Monocle’s summery, bumper-sized July/August double issue includes the annual Quality of Life index and insights on the 20 best cities to call home (and why). Within our liveability index, our editors surveyed the cities that stayed resilient, invested in liveability and made a splash despite setbacks. Elsewhere in the issue, we hear from expert essayists, benchmark the best roadside services and examine a few choice residences that put their occupants first. Plus: the people running beachside businesses in Greece, a summer soundtrack and a few choice hotels that have thrown open their doors in London, Beirut and La Paz, Mexico. This is an issue packed with sunny ideas, insights and suggestions.

Our jubilant June issue is an artful thing indeed. Not least for its dedicated survey on the best auctions, gallery openings, studios and collectors sculpting the creative scene. We also eye up Iraq’s unlikely tourism play, profile the folks behind Japan’s will-they-won’t-they Olympics and get a first look at LVMH’s stunning makeover of an iconic Parisian department store. There’s also a transport theme speeding through the issue, from our exploration of the future of flight and choice insights on supersonic travel and e-planes to the urban infrastructure improvements we’re betting on and insights into the fast-escalating business of lifts. Not to mention recommendations, recipes and fresh reporting aplenty.