Society
Editor’s letter: The power of determination
From ageless artists and independent labels to new frontiers in foreign policy, Monocle’s November issue celebrates those who stand firm in their principles and prove that resolve never goes out of style.
Opinion
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Why Italy’s beaches became a battleground this summer
Italian beachgoers are experiencing spiralling fees and shrinking free sand. As debate rages, the question is whether the coastline is for the people – or for profit?
What €74,000 a year will buy you at Switzerland’s most remote boarding school
Children are often kept indoors as cold weather bites – but do they learn better by braving the chill? At Préfleuri, we discover why a nature-based education offers a true breath of fresh air.
Vienna’s most naked secret lives in the open on the Danube
The Austrian capital’s artificial island hosts a community of nudists keeping the 19th-century tradition of “free bodies” alive. Here’s what one writer learned from those with nothing to hide.
The Battle of Denny Blaine: Nudists vs prudists on Seattle’s lakefront
A nudist beach. A children’s playground. An embattled mayor. And a chain-link fence. The common thread is a sordid and silly episode that has roiled Seattle’s politics – and its summer by the lake.…
How the Faroe Islands reversed the brain drain of an ageing population
The small community found a big answer to an ageing population crisis
An architect’s perspective on what city slickers can learn from country folk
There’s a stereotype that people in the countryside are resistant to change. This could not be further from the truth. In Referinghausen, a village where I grew up in the Sauerland region of southwestern…
This human history expert says we’re wired to work, not relax – but here’s why it’s a good thing
Is it time to rethink work? Journalist Albert Steck asks economist Hans-Joachim Voth why meaningful labour may be key to our wellbeing, and why humans might be built more for purpose than pleasure.
Seduction, power, and murder: inside the 2,000-year reign of the gigolo
Handsome, charming, and often dangerous, gigolos have played surprising roles in history. From philosophers’ companions to jet-set playboys, these men knew how to turn beauty into power.
Liberté, Égalité, Manifestation: The art of the French protest
The joys and pains of the French revolutionary spirit.
