← The Monocle Daily
Loading summary
Transcript132 lines
- [00:00]
A
You're listening to the Monocle Daily, first broadcast on 22 May 2026 on Monaco Radio.
- [00:07]
B
What will the world of urbanism take home from Baku? What did the rest of us take away from Eurovision other than earache and the life and legacy of slow food advocate Carlo Petrini? I'm Andrew Muller. The Monocle Daily starts now. 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, Carlotta Rebello, Ivan Carvalho and Robert Bound will discuss today's big stories. We'll have our daily weekly quiz and our regular assessment of what we've learned since last time we did this. Stay tuned. All that and more coming up right here on the Monocle D. This is the Monocle Daily. I'm Andrew Muller. And first of all to Baku, where the World Urban Forum is wrapping up. This year's theme was Housing the World, and I am joined now from the event by Carlota Rebelo, Monacle's senior foreign correspondent. Carlotta, welcome to the Daily. How has your week in Baku been?
- [01:16]
A
It was a great week in Baku and actually, you know, we spoke on the very first day when there was a huge storm, but I don't know, since then the sun was out and it was absolutely glori. And it was my first time. I know that you said you love that city and I can definitely tell why.
- [01:36]
B
I mean, from an urbanism perspective, did you get to see much of Baku itself? Because it does have lots of buildings shaped like weird stuff.
- [01:46]
A
It definitely does have a lot of buildings shaped like weird stuff. But I think the mix between the old and new is really what makes that such a fascinating city. You know, I had the chance to go to the Haydar Aliyev Museum, the cultural center designed by Zaha Hadid, which is a stunning piece of urban development. But sadly, with a lot of these urbanism conferences, the way it goes is that you are stuck in a venue for most of the day, but the Baku Olympic Stadium is not too shabby.
- [02:17]
B
So what actually did you take away from the event? Because, as you said, we talked at the start of it about what the ambition of this was. It was going to have this focus on housing, which is a pressing concern all over the world, and especially all over the. All over Europe and the Western world. Did anybody appear to have any brilliant ideas for solving the problem?
- [02:37]
A
What I found quite interesting about this year's edition of the World Urban Forum was the fact that, you know, sadly, I guess, in A weird way, the fact that the housing crisis is now properly global, you know, it no longer is based on regions or even your income. Every city in the world is pretty much feeling it. It has driven a bit of momentum behind actually trying to find some of the sol. And one of the things that struck me the most this time around was that the business and private sector. Businesses and private sector were actually invited to take a seat at the table and to take part in a lot of the discussions. Of course, we've always had representatives from the private sector at the World Urban Forum before, but this year there was a dedicated business assembly where you could hear from a few of the entrepreneurs and founders who are having these amazing ideas that can help mitigate the crisis, but need indeed platform like UN Habitat to help scale up those solutions, to actually implement them in a bigger way. And one of the many founders, you know, you had people working from new construction materials to homes that can be built in a matter of weeks, to actually other models to promote housing finance. I spoke with the team behind credai, which is the real estate confederation from India of real estate developers, and they were telling me that they put this initiative where for every unit that is built through their partners, they will plant 30 trees. And suddenly, because it's associated with greenery and with sustainability, there's a renewed focus on trying to build more homes because it will lead to this huge reforestation program. They have an ambitious 9,000 acres of land as a target to refore. So those are some of the solutions that you are seeing and that if scaled up, really have the potential to change the way things are.
- [04:43]
B
Well, you mentioned there UN Habitat. You did speak to the executive director, Anna Claudia Rosbach. Let's hear a bit of what she had to say.
- [04:51]
A
Oh, it's amazing. I think it broke many records in terms of not only numbers, but I think quality and innovation. I've been participating in very meaningful discussions. I think the level of participation in the political side and also technical is very high. We had for the first time heads of states, 11 at Wolf, 90 ministers, and all these roundtables that we are putting together and discussions. We have researchers, academics, we have community leaders, we have local and regional governments helping to lift the debate.
- [05:29]
B
Carlotta, I'm struck there by her reference to the number of heads of government, heads of state and ministers who are now descending on this. Does that suggest to you that there is a growing understanding among those people that voters are extremely unhappy about this?
- [05:47]
A
Absolutely, Andrew. And I think it points to a bigger thread which is the fact that unless housing becomes part of the national agenda, in a lot of contexts, it's difficult for these solutions to be implemented. You know, we know that mayors and local governments do have a lot of power and they're the best position to address the issues of their own cities. But in a lot of contexts is only through some measures being codified and solidified in national either constitutions or law or initiatives that actually drives everyone else around them. And we actually got updated numbers this morning as the forum concluded. So in total, it was 11 heads of state, 88 ministers, 76 deputy ministers and 130 mayors. And it was the most attended ever World urban forum with 50,000 participants. So it really is showing that this push on housing is affecting everyone and everyone wants to gather to find solutions. Speaking of which, one of the people and those founders that was there trying to meet stakeholders and scale up his business was Prasoon Kumar. Now he founded this company called Billion Bricks where essentially is building homes that create more energy that they consume, which means that after a while they finance themselves. Let's have a listen.
- [07:17]
B
Housing, typically mortgages are 20 to 30 years, which means that if we were to do something like a solar farm on top of homes, then we can recover the cost in seven years. But we've got additional 14 to 21 years of this extra money that we could use for housing, which is difficult to finance. So that's the germ of the idea. And so I did houses where they produce about four to five times more energy than they consume and the energy can then be sold to partially finance the mortgages on the homes. Carlotta, that sounds like a brilliant idea. If he can get it to work. Did you get any sense from him about how far away Billionbricks is from being able to do this at scale or what it might need to be able to do that?
- [08:00]
A
So they're now moving on to one of their biggest projects. They've delivered individual units, a couple of them, but now they' moving into creating an entire neighborhood in the Philippines which will deliver enough homes. I think the number was something like 541 for a community of 2,500 people. So that's a significant, a significant number. And if that goes in a successful way, it really shows how this model can be, you know, self sustained in all senses, both in senses of the energy it consumes, but also the way it is financed and addresses a lot of the gaps that some might have in terms of trying to deploy these things. I want to leave you with a number as well, Andrew. That stuck with me throughout the week. And you know, they, when we, every single session that I attended, this number of 2.8 billion people kept coming up. That's the number of people who are estimated to live in inadequate housing. And it means that in order for this crisis to be seen solved, 96,000 units needed to be built every single day throughout a year. So you can just see it's quite a daunting number and one that really puts this crisis in focus.
- [09:15]
B
Carlotta Rebello in Baku at the World Urban Forum. Thank you for joining us. You're listening to the Daily on Monacle Radio. Now, the world of food, in particular the world of slow food, is mourning the passing of Carlo Petrini, who has died at the age of 76. His movement in favor of traditional, sustainable and leis eating had its gestation in protests in the 1980s against the first incursions into Italy of a well known American fast food enterprise. Well, I'm joined now with Monocle's Milan correspondent Ivan Carvalho. Ivan, it occurred to me that this idea Carlo Petrini had of slow, leisurely, sustainable food was understood by everywhere else as differently to how it might have been understood in Italy. In Italy, this is kind of just how people eat, isn't it?
- [10:05]
C
Exactly, Andrew. What we today everyone knows as farm to table was something that Italians have known for centuries. And so when he saw this encroachment of, as you mentioned, a big fast food chain, he was trying to mobilize people to say, look, we have this culture here, this food culture, which is very important. And that is, I think the key thing here is, as he's often said, he said taste is like identity and that it has value only when there are differences. And to show the many differences in food, whether it's a cheese producer or, or a producer of smoked fish or something, that you want to be able to have that taste which are different because he was afraid of the homogeneous of taste, where all our sort of taste buds are becoming sort of accustomed to the same things. Now, whether we go to a supermarket and buy say a fish in a package that's come from far away and it's kind of bland on the palate.
- [11:00]
B
I mean, does he strike you as somebody who started out intending to lead any kind of revolutionary movement or did those early protests just develop a life of their own?
- [11:12]
C
Well, you know, he was active as a journalist also and he saw the groundswell and appeal. I mean, he has, you know, beyond Italy, we have to understand that stoiclut has a following beyond the borders with countries, through Slocud International, of course, there in the uk, we know that King Charles has long been a fan and attended the first inaugural event called Terra Madre, which was this biennial event in Turin celebrating food cultures, not only Italy, but elsewhere in the world. And I think that's important to remember.
- [11:45]
B
How is his passing being observed in Italy, though? Had he acquired sort of national hero status or was it mostly something that had an impact overseas?
- [11:57]
C
No, no, he's. I mean, he's sort of a pillar in Italian society. There were statements today by President Mattarella. I mean, he's a figure now that as food culture has exploded with, say, in television, with MasterChef, there's a lot more focus now on the chefs and the celebrity side. But he's still there in the background and just from the events that he's created. And also he's created a university here in Italy, which is not just people might think it's a culinary school, but in actuality, it looks at the food chain because that's what he was most concerned about was looking at food suppliers in places that were maybe losing their traditions because there was like a small Alpine hamlet that would make a raw milk cheese. And it's been there since medieval times. And because of competition and agribusiness, there's a threat of that being lost. And I think that still resonates today. And that is key to his legacy
- [12:52]
B
is that conversation he started, though still a live one in Italy. Because, of course, as anybody who goes to Italy knows, it's not like Italy is not very well served with fast food chains from the United States. United States and elsewhere.
- [13:09]
C
No, I mean, that's true. I think when you look at today, the younger generation, I think there's going to be a bit of a fight there to show them the way that when the teenagers. I have a teenager who obviously will sometimes frequent these places, but then you lead them into these tastings. For example, cheese is another event that they created through the soul food movement, where you meet producers from all over the world. And that's where my kids palates, wake up, and they say, aha. There are other things out there beyond the standard cheeses. Even, for example, Parmesano Reggiano, which is quite well known in Italy and abroad, they start to understand, you know, slowly that there are tastes out there which they haven't explored yet, and they could be intriguing, and then they get them down a road to discovery.
- [13:53]
B
Ivan Cavalho in Milan, thank you very much for Joining us, you're listening to the Daily. You're listening to the Monocle Daily. I'm Andrew Muller. It is Friday, so as is becoming traditional, I am joined in Studio one by my fellow contributing editor, Rob Bound for what we are calling the Daily Weekly Quiz. We do have some theme music for it. We're not going to play it just yet because first I want to say hello to Rob. Hello to Rob.
- [14:28]
D
Hi, Andrew. It's wonderful as ever to be here and as normal we, you know, we can always hear the sounds of the world around us. Not perhaps in Studio one, but I feel that at this point on a Friday afternoon, evening, morning, wherever you might be in the world, I can feel factories grinding to a halt. I can hear hostelries go quiet and pint glasses put on bars as everybody turns up their. Their radios to listen to the Daily Weekly Quiz.
- [14:55]
B
And everybody, Rob, is wondering, is this Rob Bown's week at last? Because. Because one of our colleagues, Christy o', Grady, in an act of frankly, exquisite cruelty, actually ran the numbers on the. The first six of these. It's not going. Or at least not for you.
- [15:11]
D
Do you want. Do you want to. Do you want to read out the scores on the doors?
- [15:16]
B
The exact numbers don't really matter, Rob. I think just as long as everybody understands that I'm best.
- [15:22]
D
I like that you've used the. I like that it's an overuse perhaps of the word. Run the numbers on a. On a. On a multiple, multiple choice Friday evening Quiz. But let's, let's go with it. It's not like we're not taking it seriously. Well, it's glad that other people are.
- [15:37]
B
Indeed. Now, on that thought, shall we cue the theme music? All right, settle down, everybody. Rob, I think this week what we're going to do is you're going first, which is to say, I'm asking you the first question, give you a chance to get some runs on the board early. Might be good for your morale, etc.
- [16:04]
D
I'm taking it. You've won the toss and you're putting me in.
- [16:06]
B
I've won the toss and I'm sending the other mob in. Flying in the face of the wisdom of my nation's forest, former Test captain Steve Waugh, who once said that when you win the toss, nine times out of 10, you bat. The other time, you think about it and then you bat. But anyway, I. I'm doing the other thing. So the first question I put to you, Rob, is this. There is a theme is going to emerge fairly swiftly with my three questions this week, much depends on what you were watching on Saturday night. So last Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest was won by Bulgaria with Dara's song Bangaranga. I literally did not expect that.
- [16:42]
D
You thought about it and it happened.
- [16:43]
C
Yeah.
- [16:43]
B
I neither expected nor wanted it, but there we are. That is Dara's song, Bangaranga, Current Eurovision laureate. My question to you is this, Rob. Which of the following nonsense song titles is not another genuine Eurovision winner? So three of these are genuine Eurovision winners, one isn't. Your task is to spot the one which did not win Eurovision. Was it A La La La by Massiel of Spain? Was it B Da Da Da by Trio of Germany? Was it C Diggyloo, Diggy Lay by Harries of Sweden? Or was it D Ding A Dong by Teachin of the Netherlands? So there are four songs there. Three were Eurovision winners. La La La Da Da Da Diggy Loo, Diggy Lay and Ding A Dong, which was not a Eurovision winner.
- [17:38]
D
So when I asked you the Shakira question last week, we were me sing this imbecilic song title challenge, weren't we?
- [17:44]
B
We were. We were building up to it.
- [17:46]
D
These are all beguiling choices. I and the second one sounds like a police song. Sort of a calypso there Calypso number. I'm going Diggy Lou do C. Yeah, wrong.
- [18:04]
B
Diggy Lou Dickey Lay by Harry's of Sweden did win the Eurovision Song Contest. I have not written down which year it was, but in my defense, I don't care. The correct answer was Da Da Da by Trio of Germany, which was an actual real record.
- [18:19]
D
It's a real song.
- [18:20]
B
And unbelievably, inexplicably, indeed was a worldwide hit in 1980.
- [18:24]
D
That's Da Da Da.
- [18:26]
B
That's the one.
- [18:27]
D
Okay. That might have been culled from Eurovision.
- [18:31]
B
Yeah. Astonishing. They didn't enter enter it for Eurovision, really. But I don't know what Germany did enter in Eurovision in 1982.
- [18:36]
D
They were sort of channeling their sort of like cut price craft work with that.
- [18:39]
B
But I'm sure it was awful. So anyway.00 but I have a question in hand.
- [18:45]
D
Okay, your question, Andrew, your question number one. I've failed to put any runs on the board. Maybe you won't either. Who knows? This week, Arsenal won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years. And many millions of fans and a handful of world leaders congratulated the team on their achievements. The Premier League is watched by almost 2 billion people around the world. And descriptors of teams fortunes have become common parlance internationally, sometimes even in government communications. Which of the following Premier League analogies or adjectives has not been used in public office or comment parlance in recent years? A. A Swedish former finance minister warned his parliament that the country was in danger of becoming, quote, Spursy, meaning enviably appointed, but somehow failing badly like Tottenham Hotspur. Is it?
- [19:35]
B
B.
- [19:35]
D
In South Korea, football fans refer to living your Leeds days. This supposedly comes from Alan Smith's unlikely move from Leeds to Manchester United for a then huge fee back in 2004, much discussed when Korean Park Ji Sung later moved to United. Living your Leeds days therefore means living your golden age. C. In the Dutch parliament, a Foreign Office minister used the phrase Vanilla Villa to mean neither this nor that, referring to Aston Villa's never been the best, never been the worst league placing despite this week's Europa League win. Or D In Ghana, an MP referred to the vice president of doing an economic Maguire because he was apparently. Because he was apparently always scoring economic own goals, quote. And therefore channeling the defensive work of Manchester United workhorse Harry Maguire.
- [20:24]
B
Dee is definitely genuine. I remember that. So that. That narrows us down to three of them. My instinct is that the Alan Smith one is possibly a little too cute and a bit too obscurantist. I'm saying B.
- [20:42]
D
Okay, well, wow.
- [20:43]
B
Hat off to those South Korean hipsters.
- [20:45]
D
Yeah, exactly right. Living your Leeds days. And this is. This has become something that followed Park Ji sun around and son when he was at spurs, when they were less spurs, he was cracking in the goals alongside Kari Kane. The one I'd made up is Vanilla Villa.
- [20:59]
B
Okay.
- [21:00]
D
Which I. Which I thought just sounded like it might sound quite good in the Dutch tongue.
- [21:05]
B
Everything does.
- [21:06]
D
Do you want to know? Spursy was in fact the former manager Igor Tudor, who was one of the managers that churned around this year.
- [21:14]
B
One losers track.
- [21:15]
D
Yeah, exactly. Was this was put to him at a Spurs press conference. If he knew what it meant.
- [21:21]
B
Are you familiar with the term spurs?
- [21:23]
D
Does anyone talk to you about the term scars?
- [21:28]
B
Tell me. I expect that you will explain, you know, inkling. It means that, yeah, basically from a
- [21:34]
D
real position of strength, they might be winning a game and suddenly they can try to lose the game. It means it talks to a kind of a mental weakness.
- [21:43]
B
Ah, okay.
- [21:44]
C
You've never heard.
- [21:45]
B
No, no, no, no, no, no. Absolutely liquid banter there. Defeat from victories, jaws, etc. Yeah, well, speaking of which, that moves me along to my second question, Rob.
- [21:58]
D
Yeah.
- [21:59]
B
Which persisting with the theme I have established refers to last Saturday's Eurovision song contest. Question two, is this the UK's dreadful entry Einswei Dry by Look mum, no computer finished a richly merited last, getting no votes from any European public and just one very vote from a European jury. So my question is, which country threw the UK a bone? Was it A, Germany, B, Ukraine, C, Australia or D, Gibraltar? Your options are Germany, Ukraine, Australia or Gibraltar.
- [22:37]
D
That's an excellent question. Very savvy choices that might lead me in any number of ways. I feel like I remember Graham Norton being pleasantly surprised that Germany gave us a point. It's Ukraine, isn't it?
- [22:52]
B
It is Ukraine. See, the red herring I was going with there was because the song was called Einswei Drei. Maybe the Germans would be excited by that. They were not, and quite rightly, Gibraltar does not in fact compete at Eurovision. So that was another red herring. Australia, obviously, in no imaginable circumstances would
- [23:10]
D
throw us a bone, would spare a
- [23:12]
B
a soup song of pity for the British. It was Ukraine. By which I mean that we learn from that, that Boris Johnson's premiership was not a total bust. There is. There is the legacy right there. So you are now two swings for two misses and we now come to your second question.
- [23:31]
D
So question two for you, Andrew. Well loved, and I'm very. I'm kind of tempting fate by being very much in your ballpark.
- [23:38]
B
Okay, okay.
- [23:40]
D
Well loved. New Zealand band Split Ends, the almost precursor to the excellent Crowded House, who were somehow Australian and featuring both Finn brothers, Tim and Neil are currently touring and back in the studio to record a new album after quite the hiatus. When did they release their last album, which, with a keen sense of filial finality, was called See you around. Is it A, 1983, B, 1984, C, 1985 or D 1986?
- [24:09]
B
What was.
- [24:10]
D
When did Split End released their last
- [24:12]
B
LP, I can make, I think, an educated ish guess on this. Huge fan of Split Ends. They made some astonishing records. One of the wonderful records they made, and this is where I'm getting to my educated guess, and I hope this isn't music industry myth. I'm pretty sure I'm right about this, was that they made a fantastic, glorious psychedelic pop record called Six Months in a Leaky Boat, which was going to be their big breakthrough smash hit in the United Kingdom following I think I got you, which Neil Finn wrote for them. They released the song Six Months in a leaky Boat very shortly before the Falkland Islands task force set sail and therefore it did not get a Great deal of radio.
- [24:54]
D
Like Lawrence in his summer smash.
- [24:56]
B
Exactly. Did not get a great deal of radio play. That was obviously 1982. So I'm going to go ahead and guess that the album came out in 83, after which they hung it up incredibly well.
- [25:08]
D
And I know you love this group. It was 1984. It's a tough one to give you a year. I thought this would be such. This would be sort of imprinted on the Mueller memory.
- [25:16]
B
Infuriating.
- [25:17]
D
So I'm afraid, Andrew, it was 1984. As I said, you could say it was going to be their final record. At least A spritz, at least a Sprit ends because it contained a Neil Finn song called I walk Away. And as I say, the album. The album itself was called See you around. And the band are touring for the first time in 17 years. They played Perth today, Australia, Time and Adelaide. They're playing on the 25th. And why don't we have a bit of the brilliant six month an elite boat.
- [25:58]
B
Yeah. Their protestations at the time that this was very much a metaphorical boat did not do them any good, regrettably.
- [26:06]
D
Nice to hear that on the show, though.
- [26:07]
B
It is. It's an absolute belter. And honestly, listeners unacquainted with the Split ends oeuvre, it will not a waste of your time to remedy that. That moves me on to my third question. This has been an absolute bust so far. This is still nil all. It's all to play for. So I have another Eurovision related question, though. This is not so much about the contest itself as the aftermath. And the question is this. Which Eurovision contestant nation has, as a result of this year's contest, been mired in scandal and beset by uproar occasioning the resignation of the director of its public broadcaster? Is it A, Moldova, B, Serbia, C, Greece or D, Albania? Which of those countries has there been uproar, scandal, brouhaha, etc. And has the director of the national broadcaster quit in shame?
- [27:00]
D
Well, I don't know this news story. I don't remember Greece participating in this year's.
- [27:06]
B
I can't remember either. They may have.
- [27:08]
D
It does meld into one thing. I think it's tricky to be a Serbian pop star somehow. I'm gonna just simply go with
- [27:18]
B
it is Moldova. It is Moldova. A delightful country, by the way, to which I am returning next week.
- [27:24]
D
Aha. I mean, I presume this is to go for an interview for the job of being the head of the SAC Broadcasting Service company.
- [27:31]
B
Honestly, I don't know what the hours are.
- [27:33]
D
It's been nice working with you, Andy.
- [27:34]
B
Exactly. Yes. I'm going to take up my new role as director of Teleradio Moldova. No, there is a thing in Moldova, as there is in quite a lot of Eastern Europe in particular and indeed in Scandinavia, the regional block vote everywhere. Everybody just assumes that Everybody will give 12 points to everybody else. But the Moldovan jury only gave three points to Romania, whose entry did, in fairness, suck. But the public gave Romania the usual maximum 12. So there's been a whole thing about this. Vlad Turkan for it is he, who has resigned as director of Teleradio Moldova, also lamented the fact that the jury gave no points to Ukraine. He said, our stance toward Ukraine is not one of zero points and our feelings towards Romania can only only be ones of love. Now, I have run the numbers on this as well. Moldova's votes would not have got Romania out of their distantish third place overall. So it didn't make a difference to the result. Moldova finished eighth creditably with Satoshi's Viva Moldova. Yes, I remember this, but Romania gave that only 10 points, not 12. Romania did give their 12 points to Australia. Romania, if you're listening, thank you for that.
- [28:44]
D
Ah, well. So I'm still on zero?
- [28:46]
B
Yeah, still on zero. I can snatch it with the last question.
- [28:50]
D
Okay, question three. Staying in Australia this week, a man genuinely named Reece Smoker bought a bag of salad from a Woolworths store in Esperance in Western Australia.
- [29:00]
B
That was his first mistake.
- [29:02]
D
And found in God. Well, more than he aspired to, in the form of a green tree frog hopping about amongst the leaves. He released the frog into a pond near his home, but not before giving it a name. What did Rhys name the frog? Was it A, A, the chad? Was it B, Shane? Was it C, Travis? Or D, Greg? Which of those. Which of those might a man from Western Australia have knighted a frog before he put it into the pond?
- [29:30]
B
That's a good question. I. I have never been to Esperance in Western Australia. In fact, I've never been to Western Australia. I mean, which does sound ridiculous. Anyway, so the chad is an annoying Americanism, which might actually mean it's more likely. I like, however, just the bold utilitarian nature of calling a frog.
- [29:55]
D
Greg, is that your final answer?
- [29:57]
B
That's my final answer. Nay.
- [30:03]
D
How do you do it? How on earth do you do it? The chad. I put the chad in because he is an Aussie rules player for Western Australia. For one of Western Australia's teams.
- [30:11]
B
Really? For the hapless west coast or I suspect the flattering to deceive Fremantle.
- [30:17]
D
I think it's that. I think it's the latter.
- [30:19]
B
There's a certain kind of rhythm to Greg the Frog as well.
- [30:22]
D
Greg the Frog, yeah, Exactly the same amount of letters. Anyway, here is Rees Smoker's housemate, Billy Lapine talking us through it. Yeah, he was just, he was just
- [30:30]
B
chilling in the bag.
- [30:31]
D
I think he was having a hell
- [30:32]
A
of a time, really.
- [30:33]
D
But, yeah, lucky the bag had a
- [30:35]
B
few holes in it and he had
- [30:37]
D
plenty of pastures to graze on. So, yeah, no, he's enjoying it.
- [30:41]
B
Must have given them all a big shock on their way home from the rocket laboratory.
- [30:46]
D
Anyway, Aussie on Aussie banter is fine. Think I'm going to put my hand through the cage, Rob.
- [30:53]
B
I've. I've done it again.
- [30:54]
D
Done it again. One nil.
- [30:56]
B
You. And arguably our listeners do get a bit of a respite next week, however, because I will not, as I have foreshadowed, be here unless something goes catastrophically askew. So we will reconvene a fortnight hence. For the moment. You look forward to it. For the moment. Rob Bound, thank you for joining us. You are listening to the Daily with me, Andrew Muller. And finally on today's show, our weekly assessment of what useful lessons the last seven days may have imparted. We learned this week of the setting of another of those records, which are, if we're being honest, there for the taking by pretty much anyone who can really be bothered. And these always ease us in nicely, am I right? We learned that in Tancitaro in the Mexican state of Michoacan, local avocado growers had whipped up the biggest ever bowl of guacamole, fully 6,800 kilograms of the stuff. Big hello to our listeners in Tan Cetaro. Hello. Sticking with the subject of greenish viscous sludge, We learned north of the Rio Grande that the swamp was being inexorably drained. We learned this from US Vice President and wearily regular refresher of actuarial tables assessing the life expectancy of morbidly obese octogenarians. J.D. vance, Fighting Fraud in Washington, D.C. it's a little bit like fishing in a barrel with a nuclear weapon, from which we learn that similes may be added to the extensive list of things which appear not to be the vice president's strong suit. Like how would fishing in a barrel with a nuclear weapon even go? Could cause more problems than it solves, is what we're saying. But we learned that if there was a case of corruption to be found in the Navy nation's capital, Vance was on it. Like hillbilly elegy on any discerning list of the 21st century's stupidest books. Every single day my staff will bring me new reports of the ways that you're being defrauded. Will they indeed? Do go on. There's a simple principle that I have which is if you are committing fraud against the American people, you ought to go to prison. Would you, Mr. Vice President President, care to dig yourself any deeper? If you are a public official and
- [33:46]
C
you're not fighting against fraud, you ought
- [33:48]
B
to have your money taken away because you should not be able to steal from all of you and give it to fraudsters. For we learned and listeners suspecting a deft yet cunning foreshadowing device may now award themselves a point that Vance's stirring message about the evils of self serving graft by the people's representative languished sadly unreceived in one noteworthy quarter. Donald Trump is setting up a $1.7 billion political slush fund for the proud boys and the Oath Keepers and his other political lieutenants and hangers on. Yes, we learned, as was there articulated by a bemused Congressman Jamie Raskin of the Maryland 8th, that US President Donald Trump was preparing to distribute just short of $1.8 billion of taxpayers money to these people. Those people being specifically the mob who stormed the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021 with a view to forestalling the certification of a presidential election and perhaps for good measure, stringing up the Vice president who was declining to play along. We learned that in a heartwarming acknowledgment of the looming 250th anniversary of the Dec of independence, the precise amount to be dispensed was $1.776 billion. You see what they've done there? And we learned that some of the putative putschists were already spending the loot.
- [35:20]
D
The number I've put in is $30 million. You know, 21.5 million is for the wrongful imprisonment.
- [35:26]
B
And fair enough, as people promised money by Donald Trump have always and invariably received all of it in full, on time. So we learn that in addition to already being pardoned by Trump, the 1500 or so January 6th rioters imprisoned for their role in the affray are to be paid off by their fellow citizens whose will they were seeking to thwart. And we learned that this was all by way of helping persuade Trump to drop his lawsuit against the United States own Internal Revenue Service. Also under the terms of which President
- [36:00]
D
Trump and his taxes and the extraordinary order now from the Justice Department Department now barring the IRS from investigating President Trump, his sons and their companies.
- [36:09]
B
Still, that's probably fine, as it is literally unimaginable that President Trump or his sons have ever been or could ever be involved in any business activity which may conceivably pique the interest of any kind of regulator. Honestly, you might as well insinuate that Trump cheats at golf. And is that something that strikes anyone as remotely conceivable? Well, is it?
- [36:32]
A
Oh, when pigs fly, rain would fall upwards.
- [36:35]
D
That would never, ever happen.
- [36:37]
B
I really don't see it. Surely not quite. Also, we're sure that we would learn if we looked it up that even those convicted of crimes committed on January 6, 2021, and subsequently pardoned and released back into society have been duly reformed and model citizens thereafter. 159 had prior criminal records. 33 have been charged with committing new crimes since receiving Trump's mercy. But come on, that was like five months ago. Probably all been pretty quiet since. Investigators say Bettenker livestreamed himself stroking women's hair on the metro. He previously spent time in prison for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot, and he also faces burglary charges and stalking accusations. A local man pardoned by President Donald Trump for his role in the January 6, January 6 Capitol riots has been sentenced to life in prison for child molestation pardon. January 6th protester Ryan Nichols was arrested after allegedly displaying a firearm during a dispute in a church parking lot. You can't win them all, etc. But. And Maestro the State song of Massachusetts. All hail to Massachusetts, the land of the free and the brave. We learned from all of the above that it was, all Things Considered, an even sadder week than it might otherwise have been to learn of the passing of former long serving Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, who was always willing to serve as, among many other useful things, a sentient rebuke to the superstitions of the median voter. When you ask me that question, I am going to revert to my ethnic heritage and ask to your question with a question.
- [38:23]
C
On what planet do you spend most
- [38:25]
B
of your time, Holden, Core, etc.
- [38:28]
D
Trying to have a conversation with you
- [38:30]
B
would be like trying to argue with
- [38:31]
D
a dining room table.
- [38:32]
B
I have no interest in doing it. The land of Pilgrims Pride. And that is all for this edition of the Monocle Daily. Thanks to our panelists today. Carlotta Rebelo Ivan Cavalho and Robert Bound. The show was produced by Tom Webb and researched by Josefina Astradeneg Lago as our sound engineer was Steph Changu. I'm Andrew Muller here in London. The Daily returns at the same time on Monday. Have a great weekend and thanks for listening. It.