Here’s what happens. We send the magazine to press on a Monday and then, about a week later, we get to see the first copies in our various offices. Next, they start dropping on subscribers’ doormats before finally nudging their way onto news-kiosk shelves around the globe. It takes roughly two weeks to get to this point – two weeks in which anything can happen. Two weeks during which history, life and twisting news cycles can connive to derail the considered reporting that you committed to print.

And “derail” was the perfect word when, several years ago, we ran a story previewing the launch of the epic London engineering project, the Elizabeth line, only for its inauguration to be cancelled. It was another two years before the story came good. Our enthusiasm for brand Germany and belief in the prowess of German engineering also left us in a similar predicament when we produced a guide to the supposedly about-to-open Berlin Brandenburg Airport.

The new June issue of Monocle is just completing its journey to newsstands and once again fate – events – have intervened.

A few weeks ago, I was talking with Alexis Self, our foreign editor, about whether “soft power” had had its day. In such a brutal news landscape, were diplomats, governments and institutions really going to care about using culture, for example, to make friends and gain influence? Soft power was a term made famous by Joseph S Nye, who worked to promote the concept at the heart of US government and, latterly, at Harvard University. So Lex contacted Nye, who happily took on the commission, delivering, on time, a defence of soft power, as well as a clarification about what it actually is.

But in those two weeks of waiting for the magazine to make it to the newsstand, Nye died. He was 88. What to do? This is where digital news can help in some ways – we immediately published his wise words on monocle.com. When I saw his writing in the magazine, it seemed to have taken on even more power, to be even more pertinent. Soft power has been a key theme at Monocle and so I am proud that some of Nye’s final thoughts on the topic are in the issue, in ink. I hope that you read his story.

Timing has also had an effect on our lead report in the June issue, written by our executive editor Christopher Lord. Formerly our editor in the US, Chris recently returned to San Francisco to meet Jony Ive, the man who designed many of Apple’s most successful products before setting up his own studio. In recent years, Ive has also been involved in a project to revive a key part of downtown San Francisco and was keen to show Chris what he’s been up to. Chris delivered a great story about both urban renewal and Ive’s character. And then? This week a $6.4bn (€5.6bn) deal was announced that will see Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, purchase Ive’s hardware start-up. It couldn’t be a better moment for us to have had this access to Ive, who is suddenly the man of the moment.

Today, when we need to run with a fast-changing news agenda, we have Monocle Radio, The Monocle Minute and our new, improved monocle.com to ensure that you stay informed. Yet when I see the issue, turn its pages, I know that print is not static; it’s not trying to stop time. It’s live. Across its pages in every issue, Monocle offers up an ever-changing world; unpacks places and people with commitment – and that comes with some risks but that’s OK.