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You're listening to the Monocle Daily, first.
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Broadcast on the 1st of October, 2025 on Monaco Radio.
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The Taliban try switching the Internet off and then on again. Could Russia be stuck with the bill for defending Ukraine? And the United States no longer has a government which can only be an improvement. I'm Andrew Muller. The Monocle Daily starts. Hello, and welcome to the Monocle Daily. Coming to you from our studios here at Midori House in London. I'm Andrew Muller. My guests Lin o' Donnell and Quentin Peel will discuss the day's big stories. And our on this Day historical series will recall the device which made you pay for a bunch of stuff you'd already bought. Stay tuned. All that and more coming up right here on the Monocle.
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D.
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This is the Monocle Daily. I'm Andrew Muller and I am joined today by Lyn o', Donnell, columnist for Foreign Policy magazine, former cardboard bureau chief for afp, and Quentin Peel, associate fellow for the Europe program at Chatham House. Hello to you both. Hi, Lyn. First of all, grave news. You have recently been bitten by an insect. I was. Which insect bit you? What had you done to upset it?
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I was just walking down the road, I felt this little electric shock in my chin and it was called a Budkin. And they like, how do you know that?
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Did it introduce itself?
B
Well, I started wondering whether it had got down my clothes and I was searching and then saw it sitting on my hand. I remembered what it looked like and I searched the Internet and I found it. And they live in oak trees and are usually prevalent in parts of London in November. So it was an early attack.
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See, this is news to me. See? And perhaps much like yourself, Lyn, as an Australian living in the United Kingdom, had never really taken their insects or their wildlife generally seriously because we, of course, grow up surrounded by things which could kill us in an instant and often do. And often do. So we tend, I think, perhaps not to take anybody else's wildlife seriously.
B
Yeah. But to our peril. I've been bitten by spiders in this country and I've got scars remaining.
A
Yeah, I, too, actually have been bitten by the British spider. Maybe they're trying to tell us something.
B
Maybe.
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Quentin, you have recently been voyaging throughout these islands. Do you have any insect bite stories you would like to share with us?
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Well, we were a bit invaded by hornets in Wales.
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There we go.
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But they. It was very weird because they kept flying into the little cottage where I was staying and. And then dying. So they weren't actually attacking us at all. They were coming in.
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It's preferable to them living.
C
Yes, I think it probably was. So, no, and I agree with you, the insects on these islands are, on the whole, not very lethal. There was a very large spider in the bath, but I managed to get rid of that.
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I'm now just, like, absolutely grimly aware that the most completely perfect Welsh slash Hornet crossover pun is going to occur to me probably about five minutes after we go off air where it will just be no good to any of us. Although, of course, I could record it as a retake and drop it seamlessly into the show. But we will start in Afghanistan, where, according to the latest reports, people might be able to listen to this. The Monocle Daily. Afghanistan's Internet was disconnected entirely for 48 hours, prompting widespread and all things considered understandable assumptions that the Taliban had unplugged it. As part of a wider campaign to resurrect the isolated fundamentalist Autarky of the 1990s, all communications and banking halted, as did flights from Afghanistan's airports and such education as is still accessible to Afghanistan's cloistered women and girls. As we go to air, however, it is all back on. The Taliban claiming that some old fiber optic cables needed replacing. Lyn, you have been in touch with friends and colleagues in Afghanistan. Now that that's possible again, what are they saying?
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The shutdown of the Internet is not seen as having been accidental or someone tripped over or there was a shutdown for repairs. It's been creeping across the country for the last few weeks, even months, and this was widely expected. The supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhunzada, who is cloistered in Kandahar, has been ruling by decree, and he has decreed amongst his many decrees that smartphones should not be used at all. And so in some parts of the country, smartphones are banned. Images are no longer permitted on television. So television has essentially become radio. Yeah. And this shutdown of the Internet was experimented with in far flung provinces, as a lot of these decrees are before they become blanket. And I think what happened was that his decree against the Internet, which at first was sold as having been a morality issue. You know, you have tens of thousands of young men who've been brought up in isolated madrasas in the Hindu Kush find themselves with Internet access and the women are all locked up. Well, morality on the Internet becomes an issue, and the supreme leader didn't like that. But it's also about shutting people off from access to outside information. And there are television stations broadcasting into Afghanistan from outside. And I Don't think people who are around him understood the vaster implications of banks not working, for instance, ATMs being shut down, medical facilities not working, biometrics, airports, all of the things that we take for granted in modern life suddenly didn't work. People couldn't talk to each other because.
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Just to follow that up quickly, Lyn, it is important to recall, isn't it, that this has always been a bit of a thing where the Taliban were concern. I think the photo I most wish I could have taken but wasn't allowed to because that was another manifestation of technology that was illegal. I remember getting stopped at a Taliban checkpoint somewhere between Jalalabad and Kabul in about 1998. And the checkpoint was literally fortified with smashed up televisions and video recorders and strung with tape which had been pulled out of video cassettes. Absolutely fantastic Mad Max set piece there. But they have never liked just modern.
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It's an instrument of control, isn't it? Because power and control go together and that's what this is about. And I think that with any mad leader, and the Supreme Leader is a mad leader, there should be people around him who say, look, if you go a little bit too far, then you're going to push out anybody who's going to invest in the country, for instance. But I think a total shutdown is a precursor to an incremental reopening with control. China is a very good friend. Pakistan is next door. Iran is on the other side. You know, it's not like it's an information free flow friendly region, you know. And so I think what we will probably see, even though there is crowing and joy, we're back on the air. I don't think that the country is back on the air. I think everything is going to be conditional and very much truncated going forward.
A
Quentin, another aspect of Afghanistan we did wish to discuss on the subject of outside powers who are taking an interest in it. This idea being floated by the United States or at least by President Donald Trump, whose, you know, capricious interest in the acquisition of territory we are now familiar with. They want Bagram Airfield back. Is it clear to you why?
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It's very weird. It's very Trumpian, isn't it? Sort of, oh, I just got this idea. But I think there's probably a variety of things. One, it's very difficult to come up with a logical answer to why is Donald Trump doing X, Y or Z? Why would he want Bagram Airport back? This symbol, in a way, of the failure of the US In Afghanistan and.
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Which, lest we forget though, the withdrawal did not happen on his watch. He made the deal which underpinned that withdrawal.
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He made the deal that basically, you know, Bagram was given away for nothing. And this is a huge airport that once had 10,000 people working there and with enormous facilities, but there was a Pizza Hut. The idea that the US could somehow go back into Afghanistan, the scene of this awful defeat, basically, and take the airport back from the Taliban. I just can't see it happening now. Is it actually a sort of Trumpian thing where he makes some outrageous and unrealistic demand, but then he wants some sort of deal that settles for something slightly different? Or is it all about an obsession with China that if we could get away with this, then you're opening up something that could be a threat to China? US arm watching China. I mean, that's what it's presented as. But I'm not sure that I believe it. I think this is just Trump having a bad dream, to be honest.
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Is there any imaginable circumstance, Lyn, in which the Taliban would go, sure, welcome back, U.S. air Force.
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No, there are not going to be U.S. boots on the ground, that's for sure. And we just talked about the neighbourhood, Pakistan, China, Russia, the satellites of Russia, Iran. That's not on the cards. But what is on the cards and what is apparently being discussed is a civilian counter terrorism surveillance presence at Bagram as part of a package of other things that includes, you know, hostage releases and you financial support. And what the Taliban want more than anything is a level of diplomatic recognition. And I think that they would be very happy to have some sort of civilian, diplomatic American presence and maybe allow it to be at Bagram as a. As part of a broader deal.
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So Quentin's thesis there not actually impossible that Trump is maybe deliberately doing that thing of you stake out the extreme proposition and then sort of come in to make it look like you're being reasonable?
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Yeah, but I also don't think that the American public would want US military presence in Afghanistan. Been there, done that, lost a lot and were glad to be out. And that was one of his election promises. So no military, but certainly civilian diplomatic possibilities. Yeah.
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Well, to Copenhagen now, where EU leaders are conferring at a European Council. These happen pretty regularly. This is like the 8th such or similar thing this year and are not necessarily that big a deal. But this one might be. It is speculated that this might be the one at which all present recognise the poetic justice in making Russia pay for Ukraine's defence. There is about 140 billion euros worth of Russian assets frozen in EU banks. The idea is that this could be lent to Ukraine interest free, on the understanding that Ukraine will spend buying European weapons. Quentin, as an idea, is this not actually more logical than what has been happening, that is that the interest on these assets has been creamed off and used to support Ukraine?
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Yeah, I think it's not a bad idea, but it's a very difficult one to get, if you like, legally watertight. And I think what they're trying to work out is a bit of fancy financial engineering that would use the lump sum that is frozen in a way, as a sort of guarantee for loans to Ukraine, sort of reparation loans for the damages done during the war, or indeed more immediately, to actually give them the arms and equipment to resist the continuing Russian onslaught. So there is a logic there, but it's certainly not a United European Union to go down that route. The Belgians are pretty unhappy about it because that's where most of the Russian money is. The French are not very happy. I think they think, oh, my God, could somebody seize our assets it sometime in the future? So it seems to be mainly the Germans and Ursula von der Leyen who are pushing the idea, just to follow that up.
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Quentin, is that basically the argument against. I mean, I think most people at this thing, possible exceptions of Hungary and Slovakia would be quite happy to find a new way to support Ukraine. But is that the argument against that? We do risk establishing a precedent here whereby anybody, anywhere can seize or sequester or appropriate the assets of anybody they're upset with.
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Yes, I think that has been the argument all along. So if we just cream off the interest payments, that doesn't fly totally in the face of the law. But actually seizing the assets and paying them out, clearly without any permission from the Russians, the other side is, of course, that the Russians are themselves saying, right, well, we'll make bloody sure that we seize any Western assets that may be left in Russia. But that's. That's pretty token in comparison with the cause. We're talking about a lot of money. 200. 200 billion.
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Depends who you ask. 140 to 200 billion euros. But, yes, it is a lot of money. Lyn, would you be persuaded by those arguments? Arguments against.
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Against.
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Against actually doing this and lending this money to Ukraine at an attractive interest rate of nothing at all.
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Yeah, Quentin and I were talking about this before, and I use all your.
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Best ma in the waiting room.
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We did. Yeah. That's what green rooms are for.
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Yeah, we're going to have to start separating the guests before the show starts.
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But I kind of, you know, it's not an area that I have any real specialist knowledge of, but it seems to me that use of the interest on 200 billion euros, we're still talking about an awful lot of money. And really what it seems to me to be is a recognition at the highest levels of the European Union that America is no longer the default funder or protector policies are no longer set in stone, that Washington cannot be trusted, and it's about time we started looking after ourselves. And, you know, Trump's rambling, awful speech in front of the military top brass yesterday was, you know, there was a part of it, and as I understood what he was saying over and over again, was that the Europeans are buying our stuff, so we're making defence equipment that the Europeans are buying to help Ukraine defend itself. Now, maybe there is a recognition that the Europeans could use money that is available to them in a legal way to fund their own defence and thereby help Ukraine defend itself against the ongoing Russian onslaught and rebuild when it's all over.
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Quentin, is there any, or has there been, or is there likely to still be any love for the idea, which has been again floated around, this idea of seizing Russian assets, that these assets, in theory at least, belong to the Russian people. They do not belong to the Russian regime?
C
Yes, I suspect that is out there. But nonetheless, I think, on the other hand, you have the argument that there is a clear justice in using Russian assets to actually pay for Russian damage. And so that. That there is, you know, those who I think are backing this idea, it's not entirely sort of selfish. We haven't got the cash. Let's just take the Russian cash. There is a sort of. There is a crude justice here of saying, Russia, you are absolutely smashing to bits your immediate neighbor and you should pay for it.
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I just want to come back, finally, Lyn, to what you were saying about President Trump's speech earlier this week, by way, at least in part, of seamlessly setting up the next item, because the. The address he gave to the assembled generals, I think it's fair to say, was remarkable even by his standards. He spent a great deal of it complaining that the White House stationery is not sturdy or gilt enough and that modern warships are the wrong shape. Should it have further galvanised the European leaders meeting today around the idea that, yeah, we really are on our own.
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Here, I think the whole world must feel pretty much the same way? That was an astounding yes, like you say, more astounding than setting a new bar for astounding. It really, it caught, you know, I couldn't help wondering about his cognitive abilities. There was a whole riff on Biden falling downstairs and I walked downstairs very slowly so that I don't fall downstairs.
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He was, in fairness, very, very generous about Barack Obama's ability to negotiate stairc.
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He did say that he trips down the stairs, he bounces down the stairs. Hated his policies, loved the way he bounced downstairs. Yeah, I think that the realisation has been dawning on European leaders for some time and, you know, they have started to pay their own way in NATO knowing that, you know, consequences for not doing so at Trump's order are unpredictable at best and quite dire at worst. And so, yeah, I think the answer to your question is anyone listening would think, yeah, we're on our own.
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Well, attentive listeners to this program, like we have any other kind, will recall that we began tonight's program discussing the dysfunctions of the Taliban in Afghanistan. So we return now to the subject of insular and impulsive fanatics who cannot govern. And look at the United States, the federal government of which is presently closed for business, with the consequence that all operations deemed non essential are suspended. Perhaps 750,000 federal employees are suddenly on unpaid leave. And senior members of the Republican Party, which, lest we forget, presently controls both houses of Congress, the presidency and the Supreme Court are loudly insisting that none of this is their fault or their responsibility. Quentin, is it clear to, is it easy to articulate why the Republicans have decided to do this, rather than what they are actually supposed to do at moments of deadlock or disagree and reach across the aisle to forge some sort of compromise with their Democratic opponents.
C
I think both sides are hoping that the other will get the blame and they're trying to. And it really underlines how deeply divided American politics is now that after all, the last serious time we had closed time was, guess what last in the first Trump regime?
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It was 35 days in December 2018.
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Indeed. And that had quite an effect. I mean, it really made people's lives quite uncomfortable. And although it is strange that you have, you know, those aspects of American life that seem to get clobbered the most, like national parks are in fact, you know, it isn't something rather more drastic. But then people who do seriously security jobs, military police or indeed airport security, they have to stay at work.
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The national parks thing, though, is quite drastic though, Lyn, in its way, because. Because tourism to the United States is suffering for the Fairly obvious reason that lots of people are worried that if I go to the US I either won't get in or will end up staying rather longer than I anticipated. This is not going to encourage people, is it?
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No. And it comes on top of reports that people entering will be charged a couple of hundred dollars just to come into the country, that visas are getting more expensive, et cetera, et cetera. Oh, and apparently most cities are under siege from criminal gangs, including Portland, where I thought they just were 150 years old wearing Birkenstocks. Silly me, you know. Yeah, it's, it's from outside it looks like an awfully violent and expensive place. I think a lot of these places probably rely on domestic tourism as much as anything else. But you know, like anything when it closes down and the closure does damage, it's much more difficult to reverse the damage. And I think, you know, we're talking about 750,000 federal employees on involuntary furlough. A lot of them may not be re employed. You know, I think the fact that it needed, you know, eight people to be swayed one way or the other to stop the shutdown and that didn't work. And I think the last report I saw were that three of them had been turned around and so there were still five to go. It just seems to me to embed the notion of the deep, deep divide that Quentin mentioned earlier. It's a very, very sorry place at.
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The moment on that thought, Quentin, it is obviously hard not to be reminded of the aphorism of the late great P.J. o. Rourke, a repeat visitor to these studios, that the Republicans are the believe government doesn't work, then get elected and prove it. But with this particular Republican Party, is it reasonable to be worried that they have kind of done this on purpose in order to further engineer their apparent agenda to completely demolish the American state?
C
I think there's clearly an element of that. I mean after all, and go back to the national parks, they've already laid off a whole bunch of people under this so called Department of Government Efficiency doge, the Elon Musk job. So actually they've already chopped jobs and so everything is creaking. All the institutions of the American state are actually under attack. Now the only thing is though, but I think this is quite a big risk for the Democrats as well as the Republicans because although their polling seems to suggest that they won't get as much blame as the combined blame on the Republicans or the President, there is another poll that says an overwhelming majority of people don't want government shut down. So it could work either way. And if it's very messy, and it's going to be very messy in the national parks, people aren't going to pick up the litter, there's going to be fly camping everywhere and that sort of thing, you know, it's a nasty situation.
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Well, to Frankfurt now, where it turns out that there are exceptions to the generally understood ironclad parsimoniousness of the European central bank. The ECB has furnished 6.9 million euros of emergency funding to bail out Frankfurt's European School, which has not been provided with the new and larger premises long promised by local burghers. Frankfurt's European School is one of a network of such institutions established to educate the children of EU officials, which in Frankfurt means a good few children of ECB officials. Before listeners hoist both red flags and tiny violins, it should be acknowledged, one, that local kids do attend as well, and two, the money will be spent buying containers to be repurposed as classrooms and offices. Officers. Quentin, experienced as you are with the ways of the European Union. Are you shocked? Stroke, appalled, Suddenly wishing you'd voted? Leave over this?
C
It is another mess, isn't it? But the mess seems to be primarily at the hands of Frankfurt City council, who had promised, apparently on their honour, that if they got another European institution, I think one that deals with money laundering, they would provide a new site for the Europe to have a nice big building as it grows and grows and they have failed to come up with it. Why? Because the site in question, apparently for four weeks a year, has a funfair on it and people don't want to lose their funfair. The whole thing has sort of come to a grinding halt.
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Some of that cash, Lyn, 6.9 million euros, will be actually reimbursed by Germany should German taxpayers be up in arms, that while their own public schools are somewhat languishing, this money is being spent on the children of Eurocrats who probably are better off than most.
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I am struggling to care.
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Come on, Lynn, you can do this.
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I can try.
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You can do this.
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Education.
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That's good.
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You're in learning.
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Yes, work with us.
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You know, I am in favour of private schools. I'm not in favour of government subsidising private schools. So if it is self sustaining. Yes, just go ahead. If the local authorities get the money back, even better. Yeah, but. Yeah, that's really all I have to say.
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Is there value, though, Quentin, to schools such as these? Is it reasonable, for example, because various countries do make Efforts on, on this front for exact, for example, the children of military personnel to make sure that wherever their personnel may happen to be in the world their, their education is taken care of. Is it, is it particularly outrageous that people who are expected to uproot their lives and move elsewhere should have their kids schooling paid for?
C
I don't think so necessarily. I mean go back to the terrible days of the British Empire and they all went to these British boarding schools. I think this is probably much better to have the school on the site. And the actually very attractive thing about these European schools is they're wonderfully cosmopolitan. They are very keen on teaching loads of languages because they have to. That's why the kids are not going to, you know, monolingual German schools instead. And so I, I've regarded the schools as always rather good with one small exception. I seem to remember somebody called Boris Johnson once the European school in Brussels, but only briefly. He then went on to British public school.
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Just before we go, would anybody like to indulge in any sort of inverse snobbery about the relative ruggedness of their own education? I mean I did go to a lot of schools in Australia, Lyn, because ironically my dad was a soldier. Though to the best of my knowledge my education wasn't subsidised and given the schools I went to, if it was, I'm now beginning to suspect my parents of having trousered the money.
B
Well, I went to a boarding school but I was in the girls wing of one of the many boarding schools in the region that converted and from an historic boys school. So we had carpet pillows and curtains whereas.
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Fancy.
B
Yeah, it was really fancy. The boys looked at on our dormitory with envy for many reasons. Yeah, we had warm water as well.
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Okay, now I'm really jealous. Quentin, what about you?
C
Well, I went to a classic British public school actually largely for the sons of soldiers and those sort of people. And it was a, it was a big grip and I loved it.
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It wasn't Harrow, was it?
C
It wasn't. It was Wellington, named after the Duke of Wellington. So it had this sort of rather military tradition which turned me into a pacifist for the rest of my life. But the truth is I really enjoyed myself. But I think now they, they've been overtaken these schools by, by a different world. And they're now much more for the children of rather wealthy Chinese Middle Eastern parents and so on are coming a lot and paying huge fees and I think it would be much better to have more locally founded schools and ones that though teach languages. That is one of the great sadnesses of my life that British schools aren't good at teaching languages.
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Well, on that rousing encomium to the virtues of private education, Quentin Peel and Lyn o', Donnell, thank you both for joining us. Finally, on today's show, our on this Day historical series recalls the launch of the form that was going to transform our consumption of music. And indeed did, until it didn't. It weighed nearly 8kg. It was about 33cm square, doubtless coincidentally but almost insultingly, the approximate dimensions of a 12 inch vinyl album sleeve. It cost 168,000 yen in 1982 money, about 235,000 yen now, equivalent to about €1,350. It played a new system of music delivery under which consumers were expected to pay the equivalent of about €20. That's maybe €82 in today's money for a single album. And at the moment it went on sale, only a few dollars dozen albums were even available to play on it, among them 52nd street by Billy Joel, which sucks unbelievably. All that considered, the Sony CDP101, or at least the technology it portended, became extremely popular. The Sony CDP101 was the first commercially available CD player, and it was launched in Japan initially on October 1, 1982. Other territories thereafter, potential customers enticed by a robot voiced by John Cleese.
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Those Sony people computerize anything. Take the new compact disc.
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One hour of Mozart out of a beer mat.
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Pure sound played by laser.
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Just listen to that. No hisses and crackles, of course, but.
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If you do want that, munch a biscuit, sip a cup of cocoa and it'll sound just like your old record player.
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Can't you dance? Sony? Whatever will they think of next? This was, we were earnestly informed, the future. Within a decade, the CD had overhauled vinyl and cassette to become the dominant audio format. The compact disc did have some unarguable advantages over what it supplanted. It was more durable than either vinyl or cassette, if not quite as indestructible as early boosters insisted. The compact disc was also easier to store, where a collection of, say, 1,000 vinyl albums would consume an entire room. At least the same number of CDs could be racked in a couple of relatively discreet shelves. It was certainly easier to transport. Removed from their plastic boxes, dozens of CDs could be slotted into a road trip friendly slip case. And it was much easier to actually play. Insert disc, press button. Liberation at last from the interminable faff of cloths and brushes attendant on getting a relatively crackle free racket out of any vinyl album you'd listen to more than twice. For record companies, however, the appeal was possibly more to do with the fact that people who'd spent decades buying records and cassettes might now be encouraged and or feel obliged to buy music they'd already paid for at least once all over again. This they duly did among the earlier cash ins of this kind, even Pink Floyd's Dark side of the Moon, when in a just world compensation would be offered to anybody who had bought it previously, as it too totally blows. For these reasons, the CD player became in its early years a symbol and not of the gleaming sci fi audio utopia its manufacturers were promising. It was instead widely derided as the soulless, avaricious, antiseptic enemy of the rugged, anti establishment authenticity attached to the vinyl. The Smiths possibly struggling by the time of their last album, 1987's Strange Ways, here we come to find more things at which Morrissey could sigh impatiently, spoke on this, as on many other subjects for legions of lemon sucking rejectionists, the CD player's image was not helped by an unrelated phenomenon of the times.
C
Since the term hit three years ago, the media has grabbed on and in 1986 just about anyone can describe a.
A
Yuppie somebody who makes over 30,000 a.
B
Year, lives in Hyde park and drives a BMW.
A
Most post war youth cultures had been distressing, or at least annoying to people not involved in them. That is, after all, part of the point of youth cultures. But the 1980s yuppies or young urban professionals were even more distressing and annoying to outsiders because as well as their youth, they had money, which struck many as unfair. And they spent some of the money they hadn't spent on idiotic shoulder pads and silly red braces and stupid mobile phones the size of house bricks on CD players on which they could listen to dreadful albums by Huey Lewis and the news. The technology unleashed on this day 43 years ago was impressive and successful while it lasted, and it had a good run until the MP3 and other downloadable or streamable mediums separated recorded music from physical existence and music became seem less a special indulgent purchase and more a utility, something that pretty much comes out of the tap. But the CD player inspired little love. There are few if any affectionate references to it in any of the songs ever played on it, which is not a grievance vinyl can claim. All I've got is a beat up chair, a mattress a fork, another despair, and that dusty old pile of rest the CD player has certainly not attracted, at the risk of tempting fate, anything like the modern fetishising of vinyl by the 21st century Urban hipster or the midlife crisis afflicted audio bore now buying albums on vinyl to replace the same albums they bought on CD after they threw out the same albums they bought on vinyl the first time. Hank Williams, Mojo, Nixon, Hendrix, Haggard, and a whole lot more in that dusty old pile of viral record. And that is all for this edition of the Monocle Daily. Thanks to our panelists today, Quentin Peel and Lynn o'. Donnell. The show was produced by Chris Chermack and researched by Danielle Lebro Smith. Our sound engineer was Steph Chungu. I'm Andrew Muller here in London. The Daily is back at the same time tomorrow. Thanks for listening.
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Monocle Daily – Episode Summary
Title: Why did the Taliban switch off the internet? And why does Trump want Bagram back?
Date: October 1, 2025
Host: Andrew Muller
Guests: Lyn O'Donnell (Foreign Policy, former AFP Afghanistan bureau chief), Quentin Peel (Chatham House)
This episode centers on several major global news developments: Afghanistan’s sudden internet blackout under the Taliban, renewed U.S. interest in Afghanistan’s Bagram Airfield, EU discussions over seizing Russian assets to support Ukraine, political dysfunction in the United States, and a light-hearted historical segment on the birth of the compact disc (CD). The panel brings deep international experience and offers context, skepticism, and wit.
[04:20–08:07]
“The shutdown of the Internet is not seen as having been accidental… It's been creeping across the country for the last few weeks... The supreme leader… has decreed amongst his many decrees that smartphones should not be used at all.” [04:20]
“I remember getting stopped at a Taliban checkpoint… literally fortified with smashed up televisions and video recorders and strung with tape from video cassettes.” [06:27]
[08:07–11:40]
“It’s very weird. It’s very Trumpian… Is it about an obsession with China... or just Trump having a bad dream?” [08:31]
“No, there are not going to be U.S. boots on the ground... What is apparently being discussed is a civilian counterterrorism surveillance presence at Bagram as part of a package of other things...” [10:16]
[11:40–16:20]
“It’s not a United European Union to go down that route… The Belgians are pretty unhappy… The French are not very happy. I think they think, oh my God, could somebody seize our assets at some time in the future?” [12:29]
“It’s a recognition at the highest levels of the European Union that America is no longer the default funder or protector… It’s about time we started looking after ourselves.” [14:54]
“There’s a crude justice here of saying, Russia, you are absolutely smashing to bits your immediate neighbor and you should pay for it.” [16:40]
[19:05–24:22]
“Both sides are hoping that the other will get the blame... It really underlines how deeply divided American politics is now.” [20:04]
“It looks like an awfully violent and expensive place. Like anything, when it closes down... it's much more difficult to reverse the damage.” [21:16]
“Republicans believe government doesn’t work, then get elected and prove it.” [22:49]
“All the institutions of the American state are actually under attack... this is quite a big risk for the Democrats as well as the Republicans... It could work either way.” [23:19]
[24:22–29:49]
“I am struggling to care... I am in favour of private schools. I'm not in favour of government subsidising private schools.” [26:21]
[29:49–36:57]
“The CD player became in its early years a symbol... of the gleaming sci fi audio utopia its manufacturers were promising. It was instead widely derided as the soulless, avaricious, antiseptic enemy of the rugged, anti establishment authenticity attached to the vinyl.” [31:54]
On Taliban’s Motives:
O’Donnell:
“Power and control go together and that's what this is about... with any mad leader, and the Supreme Leader is a mad leader, there should be people around him who say, look, if you go a little bit too far, then you're going to push out anybody who's going to invest in the country.” [07:10]
On Trump's Bagram Proposal:
Peel:
“The idea that the US could somehow go back into Afghanistan, the scene of this awful defeat, and take the airport back from the Taliban. I just can't see it happening.” [09:02]
On EU’s Russian Asset Proposal:
O’Donnell:
“It's about time we started looking after ourselves.” [14:54] Peel:
“There is a crude justice here of saying, Russia, you are absolutely smashing to bits your immediate neighbor and you should pay for it.” [16:40]
On U.S. Dysfunction:
“Republicans believe government doesn’t work, then get elected and prove it.” [22:49, referencing P.J. O'Rourke]
On the CD:
“The compact disc did have some unarguable advantages over what it supplanted. It was more durable… it was certainly easier to transport…” [33:38]
| Segment | Time | |-------------------------------------------------------|-------| | Taliban Internet Blackout | 04:20–08:07 | | Trump Wants Bagram Back | 08:07–11:40 | | EU Plans to Use Russian Assets | 11:40–16:20 | | U.S. Government Shutdown | 19:05–24:22 | | ECB/EU School Funding Controversy | 24:22–29:49 | | History Feature: 43 Years Since the CD | 29:49–36:57 |
This summary covers the episode’s substantive discussions, excludes promotional material, and highlights the Monocle Daily’s trademark mix of informed analysis and lively, witty conversation.