To counter dipping audience figures and falling advertising revenues, TV news increasingly offers a diet of soft stories, banal banter and Identikit blondes. Who is to blame, a public unwilling to engage with global affairs…
Culture editor Robert Bound's column on the hilarity and banality of comments left by people on newspaper websites, as well as reviews on new books, films, and music,and previews of art exhibitions.
Is donating 100 sculptures to Oslo a wonderful gift or just a way of imposing bad taste on the public? Wealthy Norwegian Christian Ringnes, 53, is causing controversy in the city with his plans to create a €30m park filled…
In a bid to lure fickle advertisers and demanding audiences, TV news has become increasingly bland and banal. And so too have the stations' studios. Everything looks so cheap and dull. That's why we've been playing fantasy…
The increasing number of residential high-rises in our cities is generating work for removal men and decorators – and psychologists too. These academics want to know some basic stuff, not least whether people are actually…
This issue Monocle has visited seats of power around the globe – from the African Union’s HQ to Burma’s fledgling capital via Liechtenstein’s new parliament building. Each has a very different vision.
UFOs in the UAE, the curious disappearance of bricks, the importance of being as messy as possible and seven more eclectic subjects to prompt debate, reflection and even a snigger or two.
A Japanese label machine, bracing Viennese shower gel, a modern take on the Lebanese nargile and Spanish nursery furniture. Plus, Tokyo's Mareesia Garden hotel and a pool near Porto.
Imagine trying to sell products to people who don’t watch TV and cannot use the internet. That’s the challenge for students studying at the Haredi Advertising Academy, which trains them in how to make advertisements aimed…
This new net-zero fire station is carrying the flame for considered civic architecture. It is proof that good urbanism can make even the most functional buildings feel fresh.