know, Uniqlo, nobody would classify Uniqlo as designer, but it's certainly not fast fashion. But it's also sort of affordable and it's really kind of known for its fleas and it's, you know, we're coming into winter, it's heat tech. And in the summer they have Airism. So really, really basics, not a lot of prints, but they have invested in, you know, the kind of people that are involved with the company. Jonathan Anderson has been there for a long time, Claire Wake Keller, and they've really been pushing into the US as well. So really focusing on marketing efforts there. I think as Japan has also had its economy crumble a little bit or it's really suffering and there's more tourists going and, you know, taking advantage of the weaker yen. I think that's also contributed to its strong results.
- [44:12]
A
Yeah, yeah. And this, a lot of this was, was prompted really by a rethink after Covid.
- [44:19]
B
Yes, I think it was really over reliant on China as, as one of its main markets. And they basically sort of said, well, okay, if China, China's not going to be shopping as much or there are problems in China because of COVID where can we focus instead? So that's sort of why they really focused on North America. They didn't have a lot of, they didn't have a great reputation. People who knew Uniqlo in the US in particular really liked it, but they didn't even have a lot of stores. I think in Canada, for example, they've only opened, I think maybe a handful of stores so far. So there's a lot of opportunity there and across the US and similarly in Europe, they've really been investing in bringing journalists from Europe over to Japan to really kind of see how the factories work and how the productions work and how they're really thinking about the product cycle.
- [45:05]
A
Rebecca, thank you very much indeed. That's Rebecca Tay, retail expert and brand consultant. This is the globalist on Monocle Radio. Craft is a matter of perspective, a unique outlook, an obsessive attention to detail. With UBS's Chief Investment Officer, Houseview, 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 now. Frieze London and Frieze Masters, the annual arts events open on Wednesday primarily in Regent's park in the heart of Britain's capital city. Running until the 19th of October, the fairs promise they will be spanning a millennia of historical art and today's most pioneering artists. Well, I'm joined now by Monocle's Associate Editor for Culture, Sophie Monaghan Combs. Sophie, good morning to you. Thank you for coming in early to chat with us about this. For those who've never been to Frieze, I wonder if you could just outline the broad concept of both Frieze London and Frieze Masters.
- [46:30]
D
Yes, Good morning, Georgina. Well, Frieze itself started as a magazine early in the 90s, and then in the early 2000s they transitioned. They still have the magazine, but they started this new art event for the UK and it's become the most important British art event. So as you say, there's Frieze London and there's Frieze Masters. Frieze London is the kind of contemporary fair and Frieze Masters shows works, mostly shows works that have been created before the year 2000. And then the other part of Frieze is Frieze Sculpture, which is an outdoor public sculpture park in Regent's park and that opens a couple of weeks before the rest of the fair. And it really is, as I say, the most important uk, UK art event, partly because the UK is such an important player in the global art market. So it is second only to the US in terms of the, of its share of the global art market. And it's actually the kind of market share that the UK has is larger than the rest of Europe put together. So it is a really kind of significant event in the art calendar.
- [47:36]
A
And I wonder how much it compares, how does it compare to other major international art events? I'm thinking here particularly of the Swiss company, the Art Basel brand.
- [47:44]
D
Yes. Art Basel is important to mention because that is taking place. Art Basel Paris is taking place next week. So for a lot of people, especially American collectors and also Asian collectors, they will come to Europe and go to Fries and then also go to Paris. Off the back of it, you know, every art fair has its own flavour and it's shaped by the city it's in. But I think for both Frieze and Art Basel, they're picking up new furs and they're, you know, kind of adding to their roster. So Frieze, for example, which has fairs in la, Seoul and New York as well as London, has just announced that it's going to be taking over Abu Dhabi Art Week. And Art Basel in the past few months said that they would be going into Qatar, into Doha from next year. So they're really both sort of expanding, but I think they. They have their own sort of flavor and as I say, they. They speak to the city they're in. And London and Fri still has a bit of an experimental kind of edgier side of it.
- [48:45]
A
Now you actually spoke to the director of Fries.
- [48:48]
D
Yes. So I spoke with Eva Langrais a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to ask her specifically about the art market. It's had a really kind of bruising year with quite a few gallery closures, especially in the us and so I was just intrigued to find out what she thought. So we can listen to a little bit of Ever now.
- [49:07]
H
The picture is not at all doom.
- [49:09]
B
And gloom, I think. I feel it's maybe more. The market is definitely more measured. It has been challenging. But in amongst that, you know, there are many galleries that are still doing really very well. And I think, you know, so long.
- [49:23]
H
As everyone focuses on continuing to show.
- [49:28]
B
Great artists and do great exhibitions, there is. Is still space for galleries to do.
- [49:34]
H
Well in the contemporary art field.
- [49:37]
B
So I think this is. Yeah, and it's felt like maybe also.
- [49:40]
F
A moment of transition, I would say.
- [49:41]
B
You know, with some galleries shutting down for a variety of reasons, actually, some of it related to the market, but.
- [49:49]
H
Some of it might be different personal.
- [49:51]
B
Reasons and also new people opening at the same time.
- [49:55]
H
So, you know, it's not. It's not at all doom and glory Bloom.
- [49:58]
B
I think it's more a transitional moment, really.
- [50:01]
A
She's mentioning galleries there. I wonder if you could tell us about some of the galleries participating.
- [50:05]
D
Yes, of course. So there are, I think, about 168 galleries and they come from more than 40 countries. So there are a lot, there is a lot to get through. I think, you know, from my perspective, it's always worth stopping by the big blue chip best known galleries, Gagosian, Pace, Hauser and Wirth. But I'd also recommend going to Focus. And Focus is a fairly new scheme from Frieze. It's been around for a couple of years and it champions emerging talent from around the world. And you get galleries there from, you know, unexpected places. They're young galleries, they're up to 12 years old. And there's a couple which I've always seen really, you know, interesting work at. So Gallery Artbeat from Tbilisi and Klima from Milan are two that I've spotted at other fairs and really enjoyed what they've had on show. And the other thing I would mention with galleries is that there's quite a few new gallery spaces that have opened up. You know, people plan things around Frieze. So you might have your opening week of your new exhibition or you might start your new open your new gallery Outpost during Fries. And there's a few which look really lovely. One I've been to YDP on Bedford Square, which is a lovely old Georgian townhouse, which has a really big exhibition running the whole way through it. But then also Maureen Paley has a new space. Sadie Coles as well, a very famous British gallerist has a new space as well. So there's quite a few things outside of the fair as well that I think are worth looking up.
- [51:36]
A
And if you had limited time and you were in central London, is the best thing just to head to Regent's Park.
- [51:41]
D
Yes, it is. Although I would caveat that I think, you know, you want to leave enough time to go around Fries, London and Frieze Masters. I tend to do a big circle and see what I like the look of and then go and have a proper look at it. But I would also say that, you know, as I said, now is the time to open your big blockbuster shows or your new gallery. And so there are lots of museum shows that are really worth going to. They'll be on for a while, but I think if you're coming to town for freeze, now is a really great time to see them. There are a couple that I would particularly recommend. Kerry James Marshall at the Rain, Thiebaud at the Courtauld, and then one I think would just be a lovely sort of tonic to the busy, bustle, bustly nature of Frieze is Peter Doig at the Serpentine. And I just, you know, I love his work. He's a painter. And what he's done, which I think is really lovely at the Serpentine, is he's put up these enormous speakers that are very retro. You know, you could spend ages looking at them themselves. They're kind of really interesting artifacts. And then he's playing a soundtrack through the different rooms and there are these lovely kind of wooden recliners and you can sit down and look at the painting and just have the music kind of wash over you. And I think, yeah, in terms of finding a little bit of an antidote to what can be a very busy week on the London art scene. I think Peter Doig at the Serpentine is definitely worth checking out.
- [53:09]
A
Sophie, thank you. Sophie Monaghan Combs there. Monocle's associate editor for culture. This is the Globalist on Monocle radio. It is 1553 in Tokyo. 7:53 here in London. Now at noon, London time, we'll be bringing you the briefing as ever, but today it comes out of our Tokyo studio. Our bureau chief there, who's also our senior Asia editor, Fiona Wilson, is on the line now to give us a preview of the show. Hello, Fiona.
- [53:48]
I
Hi, Georgina, how are you?
- [53:50]
A
I'm absolutely great. We've had such a wonderful time show here with all of these people coming in live, which just makes such a difference. And now to have you live from Tokyo telling us about the sort of things we're going to be focusing on at midday. Of course, that's much later in the day. Twenty hundred for you with Tyler Brulee in the studio.
- [54:09]
I
Yeah, it'd be lovely to have Tyler in the studio. I mean, we often talk, but at a great distance. So, yeah, we'll be in the Tokyo bureau. Ryuma, our producer, has made a very complicated setup so we can sit on sofas and relax while we chat. I mean, obviously we'll be sitting, talking about Japanese politics. What else could we be talking about this week? Utter chaos, obviously. Also the Expo in Osaka, which finished yesterday. There'd been a huge preamble to this event. The cost everyone was worried about, the overspend, would people come, you know, the potential disasters and in the end, how it all played out and what the legacy might be.
- [54:45]
A
Let's just return to the sort of chaos there at the moment. Tell us a little bit more about Sanae Takechi, who's won the Liberal Democratic Party leadership.
- [54:55]
I
Yeah, so, I mean, often referred to in the Western media as Japan's Iron Lady, I think she has mentioned that she rather admires Margaret Thatcher and she often wears blue. So people have made some quick associations there. She is a tough right winger. You know, she's known for these nationalist issues that she firmly believes in. She's quite a traditionalist on social issues. And she won the leadership of the ldp, that's the ruling party. She won the presidency. And the. At the moment, because they are running the government, that person would be the Prime Minister. And it was a state assumed that tomorrow, in fact, she would be crowned. Not crowned, but she'd be made Prime Minister. It all changed last week when the LDP's coalition partner, Komeito pulled out of their coalition. And we now have a situation where we don't know who will be Prime Minister next week. The dates move from the 15th to the 20th. There'll be a special session of the Diet. And at the moment there are quite a few possible scenarios. And you know, it does look like we might not have Japan's first female prime minister minister after all.
- [55:56]
A
And. And so who then?
- [55:59]
I
Well, it could be her. It could be that they have to do the presidential election again. It could be that they have to have a snap election, put it out to the people. At the moment there's. What's happening is because no single party has a majority in the lower house, it's coalition time. And everyone has to try and chum up with someone, probably a party they don't completely agree with. So the opposition, opposition parties, if they could only get their act together, could just about scrape enough seats to offer up a candidate. There are a few really sticky. There are points that they just do not agree on. Light defense, nuclear power. These are big issues. Should Japan get rid of nuclear power altogether? Should it be pursuing more nuclear power? And two of the parties, the CDP is the biggest opposition party. Yoshihiko Noda is the leader of that party. He has been prime minister in the past. I don't think he wants to be prime minister. I think he favors Yuichiro Tamaki, who's the head of the dpp. But this is the party that does favor nuclear power and an increased role for the Self Defense Forces, which the CDP does not agree with. So those two would have to thrash out a few issues before that could happen. And I still think Comato, which is the coalition partner of the ldp, just pulled out. They are now in quite a strong position. They could really solidify the opposition candidate if they chose to. But they're not saying exactly who they're going to support. They're just saying they're not going to support Takaichi.
- [57:24]
A
Now, Fiona, I know that every time Tyler Brule is in town, that means late nights for you. You end up in some very exciting karaoke bars. But he's also there to do some serious work. Tell us what he's up to.
- [57:37]
I
We have done some karaoke already, by the way. I think night one, I was in a basement bar belting out Wonderwall. Yeah, that's obviously a compulsory part of an evening, but no, I mean, it's also about seeing what's new. I mean, anyone who knows Tokyo knows that things change very fast here. And, you know, if you haven't been here for a couple of months, there are a lot of new things that have happened. So we have been looking at some new developments, see what new shops have opened, some new restaurants. So that's been interesting. We were out last night looking at a very big new development that's open near Shinagawa. Bit of Tokyo that had been a bit undeveloped undertaker developed, but is. Is now very much a. You know, it's a stop on the bullet train of. In Tokyo. And they're. They've just opened this enormous shopping center office complex there. So we went to look at that last night. Pretty impressive.
- [58:21]
A
And finally, what else can we expect from the show?
- [58:25]
I
Well, I mean, I think what's interesting for me is, you know, I'm here all the time and it's great to have Tyler's perspective. He knows Japan well, but, you know, what's new, what is exciting him about coming here, you know, and we had a little mini preview of a hotel that Tyler has talked about a lot, often stayed in. We went to look at that yesterday for the first time. It hasn't reopened yet, you know, so things are always changing and Tokyo's in flux. Great feature of Tokyo, Fiona.
- [58:51]
A
Thank you very much indeed. And of course, we're going to hear from her later. That's all for today's show. Thanks to our producers, Chris Chermack and Laura Kramer, our researcher, Joanna Merrill Moser, and our studio manager, Lily Austin, with editing assistance by Elliot Greenfield and Hunter Wang. After the headlines. There's more music on the way. The briefing is live from Tokyo at midday, London time. The Globalist returns at the same time tomorrow from London. I'm Georgina Godwin. Thanks for listening. With ubs, you have a truly global partner incorporating new technologies, innovative approaches and unexpected opportunities, leading you to insights that help answer the questions that matter. Delivered with passion, care and unmatched expertise. Because it's about rising with the dawn each day, knowing that we can do each other even better. That's what banking is to us. Not just work, but a craft. UBS advice is our craft.