As 2025 draws to a close, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is riding high. Indeed, the Brazilian president is probably looking ahead to next year – an election year – with relish. In 2024, after months of political dysfunction and growing isolation on the international stage under Lula’s predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil began to show some of its old self-confidence. This was all the more striking given how many other nations wilted in the face of the destabilisation directed by Donald Trump’s second administration. 

Brazil made its mark in three ways. First, when Donald Trump imposed swingeing tariffs on the country for nakedly political purposes, Brasília refused to be bullied. The US president eventually dropped most of the levies on the South American country’s agricultural sector, recognising that they were only hurting US consumers. Second, Brazil successfully prosecuted and incarcerated Jair Bolsonaro, its former president, for plotting a coup to stay in power. This sent a powerful signal to the world that the nation would not entertain autocratic populists or anyone who undermines its democratic institutions. And third, the country took centre stage by hosting a series of global events, including the Brics summit and Cop30. These grand multilaterals afforded Lula the chance to play global statesman – and he did not waste the opportunity.

So, Brazil appears to be rekindling its mojo. But what does that mean for the year to come? Latin America’s most populous nation enters 2026 with substantial geopolitical leverage. Most obvious is the country’s vast, largely untapped supply of strategic minerals, namely lithium, copper and rare earth minerals. As the global order fragments, companies and governments are desperately working to diversify their supplies of these minerals, which are crucial for next-generation technologies and weaponry. Brazil, with its robust institutions and well-exercised democratic government, is an obvious partner of choice. 

American, European and Middle Eastern diplomats are already hurriedly attempting to woo Brazilian mining companies and officials into deals. Brasília must take advantage of this moment to structure investments and reforms that will translate into long-term growth. The same logic applies to the nation’s oil and gas as well as agribusiness sectors, both of which are poised for strong growth. Spurred by increasing global uncertainty, nations are seeking to lock in future supplies. Brazil must seize this opportunity in the coming months and years.

Investment in Brazil has long been influenced by election results and stakeholders will be closely watching the presidential, gubernatorial and legislative polls slated for October. Lula, an 80-year-old former trade unionist now in his third non-consecutive term, is widely expected to run for a fourth. The wind is currently in his sails; his approval ratings have been buoyed by a statement 2025. But Lula is also benefiting from an opposition in disarray. Bolsonaro, now sentenced to 27 years in prison for a coup plot, remains the leader of the Brazilian right wing. He has baulked at nominating a clear successor, fearing that such a move would consign him to history. But now his son, senator Flavio Bolsonaro, has announced a presidential run. Time will tell whether Bolsonaro the younger can mount a credible campaign.

What Brazil needs in 2026 is the same thing that it has always needed: reforms to the lavish perks and benefits given out to public officials, notably those in congress. Of particular urgency are amendments to a parliamentary budget scheme that hands out billions of dollars to members of parliament to spend in their home constituencies with little to no oversight. Unfortunately, those who can change the system are the ones who benefit from it. The only feasible option for real change is for these parliamentarians to be voted out – something for citizens to think about as they head to the polls in October.

Bryan Harris is a journalist based in São Paulo. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today. You can read more of his pieces here.

One of the things that I get to do as Monocle’s Europe editor at large is compile a mental compendium of how nations on the vieux continent are performing against one another – the doers and the duds. Part of my 2025 involved thinking about how France and Italy had, in many ways, switched positions. France has been racked by debt woes and political indecision and Italy racked by debt woes but proving surprisingly stable politically – something that it hasn’t been used to since the Second World War. As for my 2026? A good chunk of time will be spent pondering Spain.

Spain has consistently and unfairly flown under the radar. The Iberian nation is having a moment – proof that progressive, ethics-based politics has a place, despite the planet’s increasingly nativist turn. For one, Spain has been making strides towards gender parity. While women represent about a third of Italy’s two chambers, they make up almost 43 per cent in Spain, putting it on a heady par with Nordic nations such as Sweden and Finland. What about infrastructure? Spain recently announced that its Madrid to Barcelona line would be upgraded to allow trains to reach 350km/h – speeds normally only achieved by Asian giants.

Then there’s its economic growth, which grew by 3.5 per cent in 2024 and is projected to grow by 2.9 per cent this year (2026 is looking almost as good). Spain’s success is down to sectors such as tourism, services and manufacturing – and another key factor: immigration. The Spanish government has realised that its ageing workforce needs a boost, which is why it has been amending its laws to improve migrant integration. In 2024 the country welcomed 368,000 new arrivals, putting it in the top-five OECD countries in terms of numbers.

So what’s not to love? The problem seems to be that Spain’s left-wing prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, divides opinion. In November thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets in Madrid to call for early elections over a corruption scandal surrounding his Socialist party called the “Caso Koldo” (Koldo Case), involving former transport minister José Luis Ábalos, former adviser Koldo García and former party secretary-general Santos Cerdán, among others. 

And yet Sánchez has managed to rise above it all, speaking out against the far right, attempting to explain the dangers of disinformation to the Spanish public and looking to have abortion enshrined in the constitution. He has consistently taken an ethical line on Israel, denouncing what is happening in Gaza as a “genocide”, implementing an arms embargo against the nation and pulling out of the Eurovision song contest in protest at its inclusion. And despite the centre-right PP and the far-right Vox parties waiting in the wings, he refuses to step down – and has even said that he will run for re-election in 2027. Not that it will be easy. Unemployment remains high at more than 10 per cent, there are difficult regional elections coming up in 2026, inflation continues to be a concern and Spain has irked the US over its low defence spending (Politico recently called Sánchez “Nato’s flakiest friend”). 

Nevertheless, the point is this: you don’t need to agree with everything that Spain is currently doing. But as a leader of a nation that is increasingly becoming the economic engine room of Europe, Sánchez takes a principle-based line and sticks to it. Whether it comes from a genuine place or is mere expediency almost misses the point: he’s a talented politician. 

Ed Stocker is Monocle’s Europe editor at large, based in Milan. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Few artists have shaped the language of the modern music video as profoundly as the US band Ok Go. Long before Tiktok and Instagram, the group’s DIY treadmill routine for “Here It Goes Again” became a defining moment of early internet culture and a viral phenomenon before the word “viral” meant anything beyond an infection.

Now, following frontman Damian Kulash’s acceptance of UKMVA’s Icon Award for music-video innovation, he is reflecting on two decades of creative risks, homemade spectacle, analogue magic and why the band never chased metrics while the platforms around them were changing everything. With two new Grammy nominations for “Love” (video) and And the Adjacent Possible (artwork) and a decade-long gap between albums finally closing, Kulash spoke to Monocle Radio about the past, present and future of visual music-making.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Listen to the full interview on ‘The Globalist’ from Monocle Radio.

Let’s start at the beginning. What was going through your mind when you created the music video for ‘Here It Goes Again’? What did you want it to be?
When we made the video for ‘Here It Goes Again’ – the treadmill video – we were trying to make something for this nerdy group of fans that we had stumbled upon and connected with. At the end of our concerts, we would do a ridiculous boy-band dance on stage to diffuse the hipster tension that was in indie-rock rooms in the early 2000s, when it was cool to smoke cigarettes and shuffle your feet. We wanted music that felt like Queen or Cheap Trick or Joan Jett. We wanted people to be fist-pumping and have fun. So we came up with a dance for a song called ‘A Million Ways’ and a rehearsal tape of that was uploaded online in the pre-Youtube era. It was then downloaded 300,000 times over a few weeks and we realised that we had accidentally created a music video and made a connection with our fan base. So we thought we should make something else for those people. 

We didn’t think of it as a music video but more as just another ridiculous thing. We recorded a routine on treadmills at my sister’s dance instruction studio. We thought it was a weird, modern way of filming a video but we did not think it would ever be seen by anyone outside those few fans.

You were one of the first bands to break through via Youtube. Now artists are adapting to Tiktok and algorithmic discovery. How has that shift affected you?
Oh, boy, that’s a huge question. If you needed a poster child for Youtube, we were the ones. We were right there. We lucked into being the first wave of truly homemade stuff to take on the giant media machine and win, and that was really liberating and fun.

I’m sure that there are people in their twenties who see the canvas provided by Tiktok, Instagram or whatever, and feel genuine art in their souls. I still think in a slightly different framework. I like working for months on end to come up with a nugget of something that could never have existed otherwise. I put all my effort into two, three, four or five minutes of music or film that feels as though I’ve figured out where the edge of impossible is and tipped my finger over to the other side. That’s what art feels like to me.

But that’s not what succeeds on Tiktok. What succeeds is putting something up every day: a low-quality bar, highly repeatable. And that’s only the beginning of the definition of the new form. The fact that it’s now the arbiter of what you see shows how the algorithm isn’t picking content based on how the viewer feels about it but rather how it thinks the broader masses will react to it. It has completely changed the way things move through culture.

I am not changing what I do in reaction to it. I probably should, if I wanted to maximise success or numbers. But you don’t wind up being in a rock band or being a filmmaker because you’re highly strategic about making money. You wind up here because you want to connect with other human beings. 

Listen to the full conversation with Damian Kulash and Monocle Radio’s Tom Webb on ‘The Globalist’.

In a generically opulent kingdom, an emperor roams the streets wearing nothing but an irksome, complacent smirk. The plot of Don Juan Manuel’s El Conde Lucanor (1335) and, for more contemporary readers, Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale The Emperor’s New Clothes (1837), felt oddly pertinent when the president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, presented the football association’s inaugural peace prize to US president Donald Trump on Friday. The award – calculated and flagrantly irrelevant – was indicative of an institution that has been consistently obsequious to illiberal powers. Just like the empty looms of Andersen’s swindling tailors, Fifa’s pretences to power confirmed that next summer’s World Cup, held between Canada, Mexico and the US, will serve one man’s vanity in pursuit of his nation’s wealth. 

The 2026 Fifa World Cup draw ceremony was a gauche affair. Held in Washington, it was a protracted pantomime performed to an audience of one: the US president. Infantino played the hits: he led the crowd in chants of “USA, USA…”; he concocted a garish peace prize, including a trophy, gold medal and certificate; and he booked the Village People to sing Trump’s favourite tune, “YMCA”. The award – the creation of which was announced last month without approval from Fifa’s board – was designed by Infantino to soften the blow of Trump’s failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize. And while the commander in chief’s forces gathered off the coast of Venezuela, attendees to the ceremony nodded along and applauded à la the townsfolk before their imperious leader. The world’s sporting elite were never going to play the role of the truth-telling child in Andersen’s tale. Not when the sport’s governing body, like the fabled weavers, was so shamelessly plying Trump with transparent blandishments. Indeed, the only real difference between Andersen’s fraudsters and today’s obsequious CEOs and world leaders is that the presents and made-up accolades given to Trump are anything but invisible – that Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar in May being a case in point.

Infantino is not the first to resort to tacky or tantalising tactics to get the US president on side. In October, Japan’s newly minted prime minister, Sane Takaichi, showed the world that when it comes to the man who has everything – less is not more. Personalised golden golf balls and the putter used by the late Shinzo Abe when he and Trump golfed together were an ace gift that helped pull Japan out of the rough following severe tariff hikes. But unlike Takaichi, Fifa’s flattery did not show nous nor deft diplomacy – it felt singularly sycophantic. Particularly when the US is not hosting next summer’s tournament alone.

What qualifies football’s governing body to assign a peace prize? Little more than its long history of fawning over money and power. In fact, much like its inaugural peace prize winner, Fifa’s shamelessness is its superpower. Lavishing leaders and propping up states with its soft-power machine (aka the World Cup) has become the institution’s lifeblood and raison d’être. Look back at Infantino’s record of elected host nations: Russia in 2018, Qatar in 2022, the US in 2026, Milei’s Argentina hosting with Uruguay in 2030 and, in 2034, Saudi Arabia. It’s an axis not known for its commitment to being welcoming to all, nor for its love of the sport (bar Russia, Argentina and Uruguay). There is, of course, a rationale to hosting World Cups in nations without storied footballing pedigrees; these tournaments help to stretch the frontiers of the sport. However, the blatant and successive rewarding of regimes that operate counter to the more democratic ideals of the sport’s fanbase diminishes the positive impact of the world’s most-watched sporting event.

Infantino’s tenure mirrors much of the World Cup’s past: the tournament is indistinguishable from controversial nation-building. In 1934, the World Cup in Italy provided Benito Mussolini the opportunity to promote Italian craft, design and a dose of right-wing nationalist pomp. In 1978 it was Argentine dictator General Jorge Rafael Videla’s turn to use the games to his advantage. In fact, this political football has been played down the right wing for so long it’s a wonder that Brand World Cup, or Fifa itself, bother purporting a liberal agenda at all. 

And yet in a 2022 speech, the Fifa president declared himself as feeling gay, disabled, like a migrant worker, Arabic, African and others besides. But there will be more to come in the summer. The designated Pride Match at World Cup 2026, held in Seattle, will – thanks to Friday’s draw – feature Egypt and Iran: two nations where homosexuality is illegal and, in the latter country, punishable by death. It could well be a spectacle but don’t expect to see players or Fifa staffers joining in. After all, the football association failed to support players wanting to wear OneLove armbands in support of LGBTQ+ people at the Qatar World Cup by announcing that those individuals would receive yellow cards. 

So, what does summer 2026 have in store? Infantino is keeping many of the tournament’s secrets under wraps (expect naff half-time performances and NFL-style pitch-side interviews). But the real winner of the so-called people’s game will be the continued success of Fifa’s egregious lickspittle tactic. While the losers will be fans at the US legs of the tournament forced to suffer draconian government officials and Trump’s patrolling ICE agents. For Fifa, the US remains the New World and a primed market, especially with the president on board. The previous World Cup in Qatar, and the decision for Saudi Arabia to host in 2034, have already promoted the sport in the Gulf, which is now a burgeoning giant of footballing financial capital. Fifa has clearly decided on its preferred clientele, targeting nations with populations that have vast purchasing power and don’t baulk at ultra-premium ticket prices (tickets for Colombia versus Portugal in Miami have risen 514 per cent since Friday’s draw). Football has never been democratic and Fifa never liberal. The 2026 Fifa World Cup promises to be more nakedly vulgar – and profitable – than ever. Nothing matters more than the bottom line and its showing. 

Thailand’s largest design week might take place in Bangkok every year but Chiang Mai Design Week, which runs until Sunday, takes the honour of being first. A calendar fixture since 2014, creatives from around the country require little excuse to hop on a plane and fly a few hours north every December, especially Bangkokians. Just mention Chiang Mai to a design-minded resident of the Thai capital and watch steely, big-city hardness turn to mush. Many make multiple trips to Thailand’s second city throughout the year. Others yearn to retire there or cherish fond memories of getting married at one of the city’s beautiful venues – such as the Araksa Tea Garden (pictured, below left) and Tamarind Village (pictured, below right) – that blend tropical modernism with traditional Lanna architecture and colourful hill-tribe textiles and textures. 

But beyond the charm and the romance, being in Thailand’s second city makes creative sense. Chiang Mai’s abundance of resources, which range from a community of craftsmen to the chamchuri rainwood tree (beloved by the region’s furniture-makers and homeware brands), more than compensates for a paucity of deep-pocketed local clients. International buyers are, after all, only a flight away. 

Chiang Mai’s litany of markets are another major attraction for creatives, from the Saturday one on Wua Lai Street to Nong Ho a little distance away. On weekends, residents descend on a muddy field to rummage through a huge car boot sale. Virtually anything and everything is available for purchase at Nong Ho in all manner of disrepair. Spectacles, dungarees and dusty hardwood furniture; brand memorabilia, car parts and genuine junk. You might even find a back copy of Playboy – great for ogling the 1980s typography and graphic design, of course. There are plenty of more polished offerings too, such as the showroom of handmade furniture specialists Moonler (pictured below).

Chiang Mai’s devotees and diehards talk about finding balance. It’s not as chaotic as Bangkok but not as sleepy as Chiang Rai. It has energy, convenience and enough to do without being overwhelmed or cut off from the countryside. Designers actually make things in Chiang Mai and get inspiration from being outdoors. They wear hiking boots and vintage, too-small T-shirts instead of spending all day in front of a spotless computer screen dressed in a crisp white shirt and box-fresh trainers. Design is not afraid to get dirty in Chiang Mai and there’s a raw beauty to that – reason enough to visit during design week and beyond.

James Chambers is Monocle’s Asia editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

I found myself in the unusual position of nodding along in enthusiastic agreement with the aesthetic tastes of US president Donald Trump last week. This was unusual. We all have our own personal style but Trump’s insistence on deploying maximum opulence to his interiors does not chime with my more reserved British design sensibilities. 
 
Under Trump, the Oval Office has been transformed from an elegant space into an Aladdin’s cave: golden eagles and urns have been unearthed from the White House collection; golden cherubs were shipped in from Mar-a-Lago; the TV remote control has been wrapped in gilt – you get the picture.
 
Trump’s architectural tastes veer in a similar direction. He has issued an executive order stating that classical architecture serve as the preferred architectural style for all applicable federal public buildings, while criticising the “exposed poured concrete” of brutalist and modernist buildings. So it was strange to hear Trump praising the visionary Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and his mid-century modern masterpiece that is Washington’s Dulles International Airport.

Its sweeping concrete roof, which evokes the wing of a plane or perhaps the elegance of flight, hovers over the large glass frontage held up by slanted concrete pillars. There is no hint of the Greek or Roman classical styles that Trump admires. But speaking in a cabinet meeting earlier this month, he called Saarinen “one of the greatest architects in the world”. Though he went on to say that while Dulles was a “great building”, it was “a bad airport” and promised to rebuild it. 
 
Again, he was right. While the main terminal is a triumph, everything else at Dulles is a disaster. Behind the airy and inviting main terminal are two separate concourse buildings. They are long and claustrophobic – and no matter how many times you traipse up and down them, it is impossible to find anything worth eating or buying. There is no stylistic continuity between any of the gates, just different levels of confusion, discomfort and overcrowding. 
 
Shuttling people between these terminals is one of Saarinen’s less-enduring designs: the mobile lounge, a lumbering, 35-tonne, bus-like vehicle that raises and lowers to let passengers on and off. When Dulles opened in 1962, these mobile lounges might have seemed like the cutting edge of airport design. Today, they are hot, smelly, overcrowded cattle wagons that I dread boarding. One crashed in November, with 18 people left needing hospital treatment. 
 
But what does Trump have in mind when he promises an “amazing plan” to Make Dulles Great Again? The airport is already being overhauled, with a new concourse opening next year. Since 2010, a rail transit operates between most of the terminals and this will expand. 
 
Maybe Trump wants to put his stylistic stamp on Dulles. Given his executive order suggests that classical architecture is the way forward, can we expect some Greco-Roman flourishes? Perhaps some colonnades slapped in front of the windows and a portico or two over the entrance doors? Trump loves marble – he recently decked out the White House’s Lincoln Bathroom in it – so maybe the toilets will take a more luxurious turn. The tips of the iconic sloping roof would be an ideal place to perch some golden birds or maybe even a floating cherub, if Mar-a-Lago can spare any more.
 
A call for proposals went out on 2 December, so time will tell whether Trump has a Midas touch with airports. As for me, I’d just be happy with a decent café. 

Charlotte McDonald-Gibson is a journalist based in Washington. Further reading? Here we take a look at the Trump family’s plans for a redevelopment in Belgrade.

With 12 palace-level hotels and a reputation for the refined, Paris has long been a global benchmark for luxury stays. Among the most storied of its offerings is the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand, a landmark facing the Opéra Garnier. Behind its baroque façade, travellers with taste and locals looking for a well-appointed dining experience head to its Winter Garden and Café de la Paix. 

For the past 15 years the hotel was managed by Christophe Laure, now newly appointed to lead all of Intercontinental Hotels Group’s (IHG) luxury and lifestyle properties. His promotion comes at a time when the sector is both fiercely competitive and continuing to see growth and expansion in the City of Light and beyond.

With an estimated value of $154.32bn (€132.5bn) in 2024, projections suggest the value of the global luxury hospitality sector will exceed $166bn (€142bn) before the end of 2025 and surpass $218bn (€187bn) by 2029. France is very much a key player in this growth. The French luxury-hospitality market was valued at approximately $12.16bn (€10.43bn) in 2024 and it is anticipated to grow at an average annual rate of 2.74 per cent through 2029.

So how does one ensure that their property sees a decent chunk of change from this rise in luxury-hospitality stays? At a time when hotels are branching into experiences, sustainability initiatives, merchandise, fashion collaborations, wellness and heritage storytelling, there’s a lot for any hotelier to consider when trying to keep their establishment booked, profitable and relevant. As Laure tells Monocle, hotels such as the Intercontinental are refining their approaches to hospitality to mark themselves clearly as luxury players as opposed to the many high-end options. 

In the calm of the grand glasshouse, Laure confides his plans for 2026, discusses the state of the luxury hospitality market and how the Intercontinental is matching evolved guest expectations. 

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With the competition in the upper-luxury segment so tough in Paris at the moment, how does Intercontinental stand out?
Our history is rooted in international travel and that remains our strength to this day. When Pan American World Airways was opening routes between North and South America in 1946, the CEO of Pan-Am told the president that [new hotels at the airline’s destinations] would live up to the standards of Pan-Am’s glorious cabins, and so the first Intercontinental hotel was born to provide quality and safe accommodation to the traveller crossing continents for business.

How do you meet the specific needs of the clientele of upper-luxury travellers who are constantly on the move?
This might seem obvious but the first thing that you need when you travel abroad is to feel safe and we take that very seriously. Then the key is attention to detail. When our customers walk into their room, we want them to feel that they are the first to ever stay there, that it’s brand new. Our clientele also cares about attentive service: always being there without seeming to, being present but discreet, along with high-quality cuisine, of course.

Are there markets where you find this is in especially high demand?
Asia and the Middle East. The Middle East is a more mature market now; we have been there for about 30 years. But Asia – even though China is in the midst of a slowdown – is a market where there is a lot of interest in what we do. There is an eagerness there to discover and reproduce what we offer in France. I have a client who sent me some photos of a hotel where he was staying in Hanoi recently and the layout is remarkably similar to Le Grand Hotel’s. It’s flattering. 

For a hotel group, what do you think is key to a successful international expansion?When you want to grow roots in a new market, you need to respect what the people there are used to consuming. But at the same time, put forward your own expertise and offer something new. 

For example, IHG was one of the first groups to invest in China. Today we have 800 hotels there. There are properties from our global brands, such as Intercontinental, Kimpton and Crowne Plaza. But we also created a completely new brand, Hualuxe, which is a Chinese label dedicated to the Chinese market. This way everyone gets what they want. International travellers can rely on brands that they already know and love, and we show the domestic clientele that we are also attuned to their expectations. 

Looking ahead, what are the heavy trends that you see shaping hospitality?
In short, the human side of it. Customers want to be recognised: they crave that empathy, that sense that we know who they are and what they need – how they like their breakfast, for instance – because they have stayed with us in the past and that’s how we keep them coming back. That’s not to say there isn’t a technological aspect to this human touch. We have the longest-running loyalty programme in the business and that has served us well. We also want to provide customers with the convenience of getting updates on their booking and their stay through an app. For our staff as well, we are investing heavily in technology to provide new tools that allow them to spend as much time as possible on personal interactions that really make the biggest difference in our business.

It’s possible that Europe narrowly missed its 21st-century Archduke Franz Ferdinand moment last week. As Ukraine’s official Airbus ACJ319 approached Dublin Airport, the crew aboard the Irish Naval Service craft LÉ William Butler Yeats spotted several drones aloft in the no-fly zone protecting president Volodymyr Zelensky’s flight path. It is unclear as of this writing who launched the drones or from where or what their intentions were. However, Zelensky’s aircraft arrived earlier than scheduled, possibly forestalling any further mischief.
    
Interference with Zelensky’s jet would obviously have been serious but the location might have made it more so – indeed, the location might have encouraged it. The Republic of Ireland, though a member of the EU, is not a member of Nato and therefore not protected by Article 5 of the Nato treaty, making it an obvious vulnerability for any adversary of Europe and/or the wider Western alliance to test – not least because it is barely defended at all.
     
Ireland’s reluctance to apply for Nato membership is borne of a long tradition of neutrality. Ireland sat out the Second World War, though many Irish people did not: at least 80,000 joined the British military to do what Ireland’s government would not. Ireland has also been reluctant to enter into any formal military alliance with the UK – historically regarded as a colonial overlord.

The ridiculous irony into which Ireland has painted itself is that it is now almost entirely reliant for protection from external threats on the UK’s Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Ireland’s own military is pitiful. It has an army of perhaps 6,000 full-time troops. Its air-combat capacity amounts to eight Pilatus PC-9M trainers, which have propellers on the front. It has no military radar system. Both these derelictions are allegedly being addressed but the fact that they need to be addressed reflects decades of astonishing complacency.
    
Ireland’s navy has not much improved since The Dubliners mocked it in song in 1968 (“When the captain he blows on his whistle/All the sailors go home for their tea” etc). It is certainly woefully under-equipped for a country that presides over a maritime exclusive economic zone nearly 10 times Ireland’s size, through which pass about 75 per cent of all the northern hemisphere’s data cables. LÉ William Butler Yeats is one of only four offshore patrol vessels, all quaintly named after famous Irish writers (we can assume that the crew of LÉ James Joyce has heard all the jokes about interminable and convoluted journeys that everybody only pretends to understand). 
     
Ireland has a population roughly the same size as that of Norway or Finland and a GDP bigger than either. Granted, Norway and Finland both have land borders with Russia but the differences in how seriously Ireland takes its – and Europe’s – defence are stark. Earlier this year, Norway took delivery of the final pair of its order of 52 F-35 fighter jets, while Lockheed Martin finished work on the first of 64 F-35s for Finland. Not counting upgrades or ongoing operational expenses, each of those aircraft cost about €160m. 
    
Ireland recently announced a 2026 defence budget – army, navy and air force – of €1.49bn, or equivalent to about nine F-35s, and grandly proclaimed this as a record. It is nowhere near enough to pay for an answer to the question: if you were Vladimir Putin, which weak spot would you poke?
 
Andrew Mueller is the host of ‘The Foreign Desk’ on Monocle Radio and a regular Monocle contributor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Every March about 20,000 people head to the French Riviera for the world’s leading property and real-estate trade show, Mipim. But this week, a smaller contingent of 400 or so attendees made its way to Hong Kong for the fair’s offshoot, Mipim Asia. This year’s edition began on the final day of national mourning following the city’s deadliest fire in nearly 80 years – a devastating blaze in a Tai Po housing complex, which claimed the lives of 159 people. “We are shocked,” says the managing director and deputy chairman of Hong Kong’s Urban Renewal Authority, Donald Choi Wun-hing. “This tragedy is something we cannot see a repeat of, so on top of supporting all those affected, the city is already looking into the future to see how this type of tragedy can be prevented.” 

For Mipim Asia’s organising team, it was clear that facing the tragedy head-on was an opportunity for the sector to come together and think about how our cities are being built. “We’re shining a light on the responsibility of all the stakeholders of the real-estate and urban-development sector because, in the end, we are the ones building these urban developments,” says the director of Mipim, Nicolas Boffi. For Boffi, this week is also about taking lessons back home and setting the tone for some of the conversations to be had in Cannes next March. “Looking east is very important,” says Boffi. “When you consider the way that modular construction has developed in Asia, it’s really interesting for most European countries looking for solutions to housing crises.”

With an estimated 45 per cent of the global population now living in cities and nine Asian metropolises in the top 10 of the world’s megacities (places with 10 million or more inhabitants), the lessons from this region are not to be taken for granted. Nations are building at pace to face the demands of rapid urbanisation but as Choi explains, it’s not just about out with the old and in with the new. “In around two decades, one in every two buildings will be aged 50 or above, so we need a lot of refurbishment, maintenance and preventative repair to ensure that the city can continue to be functional,” he says.

This is where platforms such as Mipim Asia play a pivotal role in getting the right partners around the same table. “It cannot be done by the government alone. We need to attract private-sector involvement, especially public capital, to actively participate in city renewal and provide a better living environment,” says Choi. 

There’s a reason why cities continue to grow – they’re magnetic and each have a specific rhythm. It’s only through frank conversations, shared lessons and sustainable growth that we can ensure they remain the best places to call home. In the wake of the deadly fire, Mipim Asia has delivered on that.

Carlota Rebelo is Monocle’s senior foreign correspondent. For more from Mipim Asia, listen to the latest episode of ‘The Urbanist’.

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Let’s start this Sunday with a thank you, merci and arigatō gozaimasu to all those readers who took up the call to subscribe to Monocle over the past few days, the many more who popped along to our Zürich Christmas Market last weekend and all those who were first through the doors at our markets in Paris, Tokyo and Toronto from early yesterday. Up next is our big number in London and a more bijou twirl from the team at our Wan Chai outpost in Hong Kong. If you happen to be in Paris today, please swing by 16 rue Bachaumont to say hello as I’ll be on hand to sign books and assist with any lingering 2025 marketing budgets that need to be spent over the coming weeks. Now, let’s dial back the clock and take stock of the week that was.

Monday, Cannes 
This year’s ILTM gathering on the Med drew a record crowd. Monocle was on hand with a full radio team and I was on stage talking to leaders from the cruise and longevity sectors about where their businesses are heading. The biggest winner must be Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri. As one CEO told me, “You can’t get a slot until 2035 if you want to build a vessel.” I was hoping that we might be able to secure a spot for the construction of the SS Monocle. Or perhaps we can overhaul a more classic and compact liner from the 1970s? I’m serious. It could be a whole new way to report, distribute and broadcast.

Tuesday, Frankfurt 
It was a civilised start from Nice up to Frankfurt and an absolute delight to connect onto a Lufthansa 747-8 to Tokyo Haneda Airport. The aircraft features Lufthansa’s old-school First Class and, in a world of boxed-in premium cubicles, the open-plan configuration feels airy and modern. As this will be up for retirement soon, perhaps we can also secure a few for the extension of our airline business.

Wednesday, Tokyo 
Christmas is not complete without a visit to Tokyo, especially when the sky is clear, the air crisp and the city lit up for the season. Ginza’s Wako department store gets top marks for the best windows and Ginza Six the best one-stop shopping destination for anyone who still has gifts to tick off their list. The best part of this little retail safari was having Tokyo virgins Luke and Max in tow. A small team dinner at Cignale Enoteca later that evening rounded off a perfect welcome; an elegant season starter for our Tokyo and Bangkok bureau chiefs, along with special advisor Brock-san.

Thursday, Tokyo 
Our Switzerland: The Monocle Handbook had its official launch at the Swiss ambassador’s residence and what a chic setup and great crowd. The boys and girls from kimono maker Yamato were looking splendid in their winter ensembles, Ryutaro Makino and his jazzy quartet were sounding hot with the Christmas carols and the ambassador did a fine pitch for a bit more Japan in Switzerland. Kanpai to that!

Friday, Munich 
At nearly 14 and a half hours, it was a seriously long haul from Haneda to Munich on a Lufthansa A350 fitted with its new Allegris product. While they get full credit for privacy up front, it’s a very dark and walled-in configuration that feels like no one gave it final sign-off. As for the big, polyester “cosy blanket”, it’s best if such details are not left to procurement.

Saturday, Paris 
Just touched down at CDG and will catch this fine city just as the lights go on and our Christmas Market kicks into cheery evening mode. Bon weekend!

Enjoying life in ‘The Faster Lane’? Click here to browse all of Tyler’s past columns.