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A
Every day, the world presents you with hundreds of headlines. What do you believe? Who do you trust? The Financial Times cuts through complexity with clarity, accuracy and global perspective. Its journalism is guided by independence, not agendas. That's why leaders in business, policy and culture turn to one trusted source for facts, for insight, for what matters next. Source FT Read more and subscribe@ft.com.
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You'Re listening to the Monacle Daily, first broadcast on 5 December 2025 on Monacle Radio. Pope Leo XIV unwraps his souvenir snow globes from Istanbul and Beirut. High end fashion eats itself and an informed preview of this weekend's Formula One showdown. I'm Andrew Muller. The Monocle Daily starts now.
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C
Foreign.
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B
Hello and welcome to the Monocle Daily, coming to you from our studios here at Midori House in London. I'm Andrew Muller. Monocle editors and contributors Juliet Linley and Natalie Theodosi will discuss the day's news in papal diplomacy and fashion. Monocle producer Laura Kramer will report on the build up to Monocle's Paris Christmas market. We'll hear from former Monocle presenter Ted Kravitz about his new book of recollections from the pit lanes of Formula One. 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.
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This is the Monocle Daily. I'm Andrew Muller. Pope Leo XIV has returned from his first trip abroad in his newish role. Six days in Turkey and Lebanon, fulfilling an itinerary sketched by his late predecessor, Pope Francis. Leo said pretty much what might have been expected about the Middle East's myriad conflicts, that is that he would prefer if they stopped, everyone just got along, etc. But he did strike some fresh ish notes as probably the first occupant of the throne of Saint Peter to grapple with the ethical challenges posed by artificial intelligence. Though this was of course not the first time the church he leads has expressed unease with scientific advances, he at least did not propose hauling Sam Altman or other tech bros in front of any sort of inquisition. I'm joined with with more by Juliet Linley, journalist and former Vatican correspondent. Juliet, first of all, did it strike you that he had an agenda of his own beyond fulfilling Francis promise to visit these countries?
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D
I wouldn't say so. I think it was more about showing continuity in the previous papacy and into his own following what Francis had organized, as you said, and I don't think he was trying to get out there and put out very, very different messages. I mean, messages of peace building and bridge building are pretty common amongst pop. They travel. But it's interesting that you bring up the AI aspect because, I mean, this guy is as tech savvy as popes come, if you want. And if you look even at the name choice, right. He chose Leo 14th in honor, if you want, of Leo the 13th, who was very vocal in speaking about the social impact of the Industrial revolution. So Pope Leo has often spoken about AI and the revolution that that is causing and is going to cause in the future. And he's very concerned about the human aspect of that revolution. And yeah, and this is a pretty modern pope. He also plays wordle, Andrew. I thought you'd like to know that. And he uses a different word every day to start.
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B
Just going back to, though, his preoccupation with AI. We're still trying to figure out, of course, what sort of pope he intends to be. But does it look like technology is going to be a preoccupation of his? And do we think the Church has got any less suspicious of it than it has been? I mean, especially if we're talking about artificial intelligence, which does, you know, have pretensions to be this fount of supreme knowledge.
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D
I'm for sure he's far more concerned about it than Francis was, for instance. And I don't think we're gonna be soon having, I don't know, chatbots saying Mass for you online. And he's. I don't think Anyone is using ChatGPT to write his sermons for him or anything, but he's definitely progressive and he's organized several already to date. He's only been in the papacy for seven several encounters at the Vatican relating to tech, relating to AI, relating to the digital revolution. So I think this is going to be part of his brand.
- [04:46]
B
I mean, as you mentioned, he's now been Pope for seven months, but it did take him nearly that long to take the show on the road, as it were. Do we infer anything from that? Is he a slightly more reluctant papal diplomat, perhaps, than Francis, who was, of course, an extremely enthusiastic one?
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D
I wouldn't say so. I mean, yes, perhaps other popes traveled before he did, but he had a lot to get done beforehand. And let's also look carefully at where he chose to go. His predecessor did not go to his homeland, but both Benedict and John Paul ii, their first international choice of journey was specifically to their homelands. John Paul II to Poland, and Benedict to Germany. And in this case, he's chosen to go to the Middle east where Christians are persecuted in some areas where there's certainly a minority. And he's also mentioned that he wants to perhaps this is what he said in the return flight papal press conference. That is something of a tradition that we can go into later if you want. He said that he's definitely looking at Africa and possibly Algeria for another trip next year. And Algeria again is a Muslim majority nation. So he definitely is looking at outreach to other faiths, the Muslims, the Jews. He's definitely looking at outreach to within the Christian churches, to the Orthodoxes and also within the Catholic Church.
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B
Well, let's talk a bit about that flight because there were a couple of photographs of him taken aboard the plane clutching a baseball bat, which had clearly been presented to him by somebody in which did elicit an amount of mirth about the Vatican taking a firm line on seat recliners. Did he give anything away beyond that, though, in one of these semi formal chats?
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D
Yeah, such a big deal is always made about the Chicago white socks. And by the way, when he visited the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, he took off his shoes and he was wearing white socks. And it was so interesting to see that every journalist practically seemed to comment on that. But, well, he gave us a few little nuggets, which often happens in these very. It's almost like an impromptu press conference. There are about 80 Vatican journalists standing at the back of the what is affectionately known as Shepherd 1. And he comes to the back and he's at such close quarters with the journalists. They give him gifts, people give him photos to be blessed. They give him someone, I think, gave him a pumpkin pie on the outbound flight because it was Thanksgiving. And they ask him all sorts of questions. One of the questions, of course, was about the situation in Ukraine. And he made a point of saying that he thinks that Italy can play a bit of an intermediary role. Of course, Israel has bola subjects. Those were touched upon since he was coming back from that. And he said that he has had a few conversations with political leaders in both the US and in Israel. He didn't want to get into too much detail, but he said, you know, the Holy See doesn't broadcast the diplomatic work that they do. Their good offices are good for that reason, probably they're very discreet. And then he also was asked what's his favorite book? And that is the Practice of the Presence of God. Not sure you've read it, Andrew, but it's by a carmelite in the 17th century, all about doing everything you do with love, for God's sake.
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B
Not gonna lie, Juliet. Haven't got around to that one yet.
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D
Christmas reading.
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B
It is now just finally though, having now seen him in situ for seven months. Have him seen him, having seen him abroad once, what sense are you getting of the kind of Pope he intends to be?
- [08:22]
D
Well, his predecessor was a bit of a firebrand and brand Leo is definitely more level headed, less outspoken. He's a bit of an introvert. He studied maths at Villanova and this comes across want. It's still early, as we said, he hasn't been in office a year yet. But the impression that people are getting is that he is. He's going to be balanced. We don't know what he's actually going to be stepping out into and that we might get a clear idea in January when he holds what's known as a consistory where he gathers all the cardinals from around the world. They last were there for the conclave when they elected him. And then he will, he will be telling him, he will be telling them what lies ahead in the year to come and going back to that consistory. One of the questions in the papal flights press conference was how did you feel when you realized that you were about to become Pope? And he said that he had actually been thinking he was going to be retiring soon. He just turned 70. And then he said, when he saw how things were going, he said, I took a deep breath and I said, here we go, Lord, you're in charge. Lead the way.
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B
Juliet Lindley, journalist and former Vatican correspondent. Thank you for joining us. You're listening to the Monocle Daily.
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C
Foreign.
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B
This is the Monocle Daily on Monocle Radio. This coming weekend sees the Paris, Toronto and Tokyo iterations of Monocle's Christmas markets. The Paris event occurs at our studio and cafe at 16 Rue Bachemont in the 2nd arrondissement. And joining me right now from inside the owl costume is Monocle's senior producer, Laura Kramer. Laura, is this your first time wearing the Monochat costume for Christmas?
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A
I have to say it's a lot more comfortable than I assumed and it is so cold in Paris. The extra layers are definitely helping out. I heard you're also wearing a sparkly.
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B
Shirt for me, Andrew, I am wearing a sparkly shirt. I mean, you can take that personally if you like. It was just, it was just what I grabbed off the rack as I left. But I'm trying to be somewhat festive over here, Laura. Somewhat. Although not as festive as you're getting to be at the Paris Christmas Market, he said, moving seamlessly along. What can people who visit export expect from it?
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A
Well, it's our first Paris Christmas market, Andrew, so it's a very special, exciting time. It's going to be very cozy, design, led and it's not, you know, it's not going to be a sprawling fair but rather a very intimate affair and I'm very excited for it. It's all kicking off at 10am local time tomorrow at our cafe, as you said, at 16 Rue Bachement in the second. And it's got a very sharp edit, I think of makers across fashion, fragrance, homeware, food and drink. Of course we'll have Gluvine, we' have Raclette and I should say the people who are coming here, the lovely stalls that we'll have, it'll be a really nice mix of about half French brands, half international brands. We'll also have some local ones that we know. For example, our Brenda Tuohy will be here with Nightspears Rocks. So a very, very fun experience ahead for us. And not only will Mona Chan be around, not with me, I'm just saying. However, I'm hearing that Santa might be.
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B
Making an appearance, Santa Actual Clause at our Christmas market. On the subject though of the stall holders, Laura, are there any in particular whose wares you will be hiding from the riffraff in the hope of securing a bargain towards closing time on Sunday?
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A
Well, yeah, I mean we have Isto here and La Fetiche which we'll also be hearing from tomorrow on Monocle on Saturday with Emma Nelson who's be. Who's also en route. So I should say Emma Nelson also on the way. So I'm very excited. And of course also the Monocle stores here, lots of great goodies and we've had so many publications in the last couple of weeks. I honestly don't know how our editors are sleeping. Have they slept? Who knows. But all our latest books and publications will also be around. So if you are looking for those last minute gifts before Christmas, it's definitely the place to come.
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B
And also maybe Laura, for people who are not Parisians but just visiting Paris and, and could be tempted not just by the Christmas market, as if it wasn't temptation enough, but by the surrounding neighborhood because having been there a couple of times myself, it is a genuinely delightful part of the city and one I think perhaps not as visited as a lot of others.
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A
I think you're right. And you know, the last time that I was in Paris is actually when you were in Paris when we were here. For the Olympics a few summers ago and a very different scene at Christmas. But my goodness, Paris is just so festive. Truly living up to its nickname of the City of Lights. Just beautiful displays everywhere. Obviously a lot of heritage designer brands all decked out their storefronts. Just beautiful displays. It's you. You take it in. And also walking along the streets, you see kids playing in the streets as they're getting. Getting ready for. For Santa to come and also their holidays. But a lot of shopping happening. It's a very festive time in general. And as I'm walking around, I'm just seeing all the little cafes and bistros I. I'm hoping to get into, if possible, before my return to Zurich, as I have alluded.
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B
Just finally, Laura, we are now having Christmas markets in many different parts of the world. There will be one in London. Not this weekend, next weekend, but if we think back to the one you are presently at, and you are of course, a relatively recent veteran of the one in Zurich, what specifically Parisian touches being added to our Parisian Christmas market?
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A
Oh, that's a very exciting question, Andrew. I think it's going to be the French brands that are going to be here. And also we've got some amazing patisserie delights. You got lots of croissants and pain au chocolat. So I didn't see that at our Zurich market, but of course maybe I missed it because I was so busy running around. But lots of special things on the way. It's going to be a very exciting time. I think people will mostly really like how intimate it is. It's going. By the way, it's a little bit later than the Zurich market because it all wraps up around 7pm local time, 1900. So definitely something to stop by if people are of course around in the.
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B
French capital and to go out where we came in. Laura, we should reiterate that we were not and never are joking about the owl costume. There is one there. Mona Chan will be present.
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A
Mana Chan is present in my heart at all times. But yes, Mana Chan will absolutely also be making an appearance tomorrow and on Sunday. Again, it will not be me accompanying Mana Chan because I'll be busy seeing to Emma Nelson. And oh, I should say, speaking of birds and foul, Andrew, I did run into Fernando Gustavuseco here and he might cringe if I tell you, but one of his Christmas gifts that he's gotten for somebody is a taxidermy bird. So there's that.
- [15:27]
B
Okay, well, that's something for somebody to look forward to. However much else for others to look forward to at the Monaco Paris Christmas market occurring this weekend at our studio at 16 Rue Bachemont. Do drop by. You are listening to the Daily.
- [15:53]
You're listening to the Monocle Daily with me, Andrew Muller. This weekend, we'll see the 24th and final Grand Prix of this year's Formula One season take place around the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. Three drivers have a chance to be the one who will emerge from the meeting as the 2025 World Drivers Champion. Lando Norri Norris and Oscar Piastri of McLaren, Max Verstappen of Red Bull. Neither Norris nor Piastri have won a driver's title before. Verstappen has won the last four in a row and though he does not have the lead, appears to have the momentum as well as the experience. Our next guest will have a closer view than most. Ted Kravitz, who has reported from Formula One's various garages for many years currently for Sky Sports. F1. Ted collects the memories in a new book, F1 Insider from the Pit Lane. I spoke to Ted earlier here at Midori House, where once upon a time he used to host this very program. I began by asking how preparing to host a Grand Prix compared with preparing to host the Monocle Daily.
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C
Actually, there's more work in preparing to host the Monocle Daily because of the breadth of the subjects that you need to be across.
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B
Excellent. I shall be passing that along to.
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C
Management and so at least there's just one subject, albeit 10 teams and 20 drivers. But it's similar in the way that you do need to be across the stories of every driver. It's impossible as a TV broadcast in any sport, unless possibly we're talking about the Ashes, where there's one narrative and not so good for my side of the stumps. But there are 20 drivers out there. You need to know what's happening with all of those 20 driver stories. And that's what this little rambling monologue that I happen to call ted's Notebook does. It aims. When a TV production is not able to show the story of everybody's race to tell the story of Everybody's race, that's 10 teams, two drivers each, 20 drivers. And they've all got something to say and something going on in their car, and it's interesting one way or the other. So you do have to prepare and follow every driver. That's easy in the era of social media, when they're always, you know, keen to get their own stories out in their own ways. But sometimes it does require an equal amount of digging and research as you would do for a program such as yours, and then to find out some of the backstories which will inform what happens later in the race, whatever the result.
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B
You mentioned the social media age, which is I guess part of the added pressure that drew drivers are now under compared to when you first started covering the sport. And they were already under a lot of scrutiny even then. But we've also seen the Netflix series Drive to Survive, which sort of most entertainingly reinterprets Formula one as a. A high octane soap opera, or I guess emphasizes the soap opera aspect that was always there. What's your sense of how drivers are adjusting to the extraordinary fame that now goes with their job? Bearing in mind in the week we're speaking, we have seen an awful lot of unfair pressure piled on top of a driver who this specifically Kimi Antonelli, who is a literal teenager.
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C
Yeah, he had an accident all of himself or a half spin that almost led to an accident. And then of course that's interpreted with the help of another team saying, well, that looked deliberate into a sort of social media pylon. I think the more mature of the drivers, and it's hard for the 19 year old Kimi Antonelli to understand is that increasingly it's a bit of a show. So you, you just have to put up a front, a facade on social media. You have to do a personality that you want to come across and the reality now different. Maybe on the dawn of social media you were likely to give away or it was beneficial for curate your fandom to give away a little bit of your character or quite a lot of your character to show what kind of person you really were or what you really thought. Now they're realizing that there's just no mileage in that. It's just best to put out a facade, an image you put out, you choose some photos, use it mainly for commercial gain actually, and then just leave the rest or any of the pylons and the comments and hopefully the 19 year old Kimi Antonelli will learn.
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B
Do you think any of that associated brouhaha has made it less of a sport? Because it just strikes me, at least just looking at social media, the tone of the fans has changed. There are a lot of people who now buy into this much as one might have, you know, in a rivalry between different pop stars or pop groups 20 or 30 years ago.
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C
Yeah, well, I mean, you could argue there are many things that are leading Formula One to be less of a sport, not least as, as the, the, the management and the owners of Formula One want to move it towards entertainment. I mean, Sir Frank Williams said that Formula One is a business from, from Monday to Sunday morning and then a sport in the hours of the race from Sunday afternoon for two hours until Sunday evening. It's not now they want Formula One is, is a lifestyle brand, it's entertainment for all of that time. Then there's business in there and then maybe if you're lucky, you might get a bit of sport. But what drive to survive, as you say, has done, is revolutionized the popularity of Formula One and has taken it from this oily rag, dirty garage floor sniff of aesthetic with a load of grimy tires and made it into entertainment and show business. And I think there's points where that's fine, but then rather pleasingly actually sometimes it does come back to sport and humans making good or not so good decisions. As we saw in the latest Qatar Grand Prix, when it looked like the slightest decision, which was started by the way, through a very sort of oily rag aesthetic reason, a very boring reason about tyres, that because of some sort of structural failings in a rubber compound, they could only do 25 laps, it meant it led directly to a decision that wasn't so good and led one team losing and one team winning and possibly affecting the outcome of the World Championship. So it's nice to see amongst the business and the entertainment, there is a little bit of that oily rag, dirty tyre rubber, pure sport within F1 still.
- [21:50]
B
And human foibles and human frailties as well. Which I guess brings us finally to the fact that we are speaking in between the second last and last races of the 2025 season. Three drivers go into the last RA at Abu Dhabi this weekend with the possibility of emerging from it as World Champion. One of them has already been world champion several times now, in fact. Is that likely to be a factor, I'm wondering, does something get into the heads of drivers? As you see, it often happen to other sports folk when they realise I'm on the verge, it could be me, I may be about to ascend the pinnacle. There's a lot of last minute slips, subconsciously, definitely.
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C
I mean, you might say you can read that kind of pressure on Lando Norris face. He hasn't been, despite being seven years in the sport in that position. But then you, you could say the most relaxed, chilled out of characters, the guy who seems to be so laid back, he's horizontal. Oscar Piastri left Melbourne as a teenager, went to live by himself with a kind of foster family in the UK to further his racing career. Has forged a mental toughness from that experience. And you thought the pressure just wouldn't get to him. We spent most of this season thinking that the pressure wouldn't get to Oscar Piastri. And, and, and even starting to look at him at the beginning of every weekend, you think, well, he's still pretty ch. Still pretty laid back. I don't think the pressure's getting to him. Well, it has and it does. But Max Verstappen being four times a world champion, this was kind of always his plan. In a car that wasn't the equal of the McLaren of this season, he said, okay, let's just stay within touching distance of a race win or something. Actually, that went badly wrong. And he extended to 100 points behind. He's now closed that back and the gap is now 12 with 25 points available for a win. So all Lando Norris needs to do is to be on the podium. That's 12 points. The only problem is that while there are three drivers still available for the title, there are still 17 drivers out there, some of which have quite good cars and are quite able to get in amongst it and have absolutely no vested interest whatever. So amongst the entertainment, amongst the business, there is this still pure sport in motor racing and maybe a sign, if any was necessary, that F1 teams still haven't learned from history. In that, you look back at the greats, Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, they knew. Even Sebastian Vettel, even Lewis Hamilton, you could argue they knew that. You just have to have one driver in a team going for the championship himself, because that's the way it works. It doesn't work having two number one drivers going for a championship in the same team. McLaren have found that to their cost this season.
- [24:21]
B
That was Ted Kravitz speaking to me earlier. Ted's new book, F1 Insider Notes from the Pit Lane, is available now. This is the Monacle Daily on Monacle Radio. And to seismic upheaval in the world of fashion, where barely hours after Prada announced its 1.18 billion euro acquisition of Versace, Versace creative director Dario Vitale has left his post not quite nine months into the job, a job for which he left Miu Miu, which is owned by Prada. If you are confused, you will be less so after listening to Monocle's fashion editor, Natalie Theodosi. Natalie. To Dario Vitale's predicament first. Does this look like he is jumping before someone pushes him?
- [25:07]
E
I think so. They said that it was a mutual agreement to part ways, but as they always do with those press releases. But something wasn't going right. It's been a while. He presented his first collection in Milan in September and neither his former boss, Miuccio Prada, nor Donatella Versace, who he succeeded, were present. So you could feel that there's tensions. The acquisition hadn't completed yet. What is a real shame is that he' first collection was extremely well received. He surprised and delighted everyone who was there and you could see that there was real potential there with him to turn Versace around, which is struggling financially, and to make it a really successful, profitable business. But for whatever reason, they didn't hold on to a great talent and they let him go after nine months on.
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B
The job because that does seem weird, because they clearly wanted him at Mumu and now they don't want him at Versace.
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E
At Miu Miu, he was design director. In the past five to six years, they've had astronomical numbers and growth that very few fashion houses have had recently. So. And it was mucho Prada, but it was very much his work as well. So this was a promotion to a more front facing public role and you could see that he clearly could do it. If you looked at his first collection, if you remember when I made you critique the spring summer collections, that was a look that you liked as well, like all the color in the 80s and what he did with reviving Gianni Versace's collection. So it's a tricky time and they're taking Prada, the Prada group is taking Versace in relatively bad shape. There's a lot of management reshuffling as well. So something clearly didn't work out because.
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B
That'S another aspect of it that seems strange. On the one hand, they might think they have got something of a bargain. They've paid nearly 1.2 billion for Versace, which was sold seven years ago for 1.7 billion. So that's a half a billion euro discount right there. But it does seem, looking at this from outside, like having bought the thing, assuming they wanted it because they felt it was on an upswing, they have pushed out the reason that Versace might have been recovering.
- [27:33]
E
The Prada Group CEO, Andrea Guerra, he was speaking at a business or fashion conference recently and he basically what he hinted at was that, that they didn't want to rock the ship straight away. And Dario's vision was quite different to What Versace has been doing so far, and I wouldn't say extreme, but quite revolutionary in many ways. And it would have to, it would mean that the shops change, the way the merchandise changes, the customer changes. And maybe their strategy going in is to, to play it safe for a while, but playing it safe in a creative industry like fashion doesn't really work. So I'm not sure if that's the right path forward.
- [28:19]
B
Is there a simple explanation as to why Versace had gone backwards? I know we've talked about this before, that the last few years have been a bit of a struggle for most luxury brands, but for Versace in particular, what was going askew?
- [28:34]
E
To be honest, I think Versace never really found its footing. It never really took off under Donatella Versace, who struggled to be the leader of a house that her brother founded while dealing with his loss and trying to step into his shoes, which I think is a role that she never wanted to do. So it was a house with a lot of potential. It was loved but never quite took off. And I think they were focusing too much on, on red carpet gowns and a price point that is way too high for it to really reach a larger audience.
- [29:14]
B
Just finally then, do you have any concerns that consolidation at this scale, which is because it is pretty huge, the idea of Prada and Versace being to some extent amalgamated, that this leads to less interesting clothes on catwalks and in shops?
- [29:31]
E
Oh, 100%. It's been happening for the past decade at least under with LVMH and caring all these brands being consolidated under these conglomerates. But I think the Prada group, it's still not so big. There's not much crossover between their customers and they have resources. So I hope that they still keep creativity going and they take some risk with whoever they hire next.
- [29:59]
B
Natalie Theodosi, thank you for joining us. You are listening to the Daily with me, Andrew Muller. And finally on today's show show, our weekly assessment of how much the wiser the last seven days have left us.
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D
Have you ever tried this one?
- [30:15]
B
We learned this week that we are living in a veritable gilded epoch of those incidents when some or other authority figure attempts to co opt popular culture in the service of a broadly authoritarian agenda, then gets roundly yelled at by the creator of the culture in question. And those are all always outstanding fun as all right thinking people agree.
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We learned that the custodians of the social media accounts of what remains of the White House had thought it would be amusing to soundtrack a gloating clip of arrests by U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, with the hit song Juno by popular warbler Sabrina Carpenter. Carpenter.
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A selection possibly made because the song's lyrics reference handcuffs, although so far as we understand it, in a context other than the detention of suspected illegal immigrants, or indeed of US Citizens and green card holders who looked a bit foreign to otherwise unemployable men who enjoy dressing up as soldiers anyway, we learned that Carpenter was unamused, inveighing on social media as follows, as will now be read by Monocle's celebrity disgruntlement desk chief.
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D
Anita Riota this video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.
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B
And we learned that broadly similar grievances had been vented on behalf of a turtle, specifically this turtle hey, it's Franklin. For reasons from which we may have learned much about the approximate reading level of U.S. secretary of Defense who thinks He's Secretary of War but Isn't Pete.
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A
Hegseth Controversy continues to follow Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tied to military strikes against alleged drug boats. After Friday's Washington Post report raised concerns of possible war crimes, Hegseth took to social media over the weekend. He posted this quote, fake book cover titled Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists.
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B
Yes, we learned that Hegseth had commanded his preferred AI slop generator to rattle up a bogus book cover depicting children's cartoon character Franklin the Turtle unloading a rocket propelled grenade at drug runners from the door of a helicopter helicopter. And we learned in few uncertain terms from Franklin's copyright holders that they did not envisage any such addition to the series, which mostly includes more wholesome titles such as Franklin Has a Sleepover, Franklin Goes to School, Franklin's Class Trip and the Franklin Chainsaw Massacre. Alright, we might have made up one of those.
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A
Now the Canada based publisher behind these books was not happy. On Monday, Kids Press posted this statement writing quote, franklin the Turtle is a beloved Canadian icon who has inspired generations of children and stands for kindness, empathy and inclusivity and strongly condemning violent or unauthorized use of Franklin's name or image, which directly contradicts these values.
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B
We learned anyway, and once again how far the United States has traveled down whichever way road it is presently on, mostly by measuring the distance between the current US Secretary of Defense picking fights with a series of children's books and say, such hypothetical historical comparisons as Robert McNamara feuding with Paddington Bear or Edwin Stanton challenging Louisa May Alcott to a duel.
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Ow. Something something Turtle, Something something America, Something something shell of its former self.
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We assumed you'd seen, so didn't think it was worth spending too much time on the build up. Hope that's okay.
- [34:15]
Appreciate your understanding. We did learn, however, that the present US Administration's attitude towards Latin American drug runners is perhaps more nuanced than the jut jawed table banging of Pete Hegseth might lead one to believe as we learned more about the parameters of President Donald Trump's mercy tonight. The former president of Honduras serving time in a US prison, walking, breaking free after a pardon from President Donald Trump over the weekend. Juan Orlando Hernandez was serving a 45 year federal prison sentence after being convicted on drugs and weapons smuggling charges just last year. Or did we? Can you explain more about why you.
- [34:51]
A
Would pardon a notorious drug trafficker?
- [34:54]
B
Well, I don't know who you're talking about. Our sympathies at this difficult time to whichever Hernandez or Hernandez were supposed to have been pardoned and and it is of course a total mystery why Donald Trump of all people should have become preoccupied with the plight of a bellicose conservative nationalist with a recurring habit of disputing election results, an inner circle of obvious crooks and dingbats, a long career of dodgy dealing with dubious characters, and a well chronicled history of looting the public purse, being imprisoned after serving two terms as his country's president.
- [35:27]
But returning to the subject of news stories likely to queue up a somewhat laboured introduction to an underwhelming punchline and we'll be needing to wake the house accordionist. Could someone please give Marcel a kick?
- [35:45]
We learned that aggrieved French folk appeared weirdly intent on making a live action pancake.
- [35:51]
D
I can't wait to tell me more.
- [35:54]
A
See where this goes.
- [35:55]
B
We learned that Jordan Bardella, leader of the National Rally Party, having barely dusted off the flower through thrown at him while visiting an agricultural fair in Vesoul, had been hit on the head with an egg in moissac.
- [36:10]
Absolutely killing it with the sound effects. This week we learned that French plod had, yes, cracked the case, whisked a suspect into custody and so forth. Almost as if they had decided that flour was one thing, but an egg? Oh no, that's an oaf.
- [36:28]
C
Boo.
- [36:29]
B
For Monocle Radio, I'm Andrew Muller.
- [36:34]
That's all for this edition of the Monocle Daily. Today's show was produced by Hassan Anderson and researched by Joanna Moser. Our sound engineers were Lily Austin and Mariella Bevan. I'm Andrew Muller. Here in London, the Daily is back at the same time on Monday. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.
- [36:53]
C
Sam.