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A
You're listening to the Monocle Daily, first broadcast on 13th March, 2026 on Monacle Radio.
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Does anybody know who is running Iran? What dare we expect of the Oscars? And what lessons can be learned from the Life of a 17th century opera singer and swordswoman? I'm Andrew Muller. The Monocle Daily starts. Hello, and welcome to the Monocle Daily. Coming to you from our studios here at Midori House in London. I'm Andrew muller. My guests, H.J. mai and Fernando Augusto Pacheco will discuss today's big stories. We'll hear about the latest in urbanism from Mipim and we'll have our weekly wrap up of what we've learned. Stay tuned. All that and more coming up right here on the Monocle Daily. This is the Monocle Daily. I'm Andrew Muller. First, to Iran and to the interesting question of who is actually running it. Earlier this week, Moshtada Khamenei was announced as the new supreme Leader, succeeding his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who died in a US Israeli airstrike on February 28 along with much of his and Mojtada's family. Mojtada himself is still yet to be seen or heard in public in his new role. His one communication, a statement of defiance, including a promise to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, was relayed via an intermediary. US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has claim today that Mojtada Khamenei is wounded and likely disfigured. Well, joining us now from Washington, D.C. is the reporter H.J. mai. H.J. did Pete Hegseth give any indication of how he knows this?
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C
No, he absolutely didn't. He just pointed to all the circumstances that you just mentioned that we haven't seen the new supreme leader. We've only heard this one statement that was, you know, read by Iranian state television. And yeah, so that's really what he goes by. And obviously there's a lot of, you know, reporting out there and, you know, rumors about the condition of the new supreme leader.
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D
So.
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C
But there was no evidence presented by Hexith during his, you know, press briefing this morning. So, no, there was. There's no clear indication. It's just it seems like an assumption. But he didn't say, you know, what that assumption was based on besides what you mentioned and what we've seen over the past several days, it is objectively
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B
strange that we have not seen or heard more of him. And that said, if it's difficult to tell who's running Iran at the moment. It's not much easier to make that diagnosis where the United States is concerned. We're now nearly two weeks into this. Did Hegseth or anybody else in the last 24 hours or so give any clearer indication than previously what the objectives of this endeavor are?
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C
Besides, you know, the objective that we've been hearing to some degree about decimating, you know, Iran's military capabilities, whether that's, you know, ballistic capabilities, Iran's navy, or of course, the nuclear program. Aside from that, no, we haven't heard any clear indication what the goal here is. I mean, you know, we've heard initially people saying this is about regime change. Then we've heard reports that, you know, maybe the US Might be willing to be okay with leaving, you know, members of the regime in charge. So, no, we have not given any clear indication, you know, just that the president is still the one who decides when this operation has been a success and when the US Thinks it's ready to stop the war.
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B
How blindsided do they appear to be about the fact that the Iranians have closed the Strait of Hormuz and intend to keep it closed? I mean, we did hear today as well that strange and flustered statement from Pete Hegseth saying that the only thing prohibiting transit is Iran shooting at shipping. It is open for transit. Should Iran not do that? In basically, he's saying if this door wasn't closed, it would be open.
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C
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That was actually probably the most frustrated he got during his press briefing this morning is he referred to a CNN story that I think was out there yesterday, it was published yesterday where basically, you know, some somebody within the Pentagon told CNN that, you know, they haven't really considered, as you mentioned, you know, how to handle the Strait of Hormuz. He pushed back force that this morning says that's ridiculous, saying, you know, that over the years we have seen that Iran has used the straight up Hormuz as a weapon, you know, to disrupt international trade, obviously, especially energy trade. And so he pushed back against that and said, no, we have considered this, but it seems like that it's just not something that they are currently able to really fight against. I mean, basically he and the Joint Chiefs of Staff pointed out that they continue striking the Iranian navy. They continue to, they will go after, you know, boats who might put underwater mines in the Strait of Hormuz. But at the moment, they're not in the capabilities, are not there at the moment to actually escort, for example, tankers through the Strait, something that they hope to do by the end of the month. But yeah, it seems a little interesting given that they now say that they have considered this. But you know, as you mentioned almost two weeks in, it doesn't seem like that that's something that this mighty US military is actually capable of doing of securing the Strait of Hormuz, which is obviously so important, is now affecting globally the lives of so many by increasing especially energy costs.
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B
You mentioned earlier hegseth harrumphing at the tone of some of the media coverage, but is it your sense that the American media has entirely figured out how to cover this war? Because usually like in fairness, the medias of most countries they do go somewh somewhat into flag waving mode once hostilities are joined. But has that been so much the case in this conflict so far?
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C
No, I don't think it really has. I mean, I think it once again just like has divided the political landscape here is in the U.S. it's also, you know, the media landscape. I think it, you know, depends a lot, you know, what program you tune into and you know, what outlet you're reading. But in general, I think, you know, this has been a war that is not something that has been initially didn't have much support publicly, but also among probably members of the media. And so it's really interesting to see how the coverage has evolved. We've seen a lot of criticism and I think that also, for example, the strike on that school with more than 170 Iranian girls were killed, that's something that has put obviously a target on the back of the administration of how this could happen. We saw it during a hearing, you know, on Capitol Hill yesterday that was completely, I mean not completely unrelated, but it was about a different subject where that came up. And so there's a lot of questions about this. And we already talked about the fact that there's still no clear agenda or no clear goal behind this, what actually, you know, the administration wants to achieve here. And so all those things have made this, you know, combative. You know, when he basically said, you know, the oh hexif. But he, I mean he basically knows that the media should be more supportive of this. You know, instead of saying that the war is widening, how about reporting that, you know, Iran's leadership is hiding like rats. You know, I think it's a really, you know, dichotomy. And then also, you know, when you have a press conference like this morning and you know that, you know, the majority of media outlets don't have a Pentagon correspondent anymore, it's also interesting, you know, who asks the questions and the phrasing of those questions. So, yeah, it's, it's definitely an interesting way of how the Media in the U.S. is covering the war, but I'm not sure that I would say that it's completely out of the ordinary. You have some supportive media and you also have the critical media. I think that's what a lot of people in the media consider their job to be, to ask questions and not just be all gung ho about the administration's proceedings there in Iran.
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B
Are we any the wiser about the speculation, certainly about splits within the White House? It has been noticed that obviously Hegseth is taking an extremely bellicose tone. Trump in the last week especially, has seemed somewhat distracted and annoyed by the whole thing, and almost nobody's heard a squeak from Vice President Vance.
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C
Yeah, I mean, we clearly know that Trump has confirmed it that the vice president, that J.D. vance was not as much in favor of this operation, this Operation Epic Fury that's been ongoing now for nearly two weeks. And yeah, so I think, you know, given that, that, you know, it has been publicly made clear by the president and also why, you know, he has tried to stay out of the media limelight because he would obviously get those questions from the press and he would have to defend why he's not on board with this. But, yeah, I mean, you've seen it. We've seen it. It's the president itself seems to wants to focus more on domestic issues and, you know, obviously rising energy costs and affordability. That's something especially when we look into this year's election, the midterms in Nove that that's a problem for Republicans. I mean, the president was just in Florida. You know, he attended House Republican Congressional, you know, get together down there. And he was very much focused on domestic issues. He talked quickly about the war and that he wants to. To get it over with fairly quickly. But it was about, you know, the Safe America act, which is a law that he wants to push through that would, you know, require voter ID and proof of citizenship for everybody who wants to vote. So he' that train. So, yeah, it has become very interesting of how that split narrative is within the administration of obviously Hexif being gung ho about this war. And then it seems like from the White House down there's like, yeah, we want to take care of the Iranian regime, make sure that Iran is not a danger to the US and its allies there. But clearly they know that they have to focus on the home Front if they want to hang on to the majority in the House and Senate, it H.J.
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mai in Washington D.C. thank you for joining us. You're listening to the Daily. You're listening to the Daily on Monocle Radio. We are poised on the very brink of that most exciting of weekends for anyone who enjoys spending hours watching already riotously over rewarded, over praised people queue up to tell each other how bloody marvellous they all are. Yes, the 98th Academy Awards are to be distributed at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. And someone who will be staying up to watch it is Monocle's Oscars desk chief, Fernando Augusto Pacheco, who joins me now. Fernando, first of all, before we get into these Oscars, I wanted to ask you about your Oscar routine. More generally, how do you set yourself up for this?
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E
Well, I am already preparing drinks. Champagne, of course, by the way, I'm watching at home. So this year is nothing overly glamorous, but there will be.
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B
I would have assumed, Fernando, that every night at your place was overly glamorous.
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E
I'll keep it simple. All I know is that I bought champagne, Conte cheese, a few nice olives.
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B
A few nice olives? How many? Five, six, actually, you know, quite a few.
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E
Let's say 50. I'm sure there's 50 olives.
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B
50 olives. So you're going to be there with champagne. What sort of cheese was it?
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E
Conte cheese, of course. A classic.
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B
Yeah, of course.
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E
And I do dress up as well and I usually take a picture to prove it.
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B
And 50 olives. What are you dressing up as? Are you dressing up as a massive olive?
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E
No, just a simple tuxedo.
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B
You know, simple tuxedo.
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I keep things very simple, Andrew.
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B
Okay. Will people be able to see a photo of you in a tuxedo with champagne, fancy cheese and 50 olives?
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E
Of course they can.
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B
Excellent. And that. That'll be on the Instagram.
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E
Yes.
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B
Okay. Well, with. With. With due reluctance to. To the films themselves, Fernando. Absolutely none of which obviously I have seen. Who's going to win this thing?
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E
Well, it's a very interesting race and I would say this every year, but honestly, it's a battle between. And here is the joke, one battle after another. The great film by Po Thomas Anderson that to be honest, he was from the beginning the clear favorite. But I see a wave. A pro sinners. Wave sinners is this another fantastic film by Ryan Coogler? And if I describe it, of course, here is just a short description of the film. It is a vampire horror musical.
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B
Oh, dear God.
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E
But Andrew, you should definitely be watching this.
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B
Never gonna happen.
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E
Because you know why? Hollywood is very happy with Sinners. Because, you know, it's an original idea. It did very well at the box office because some people have been criticizing. Well, not criticizing, but the Oscars became more and more art house as well, and the ratings did decline in recent years as well. So they need kind of a big blockbuster and Sinners provide that. It was critically acclaimed but also had great numbers at the box office. So I think it's quite interesting. So it could be a surprise win for Sinners, but if I had to bet my money, I think one battle after another still gets best picture this year.
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B
So you think the best picture thing is a two horse race? Nothing else has a hope.
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E
Nothing else. Honestly, I would be shocked. You know, I would, you know, gasp with my olive in my mouth if any other film beats those two for best picture.
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B
Okay, you don't want to do that, Fernando. You might choke. Is there. I mean, I'm already seeing which way my sympathies lie here. Because you use the word musical. Is there a car chase in one battle after another?
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E
Oh, yeah.
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B
Oh, well, then it wins. Oh, God.
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E
Amazing car chase.
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B
Okay, well, this isn't even a contest between any film with even one car chasing it versus a musical. Obviously the car chase wins. Other things that you think are actually pretty safe bets for anyone that way inclined. You think best actress is a lock?
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E
It's a lock. I mean, Jess Buckley will win for Hamnet. I mean, without a doubt. I think even if you look at the betting markets, he has like 98.5% chance of winning. So I think we should look for best Actor. And that's an interesting one, which I think will relate to some items that we're going to be hearing here on the Daily. Timothy Chalamet, you know, from Marty supreme, he was also the early favorite for. For best Actor. I don't know. He did say some bad things about the ballet and the opera community. He said that kind of nobody cares about it.
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B
But hang on. Well, one. I mean, he's not entirely wrong. These are extremely niche pursuits. That's a reasonable and not inaccurate observation. It's not necessarily casting judgment on opera or ballet or saying the people who like it are bad people. But also, I mean, this happened quite recently, right? I mean, do you think that big opera is able to balk the Oscars voting this late in the day?
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E
You're right. Maybe it was a little bit last minute, but there was a perception even before that comment that he was becoming a tiny bit, a bit too cocky. So I'm not sure, sorry.
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B
A young, handsome, famous, massively overpaid Hollywood actor, somewhat cocky.
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E
But I'll say something that perhaps Michael B. Jordan, you know, he's not as cocky as Timothy Chalamet. He could win this for Sinners. And he's playing twins, so let's not forget that.
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B
Did he get two trophies?
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E
Well, I hope so. And we have the Brazilian Wagner Moore as well, which we might. We'll play a clip later which could be the dark horse.
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B
But, but who do you think should win? Fernando? And by who should win I mean who should win best actor, not least cocky actor. Which interminable though this ceremony is, I'm guessing is not a category yet.
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E
It's going to be for me in my household would be Wagner Mora for the Secret Agent, the incredible creative Brazilian film. And in fact Andrew am I just jump the board here. We have a clip of my interview with Wagner Motor and Clement.
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B
We're just going to screw with the schedule, I think so I mean we're just going to go absolutely hog wild here. Steph in production. Are you ready for this?
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E
Shall we go wild?
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B
Let's go nuts.
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E
Let's have a listen to my interview with Dan.
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F
We were going through the Bolsonaro years and the Bolsonaro years. They were a bizarre mixture of 21st century far right with this fetishistic desire to bring back the good old days of the military dictatorship. And in many ways I was writing about the 70s but living the complete madness of going through those Years in the 21st century in modern times. So I think a lot of the energy from the film came from that. That crazy and just dreadful moment in Brazilian, contemporary Brazilian history. Oh, very dreadful indeed.
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E
And, and Wagner, how does does it
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feel finally working with Clever?
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E
It's been a while and return to acting Portuguese as.
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F
As well after a few.
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D
You know, can you imagine? It was like the. I had the best time of my life. It was really amazing. I, I, till today I'm sleeping it tons on me that I hadn't worked in Portuguese for 12 years. But you know it was, you know I was directing Marine and I did the Narcos and that took me a long time. And then there was the Bolsonaro's years where there was no movies, no audio visual in Brazil at all. But you know I kind of things happen when they have to happen and I was, I've been trying to work with Clever for a while, since I met him basically. And I, and I Think that was the perfect project for us. It's very political. We're both political persons. And it's like as cinematic as it can get and as Brazilian as it can get and as northeastern as it can get.
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B
You know, I believe. Fernando, we have one more clip of you speaking to a nominee which we will get to presently. But I do want to talk about the broadcast because I feel like we talk about this every year because the Oscars, like most big broadcasting set Pete's set piece pieces, at least in the non sporting context, is struggling to hang on to viewers now. I mean, I can make all sorts of sarcastic jokes myself there. I think there's some fairly obvious reasons for that, I. E. That it goes on for weeks and quite a lot of it is extremely dull. And there are lots of, you know, extremely vapid speeches by actors who, no offense to any listen, do tend towards the vain and silly. Are they addressing any of those concerns?
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E
They are. They are trying to make the show a little bit more entertaining. And let's let. Well, sorry, let's.
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B
I hope whoever came up with that insight is being properly remunerated. I mean, imagine that meeting. Lads, what about this? We try and make it entertaining. Everyone goes, my God, that's brilliant.
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E
Let's start with the host, Conan o'. Brien. I mean, last year everyone loved Conan o'. Brien. I think he was charismatic, a little bit earnest, but in a good way because Jimmy Kimmel, he's good, but maybe a little bit too kind of satirical to my taste. So. But I think, you know, the Oscars should camp it up. In the past, they used to have a live bear on stage.
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B
Literally, I think a live bear.
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C
Yeah.
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E
To be honest, I completely forgot the context. But there was a live bear.
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B
I would hope there is a context.
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E
It was not even somebody dressed as Paddington or something. There was a bear.
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B
Are you advocating Fernando for the return of live bears to the.
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E
Oh, my God. I hope nobody emails me about that. But what I'm trying to say, if
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B
the live bear wasn't actually tied up, I would tune in for that. I think it had livened it up no end.
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E
It wasn't. T was a trained bear from a few years ago.
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B
I want an untrained, untethered bear on the stage. I would watch that.
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E
But what I'm trying to say is we should be ambitious. You know, let's go for live bears. You know, we're not gonna have live bears, but we are going to have the K pop demon hunters singing. So, you know, clearly it's being the most watched film ever on Netflix, so I think it will attract a younger audience as well. They have to try their best.
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B
Live Bears K Pop Demon Hunters. Tomato, Tomato. There's another clip you wanted to introduce
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E
for now, a very sweet guy I loved interviewing him is Joaquin Trier for Sentimental Value, which was nominated for nine Oscars, you know, so. Including best Director. He's a very cool guy and I think he's, you know, he's one of the biggest names in Scandi cinema right now. Let's have a listen.
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G
I come out of a generation where the cultural Minister kind of 15, 20 years ago, really supported cinema. It's less so now, so we're working politically at home as well. But they've created generations that had the faith that we could actually make a living off of doing more personal work. And if anything, at this moment, I think we need to take art seriously. We need, in complicated times, in society and in the world, globally, to have reflections of stories on a deeper level, try to communicate, create empathy, meet in cinemas, meet in theaters, meet in books, understand on a deeper level that we are more alike than different. And I think art can be a place for those kinds of reconciliations. I hope, and I feel people are
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E
craving now, the public, personal stories as well in the cinema, because sometimes, you know, I have nothing against a big blockbuster, they can be super fun, but. But also when studios keep rehashing the same stories, you. You look even at the numbers. Actually, some people, some film, they don't do so well because maybe they're. People are getting tired.
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G
Yeah, it's always funny in society, isn't it, how things have counter movements and things are paradoxical. And we've been through a big wave of superhero movies and we've been through certain formulas and people want development and forward momentum, they want change, they want to see something new. Originality shouldn't be underestimated. And I think at the moment, you know, when you've had a lot of. Of mechanically made bread, you suddenly want something that's baked with some hands in the dough. You want. Perhaps at the moment there's this yearning, but you know what I mean? There's a sense that you want the human touch. And I think we're living in a very fragmented, isolating reality at the moment. We're all talking about our friends but not seeing them. But like writing a message or we're. Social media has the strange paradox of having a lot of attention to each other, but maybe not seeing each other. There's a lot of strange things going
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B
on And Fernando, before we get to some closing thoughts, we do have an update on the whole bear thing from our sound engineer and Monocle's deputy bear desk chief, Steph Changu. We have identified the Oscars at which the bear appeared.
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E
It's the 1998 Oscars.
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B
As late as that.
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E
As late as that. And you know, another thought that came to mind, I remember the bear bear opened the envelope for best sound effect. That's very clear now in my head,
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B
the bear opened the envelope.
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E
It's a trained bear, so that's what I'm saying. They're going all the way. And it was. Oh, gosh, now I think I should talk to Steph. I think it was a polar bear or a brown bear.
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B
It wasn't brown bear. Brown bear.
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E
It's a brown bear. Of course. It's all happening live, guys.
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B
Yeah, well. Well, indeed. And I do wonder, before they announce the winner, was there a long silence? Something. Something big pause. Fernando, thank you as always, for joining us. You are listening to the daily staying in the arts world. Next Tuesday, March 17, sees the premiere of Barry Koski's production of Wagner's Siegfried at the Royal Opera House here in London. The drama will unfold on a stage designed by Rufus D. Viess, who has designed for opera, ballet and theatre all over the world. Rufus visited Midori House earlier with Joanna Dudley, an interdisciplinary performer whose recentish work includes the acclaimed installation we will slam you with our wings. We spoke mostly about an upcoming project they are working on together. So I began by asking them to introduce Julie at Juliet.
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A
So, Julian, Juliet is based on a character I heard about. She's. She did live in the 17th century in France and she's called Julie d'.
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D
Albigny.
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A
My French is terrible, but that's. That was her name. She was brought up in the court of Louis xiv. And she didn't have a mother, she only had a father. And it's a video installation very loosely based on her life. But her life was kind of incredible because she learned how to ride horses, she learned how to duel, and she learned how to sing. And that was something. It was basically sort of the education that she had with all the boys. So she grew up as a boy and then at one point she was going to have to get married and she didn't want to. And so she escaped and started singing in the clubs of France, I think basically to look after her own life. She killed quite a few men. She dressed in men's clothes and she at one point fell in love with a Young girl who was then sent to a convent. She burnt the convent down, grabbed her girlfriend, they escape and they managed to sort of continue leading the life they wanted. But at a certain point Louis XIV found out and wanted to cut off her head. So she then continued singing around Paris, but was found by various directors. One of the, I think Opera Garnier, the director of the Opera House. And he said to her, why don't you sing in the opera? Because you've got this incredible voice. And it was a very low voice actually for a female. So they brought her in. She became sort of the Lady Gaga of French opera at the time. Louis XIV found out about her and thought she was so fantastic that he allowed her to live. And so it's this incredible story of a woman who just continued living the kind of life she wanted to lead no matter what, and I think led all of the lives she wanted to leave simultaneously and was very, very brave and out there. And so this inspir installation is. It's based on her life and I'm a solo in this installation and I'm performing with a 13 year old national jeweller. So she's a fencer.
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B
That's jeweller with a D. With a D, yeah. See, this is kind of exciting for me as somebody who's generally reluctant to sit through any theater unless there's a sword fight. So I'm pretty excited about this. But Rufus, to bring you in when you have an extraordinary story like that, and I was going to jump in a few times there and say, so apart from that, all pretty uneventful. How do you go about bringing that to life? Where do you even start?
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H
We asked ourselves that question because do you make a biopic out of it? Which, first of all, we don't have the finances. And secondly, that was never our interest because of course, because Joanna in that case is a music performer. So we are looking for things for her and her voice and her presence to deal with. And the good thing in the way we choose to do it in an installation, in a video installation with three video screens, is we don't have that burden of having to be either historically or otherwise correct. But it's much more picking up that relentless drive of that woman who couldn't be stopped. Even the monastery couldn't stop her. It just burns it down. So it was like someone who just relentlessly went forward. So we thought whatever we do by watching this yet to be made installation at the end, you as the spectator should be completely exhausted by it. So this is a bit of Challenge. Like, how do we achieve that by watching Joanna and collaborators on screen. It must be just there to go. Like, I have no idea how she did this.
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C
That.
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H
Because the story is so relentless, the lives that that woman lived is so. There's like at least seven of them.
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A
And I think she died when she was 23 in a convent, ironically.
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H
But, yeah, so that's what we're trying, but more like on the theme of. And seeing what. How does this resonate with us now with girls, with the idea of how you can live your life, how you can live many lives and.
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A
And to live. Live your life exactly as you wish and who you are and without being told otherwise.
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B
You both have a lot of experience, though, with that relationship between the performer or somebody else with an artistic vision and the set designer who actually has to make it look like a thing within practical constraints. How does that relationship actually work? How often do you run across things where you think, we can't make this happen or this just doesn't work?
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A
Quite a lot, actually. I mean, the lovely thing, even when we're working, because we're working a lot separately, but we come together and create. Work together as well. But when we're working separately, we're always running ideas past each other. So when I'm working with William Kentridge, for example, a lot of the characters that I'll create with William, I'm also working with Rufus at home on. And simultaneously, I think, with your sets, when you've got ideas for sets, we're always talking about that together. And so it's.
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H
I wouldn't say the harshest critic, but. No, but certainly the one that knows of. We know each other's work so well. So of course, you cannot hide anything there.
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A
No, not at all. And I suppose the nice thing about living together and creating together is because we're able to discuss so many ideas. There are a of lot that just never actually happen. But that's part of our life.
- [31:29]
B
I mean, how far off actual completion is this? Where and when will people be able to see it?
- [31:34]
A
This is early days.
- [31:36]
B
This is really early days.
- [31:37]
A
Really early days. Yeah. So I think at this point we've created a storyboard so we know who's involved, we know what's gonna happen. I've got a beautiful collaborator who's. You might even know her, Laura Bailey, who's a great electric bass player, who is the daughter of Robert Bailey from ac.
- [31:56]
B
Well, that's a pedigree you can't argue with.
- [31:58]
A
No, exactly. And she's just fantastic. I think she's 32, 33, quite young and incredible. And a beautiful choreographer. Edna Omesdottir, who worked a lot with Bjerg and Siguros as well. So it's a really fantastic team of people. And of course this 13 year old kid from Adelaide who just happens to be sort of a national champion of fences.
- [32:22]
H
So basically in the starter blocks the infamous thing is always. And where does the money come from? Once that's on the bank account, that's where we are ready to go.
- [32:33]
B
I mean, but on that thought, because it's the fundamental, practical one and just finally you both have long experience of this kind of performance. Is it getting any harder or easier to secure funding and to scare up an audience or something like this? Or, you know, is that same as it ever was?
- [32:54]
A
It's changing for sure. It has got harder. I mean, I haven't applied for, through working with William. I haven't had to for a long time. Like cultural subsidy in Germany, but that's really been cut. It's been pretty scarce in Australia for a very, very long time. And the feelings I get with the private donors in America is that often they're putting money into other things more sort of socially or what projects and not necessarily cultural or art projects. So we'll see what happens. Fingers crossed. But it's relevant for now and it's very much also to do with young girls and the fact that they need a voice and need to be heard and the future's in their hands actually. So I think it's going to be relevant, unfortunately for quite a long time.
- [33:40]
B
And what better role model?
- [33:44]
H
Yes, but it is already to explain that with the private donut. Joe is saying that because it is the second installation already that we did together and the first one was in the end completely financed by one woman who just put the money on the table and said, I want to see this made.
- [34:05]
B
Okay, so if any wealthy eccentrics are tuning in, you're easy to find, right? Yes. That was the director, performer and artist Joanna Dudley. And the SEC designer Rufus did vigious speaking to me earlier now. Mipim, the annual international property event held in Cannes, which is seeing its first day of sun all week, is wrapping up today. Monocle has been there throughout, speaking to investors, designers and innovators, including Nicholas Boffi, director of mipim. Monocle's editor in chief Andrew Tuck spoke to him about his ambitions for both Future editions of MIP. MIPIM.
- [34:39]
I
I've been myself a delegate MIPIM for 10 years before you know, going on the other side. And I've always seen MIPIM as a fascinating, very powerful tool, not only for the business, but also to change a lot of things in the way we live, in the way cities are built, and for the future future of our cities and citizens. So it's an incredible opportunity to bring all those people who can change the world and literally because the world is coming to Cannes, right? And my ambition is really to take this further and is a place where we do business, where we do transaction deals. Because in the investment is at the core of the growth and construction of cities. So this is going to be intensified and we are going also to improve the show on that field. Right. Much more efficient, business driven and so on to help the politics side of the show, which I'm sure you've seen, that that part of the show this year is a massive success. Housing Matters, the opening keynote, most of the conferences were a massive success. And I think if we can do both a drive, a show that is bringing efficiency in business and investment and efficiency in new ideas to change the world, I think we're going in the
- [36:15]
J
right direction because it would be very easy to walk into the Palais and think, okay, this is a trade fair. See some nice shiny models. That's the Apple output, as you say. You host Housing Matters, which, which looks at the tough issues facing assets about affordable housing and, and, and gets into the grit of property development. You always have great speakers from around Europe and the world come to give their perspective on stage. It's so it's as much of a festival and it pours out into the streets outside as well. It's, it's everywhere you go. There are meetings happening because of mipim.
- [36:49]
I
Yeah, but it's a festival. But it's no longer, I think, just masterclass, you know, unidirectional speech, people listening passively. We are also changing the format, bringing more interactivity, roundtables, maybe smaller conferences, workshops. And my ambition is also to get things very hands on. Right. And I, I think that's also a social expectation. People, they want also to talk about the concrete solutions. For instance, if we go back to housing matters and the issue of affordable housing, I think for many years we have shared a diagnosis, we agreed on the facts, but now people want solutions. So what are the solutions in the world? So Spain is launching a massive plan of modular construction to speed up the delivery of affordable housing. Tokyo is very interesting example of deregulation and how, you know, it brings more. It teaches us a lot about Supply, responsiveness. The Vienna approach is, yes, sometimes questionable, but it's still a unique format. So those solutions, they exist, they are already tested, funded. And so people, they want to talk about what's concrete, what really works.
- [38:14]
J
You get quite a lot of foreign countries coming here from beyond France, but certainly beyond Europe as well. The Gulf, the Middle east, little bit. Some people didn't come this year. Some people obviously a little bit cautious. Did that have much of an impact on sentiment, do you think?
- [38:27]
I
At the festival, it was really interesting to see what happened, happen those last days. So of course we know that something is happening in the Middle east, something really intense. And of course we're thinking about all the people there, our colleagues, partners and some of the delegates that have been stuck in the UAE especially. But there was no massive cancellations, just sporadic people number people that could not, you know, made their way to Cannes. And it was really impressive to see how the Saudi delegation and Omani delegation, they made their way. And it took, for some people, it took more than a day to come to Cannes. But they came, they came and their project is here and they're showing strength and confidence. And I think that's a very impressive part. I think for me, it strikes me a lot, you know, that the fact that there is something happening, but people are resilient and they also want to show that they can do it.
- [39:37]
J
Anyway, before we let you go, just tell us as you, as you finally manage to escape back to Paris tomorrow and have some time to reflect on what else needs to happen in this section. Again, some of the conversations have been about a need, even now, for a bit more robust action on what's seen to be sustainable. Questioning those words even a little bit more, thinking about being a bit lighter in what we build and when we reuse and repurpose. Are these debates that you think will also be central for your MIPIM in the next couple of years?
- [40:09]
I
Yeah, more than ever. But we want also to be more practical. We want also to talk sustainability in terms of value. And I think there was very interesting conferences this year about how we can turn ESG into real value for assets. And it's already the case. It's interesting also to see how we shifted from ESG as a bonus to give more value to the asset to now a situation where it's a prerequisite if your investment is not esg, if your asset is not green, it's not future proof. Right. So it's completely different situation. And I think in the coming years, discussions will be essentially about this and more and more practical. And that's also my ambition.
- [41:04]
B
That was Nicholas Boffi, director of mipim, speaking to Monocle's editor in chief Andrew Tuck. You are listening to the Daily with me, Andrew Muller. And finally on today's show, our weekly calculation of how much the wiser we are for having stuck with this for another seven days. We learned this week of something of an evolution in American messaging at time of war from for example, this. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. Or this. We cherish freedom, yes, we cherish self determination for all people. Yes, we abhor the political murder of any state by another and the bodily murder of any people by gangsters of whatever ideology or even this. Our nation, this generation will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our families future to this. What will you do without freedom?
- [42:09]
C
Maverick's in battle. You can't conceive of what I'm capable of.
- [42:18]
D
Finishing this fight.
- [42:20]
B
Yeah. That being a mashup of assorted high octane Hollywood hokum set to an annoying disco riff and posted to official White House social media channels beneath the all caps headline justice the American Way, accompanied by emojis depicting the Stars and Stripes and whoa. Fire. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fire.
- [42:43]
D
Fire.
- [42:44]
B
Not only are we not making this up, or indeed the one in which senior leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran are depicted as 10 pins being mown down by a Stars and Stripes spangled bowling ball to a soundtrack of Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd, here comes
- [43:01]
C
the heat from the usa. Pins down. What a slide.
- [43:06]
B
We are unable to overstate the degree to which we wish we were making it up. We also learned, if we're being picky, that whichever Red Bull overdoing intern selected the movie clips had kind of missed the point of pretty much every film included, eg four starters that in Braveheart, the plucky native resistance to an overbearing foreign hegemon are depicted as the good guy. But we learned, as we so very often seem to, that ability to think things even a fraction of the way through is not a skill highly prized by the incumbent U.S. administration, as we learn that prior to embarking on whatever the heck this is, they appear not to have consulted a map.
- [43:50]
A
New images near the Strait of Hormuz off Iran, where new attacks are now sending oil prices on another wild ride
- [43:58]
B
ride today from which they might have learned just how much of the global economy is dependent upon the Strait of Hormuz. The pinch point at the entrance to the Persian Gulf and the energy supplies therein, the blockading and or marauding of which was always roughly the most obvious thing Iran could be expected to do in extremis. We learned, however, that there was a straightforward solution. And we learned this from no less an authority than Fox News teleprompter reader and probable next Secretary of state, unless Trump appoints a horse or possibly a heron. Brian Kilmeade, this is fear. I'm still going to insure your ships. So go through the strait and you know, that's just part of it if you want to diminish the Iranian threat, if you want to make sure that this ends up with complete Iran capitulation. So some guts and go through that strait. From which we learned that among the highest paid people in US military media are people who cannot understand or are willing to pretend on television that they cannot understand why anyone might be at all unkeen to sail a huge, slow, unarmoured vessel filled to the gunnels with flammable cargo through a minelaced narrows also currently serving as a shooting gallery for drones and missiles. What could possibly go wrong? And so forth. But. We learned that the President had more pressing concerns, specifically the state of his cabinet's footwear. I can't wait to see.
- [45:27]
C
Interesting.
- [45:28]
H
Tell me more. See where this goes.
- [45:30]
B
By which we do not mean that he has begun insisting that a wardrobe in the Oval Office is fitted with sandals, but give him another six months. We learned that President Trump had begun pressing a particular shoe upon his subordinates.
- [45:45]
A
New reports say that President Trump has been gifting his inner circle matching Trump dress shoes and he expects everyone to wear them even if they don't fit.
- [45:52]
B
We learned, however, upon close scrutiny of recent footage footage you see what we did there of Marco Rubio, 41. That some are too terrified or tactful to tell the President of the abysmal gap between heel and sock, or too guileless to simply order a pair that actually do fit and put the pair the president gave them on ebay or in the bin. And so we learned to our regret, that Trump did not think to present his underlings with more appropriate shoes, I. E Very long red ones. But. We learned that amid this week's enervating gloom, we were to be blessed by the Armed forces forces of the United Kingdom with a ray of redeeming whimsy in the form of this guy.
- [46:46]
I
I'm Group Captain Sandy San Lunds. I am the UK Defence Attache to the UAE.
- [46:50]
B
We learned that, yes, the UK's Defence Attache to the United Actual Arab Emirates is Group Captain. That name again, Sandy Sandilands, which is just unimpeachably tremendous. Can I get some general muttered agreement? We have not learned, as we did not wish to be disappointed upon checking, whether or not the UK's military representative in Norway is called Snowy Winters, in Australia called Dusty Bush or in France called Rowdy Accordions. And that is all for this edition of the Monocle Daily. Thanks to our guests today, H.J. mai, Fernando Augusto Pacheco, Joanna Dudley and Rufus Dudvijous. Today's show was produced by Tom Webb and researched by Anneliese Maynard, our sound engineer, with Steph Changu. I'm Andrew Mullah here in London. The Daily is back at the same time on Monday. Thanks for listening, Sam.