Affairs
Page 5
Diplomatic Design 101: The UN’s newest visitor centre is a study in architectural monotony
If minimalism has become the visual language of institutional reassurance, then the Portail des Nations speaks it fluently.
Live to work or work to live? New York’s hustle culture is a world away from Milan’s slower pace
This year I spent part of my summer in New York. It’s a place that’s close to my heart: I lived and worked here for six years as Monocle’s US editor, watching the country…
The ‘Butcher of Bosnia’ is dead – but divisions live on in the Balkans
Serbia’s former president Boris Tadić got it right. Ratko Mladić was a “stain” – and his death in custody in The Hague, where he was serving a life sentence for genocide and crimes against…
How the reconstruction of Lisbon’s Baixa district became a model for modern urban planning
Lisbon’s Baixa neighbourhood, ravaged by natural disasters in the 18th century, is a design lesson in reconstruction that breathes harmony and order.
What are you doing next weekend? There’s still time to hop on a plane and join us in Lisbon
The forecast says 29C and not a cloud in the sky. Neither perfect weather nor the promise of a glass of wine sat under the shade of a jacaranda should really determine whether you…
By downsizing its premises, is Bangkok’s Dutch embassy signalling its diminished ambitions?
The Dutch embassy in Bangkok, which once stood proud in its historic spot on Wireless Road, is proving that buildings matter with its relocation to a new, much less grand office block.
Should we fear the Bolt-beating robots? For now, not really…
At the World Humanoid Robot Games 2026 in Beijing, competitors look scared stiff.
How Prince Rupert became central to Canada dodging a trade-war bullet
US tariffs have forced Canada to rapidly seek new markets in Asia. And in British Columbia, the speed and scale of this pivot is most evident in its ports and its railroads.
Much like Los Angeles’s airport train, California needs to get back on track
The Golden State’s once-firey glow has dimmed into a nostalgic flicker. Can California get its act together before the 2028 Summer Olympic Games?
Donald Trump’s disdain for American allies has reached East Asia
In the past few days, the US president, Donald Trump, has turned his curious loathing for his country’s allies towards South Korea. He has complained that the nation free-rides on the US military presence…
