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- [00:02]
Financial Times Announcer
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- [00:42]
Andrew Muller
An eventful week in American politics, but aren't they all? The White House prepares to welcome a guest it would recently have regarded as a mortal enemy. And where should you be booking your next holiday? I'm Andrew Muller. The Monocle Daily starts now.
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Interjection / Unknown
Foreign.
- [01:08]
Andrew Muller
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 Tara Kangalu and Anita Riota will discuss the day's big stories. We'll hear from Monocle correspondents at the World Travel Market and Dubai Design Week. 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 and I am joined first of all from New York City by Tara Kangalu, global affairs journalist for NBC, CNN and Al Jazeera America, adjunct professor, Georgetown University and author of the Heartbeat of Iran with a roundup of U.S. news. Tara, let's talk first of all about the city you're in. How excited has New York allowed itself to get this week about its new mayor?
- [02:04]
Tara Kangalu
It's so good to be with you, Andrew, especially from New York City. It's incredible. He got the most votes since 1969 and it was a win with over 1 million votes. This is incredible. And the excitement is seen among young voters. I was speaking with a journalist, actually, who for the first time got involved in politics and he's also Jewish and he comes from, you know, a community that is seen against Mamdani. But he was telling me how the sentiments has changed among the youth but also the young Jewish community in this city. And I find that extremely interesting. And yeah, it's a different mood, it's excitement, but also we have to be realistic. He has a lot of challenges ahead and he will be working with a government and a president that does not want him.
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Andrew Muller
Well, he does have some while to go before he actually starts work. He's not sworn in until January 1st. Do we get any sense of how he hopes to maintain excitement, momentum, etc. During the transition.
- [03:16]
Tara Kangalu
Well, we just saw that he put a fantastic group of five leaders, five female leaders as part of his transitional team. They will be working with him. They come from a very diverse background as well. And so he has put that together. But also he will be working with the, with Albany, be working with Governor Hochul of New York. There's a lot to tackle, and mind you, that we're talking about, you know, just the job itself. The minute he becomes the mayor, he will be the manager of over 300,000 cops, teachers, social workers, and so many more. So he needs to work with the federal government and he also needs to work with Albany. So the challenges are there, but he has, he seems to have put a transitional team together that, that can in some ways tackle that because of the diversity they bring in to the job and the experiences that these five women have had previously.
- [04:16]
Andrew Muller
The other big national story in the US is of course, the ongoing shutdown of the government. You've also been in Washington D.C. and it's been going on now for more than a month. As you just sort of go about trying to do your business in the United States at the moment, do you get any sense of how the shutdown is actually affecting day to day life?
- [04:38]
Tara Kangalu
Well, as far as day to day lives, yesterday and also today, you know, the news of so many flights being canceled. So you can just imagine the disruption that, that, that, that has caused. I took the train, so that was fine. But a few colleagues of mine, you know, were affected. But, you know, more than that, you have over half a million federal employees, employees who are either furloughed or working without pay. And this shutdown has affected ordinary people, as always. And these are people who really are part of the fabric of the civil society and a city that functions on federal employees. So it's again, ordinary people who are being affected. And this is at a time where the President is building this grand wing of the White House. So for so many people, it just doesn't make sense. And on top of that, you have a situation where for almost 90 days you have the National Guard on the streets. I mean, for the first time I saw the National Guard just walking from Georgetown. And one of my students, because I asked him, I said, you know, how are you guys feeling about this? And one of the students said, you know, professor, we never felt that we'll see. So, you know, people with machine guns and, you know, we see the National Guard and they called it performative. And so many People are, are seeing no point in all of this, but this seems to be continuing until February, apparently. So we'll see.
- [06:07]
Andrew Muller
With the shutdown in particular, though, does anybody have any sense or is anybody expressing any sense of when that might end and in what circumstances? I mean, presumably at the risk of tempting fate, they can't keep the federal government turned off forever.
- [06:23]
Tara Kangalu
Yes. And this has been one of the longest, and that's the big question. You know, it's a, it's, it's a wait and see game, I think, at this point, but it's certainly affecting a lot of families and a lot of people. And, and again, Washington, D.C. is, is, is a town that, that functions on, you know, federal funding and, and, and when that is shut, you know, in some ways the entire city is shut down. And, and those paying the brunt are ordinary people. How long would this continue? Again, it's, it's a wait and see game. But there seemed to not be any consensus as to bringing an end to this. And like I said, this would be extending presumably until February, and that's, you know, the National Guard being present in D.C. but so many people are looking for it to end as soon as possible.
- [07:13]
Andrew Muller
Well, one thing that is happening despite all this is President Ahmed Al Shararra of Syria actually coming to the White House, which I guess marks a fairly extraordinary transition for him, given that really not all that long ago the United States would have regarded him as a mortal enemy. What seems to be the purpose of that? This is clearly the United States wanting to announce that this guy is our friend.
- [07:42]
Tara Kangalu
Absolutely. And that is a fascinating story. And he's coming to Washington D.C. on Monday. And mind you, that the UN Security Council today voted to remove all sanctions on Syria's Al Shara ahead of this visit. And again, Russia, by the way, was part of that group who voted for this, which I find so fascinating. So the story, the headline is that he's going to come and presumably sign some sort of a deal to join the United States and its efforts to contain and fight ISIS in Syria. And as you know, there are.
- [08:21]
Tom Webb
A.
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Tara Kangalu
Lot of ISIS fighters in prison in Syria. They have a presence in sort of the desert area in Syria toward the northeast. And this comes at a time that the sdf, the Syrian Democratic Forces, and their faith is to be determined. So in the northeastern of Syria and their engagement with the Turks and so on and so forth. So it's a very interesting time and it really signals a shift in the United States strategy in dealing with Al Shara and in all forms possible, backing him and backing his government. And that is very clear. And it's just. It's incredible to see Syria's president come to United States after decades.
- [09:11]
Andrew Muller
And we will, of course, have more on that visit across our shows next week. For the moment, Tara Kangalu in New York City. Thank you for joining us and listening to that. Here in the studio was Monocle Radio producers, producer, rather, there's just one of you. And also New Yorker, actual New Yorker, Anita Riota. We're gonna talk a bit more about New York's incoming new mayor. First of all, do New Yorkers not find it. Even New Yorkers, that is, who of course, think they live in the centre of the universe, but do New Yorkers not find it a little bit weird that the rest of the world pays this much attention to their mayoral election? People in New York are not sitting up all night watching the numbers come in in London, Paris or Madrid.
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Anita Riota
Well, first of all, I would disagree with you there that New York is not the center of the universe. But I think, you know, in a regular election cycle, you might think that this is a bit odd, how much excitement and publicity it was generating in cities outside of the us but you have to really look. I think it's a testament to just how big of a political rise Mamdanya experienced. We're really talking about someone who, at the beginning of the year was polling at 1% and toppled a political dynasty in. Former Governor Cuomo also beat the current mayor, even though the two of those politicians that I mentioned are fairly embattled. But, I mean, it's a huge story. It's a huge sort of political David versus Goliath. So I don't think it's really that strange that in a city like New York City, this would generate the amount of attention it did. It was an insane amount of attention, but I can understand it.
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Andrew Muller
There was an amount of excitement, obviously, around Mamdani, but to what extent was the vote for him a vote against Eric Adams and a vote against Andrew Cuomo? And there are, of course, no shortage of reasons to vote against either of those two gentlemen. And also a vote against President Trump?
- [11:15]
Anita Riota
You know, I. I really do think that is the question at the heart of this election. I would say that a vote for Mamdani was a vote for Mamdani. Uh, I think part of what makes his candidacy exciting and what probably makes it an example for the Democratic Party at large, if not other progressive politicians around the world, is that he ran on hope. He ran for something his policies were incredibly clear. His focus on on for, on affordability was unwavering. He set out a positive message and vision for the city, for New Yorkers. He didn't say, you know, vote for me so I can stop Trump. Vote for me, because I'm not like Cuomo. Being a sort of anti Cuomo was baked into his messaging, but his messaging was really for something. And I think that Democrats nationally have failed on that front a bit in the last few election cycles where they have said, vote for us because we are not Trump and maybe have failed on their messaging to the population at large for what they are for. On the flip side, I would say that a lot of Cuomo voters were saying, you know, I don't really love him. He's not totally my favorite. I don't rely on everything because there's a lot to not love about Andrew Cuomo these days. But, you know, they were voting against Mamdani. And I think that that difference between the two electoral bases was very, very clear.
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Andrew Muller
There is, historically, however, almost no better way to make New York City hate you than attempt to be mayor of it. How patient do you think New Yorkers to be with Mayor Elect Mamdani?
- [13:04]
Anita Riota
I do think he's bought himself a bit of time here. I think especially younger voters haven't really gotten to experience political excitement. You know, they have sort of watched Donald Trump and I don't, you know, whatever he brings to the political environment dominate their adulthoods and at this point, probably even their childhoods. So I think generating this level of buzz, this level of positivity, this level of focusing on delivering positive elements for your community and coming together as a community and not sort of dividing up the population to sort of stand against each other. Generating this amount of buzz and frankly, being this likable, this sort of at the, getting a real grasp on the cultural zeitgeist, but not in a way that, you know, a focus group group clearly put together in a way that seems so authentic. So just who he is at his core, I think, you know, don't want to sort of jinx him, and I apologize, Mayor Elect, if I am doing so, but I do think he's. He's given himself a bit more time to figure out how to deliver on these extremely large promises he's made. But I also don't think anyone expects him to get into office and deliver free childcare for everyone on day one.
- [14:31]
Andrew Muller
Anita Riota, thank you for joining us. You're listening to the Daily. You're listening to the Daily On Monocle Radio, the world travel market has been occurring in London all this week. Among the attendees at the Excel in London was Monocle's deputy head of radio, Tom Webb, who joins me in the studio with several tote bags full of brochures and souvenir snow globes. Tom, but seriously, no one does snow globes anymore, do they? I can't recall the last time I saw one.
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Tom Webb
Certainly not the world travel market. They're looking ahead to the summer season.
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Andrew Muller
Well, indeed. Who actually did do the best merch?
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Tom Webb
That is a great question. Saudi Arabia. The kingdom always come with really lovely dates, very syrupy, very special, all individually wrapped. A country that I will talk about later had stuffed orangutans and I got one very, very sweet. That's Sabah, North Borneo.
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Andrew Muller
Just to be clear, I'm assuming slash very much hoping that these are sort of cutesy toy orangutans, not literal taxidermy.
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Interjection / Unknown
Sorry.
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Tom Webb
Yes, there have been orangutans put in suitcases this week. I must say, it is a stuffed toy.
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Andrew Muller
Okay, well, that's a relief. Although I cannot but help pointing out to our listeners that we have not yet seen this. Tom, why haven't you brought it to work?
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Tom Webb
Because I kept it for myself.
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Andrew Muller
Yeah, but you could bring it in and show it to us and then take it home again. Anyway, I feel we may be deviating from the point somewhat. For those of us who have not been to a world travel market, what does actually go on at this thing? When you go into the Excel Centre, which I have been to on other occasions and just is an absolute barn, what is it filled with?
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Tom Webb
It's a great question. And living and working in London, you think that it's just another event. But it is the world travel market, there is only one and it happens in London every year. It's been happening for decades. It's huge. 46,000 participants, 180 countries and everyone comes together to this one place once a year to do business deals. There are teams in sales, there are new airline routes, there's advertising opportunities and people are looking for new markets, new types of tourists and thousands and thousands of meetings takes place. You can't just turn up and on a whim try and speak to a publicist for a country because everyone is already booked up. So it's serious deals taking place, organized.
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Andrew Muller
You clearly did nail down some stuff in advance because you did manage to speak to a bunch of people, some of whom you're going to talk us through, correct?
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Tom Webb
Yeah. All of the major countries, tourism ministers, Were there. And Monocle, of course, very interested in talking to tourism ministers. They have a very interesting story to tell for their individual countries. And looking ahead to the next year and talking to 10, actually, I spoke to 15 across the week. I got a very interesting picture of how the travel market is going. And I wanted to start with one thing that's eco and adventure tours. In the world of Instagram and social media, people are looking for more interesting destinations to do different things to impress their friends. And that's, you know, hiking, scuba diving.
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Andrew Muller
This is despite the fact that in the entire history of human travel, literally nobody has ever been remotely actually interested in looking at anybody else's holiday snaps.
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Tom Webb
I know, but still, it makes so much money for these places. So we're going to start in Sabah, the region with the orangutans that I mentioned. And this is North Borneo. And I spoke to Journeus Jeffrey Jimet, who asked me to call him JJ even though it should be Triple J. He's the chief executive officer of the Sabah Tourism Board. And this is what he said about eco Travel.
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Journeus Jeffrey Jimet (JJ)
Since 2014, we actually pushed for the development of community based tourism. And at this point in time, community based tourism has gained momentum not only from China, not only from Korea, domestic, but also from European market. They want to actually, as you mentioned, to experience, authentic experience with the community. So another amazing product that you need to experience in Sabah is the hospitality of the local people, the local food. And I always can say that once you stay one night, two nights with local people, it's easy for you to fall in love with them.
- [18:56]
Andrew Muller
And we learn from that of how one gets one country promoted on the monocle daily. You give somebody a toyarangutan. No, I mean, is that really your price, Tom? Is that how cheaply we can be bought?
- [19:10]
Tom Webb
Borneo is a fascinating region. This country is growing faster than most.
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Andrew Muller
Well, you would say that now, wouldn't you? You've got a toy orangutan.
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Tom Webb
Especially after saying that.
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Andrew Muller
Well, exactly. They'll send you another one. You also spoke to the tourism minister of Guatemala. What is their pitch?
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Tom Webb
Fascinating guy. Very cool guy. His name is Harris Whitbeck, former CNN anchor, was based in Mexico City for decades. The new government, he is the new tourism minister. And the government have really cleaned up their act. They actually have a tourism budget that goes out to advertise tourism rather than go elsewhere. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, Guatemala. Very, very exciting place. And they are trying to grow their tourism by being very specific and that's attracting specific markets which is very clever. Canada is one for many reasons. Let him explain why.
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Harris Whitbeck
Well, one of the most exciting and most recent is Air Canada. They started a three times a week flight, direct flight from Montreal to Guatemala City. They're flying an A330, a widebody. They're doing it not only because of the strong passenger capacity, but cargo opportunities as well. We think that it's very important because it's attracting a lot of Canadians who no longer want to go to the United States necessarily. So this is a new market for us and Guatemala is a new destination for them. And also the Air Canada route allows for a lot easier transfer points between Europe and Guatemala. You can fly from London, London to Montreal, have very easy connection to Guatemala City. And again, you can avoid going through the US which to many has become a bit more complicated. So we're very excited about the Air Canada route. We're obviously talking to other American carriers and hoping to get more European carriers to fly directly.
- [20:52]
Andrew Muller
Glorious irony there, Tom, that President Donald Trump is acting as this extraordinary stimulant upon the Central American tourism sector. I mean, he is quite keen on people going to Central America, but it tends to be Central Americans.
- [21:07]
Tom Webb
Oh, certainly, yeah. A huge amount of tourism bound for America is now finding their ways to countries less explored, like Guatemala. So very sensible. Tourism Minister capitalizing on that.
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Andrew Muller
You also spoke to the Minister of Industries of Iceland, which is a fairly well touristed country at this point, at least among people who can actually afford to eat once they get there. What are they pitching now? Because people have got used, I think, to the idea of Iceland and that's not to run it down. It is an absolutely amazing country to visit and really everybody, though it may involve an amount of saving up, should go there at least once because there is nowhere on earth that looks quite like it. But are they still selling what Iceland always sells or are they thinking of new things?
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Tom Webb
It's a really good question because Iceland has been a success story of tourism for decades. And in recent years, if you mention the word over tourism to an Iceland tourism minister, it gets a little bit frosty because locals, a very small population, are struggling a little bit with over tourism. It's a very beautiful island and it is getting a little bit swamped. So two things then. Yes, Northern Lights is now their big play. Now you might have thought that they've been doing that for a while. They haven't really. They are going big on Northern Lights excursions and the reason why they're doing it is related to the second thing I wanted to talk about is moving the seasons or extending the seasons because they had a very sort of tiny, tight summer season and a very tight winter season. And now countries like Greece, they're extending their season to relieve pressure on those very small windows. And they are using northern lights to get people to go all winter long. And this is what Hannah Katrin Friedrichsen said to me about that we are.
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Hannah Katrin Friedrichsen
Expanding the season so that we lower the pressure on our peak months. And that have been the summer months. They are unique. They around sunlight and, you know, things that you can't experience anywhere else. But the winter period has become increasingly popular and you can experience something totally different there. I mean, there are always a chance you take with the weather, but that's also an adventure. You come and you don't really know what to expect. A snowstorm. Are you going to be snowed in somewhere up in the highlands or what's going to happen? And we have expanded on the northern light trips. It's kind of an astro tourism that we are working on now. And people come and just, you know, there are people that just want to come somewhere where they can experience total darkness.
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Andrew Muller
Tom, just finally, and I have been to Iceland and seen the northern lights and it is well worth doing at least once. But was there one country you walked away from thinking that I have never been to before, but as a result of coming here, I would very much like to go now. Whether or not they gave you a Toya orangutan.
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Tom Webb
Yeah, here we go. And this is surprising me as well. And you must think, gosh, their marketing has been very, very good. Saudi Arabia are really frowning at me, are touting Diriya. Diriyah is a former sort of home of the Arab kingdom. It's just an hour away from Riyadh and so much investment has gone into it. Really exciting. Hotels, UNESCO, World Heritage sites, an enormous amount of investment. They are saying, come to us. And as a tourist, that is so exciting. You know when you go to Italy and they look at you and think, oh, it's nice to be welcome somewhere. And it feels like Delia is one of those places.
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Andrew Muller
Tom Webb, thank you for joining us. You're listening to the Monocle D.
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Tara Kangalu
Foreign.
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Andrew Muller
This is the daily on Monocle Radio. And persisting with the theme of Monocle staff attending trade fairs. Dubai Design Week is about halfway through its 2025 program. And Monocle's design editor Nick Monis has been dispatched to look at chairs and other items. Nick joins us from Dubai now. Nick, first of all, Dubai Design Week it's not the only design week on earth. Very far from it at this point. How and why does it stand out?
- [25:31]
Interjection / Unknown
It's still the biggest design week in the region, in Middle East, North Africa by a mile. It's been going for more than 10 years. It's very well established and it is still the regional point for people, for designers and brands to come and showcase their wares. And it's funny, I was talking to somebody about it today at the, the booth of Calico Wallpaper and Stellar Works, American and Japanese brands respectively. And they were talking about people are still building stuff. This is still the most, if not busy. It's still one of the busiest cities in, in the Gulf. And you walk around Dubai and. Well, you don't walk around Dubai, let's not get carried away. You drive around Dubai and it's just cranes and construction everywhere. So I think, I think from a, you know, commercial demand side of things for the furniture industry here that is still absolutely booming. And then they've just got a decade of investing in designers and creatives. You know, because you mentioned at the top there it's furniture and other things, those other things coming from Dubai, investing in people, developing new materials, people testing up prototyping pavilions, all sorts of things. So it's this beautiful kind of confluence of commerce and creativity.
- [26:54]
Andrew Muller
So give us a sense of what it's like when you actually go to the thing. Because Dubai, even by the standards of the United Arab Emirates does not generally do things by halves.
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Interjection / Unknown
No. So they don't do things by halves. So there's more commissioned pavilion projects here than any other design week I go to. There are, you know, basically you walk through the city's design district, was it, which is a dedicated district for design they, they built. And all, all along the pedestrianized streets there, there are little huts and shelters and open air structures where brands and people are testing whether it's a new material or a new building typology. You know, there's some commercial things, you know, brands melding again as I was saying, commerce with creativity. So BMW's commissioned some designers to make a pavilion inspired by one of their vehicles. There's, there's these, basically there's all these little hubs and hotspots to kind of wander through again on a scale that you just don't see anywhere else. I mean London Design Festival, I think they commission five bespoke pavilions across the the city. There would be upwards of 30 or 40 here. So that alone is phenomenal. And then obviously there's the trade fair component called Downtown Design that also takes place. And you've kind of got all your headline Italian brands there, which is great. But it's the kind of group showcases of Emirati talent that I think is most exciting.
- [28:32]
Andrew Muller
And within this particular event, do you notice any themes emerging for this year, whether deliberately or organically?
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Interjection / Unknown
Yeah, I mean, there's. It is, I mean, obviously the, the Dubai Design Week put out calls for, you know, expressions of interest in, in obviously applying to get the money to build these pavilions, but that is kind of where it stops and then you start to see it emerge from the actual creators themselves. I think materiality is a, is a, is a really big one, and using indigenous material skills in, in practice and, and work here. So, you know, you see a lot of date palm being used and, and reconstituted as I guess, what would appear, you know, quite a contemporary kind of timber veneer sort of material. There's a brand called ARDH who have developed June Crete, which is this low carbon concrete made from desert sand. So there's, there's a real reassessment of, you know, this, this is a continuous continuing trend, but a real reassessment of, you know, using local materials to make new building products. I think the other thing that has really jumped out more than anything this year is a focus on vernacular form. So looking at traditional Emirati architecture and seeing how that can be reinterpreted for modern times, I mean, I think the standout is a young practice from Dubai called some kind of practice Practice. Two guys that graduated design school in June last year, they submitted for this competition to build a pavilion. Anyone could win it, you know, professional people with 40, 50 years experience through to these guys that have got four or five months experience, they got commissioned, they've developed this pavilion dedicated to exploring the Hoosh, which is the traditional courtyard found in houses in the Emirates. And the whole idea behind that, it's quite funny. I think I was quick to project onto them to be like, oh, you've gone for this and you're ignoring, you know, the 2000 steel and glass skyscrapers. And they're like, well, no, that's part of our vernacular as well. And what they're interested in doing is seeing how they can kind of bring the two together. I mean, they're early on in their career, but I think that's, that's quite exciting. It's this, I guess, steel and glass take on structures like the Hoosh that I think are really, really exciting.
- [30:49]
Andrew Muller
And just finally and quickly, Nick a Variation of the question I always ask you when you are at one of these things. Have you so far seen one item that you are tempted to try and bring home and somehow get it through on your expenses claim under laundry bills?
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Interjection / Unknown
Well, I, I put it under Andrew Muller request so that you hope hopefully it comes your way. I mean there's two. I want to give one shout out to a brand called Oblique, a young Dubai based brand they make in the Emirates. They're doing really beautiful furniture using metal and metal and timber. Just kind of playful forms, but not in a way that's silly. So I think that's quite that that makes me think of you. I feel like that's right up your alley. But then in terms of a singular item, I would be going for something from the line concept. Another Dubai based company, I went out and visited them beyond the trade fair today, saw their manufacturing facilities and I would pick their clad armchair, which is an armchair clad in fabric textiles, as you'd expect. But it muffles the sound really beautifully. So I think it would be a perfect replacement for your chair in the studio at Midori House.
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Andrew Muller
Nick Minise at Dubai Design Week, thank you for joining us. You're listening to the Daily. This is the Daily with me, Andrew Muller. And finally on today's show, our weekly assessment of the degree to which the last seven days have reduced human ignorance.
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Tom Webb
Fly me to the moon.
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Andrew Muller
We learned this week that we did not in fact fly to the moon. Sorry, Frank, we'll be requiring a somewhat more skeptical soundtrack. We lost learned that the whole thing, like all of this stuff, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has Landed has been a massive hoax all along. And we learn this from no less an authority than reality television apparition and person whose views on anything whatsoever are ceaselessly solicited by an agog media. For some reason. Kim Kardashian, for the record, you think.
- [33:07]
Financial Times Announcer
That we didn't walk on the moon.
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Andrew Muller
I don't think we did. I think it was fake. We shouldn't laugh. Still a three and a half year window in which there is a genuine non zero chance. She's appointed administrator of NASA because sticking with the subject of reality TV stars floundering a distance out of their depth, we learned that South America and South Africa are basically the same place.
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Unknown Political Commentator
For generations, Miami has been a haven even for those fleeing communist tyranny in South Africa. I mean, if you take a look at what's going on in parts of South Africa, look at South Africa. What's going on? Look at South America, what's going on? You know, I'm not going to. We have a G20 meeting in South Africa. South Africa shouldn't even be in the GS anymore.
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Andrew Muller
Which in fairness does seem kind of in keeping with what we have learned of the foreign policy doctrine of the second Trump administration. That is that it's a combination of old fashioned gunboat diplomacy and a tombola barrel. For we learned that following Canada, Greenland, Panama, Venezuela and Gaza, apologies to anyone we missed. The latest territory to find itself wondering how to tactfully respond to the threat of arbitrary invasion by Earth's mightiest nation is Nigeria.
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Unknown Political Commentator
We're going to do things to Nigeria that Nigeria is not going to be happy about and may very well go into that now disgraced country. Guns are blazing.
- [34:49]
Andrew Muller
We learned basically that someone is continuing to take a recent decision by the Norwegian military Bell Committee pretty badly. However, we learned that in this of all weeks, even such practiced camera hogs as Kim Kardashian and Donald Trump were going to struggle for the attention of America and indeed the world. As we learned that the trial of the century had at last come to order. Yes, today the trial began for the man accused of throwing a sandwich at a federal officer. We learned that the time had arrived for alleged Washington D.C. area sandwich hurler shooting Sean Dunne to face the beak charged with assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating and interfering with a federal officer from which we learn that someone in the Department of Justice owns a thesaurus. We learned further that the jury would need to be made of stern stuff, not just as may have been suspected, to keep their faces appropriately straight.
- [35:50]
Harris Whitbeck
You can could see jurors kind of holding back giggles as video of the sandwich throwing incident was played a number of different times.
- [36:00]
Andrew Muller
But to endure some harrowing testimony, the.
- [36:03]
Harris Whitbeck
Customs and Border patrol agent hit with the sandwich characterized it as a profanity laced tirade. And he told the jury Dunn threw the sandwich so hard it exploded against.
- [36:16]
Andrew Muller
His bulletproof proof vest.
- [36:18]
Harris Whitbeck
Quote, I could smell the onions and mustard.
- [36:22]
Andrew Muller
Not just onions, onions and mustard.
- [36:26]
Anita Riota
I can't.
- [36:27]
Tom Webb
Oh my God. Wow.
- [36:30]
Tara Kangalu
Crazy.
- [36:31]
Andrew Muller
What the hell.
- [36:34]
Anita Riota
Oh the humanity.
- [36:36]
Andrew Muller
We learned, however, and much to our vexation, that the actual verdict in the matter of the people versus the guy who threw us sandwich at a cop was due in the interregnum between the recording of this week's edition of what we learned and its broadcast. So we don't know at time of recording whether or not the accused has received a substantial sentence. Also, assault with a deli weapon sub panini like Subpoena and the rye to remain silent. Are those any? Anything but we learned that we would very far from the first time in the history of this, the what we learned monologue on Monocle Radio be needing some silly French music with somewhat slapstick undertones like you might hear in the background of a Jacques Tati film. Actually, just slap that in. Pretty sure it's out of copyright Mononcle Radio, am I right? One for the 1950s French cinema heads there for we learned in the wake of the recent obviously reprehensible but undeniably amusing heist perpetrated upon France's most famous museum of certain deficiencies in said museum's security protocols. Even beyond leaving the crown actual jewels, where they could be swiped by anybody in possession of of a ladder, a motor scooter and one would certainly prefer to think a hooped shirt, black eye mask and a big sack clearly labelled Le Swag, we learned specifically what the password was that allowed access to the Louvre's video surveillance systems. Go on, you'll never guess.
- [38:20]
Tom Webb
It's Louvre, isn't it?
- [38:22]
Andrew Muller
Yes. Yes, it is. We did not learn as such, but are going to go ahead and assume that the pilot password that unlocks the personnel files at the Pantheon is Pantheon, that the password that opens the gates of Versailles is Versailles, and to disconnect the alarms at the Eiffel Tower, its electricity pylon with a souvenir shop. And that is all for this edition of the Monocle Daily. The sandwich hurler was of course found not guilty, the jury having decided that the charges were were baloney. A big thanks to our panelists today, Tara Kangalu, Anita Riota, Tom Webb and Nick Minise. Today's show was produced by Chris Chermack and researched by Joanna Moser. Our sound engineer was 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.