Europe wants security but only during office hours
Happy New Year, dear reader. Is your tail bushy? Are your favourite new garments from Santa laid out for work tomorrow? Are you prepped and ready to roll? All set to lead from the front? If you’re in Europe, I do hope that this is the case as large swathes of the continent need to get back to work in a most serious, fully energised manner. At a time when Europe needs to rearm itself, factories struggling to turn out more than two fighter planes a month inspire little in the way of hope – let alone a sense of security.
What happened to the industrial base of the 1940s that could churn out a Lancaster bomber each day without breaking a sweat? For sure these aircraft weren’t as sophisticated as a Gripen or Rafale but nor did factories of this period have much in the way of automation. If we’re serious about big infrastructure or continuing to be the world’s holiday playground, then railway repairs cannot be conducted on a single daytime shift, Monday to Friday. Likewise, new runways cannot take a decade to plan and pave and terminal extensions must not take eight years to complete.
We’ve found ourselves in a place where working overnight or at weekends on building sites (offices included) is considered inhumane even though many other corners of the economy work round-the-clock, seven days a week. Western Europe built up the world’s most luxurious and heartily exploited social safety net but the wheels are juddering and falling off my dear Monocle subscriber, and yet millions are coddled because they’re overwhelmed, have a tummy ache or a runny nose. What happened to sucking it up, popping a Motilium and buying some tissues?
Today, in most European countries, the employer is too often in the wrong while the employee is increasingly guaranteed a job for life or a fat payout for not being particularly talented. Why on earth would you want to raise money or invest your own funds in a dazzling new venture when governments – local, federal and in between – treat business owners with contempt and have zero concept of what it means to take a risk or set out your own stall? Meanwhile, it’s the hotel, restaurant, bar and shop owners who keep Europe all buff and sparkly for Americans, Thais, Indians and Mexicans to pile in and spend hundreds of millions of euros as the entrepreneur struggles under stifling labour laws and planning regulations.
By now, you will have detected that I spent a lot of time these weeks walking around an icy lake thinking about Europe’s future and what it means to run a family-owned media enterprise. Is Europe still the best place for such a venture? Will policymakers wake up and encourage growth and fresh thinking? Or are there sunnier – even funnier – places to run a media operation these days? All thoughts welcome at tb@monocle.com and all the best for 2026.
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