The Monocle Minute

Turkey is in the throes of a ruthless purge. The government wants to root out any last sympathisers to Friday’s coup, especially those believed to have links to the exiled religious leader Fethullah Gulen, and the outpouring of support for president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has given the government carte blanche in its search. Public-sector employees are banned from leaving the country, thousands of military personnel have been detained and a major bank was closed on Monday. There’s even been talk of parliament reinstating the death penalty, which the EU has rightly recoiled at. Erdogan and the ruling party may have rallied the nation to its rescue but now they need to prove that democracy – which they claim to represent – has survived intact.

You’ve heard “Make America Great Again” but what about “Make America Safe Again"? This was precisely the key theme for the opening night of the four-day Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. The aim? To show strength – particularly in light of the recent Baton Rouge shootings – highlight Obama’s apparent failings and have a dig at Hillary Clinton by wheeling out the odd Benghazi veteran. The event was a family affair too: Monday evening saw Melania Trump introduced by the man himself before he briskly flew back to New York. Not wishing to overshadow proceedings, Donald won’t be back until Wednesday. He’s humble like that.

While the aftermath of Thursday’s deadly attack in Nice was somewhat overshadowed by news of Turkey’s failed coup, precious few details have emerged from the investigation in the French coastal city. Security officials have yet to establish any link between Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel and Isis, despite the latter claiming responsibility for the attack, and a handful of arrests have been made, including an Albanian couple on Sunday. Meanwhile, the attack’s impact on French politics has been revealing: a fresh poll conducted by newspaper Le Figaro shows a plunge in the public’s confidence in president François Hollande’s counterterrorism abilities. This was reflected in the jeers, boos and chants of “resign, resign” directed at prime minister Manuel Valls at Monday’s moment of silence on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais, which was attended by thousands. Ahead of next year’s election the Front National, France’s far-right party, will be following events very closely.

Restaurant awards are too often unpalatably pompous affairs where novelty and pretentiousness are entertained as marks of quality or invention. Not ours. Monocle’s second annual Restaurant Awards commends the places that have been consistently good and the up-and-comers that have the ingredients to be great restaurants for decades to come. You won’t find foam, fuss, emulsion or mist on our dishes – nor steaks served on slates. Instead, our itinerant editors and correspondents from London to Tokyo (and beyond) have compiled a rundown of the best meals they’ve sampled during their travels. This year’s top spot goes to chef Toshiji Tomori’s wonderfully simple 18-seat Italian restaurant Cignale Enoteca in Tokyo. Expect newcomers from Honolulu, Adelaide, Warsaw and Bangkok alongside a few stable stalwarts from last year’s honour roll. All 50 are available in Monocle’s travel-themed journal The Escapist, which hits newsstands this Thursday.

We take a look at how the media has covered the seemingly neverending post-Brexit hokey cokey of UK politics over the past month. Robert Bound sits down with Richard Godwin, columnist for the Evening Standard; Nina Schick from think-tank Open Europe; and Quentin Peel, associate fellow at Chatham House and contributor to the Financial Times.

Smart new architecture and public-transport infrastructure have turned Medellín into a success story. Monocle Films travels to the Colombian city to meet the people charting its course.