You wouldn’t normally find Corsica on any list of “lucky” places. Since antiquity, the Mediterranean island’s historical narrative has been dominated by onerous tales of rebellion, romanticism and a consistent knack for failing to make profitable use of its strategic position.

Yet Calvi, on Corsica’s northern coast, occupies a small but vital place in the history of modern tourism. It’s all thanks to the intentions of one individual. And no, I’m not thinking of Napoleon, the island’s most famous son. 

More than 75 years ago, a plane chartered by UK-based firm Horizon Holidays took off from London bound for Calvi. The firm was set up by a Russian émigré called Vladimir Raitz, whose idea was to deliver an all-in-one holiday experience in which flights, hotels, food and entertainment were included in a single price.

If you’re thinking, “That sounds like a package holiday to me”, then you’re absolutely right. Raitz demoed this new idea with a group of schoolteachers in 1950. The following year tickets became available to the general public.

Despite its pioneering package-holiday offering, Calvi never became as overrun by tourists as other popular places in the region. Though it had first-mover advantage, Mediterranean glamour, cheap flights and a romantic origin story, the town avoided becoming a relic, a forgotten coastal destination or fly-and-flop resort. 

“We’re pretty busy in summer but a lot of the people who dine here arrive by yacht from the Côte d’Azur,” a local told me as I reclined outside Île de Beauté café eating a salade de chèvre chaud on a recent low-season trip.

Calvi failed – or, for my money, succeeded – due to a mix of geography, politics, culture and sheer awkwardness.

The first puzzle pieces are the mountains that frame the town. Compare the obdurate landscape here with the Costa Blanca’s endlessly buildable coastlines. Then there’s the fact that package tourism lives or dies on cheap access. Calvi might have welcomed those early package-holiday jets but its airport remained small with volatile, weather-dependent landings, limited runway expansion and fewer direct routes.

Then add in the attitude of postwar France, which prioritised domestic tourism and had a preference for small hotels, pensions and campsites. Spain did the exact opposite, welcoming overseas tour operators with open arms. It also invested heavily in airports under Francisco Franco in the 1960s and 1970s.

Wandering around Calvi’s bijou squares and narrow lanes, I can’t help but to feel that the atmosphere of the place is innately inimical to populist tourism. Then I read more about who actually went on that maiden Horizon Holidays trip.

As Raitz later recalled in his memoir Flight to the Sun, the people attracted to his idea were not those you might expect. Raitz typified his guests as “The man in the street [who] acquired a taste for wine, for foreign food, started to learn French, Spanish or Italian, made friends in the foreign lands he had visited; in fact [became] more ‘cosmopolitan’, with all that that entailed.”

Based on Raitz’s recollection, it seems that the package holiday began with quixotic ideals before mutating into predictability, big hotels, English breakfasts, familiar nightlife and repeatable experiences.

And yet it’s difficult to identify a single quantifiable way to keep a pretty French coastal town such as Calvi from swapping the auberge for the all-inclusive, or the broody citadel for the bawdy souvenir stand. But it certainly helps to have a lot of mountains in the vicinity – and a motto along the lines of, “Whatever Spain did in the 1960s, let’s be forever grateful that we didn’t.”

Rob Crossan is a London-based journalist. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Running a city in today’s world requires grit and gumption. For some mayors, city management includes helping ageing populations to live better in their twilight years, while others work to politically engage young people. Developing parks, healthcare plans and accessible transportation are the goals for many mayors, and securing affordable housing is top of mind for most. Whether the city is in Portugal, Finland, Italy or London, the core realities of the job are the same: to help people live better lives in the place they call home.

Monocle spoke to several mayors and deputy mayors at Mipim, an annual real-estate conference in Cannes, France, about the challenges, projects and opportunities that they face in their cities. These conversations have been edited for clarity and length.

What are the main challenges that your city faces?
Silvia Salis, mayor of Genoa
Our city has one of the highest average ages in Europe. So the challenge is to convince young people to stay and invest in Genoa. For this reason, we need [to find] a good balance in the relationship between the public and the private [sectors] for investment and development of new projects. [We have a] university that could grow a lot in the future, so we must invest in student housing and find cultural and events programmes for young people. We want them to be happy in our city.

Tom Copley, deputy mayor of London for housing and residential development
We [have been] affected by rising construction costs and the cost of materials, by Brexit, the war in Ukraine – all of those things. But there are three things in particular that have impacted London disproportionately, largely because of the nature of our built environment. The introduction of the building-safety regulator [was botched], which led to enormous delays before spades could even go in the ground and developments could get started on site. Thankfully, that is now being reformed.

Carlos Moedas, mayor of Lisbon
Attracting young talent is fantastic but you have to invest in social welfare to counterbalance the idea that if people come to your city, the real-estate prices increase. Since my first term, I have maintained that for every euro that the city invests in culture, innovation or technology, we need to invest tenfold in social welfare. For example, in Lisbon, residents over 65 have a city health plan where they can call a doctor to their home for free. And we now own more than 22,000 apartments, which means that nearly 12 per cent of our population lives in housing owned by the municipality. That’s not just social housing but also affordable housing, so that professionals can afford their rent and are able to live in the city.

Tell us about some projects that you’re working on.
Piia Elo, mayor of Turku, Finland
Turku has an ambitious target to become carbon neutral by 2029. We still have issues with traffic but if we can solve those, we’re heading toward our goal. We are trying to make a new tramway – that’s a decision that we’re going to make this spring – to attract more people [to use] public transport. We’re building new lanes and roads for that, so even more people can use either the tram, ride a bike or walk.

Silvia Salis, mayor of Genoa
We have four main projects. The first is the redevelopment of our biggest stadium. We want to have a place where you can watch a football match, attend a concert or another big event. [The second project is] the Giacomo Carlini Stadium, a multifunctional venue that can help [residents of] the city live their days through sport. We have a project about tourism too: the Granarolo-Begato Sports Park, with mountain biking, trekking, climbing and a lot of other activities. The last one is a healthcare and social programme called Free Sport for people over 65 years old. We have to think about projects that can help older people to face the future in good shape.

Tom Copley, deputy mayor of London for housing and residential development
London needs housing, so our plan at the moment is [to build] 52,000 [homes annually], which is the statutory target. But the target announced by the UK government is 88,000 homes per year and we fully expect that to be the target in the next London plan. The question is: how do we plan for 88,000 homes over 10 years?

Raffaele Laudani, deputy mayor of Bologna for urban planning
In recent years, Bologna has become a key strategic European [partner] on big data and artificial intelligence. We host the second strongest supercomputer in the world for AI – the so-called Leonardo – and around it, a new ecosystem of knowledge and technology is emerging. There is an ecosystem of research centres and universities that is already operating in a quadrant of the city. We are redefining our policies around this flagship project, which we’re calling the City of Knowledge, to attract new start-ups and firms.

Roberto Gualtieri, mayor of Rome
We are pushing public transportation. We are investing billions in improving the accessibility of the city with metro, tram, train and new buses. We have a climate-adaptation programme, which is extremely ambitious, and we are planting a million trees in Rome. Rome is [the greenest] city in Europe: about a third of Rome is parks, a third is agriculture and a third is built. Few people know that and the green part is a strong asset. We are investing a lot to improve [our citizens’] quality of life. 

Carlos Moedas, mayor of Lisbon
When I compare [Lisbon] to other cities, there’s something that you can’t describe – almost like the soul of the city. As its mayor, it’s crucial [that I] maintain that identity. We have created different programmes: there’s one to protect historic shops and another for owners of small libraries. One of the most successful initiatives is a scheme in which we loan spaces for free to locals who might want to start a business in their neighbourhood. Some have become cafés, others tailors or small independent shops. These shopfronts would otherwise be empty. By helping people to create their own businesses, we are adding to the identity of the city.

How are you engaging young people?
Silvia Salis, mayor of Genoa
I’m attracting public and private capital to Genoa for student housing. That’s the first step. Then we are building a cultural programme with many events for young people. They have to feel that the administration sees them. A big problem in Italy is that young people don’t follow politics. They don’t believe in politics because politics don’t speak to them. A good administration must speak to them, even if they don’t vote. We have to think about them – about their tastes, about their future and even about [how they spend] their spare time.

Piia Elo, mayor of Turku
We’re looking toward the future and how we can attract different businesses. [We want to build a] humane city, where it’s good to do business and it’s very safe. We also want to provide a good living [situation] for the students, so that they [want to] stay here. That’s where our politics are at the moment. 

How are you planning to improve the quality of life of your residents?
Silvia Salis, mayor of Genoa
The Granarolo-Begato Sports Park is a big project – a wonderful idea to connect the city to sport, open air and a green way of life. 

Piia Elo, mayor of Turku
We are investing in wellbeing and sustainability. That’s something that we really work on: the cultural atmosphere of tolerance. We’re the fastest-growing city in Finland and I would say that we also invest a lot in services such as schools and safety – everything that makes a city a good place to live in. So it’s not only about investment but also how the city can support the people that live there.

How are you thinking of designing your cities around the needs of people?
Silvia Salis, mayor of Genoa
We must construct services [that you can get to] in 15 minutes. Genoa is a polycentric city: it has many historical centres. It’s important for us that services stay close to the people.

Tom Copley, deputy mayor of London for housing and residential development
One of the big [challenges] that cities, such as London, have in terms of people wanting to live there [is that it] is affordability. We can do a lot more to address those challenges: we need to be thinking about how we get more buildings to rent. For example, we need to look at creating good options for older people to downsize, which frees up larger family-sized homes for people that need them. We also need to focus on social and affordable housing. If we’re going to deliver at the scale we need, we need the diversity of tenure and options in our housing market.

Raffaele Laudani, deputy mayor of Bologna for urban planning
Bologna is famous for its plan for the historical centre, which produced the conservation of the historical patrimony but also its social dimensions. If, today in Bologna, we still have 50,000 residents from different social classes living in the same historical centre, it was because of that plan and the idea of making the area liveable for all. 

Economic development, social justice and environmental justice have to work together. We do it with the different actors of our territory, combining economic development, private profit and social justice. It’s complicated to keep the balance between social welfare and economic development but it’s something that we work on.

Carlos Moedas, mayor of Lisbon
The first thing – and this is a bit of my own dream for Lisbon – is to properly connect the city to the waterfront. We have a train that runs from Estoril into Lisbon and essentially cuts between the city centre and the river. I want to move this below ground so that people can walk from one side to the other. But that’s a 10-year project that can’t be done in a day. Then I want to turn to transportation. We are building the first new tramline since the 1960s to connect the centre of Baixa with a new park [to enliven] the east of the city.
Read the full conversation with Carlos Moedas.

Over the past century or so there have been three serious attempts to establish what is generally referred to as a “rules-based order”: a framework by which international relations and disputes might be managed by means other than violence. The first two of these – the League of Nations and the United Nations – were responses to world wars. The third, and more amorphous, followed the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. It included such milestones as the US leading a coalition equipped with a UN Security Council resolution to evict the Iraqi military from Kuwait in 1991, and the establishment of the World Trade Organisation in 1995. It was a period in which globalisation, powered by the nascent internet, was largely regarded with optimism. In retrospect, it feels more like hubris.

The difficulty with any rules-based order is that it will always principally burden and constrain the great powers, who are obliged to throw their weight around in the service of the common good. As has been repeatedly demonstrated this century by Russia, the US and China, great powers tend to regard rules as either a nuisance or as irrelevant. Nobody wanted Russia to invade Ukraine. Nobody but Israel appears enthused about the American operations in Iran. Everyone would prefer it if China desisted from pestering its neighbours. But who is going to stop them – and how?

These are among the questions considered in Surviving Chaos: Geopolitics When The Rules Fail, a new book (out April 2026) by Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. The book posits that we have embarked on an age of what Leonard calls “un-order”: a multi-polar world in which yesterday’s assumptions could start seeming old-fashioned quite quickly.

Mark Leonard spoke to Monocle’s Andrew Mueller on The Foreign Desk. The following conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

If we look at what is happening in Iran and Ukraine, is this what the ‘un-ordered’ multi-polar world is going to be like?
What’s happening in the Gulf tells us that the rules-based order is over. Those basic ideas of how countries should operate, of the sovereign equality of states… they’re all for the birds. What we’re seeing is a much more chaotic and disruptive situation. The progress from a military conflict to one in which people are [manipulating] global energy markets and supply chains – almost all the different things that tie the world together have been turned into tools of political power. 

Where does this cycle of crisis end?
I don’t think it will end. It’s very easy to see Donald Trump as the cause of global chaos. In just the first few months of this year, he has launched an attack on Venezuela, threatened to annex Greenland and now he’s in Iran, and so many people think that chaos comes with an orange face. But he’s more a symptom of the fundamental things going on that are pushing the world towards disorder and chaos. These big structural changes are turning all of our assumptions upside down. 

In your book, you write that we need to move away from thinking that international organisations will protect our security. Isn’t that a recipe for a world of armed camps?
I look at two ways of thinking about order and I contrast them. One is the idea of architects, who try to build structures and institutions that can protect us. Another is what I call artisans. They’re people who, rather than thinking that you can build these big structures and institutions, try to understand where the world is going and surf the wave of chaos, making [themselves] more resilient, more adaptable and better able to find a way through uncertainty. [They] test things out, [take old things] and reinvent them for new purposes. [They’re] more nimble and more experimental, and see the world as a laboratory. 

It’s the artisan’s approach that allowed China to guess where the world was going, as far as technology is concerned, and to forge ahead in areas such as electric vehicles, AI and green technologies. The big challenge, particularly for Europeans, is how to get out of a mindset in which our goal is to preserve the status quo, towards one where we try to understand where the world is going and how we can still be standing at the end of the enormous changes that are coming our way.

Where does that leave countries that aren’t emergent superpowers? Are we back in a Thucydidean world where the strong do what they can while the weak suffer what they must?
One of the big advantages of the EU is that it allows small and medium-sized countries to huddle together, to have scale and to set their own terms. Rather than thinking about having global institutions, they can do things together. However it is true that we are seeing power return to the stage as the main way that decisions get made, it’s more important than international law and institutions. I don’t think it’s a positive thing at all but if you want to be able to protect yourself in that kind of world, it does mean that you need to be able to speak the language of power. 

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s swing through Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar this past weekend was billed as diplomacy. It was, more importantly, a sales trip and a rather deft one at that. In Jeddah, Abu Dhabi and Doha, Zelensky was not simply asking for sympathy, cash or a few more polite communiques. He was offering something rarer in 2026: a war-tested security product that these wealthy states suddenly need. Saudi Arabia signed a defence-co-operation arrangement with Kyiv; the UAE agreed a security and defence deal; and Qatar went further, signing a 10-year intergovernmental defence partnership that includes coproduction facilities and technological partnerships.

All of this matters because the Gulf is no longer insulated by distance, balance sheets or American hardware. Iranian attacks and the disruption around the Strait of Hormuz have made the region feel more vulnerable than it has in many years, while global oil markets have again been reminded that geography, not confidence, sets the terms. In Abu Dhabi, Zelensky and the UAE’s president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, discussed Iranian strikes, the Strait of Hormuz blockade and the effects on the oil market. In Doha, Zelensky and the Qatari leadership explicitly framed their talks around protecting life and preventing the regional war from expanding. Zelensky’s wager is that Ukraine can now market itself not just as a front-line democracy worth defending but also as a security donor in its own right. That is a notable shift. 

Zelensky’s own formulation is blunt. “As a result of the war we are going through,” he wrote, “and because our enemy is extensively using the Iranian ‘Shahed’ drone technology, we have developed our own system.” He added that Ukraine is now sharing what it has built with countries in the Middle East and that “we have shifted the geopolitical landscape”. That might sound grandiose but it’s broadly true. 

The real story is not that Zelensky has discovered what the Gulf can do for Ukraine. It is that the Gulf has discovered Ukraine in a new register. Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Doha are accustomed to buying finished systems from Washington, Paris and London. Ukraine is pitching something different: battlefield know-how, fast adaptation, cheaper interception and production partnerships. Qatar’s agreement is the clearest sign of where this is heading. Coproduction is not diplomatic theatre – it is industrial policy. It suggests that at least some Gulf capitals have concluded that in an era of drones, missiles and uncertain supply chains, sovereignty depends as much on manufacturing lines and software integration as on flashy procurement announcements. 

There is, admittedly, a moral queasiness to all this. Zelensky is effectively arbitraging one war into leverage for another. He is doing so while the Middle East is already under attack and while Ukraine still depends on outside support to survive Russia’s invasion. Yet it would be naive to pretend that there is a better option. The West is distracted, arsenals are stretched and Kyiv needs cash, investment and air-defence depth. If Europe has been slow and the US erratic, then Zelensky is right to look for buyers and benefactors. 

Still, charm offensives can curdle into overreach. Ukraine’s greatest asset is its credibility, earned at a terrible cost. If Kyiv begins to sound too pleased with its new role as a merchant of wartime expertise, it risks blurring the line between resilience and commodification. Zelensky should be careful here. The pitch works best when it is sober: Ukraine understands the Shahed threat because it has lived under it and it can help others to prepare. 

Even so, the Gulf tour looks like one of Zelensky’s most intelligent diplomatic gambits. He arrived not as a supplicant but as the head of a country that has turned necessity into exportable expertise. And in an age when wars bleed into markets, infrastructure and logistics, this is a practical form of statecraft. Kyiv is still fighting for survival. But in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, Zelensky has shown that survival, if managed properly, can itself become a business model. 

Inzamam Rashid is Monocle’s Gulf correspondent. Here he considers whether Pakistan can broker the peace that Washington and Tehran cannot.

Inside Cathay Pacific’s latest Airbus a350-900 flight simulator, captain Chris Kempis adjusts the controls with an easy familiarity, toggling the view from day to dusk and into night. The British-born pilot-turned-board member has spent more than three decades with Hong Kong’s de-facto flag carrier. During this time, he’s flown, managed and now oversees its flight-operations strategy from Cathay City – the airline’s headquarters near Hong Kong International Airport.

One of the world’s leading airlines, Cathay Pacific is flying high again after a disruptive pandemic. More than 20 destinations were launched or restored in 2025, from Adelaide to Ürümqi, bringing the passenger network to more than 100 destinations. A new business-class suite is being rolled out across the fleet and a first class will be launched alongside delivery of Boeing’s new 777-9s. As well as the airline’s network rebuild, Kempis is helping to roll out new tools to shape how Cathay Pacific’s crews work. He sat down with Monocle to discuss sharpening operations, what it takes to prepare crews and how technology is changing flight.

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Guide us through a typical day…
No day is ever the same: aviation is dynamic. A tariff decision in the US may affect routes or geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East; extreme weather is now a bigger challenge or it could be a new international regulation. While we are governed by the laws of aviation within Hong Kong and, to some extent, the Chinese mainland, we must still comply with other regulatory regimes, which don’t always align. Some governments have very close relationships with their airlines, making the global playing field uneven. If there was a greater degree of harmonisation across different jurisdictions it would make our job easier.

Speaking of extreme weather, how do you prepare for a typhoon?
When Typhoon Ragasa came through in September [2025], it was the biggest to hit Hong Kong since Mangkhut in 2018. The first step is establishing certainty: is it really coming, and how close? We rely on weather models from Japan, Hong Kong, Europe, the US and China, and once they all align, we can start planning two to four days out. From there, it becomes a timing exercise. Can we keep operating and if not, for how long? Which longhaul flights can still arrive safely? When can the first departures resume?

Typhoon Ragasa threatened to shut the airport for 36 hours…
For Ragasa, aircraft parking was the main challenge. With a long closure window, too many aircraft would be stuck in Hong Kong. We work out how many we can safely keep here, where to park them, even adding fuel to make them heavier. The rest we try to move out. For the first time, Cathay Pacific worked with its global team to secure parking across airports around Southeast Asia and the Chinese mainland. I thought that we might be offered 10 or 15 slots. They came back asking, “How many do you want: 45, 50?” As Ragasa approached, we had aircraft heading into Wuhan, Fuzhou and Shanghai, lined up like a co-ordinated military operation. It was remarkable teamwork.

What does pilot recruitment look like in 2026?
The biggest number that we’re recruiting for is at the cadet level. There’s a 13 to 18 month lead time for training and we’re seeing the results of that now. The last of this big wave comes through next year, then we move back to a steadier state of about 180 to 200 pilots a year. The biggest challenge has been making sure we have enough pilots trained on the right aircraft to match route demand. You can’t rush it. We’re also looking more broadly for talent. Mainland China is a key source and we now have about 60 cadets recruited from the mainland who compete on equal terms with applicants from Hong Kong and elsewhere.

How do new cadets compare to when you first got your wings?
The fundamentals haven’t changed. Pilots need to be fit and medically sound – it’s a demanding job. We want people who’ve always looked at aircraft and thought, “I want to fly that.” What has changed is technology: aircrafts are incredibly automated now. You need someone who can bridge the technical and digital aspects of flying but also have the “old days” skills of handling an aircraft.

How is flying changing?
It’s been incredible to see how much more reliable automation on aircraft has become. A big innovation for us is the Electronic Flight Folder, developed in-house. It replaces a 12-page paper flight plan with a digital, real-time tool on the iPad. It tracks fuel, routes, traffic, alternative airports and turbulence reports from other aircraft. Pilots can see upcoming bumps and alert cabin crew. But as a pilot, staying current means practising take-offs and landings regularly. Automation helps but being hands-on ensures we can manage any situation safely.

This article is from Monocle’s newspaper The Hong Kong Correspondent, which is available to purchase now. In its pages, we meet the entrepreneurs going against the grain, survey fresh projects that are reshaping Central and give you a taste of what the fashionable Hong Konger is wearing about town. Plus: Monocle’s favourite places to eat, drink and be merry. Purchase your copy today.

Following last week’s general elections, Danish lawmakers are locked in the routine negotiations that come with forming a coalition government. The closed-door talks are led by the kongelig undersøger or “royal investigator”, which sounds like a great pitch for a new detective series but is actually the party leader appointed by the king after receiving the most combined backing from other parties. Fans of the TV show Borgen will be familiar with the protocol. 

In the run-up to last Tuesday’s election, wily old stager and current foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, put himself forward for the role. Løkke, as he is known, recently rose to global prominence after his celebratory cigarette outside the White House following talks with the US government over Greenland in January. But he is also a former prime minister, once leader of Venstre (Denmark’s main centre-right party) and currently leading his own party Moderaterne (The Moderates). Løkke’s move was met with much eye-rolling from rival leaders familiar with his political machinations. The role of kongelig undersøger instead went to prime minister Mette Frederiksen, leader of the Social Democrats, which, against expectations, only won 38 seats. It’s the party’s worst election result in more than a century.

Frederiksen’s outgoing government had been an unholy alliance – “across the middle”, as it was called – with former deadly rivals, Venstre, and Løkke’s Moderaterne as the sandwich filling. Venstre has been so wounded by being in power with her that its popularity plummeted to an all-time low. There is little chance that it would seek a coalition with the prime minister again as that would likely be terminal.

There are now 12 parties in parliament, most of them with 10 to 20 MPs. A total of 90 is needed to form a majority, which is more difficult than it has been in the past, largely because Løkke intentionally broke the traditional red- versus blue-block division in Danish politics when he formed Moderaterne, blowing the whole negotiation process wide open. 

Trying to get these politicians to form a majority makes cat-herding look like a relaxing mindfulness exercise. The challenge is not helped by some of the deep enmities festering among the party leaders. Both heads of the far-right parties, Dansk Folkeparti (the Danish People’s Party) and Danmarksdemokraterne (Denmark’s Democrats), have refused to form a government with Løkke. The aversion is not so much political as personal. Løkke, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with the far-left Enhedslisten (the Red Green Alliance). 

That leaves us with the first round of talks involving (take a deep breath, folks): the Social Democrats, the resurgent Socialistisk Folkeparti (Green Left or, literally the Socialist People’s Party), the Konservatives (Conservatives) and Radikale (the Radicals, a centre-left party, not really that radical) and, of course, Løkke. Despite losing two seats, he still, somehow, finds himself as the kingmaker, with the 14 deciding seats in parliament. Rather optimistically, Venstre, Enhedslisten and the far-left Alternativet have also been invited, for now at least. 

Presented with such a melange, only a deeply foolish man would risk making a prediction. So here’s mine: Denmark will end up with a minority government led by Frederiksen that will rely on far-left and moderate right-wing parties for support on an ad hoc basis. The country has been here before. In fact, Danes seem to quite enjoy the sport of it all – to the extent that some media outlets are currently offering popular “build your own majority” online games. And though it is perhaps not the ideal basis on which to move forward in such tumultuous times, this is, above all, a pragmatic country. 

For now, Denmark must await the white smoke from Løkke’s pipe to herald a new government. 

Michael Booth is Monocle’s Copenhagen correspondent. 

Further reading: 
–Martin Krasnik is the newspaper veteran restoring trust in the media with Denmark’s most resilient title

– Should Denmark take over the Shetland Islands?

– Denmark has never had it so good. So why are its voters so unhappy?

Hospitality can be a demanding game. Hotels get turned down at a rapid clip and restaurants often operate on a knife’s edge. But among the chaos there remains countless ventures that endure – and over Monocle’s nearly two decades of reporting we’ve seen new openings shape neighbourhoods, heard our share of remarkable revival stories and gleaned insights from leading figures who have managed to keep their venues relevant. 

For our April issue we sat down with veteran hotelier Thierry Teyssier, who opened the 14-suite Dar Ahlam in Morocco almost 25 years ago. During our interview, Teyssier distilled his learnings into a manifesto for well-thought-out hospitality.

Following our conversation with Teyssier we dug into our archives to find further tips from the industry’s best minds. So for those wanting to set up shop, put their own venture on the right track or expand their footprint, take note.

1.
Make hospitality inviting, not strict
“Why should a room only be accessible from 16.00?” he says, arguing that hospitality has become too rigid a framework. 

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2.
Hosting is an act of embrace
“Classic hospitality doesn’t allow for differences and prefers docile, predictable guests. But hospitality should embrace otherness,” he encourages.

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3.
Restore the soul of places
“A room in Bangkok could be mistaken for one in New York. A Miami lobby could pass for a foyer in Casablanca,” he says. “Hospitality should feel like a dialogue: a silent conversation between place and guest.”

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4.
A hotel should be a bridge to the world, not a bubble
“Welcoming is never about enclosing; it is about opening up. Hospitality shouldn’t be a shield or separate the traveller from the place; it should immerse them in it.”

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5.
Don’t impress, amaze
“Amazement is a subtle art,” he says. “It has nothing to do with grandeur, ostentatious luxury or spectacular performances. It’s about touching, not dazzling.”

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6.
Location, location, location
Gero Fasano, owner of the Fasano Group

“We identify places where we’re confident that there’ll be an audience [for us], such as London and Paris. It’s like filling the gaps in a game of Risk and occupying territories that we know will add more value to the company. For now, that’s it. We won’t open a hotel in Nevada any time soon.” [read more]

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7.
Simplify design
Jeremy King, founder of Jeremy King Restaurants

“The most important thing is practicality, restaurant designers so often fail to understand that. There needs to be a simplicity of design. My oft-repeated phrase is ‘Great design should never shout for attention but should withstand scrutiny’. That’s the essence of it and that’s why Shayne [my longtime creative collaborator] and I work so well together. Sometimes I’ll say ‘TTH’ (‘trying too hard’). Restraint is so important and you garner much more authority through restraint.” [read more]

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8.
Canvass local opinion
Prisca Llagostera, founder of L’Ovella Negra Mountain Lodge and Kokos Huis

“Spend time in each area. Go in quietly and observe, absorb and talk to people. You must listen to what the community wants. When you open your hotels you will have the community backing you, which is very important.” [read more]

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9.
Avoid clichés
Toni Hinterstoisser, international president of Trunk hotels 

“Our properties are created by Tokyoites who embody the spirit of contemporary Japan. Rather than rely on symbolic markers such as shoji doors and tatami floors, we carry a modern expression of the capital through the lens of hospitality, craftsmanship and design.” [read more]

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10.
Invest in leaders
Edo López, founder of the Edo Kobayashi Group

“You can have a big army but you must have generals that you can trust.”  
[read more]

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11.
Scale up without losing brand appeal
Andrew Zobler, founder and CEO of the Sydell Group

“Our company is run in a familial way and a lot of our people have been involved from the beginning. What we do is borrow the best things from Hilton [which acquired the Sydell Group, whose portfolio includes the Nomad, The Line and Freehand hotels, in 2024] but keep the service, culture and design close [to what we had]. When we open Nomad Singapore, we’re going to send employees from London to transfer the culture. I’ll be here to immerse people in our history and [share] what we’re trying to achieve, and then [we want] them to be themselves. We don’t believe in scripting people.” [read more]

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12.
Broaden your horizons
Christophe Laure, head of luxury and lifestyle at IHG

“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.” [read more]

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13.
Don’t dilute your identity
Pablo Carrington, founder and CEO of Marugal

“The big mistake is trying to be everything for everybody. That’s when you end up losing your concept. We have a very clear idea of what we are.” [read more]

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14.
Renovate with a soft touch
Stephan Bösch, managing director of Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa

“The danger of renewing everything is that you erase the soul that makes a place special, something that takes generations to grow. In the fireplace room, every piece of furniture still sits where it always has.” [read more]

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15.
Recognise loyalty
Luca Allegri, president and managing director of Le Bristol

“Some 30 to 35 per cent of our clients are returning guests and we want to show them that their future stays are as important as their past stays. For example, we have a family from New York that has been staying in the same suite for the past 25 years. To show them how much we appreciate their loyalty, we approached them during the renovation of the suite to share the plans with them. We then designed the layout of the room together and they changed the placement of the bed.” [read more]

Read next: How an American chef broke through the Parisian culinary scene to open Chez Carrie

Is it a cold? Could it be jet lag? Have I now joined the ranks of those who suffer from hay fever? Or could it be the morning after a rather extraordinary evening that saw the cosy lounge at our Zürich HQ transformed into a slightly Swissy take on a Ginza hostess bar? For a moment it looked like our Gin-züri evening (three years after edition one) wouldn’t happen as the flights (booked months ago via Abu Dhabi) wouldn’t be operating and our Japanese mama-san and her hosts (“genki boys” as she calls them) wouldn’t be putting in an appearance. Thankfully, Etihad has been rebuilding its schedule since the start of the conflict across the Gulf and on Thursday morning the group of five arrived bright and early, 23 hours after taking off from Narita. 

On Friday my colleague Yuko took full charge of the kimono dressing and hair for both the Tokyo group and some local Swiss-Japanese who wanted to be on hand to support. You wouldn’t think that it would be a line of business in a small European city such as Zürich but there seems to be enough of a market to support two women who keep busy doing hair, makeup and dressing for locals and visitors who need full kimono styling and support. If you’ve never witnessed the prep and overall execution, it’s a proper production that goes on for hours. By early evening colleagues Guy and Rochdi had overhauled our ground-floor space to host 40 readers and clients for an evening of singing, chatter, drinking and gentle hip moves.

People often ask what defines Monocle, what makes us different from our competitors and what allows us to stand out in a crowded market. I used to go to lengths talking about our approach to journalism, our belief in print, our global reach and tone of voice, but recently I’ve been refining my definition and explaining that a key part of our offer is bringing people together, sparking discussion and hopefully adding a jolt of fun and hearty laughter along the way. The journalism and global reach are a given but hosting people daily in our cafés or plotting a special night around the mic – introducing the crowd to a bit of Miki Matsubara or reminding a packed room why it’s good to master a few Take That classics – is increasingly the special sauce that sets us apart. And no surprise, we want to do more! 

You’ll see a bit more of this message hitting pages and screens more often as we roll out a new campaign pushing the power of being part of Monocle’s global clan (you can get a head start by becoming a paid-up subscriber). Why join an online discussion when you can convene at our summits, in our recently opened townhouse and around the sunny tables at our spaces in London, Paris and Zürich?

Sticking with the Japanese theme, our Hanami Market in Zürich is currently in full swing and we’ll be hosting others over the coming weekends. Then, in four weeks’ time, we’ll be touching down in Shanghai for The Entrepreneurs conference – while launching a café and shop to accompany our deployment. 

My colleagues are cooking up a whole summer season of gatherings big and small in the lead-up to The Monocle Quality of Life conference in September (host city to be announced soon). To be part of it all (along with getting our fine editions in print, digital or both) you need only part with an amount that is considerably less than the cost of an espresso a day in dollars, euros or Swiss francs. See you somewhere seaside or perhaps in Shanghai super soon.

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

Ezra Groskin builds bridges, in every sense of those words. A director at London and Aberdeenshire-based practice Moxon Architects, Groskin designs bridges that align with the company’s ambition to deliver landscape-led infrastructure that also celebrates craft. Moxon has an impressive portfolio with work including a foot-and-bike crossing made from timber in Baiersbronn, Germany, and the Small Dean Viaduct in the English county of Buckinghamshire that will, once completed, carry high-speed trains.

For Groskin, however, the best bridges don’t only allow the swift traversing of a ravine or highway. They also unite communities and encourage human interaction, placemaking and even loitering (in the nicest sense possible).

“At the Coal Drop Yards development [at King’s Cross in London], we designed two bridges,” he says. “The first one was just about getting people on foot and bicycle from point A to B, but a few years later the developer brought us back to do a second bridge, 100 metres down the canal. And this one was different. It was about creating [a place] where people would come and linger – a bridge where people would say ‘let’s go meet on the red bridge, then we’ll get dinner’. It’s a destination bridge,” he adds of the steel Espérance Bridge.

Groskin fell into the profession by accident. “I trained as an architect in the US and became obsessed with structures that express their function,” he says. “I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as a bridge architect until moving to London in 2008. I was interviewing at different practices and one of them had a bridge team – and I ended up learning the trade.”

Bridges are places to linger
What has kept Groskin building bridges is that it’s a trade in which engineering and design come together, allowing him to create physical connections that are attractive, expressive and enjoyable to use. Yet to deliver a truly great bridge, it’s important to explain to a client that they have the potential to provide more than a functional connection. “With a lot of bridges, you invite people to linger in the middle,” he says. “You make the bridge wider at its highest point so that you can have some seating there. That way you’re making a place where people can stop and rest, which also invites you to stay, look at the view and see what’s going on.”

Moxon’s designs are stripped back, lean and often free of visible supports. Groskin explains that there has been a general shift away from the elaborate bridges that made headlines at the turn of the century, sometimes for the wrong reasons (London’s Millennium Bridge is still called the “Wobbly Bridge” by some in reference to a problem at its unveiling – since fixed – where it would sway if too many people traversed it in unison). “There was a race to see who could make the slimmest bridge or the most ambitious bridge. You put all this effort into the engineering and ended up with complicated structures that were difficult to maintain. Clients realised that maybe it wasn’t worth it,” he says.

Meandering crossings are the way to go
There’s another trend that Groskin points to: meandering bridges designed to slowly get you to where you need to be. In part, this trend is born from the need to create new urban routes for cyclists and keeping them moving at a leisurely pace especially when sharing a crossing with pedestrians. Indeed, Moxon has become something of an ambassador for such structures. “These bridges zigzag across an obstacle and there’s another functional element: they can get you up a hill without actually going straight up it,” says Groskin. “As you zigzag, you also get to see the structure of the bridge around the corner and see what’s holding you up.”

Building bridges is also about, well, building bridges. It’s when speaking about his work’s potential to unite people that you see why Groskin has stuck to the trade. “We recently finished a project north of Worcester, [England]. It’s an area where there are students on one side as well as a lot of older retired people, and the bridge connects a park to a new community. The next nearest bridge is 10 miles (16km) upstream. I don’t think that we anticipated the impact the bridge would have on these communities. You have people who have lived on opposite sides of the river for years and were never able to visit their friends [as easily as] they can now,” says Groskin. “It’s a small thing but it is influencing the daily lives of people, expanding their network, changing their habits.”

Here are 10 of Groskin’s favourite bridges, from New York and Cornwall to Switzerland and Vermont.

1.
The covered bridges of Vermont
Designed by: Various
Location: Vermont, US
The Gold Brook Covered Bridge – otherwise known as Emily’s Bridge – is a favourite. I grew up swimming under it most summer afternoons, long before I discovered or appreciated bridge design. So many of the lessons that I’m learning today about materials, craft and culture are embedded in these bridges and vernacular structures.

2.
Brooklyn Bridge
Designed by: John A Roebling, Washington Roebling and Emily Warren Roebling
Location: New York, USA
A classic for good reason. I spent two years commuting over this bridge along the elevated walk-and-cycle way. It’s a landmark where function trumps aesthetics – a critical connector within the city. It taught me how to use a bridge as a resident and visitor. Crossing this bridge was a chance for me to transition from home to work and back. 

3.
The High Line
Designed by: James Corner Field Operations, Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Piet Oudolf
Location: New York, USA
I’ve watched this New York project evolve over 20 years. It changed the way that we think about reuse and regeneration. While it’s now a park that winds its way along Manhattan’s West Side, it was originally an elevated rail link, transporting freight in and out of the city’s meatpacking district. As a continuous bridge with repetitive spans (a viaduct), it was an ideal opportunity for repurposing because it is wide and sturdy. The vision and commitment that made this project happen are commendable, as is the design, detailing and landscaping.  

4.
Sackler Crossing at Kew Gardens
Designed by: John Pawson and Buro Happold
Location: London, UK
This west London bridge is proof that a modest structure can be a delight to use when materials and details are well considered. It’s a simple array of stone planks with shaped bronze parapet posts sweeping along an S-shaped curve. The supporting structure is almost invisible as it hovers just above the water. It’s understated engineering and well-crafted architecture at its best, sitting perfectly in the garden setting.   

5.
Tintagel Castle Footbridge 
Designed by: Ney & Partners 
Location: Cornwall, UK
A stunning bridge in a stunning landscape. The form is daring, and the site is exposed and dramatic; crossing this bridge requires courage. The deck is made of slates on edge – a nod to its context and history that reads as a work of art. 

6.
Somers Town Bridge and Espérance Bridge
Designed by: Moxon Architects and Arup
Location: London, UK 
It was Somers Town Bridge (connecting Kings Cross to Camden) that drew me to Moxon Architects, where I’m now a director. A few years later, Espérance Bridge, which is just around the corner, proved that two bridges, linked in location and spirit, could take on very different forms. Both structures are contemporary responses to their Victorian industrial setting. The first is an ultra-efficient connector, its form optimised to span the canal. Its downstream cousin is an eyecatcher – an expressive, sculptural truss that invites users to cross and linger over the water and the adjacent canal-side urban theatre. 

7.
Léopold-Sédar-Senghor Footbridge
Designed by: Marc Mimram Architecture Ingénierie 
Location: Paris, France 
An ambitious urban bridge in a rich setting that connects different levels with ease. By linking both sides of the river at the bank and on the street, it caters to a range of desired lines of movement simultaneously. The articulated arch structure is both modern and in keeping with Paris’s collection of romantic heritage bridges.

8.
Lake Champlain Bridge
Designed by: Ted Zoli of HNTB
Location: New York to Vermont, US 
Innovating for all the right reasons in a very familiar landscape, this critical bridge is a replacement crossing that was built rapidly in a challenging environment. The approach spans that rise from the water were used to lift the entire arched span into place without conventional cranes. The form speaks to this process: functional, elegant and well composed.  

9.
Salginatobel Bridge
Designed by: Robert Maillart
Location: Schiers, Switzerland
A structure for the ultimate bridge-lover. Long before computer-aided engineering and design, this bridge pushed the limits of form and construction. It’s a clear expression of force, transferring bridge loads to the steep valley sides far below. It was built to connect a tiny community to the wider district, demonstrating the role that design can, and should, play in infrastructure.   

10.
Pùnt da Suransuns
Designed by: Conzett Bronzini Partner AG
Location: Viamala, Switzerland
One of several inspiring bridges in this gorge by Jürg Conzett. Perfect concept, detail and execution. Difficult access inspired solutions that appear simple and impossibly refined. I was fortunate to visit last summer with a group of pontists led by Jürg himself. I will certainly return to see the rest of the series.

Filmmaker Raoul Peck, also Haiti’s former culture minister, returns this weekend with his latest documentary: Orwell: 2+2=5. A decade in the making, the film centres on George Orwell’s final years, when the British writer was racing to finish 1984. 

Orwell’s words – brought to life by Damian Lewis – offer audiences a fresh take on how relevant and prophetic his work remains. As in the director’s previous, Bafta-winning documentary I Am Not Your Negro, Peck uses modern-day material and news footage to highlight how Orwell’s anxieties over coercion and manipulation have never been more pertinent. Assessing the rise of authoritarianism across the globe, attention is turned to the US and the patterns and connections between president Donald Trump’s public pronouncements and the dystopia of 1984. 

Peck’s film is both a critique and call to action; a reminder that resistance rests not with elites but with an engaged and organised public. Here, Peck discusses his research process, how his time in office as Haiti’s minister for culture and communication shaped the film and the relationship between art and democracy. 

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Listen to the full discussion on Monocle Radio. 

Why is George Orwell the right lens for you to tell this story?
Orwell delivered us the toolbox to understand what’s going on in the world. He was warning us of things that he went through himself; he experienced the degradation that we are witnessing with his own body. He was able to describe to us how any authoritarian regime or power can gain control of us. It was true in the 1940s. It was true in the 1950s. It’s true today.

How did you get into the essence of Orwell as a man?
Through his work. To understand a writer’s motivation, you need to go back to see where he lived and what he did. That’s exactly what I did. Orwell didn’t hide what he had to do as an imperial policeman or during his time in the Spanish Civil War. He put his life at risk and went to fight for justice and a new type of democracy. He was a [democratic] socialist but he was never a dogmatic socialist. It was always about being able to criticise your own party, your own position or whatever you felt was not right.

How were you able to bring your own personal experiences into the film – your time as culture minister in Haiti, for instance? 
I was privileged enough to go into politics for two years; I was requested not just to be a critic but to be an actor in a very tough situation in my own country. It was all about asking: how do you really restore democracy? How do you make sure that the previous authoritarian regime doesn’t come back? I had no problem leaving cinema behind because I came to it to be active, to change whatever I felt was not right in our world.

You portray the news media as having a very powerful effect in supporting authoritarian structures. Do you believe that film has the power to change that?
Film is an incredible platform to access people and confront them with things that they don’t confront on a daily basis. The press has been totally degraded. Newspapers, magazines, radio and television have been bought by billionaires and that has an impact. 

A theme throughout is that if there is hope for the future, it lies with the morality of the masses – do you share this view? 
Change will not happen within the party. I see with my own participation in fights – whether in Haiti, Congo, France or Germany – it’s always the civil society that at one point decides to say ‘Stop!’ We lived through it in Minneapolis recently. It was the population who decided that it was going too far. The whole history of humankind has been a history of fighting against a system that is not responding to the will of its citizens – and that’s what democracy is as well. That’s the best tool we’ve found to fight back.

‘Orwell: 2+2=5’ is in cinemas now. Hear the conversation with Raoul Peck on Monocle Radio here.