The Monocle Minute

Joe Biden’s presidency is essentially over. In its place, the Kamala Harris era has unexpectedly begun. The vice-president from California – a former prosecutor and senator – has emerged as the US’s possible future leader, at least until election day in November.

Harris’s ascent has been nothing less than meteoric. Over the course of her career as a public servant, she held several prosecutorial roles, including district attorney of San Francisco and attorney general of California. She then became senator of the Golden State in 2017 and ran for president in 2020. The rest is now history in the making.

So what can be made of Harris’s chances? After securing the necessary delegates – and Biden’s blessing – she has won enough support to clinch the Democratic nomination. Potential rivals have declined to challenge her, and her campaign team has raised a record $80m (€73m) since Biden bowed out. A coronation, it seems, is all but guaranteed.

One key figure who has yet to declare his approval is Barack Obama – and the open primary that many Democrats spoke of could still happen at the party’s national convention in August. Then there’s Donald Trump, who launched anti-Harris commercials almost as soon as she became the presumptive Democratic nominee. He’s a formidable challenger who, in 2016, managed to capture the presidency from Hillary Clinton as a novice and political nobody. Almost a decade later – and with years of Washington experience behind him – Trump will find plenty of ways to mount further attacks.

Harris has a penchant for jargon, a dismal record in attempting to secure the US’s southern border and has become embroiled in identity politics. She is a candidate for those who swoon over progressive politics. But many don’t. The challenge will be getting them to align with her worldview. Barely five years ago, a Harris presidency seemed an impossibility. Yet politics has a way of making the impossible possible. This time, it might just work out.

David Christopher Kaufman is an editor and columnist at the ‘New York Post’. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Greece has sent a gunship, a frigate and a patrol vessel to its southern territorial waters in response to a Turkish deployment of five warships near the islands of Kasos and Karpathos. The incident followed Ankara’s claim that an Italian vessel conducting research for electricity cables connecting Crete and Cyprus had violated the Turkish continental shelf. The stand-off is reminiscent of the tensions between Turkey and Greece in 2022.

Since then, efforts had been made to smooth things over but recent diplomatic failures – from both sides – have resulted in this week’s squabble. Ankara’s decision to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the invasion of Cyprus last Saturday caused consternation in Athens. And from the Greek side, recent comments by health minister Adonis Georgiadis haven’t helped. In a televised interview, Georgiadis claimed that the planned purchase of F-35 jets from the US would give Greece the ability to destroy Ankara overnight. The neighbouring Nato allies claim that they wish to mend historic differences; if that is really the case, they’re not going about it in the right way.

What began as a small volunteer effort to clean Bali’s rivers has turned into a design brand that makes furniture – and profit – from rubbish. Gary Bencheghib and his siblings established Sungai Watch four years ago as a means of combating the pollution and environmental damage that accompanied the Indonesian island’s rapid development. What began as a small volunteer effort based on a simple innovation – installing floating barriers to stem the flow of rubbish from the city’s rivers into the sea – has grown into a global charity.

As Sungai Watch’s operations expanded, its stockpile of collected plastic grew too. “Our warehouses quickly filled up,” says Bencheghib. This was the impetus for Sungai Design, the group’s newest venture, which upcycles waste and transforms it into furniture. “We felt that we needed a product telling the story of where the plastic has been collected,” he says. Sungai Design’s first design, the Ombak chair, went on sale in March and has been selling so quickly that it can barely keep up with demand. “We never knew that we’d be making furniture when we started cleaning up,” says Bencheghib. “We have been learning by doing. We’re really excited.”

Pick up a copy of Monocle’s July/August issue which, alongside our annual Quality of Life Survey, features our dedicated report on how cities keep clean and tidy.

The latest edition of The Urbanist book club on Monocle Radio delves into the worlds of cycling, shopkeeping and the 15-minute city. Which ones will make your summer reading list?

1. ‘Potholes and Pavements: A Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network’, by Laura Laker
Laura Laker’s book on the UK’s National Cycle Network (NCN) aims to find out how this piece of infrastructure came to be and offers lessons from the personal stories that can be found along the way. Her book emphasises the ways in which a cohesive planning strategy, multi-year funding and a connection between national and local cycling networks can ease congestion and benefit our health as well as the environment.

2. ‘Shopkeeping: Stories, Advice and Observations’, by Peter Miller
Shops are vital to a city’s fabric, offering a welcoming and accessible environment and inviting exploration without the obligation to purchase. But, as both an art and a performance, successful shopkeeping is more complex than one might think. Peter Miller’s book offers inspiration for both current and future shopkeepers by sharing lessons about attention to detail, the joys of creating a welcoming space and the need to establish a community.

3. ‘The 15-Minute City: A Solution to Saving Our Time and Our Planet’, by Carlos Moreno
Carlos Moreno’s 15-minute city concept emphasises the need to shift from car-centric urban planning to human-focused design. In this book, he highlights the importance of reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and global supply chains, fostering social interactions and creating polycentric cities in which essential services are easily accessible.

To hear Monocle’s conversations with authors Laker, Miller and Moreno, tune in to the latest edition of‘The Urbanist’, on Monocle Radio.

Monocle’s Gunnar Gronlid takes us on a gastronomic tour of the charming savoyard city of Annecy.