The Monocle Minute

It was, quite literally, a Mega event. Many of Europe’s highest-profile far-right leaders gathered in Madrid over the weekend under a banner reading “Make Europe Great Again”. Among those present were Matteo Salvini, the head of Italy’s sovereigntist Lega party; Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s Rassemblement National; Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, the thorn in the EU’s side; the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders; and Santiago Abascal, the firebrand president of Spain’s Vox party, who hosted the jamboree.

This cohort – made up of members of the European Parliament’s far-right Patriots for Europe group – feels buoyed by Donald Trump’s return to power. The 47th US president is no longer a flash in the pan and his triumph has been interpreted as a sign that many voters are now looking to the hard-right to address their grievances.

While the Patriots have been quick to jump into bed with Trump (Wilders called him a “brother in arms”), deep divisions prevent the parties from being a united, pan-continental movement. Despite her closeness to Vox and Orbán, Giorgio Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, was absent from the event as she hails from a different rightwing political faction in Europe: the European Conservatives and Reformists Group. The two blocs, and their members, can’t seem to agree over the Ukraine war and ties with Russia or whether to embrace or reject the Alternative for Germany party (AfD), another absentee.

Attendees in Madrid were quick to disparage socialism, wokeism and the European Green Deal. But their biggest problem might just be Trump. There are no guarantees that the US leader will be looking to cuddle under the blankets with his European groupies. Meloni might have jetted over to Washington for Trump’s inauguration but the president has made it clear that he will put his own country first. Should he decide to impose tariffs on the EU, it would greatly affect sectors across the continent and wreak havoc on European farming subsidies.

All of this gives Europe’s other political parties an opportunity to reclaim the narrative. The centre and the left don’t need to borrow from the nativist toolbox. Instead, they should stop talking down to people and make them feel heard. It’s something that their competitors worked out a long time ago.

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

Flights carrying CEOs, prime ministers and presidents from across the globe touched down at Dubai International Airport this week as the city hosts the World Governments Summit (WGS), which runs until Thursday (writes Andrew Tuck). Founded in 2013, the conference makes the most of Dubai’s reputation as a place where everyone is welcome as long as you play by the rules. This year’s event is the largest WGS yet; speakers include Elon Musk, Tony Blair, the IMF’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, and Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro. The focus of the conversations is on governance, finance and delivering change, with artificial intelligence and other new technologies also taking centre stage.

In contrast to the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos or the Munich Security Conference, the talk doesn’t revolve around conflict or the woes of the West. To help you stay on top of what’s unfolding in the UAE this week, Monocle Radio has set up a studio at the venue, as well as a very busy Monocle Café that has already served one important customer: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE’s prime minister and ruler of Dubai. Tune in to Monocle Radio across the week for updates and interviews.

It’s a challenging time for many US cities, as they contend with problems such as blighted downtown areas and record rates of vacant offices. But Kansas City’s once-declining central business district is a notable bright spot: over the past 20 years it has become one of the country’s fastest-growing urban economies and is now being touted as a model for renewal. Curious about how the city revived its CBD? Here are five takeaways from Will Higginbotham’s feature in Monocle’s February Issue, which is on newsstands now.

Back to work
Office occupancy in Kansas City is currently at 85 per cent, with more than 122,000 people working in the greater downtown area, compared to the national average for major metropolitan areas of about 50 per cent.

Better together
Since 2002 the state government and private investors have poured more than $10bn (€9.8bn) into the CBD. Having both the public and private sectors involved helps to get everyone on board and fosters collaboration.

Mix business with pleasure
Kansas City’s downtown boasts the largest residential population of any Midwestern city. Over the past two decades, more than 50 office buildings have been converted into roomy apartments, while former industrial areas such as the Crossroads district have had many of their 20th-century brick warehouses transformed into mixed-use developments that boast housing, creative offices, independent shops, bars and restaurants.

On the tracks
The light-rail streetcar system, launched in 2016, is being expanded and is scheduled for completion later this year. Such initiatives are getting people – and businesses – moving.

Welcome package
The Downtown Council of Kansas City provides financial support, office space and mentorship to early-stage technology entrepreneurs for a year if they are willing to move there. “It’s about making this a place where people feel welcome to come and try out ideas,” says Tommy Wilson, who oversees the programme.

To meet the entrepreneurs making Kansas City tick, pick up a copy of our February Issue today.

To celebrate the 18th anniversary of Catarina Portas’s homeware brand A Vida Portuguesa, New York’s Museum of Modern Art (Moma) invited her to set up a pop-up shop in its Design Store, selling a selection of its most beloved products (writes Fernando Augusto Pacheco). Here, Portas tells Monocle about her collaboration with the museum and the importance of keeping craft traditions alive.

Tell us about your Moma pop-up shop.
The invitation came as a nice surprise. The museum’s Design Store director had visited Portugal and knew about our work. We worked together for more than a year to select the right products to bring to New York. Many of the items sold out after a few days, so we must have done a good job.

What did you want to express about Portugal with this collection?
I felt that it was important to showcase Portugal’s makers and designers. As a nation, we do interesting work with our hands. This is something that much of Europe has lost over the past few decades. We still have this tradition and it is precious.

Tell us about some of the pieces at the pop-up.
Among our bestsellers are the cotton blankets that shepherds from Minde wear, an oval-shaped aluminium teapot, a mini cork stool from Alentejo and, of course, our famous ceramic bowls. Our company offers more than 5,000 different products. Over the years we have continued to find and accumulate work by new designers. In the beginning we were only interested in celebrating old brands. About 10 years ago we started to give space to up-and-coming designers – young creatives who are still working with traditional methods.

A Vida Portuguesa’s pop-up shop is at Moma’s Design Store until 10 March. Stay tuned for the full interview with Portas on Monocle Radio this week.

We visit new exhibitions in London by two very different US artists. First, we hear from the curator of the UK’s first Noah Davis exhibition. The glorious, sweeping show at the Barbican serves as a worthy tribute to the late, great painter. Then we speak to high-spirited octogenarian Joseph Kosuth, whose show at Sprüth Magers features works from his six decades as a pioneer of conceptual and installation art.