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What other countries can learn from Finland’s world-beating media literacy

2025-12-20 06:53:02 By Jane Williams

Finland claiming the top spot in the Open Society Foundations’ annual Media Literacy Index has become an inevitability. The Nordic nation has placed first every year since 2017, when the list – which compares 41 countries based on things such as resistance to fake news and trust in media institutions – was launched. As with its stellar performances in other indexes (most famously the World Happiness Report), Finland’s media-literacy success is the subject of hand-wringing enquiry on the part of less happy and more distrustful countries.

Some of the qualities that Finland possesses are impossible to replicate elsewhere. Its small, culturally homogeneous population fosters a great sense of unity, while the complex Finnish language (which even other Nordic peoples often struggle to understand) makes it difficult for foreign actors to spread false information. The country’s modern history – which has involved two wars against its former colonial master, Russia, followed by decades of Moscow-approved neutrality – has also engendered a deep appreciation of democracy, coupled with a heightened awareness of the threats posed to it.

Still, there are other things that Finland does that can and should be imitated. Among these is education. Finns are taught media literacy almost as soon as they begin formal learning. These lessons come not through a media-studies course but a cross-curriculum effort that involves, for example, looking at the manipulation of statistics in mathematics, images in art, propaganda in history and language in Finnish.

Reading between the lines: Helsinki’s Central Library(Image: Aleksandra Suzi/Alamy)

The government has funded media-literacy programmes since the 1950s but the current model was only implemented in 2016, following elections in which there was an increase in Russian-led destabilisation efforts. Much of the country’s institutional bulwark against false information is also relatively new – including Faktabaari, a fact-checking NGO launched in 2014 that confirms or dispels stories that go viral. In 2023 it exposed false claims made in Arabic that social services were abducting children to sell them for profit across Nordic countries.

The work of Faktabaari and similar organisations is helped by the fact that Finns maintain high or moderately high levels of trust in both their government (47 per cent, according to an OECD report, against an average of 39 per cent) and traditional media. The country has managed to avoid the obliteration of its regional press and its public broadcaster, Yle, reaches 94 per cent of Finns a week across TV, radio and online. This trust comes not only from those natural advantages mentioned above but as a self-fulfilling consequence of continuous and open debate.

Then there’s the other half of the puzzle: literacy. Finland’s 5.5-million-strong population borrows close to 68 million books per year from its network of well-funded libraries. It is in these buildings, found in every decently sized settlement across the land, that older citizens are also taught classes geared towards things such as how to identify social-media bots and deepfakes. By contrast, about 40 public libraries in the UK are closing per year, while many of those that remain resemble the final scene of a particularly depressing Samuel Beckett play.

Maybe the Finns’ greatest asset in the fight against false information is a philosophical one. At a time of growing polarisation, Finland is a society that knows what it stands for, which means that it doesn’t have to define itself by who or what it stands against. The promotion of the rule of law, gender equality and media literacy comes not just in the form of clear rhetoric (which is important) but also through well-funded, creative policies.

In recent years, other countries have been trying to catch up. Germany has passed a law that fines social-media platforms that fail to remove hate speech, while France has sought to enforce greater content moderation during election campaigns. But the protean nature of fake news requires a level of urgency that is mostly absent elsewhere. The Anglophone world, for example, seems hopelessly adrift in a sea of mis- and disinformation. Much is made of Big Tech’s responsibility to police the misuse of its platforms but these companies have been neutered since Donald Trump’s re-election and, anyway, can such a powerful industry be trusted to properly regulate itself? While we all approach an uncertain future, the Finns, at least, have faith that their leaders and media companies will protect them and tell the truth.

Alexis Self is Monocle’s foreign editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

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Culture

Editor’s letter: The power of determination

2025-12-20 06:53:02

There are a lot of themes threaded through this issue – the potency of good design, legacy, our shifting perceptions of health and ageing – but when I looked at the final proofs, one word seemed to link many of the narratives that run across its pages: determination. This November outing of Monocle reads like a playbook on how to follow your own path, fight for your independence and ignore the naysayers.Let’s start with the Expo. A few months ago I went to an exhibition at the Saatchi Yates gallery in London. It was the opening night and the space was rammed, guests spilling out onto the street to smoke and talk art. It was a cool crowd and, inside the gallery, the punchy, political canvases on show were being scrutinised by lots of twenty and thirtysomethings. These new works were not the creation of some fresh-faced enfant terrible but Peter Saul, an American artist who is still at the top of his game at 91. Later I spoke about the show with Sophie Monaghan-Coombs, who runs our culture pages. She pointed out that there is a whole host of artists in their eighties and nineties being championed by galleries and museums – many are women who are only now getting the recognition that they deserve. So Sophie put together a feature on seven in-demand senior artists who continue to push boundaries; who live through their work. It’s an inspiring tale of artistic determination.Giorgio Armani, who died in September, ran an extraordinary business, not least because in an era when key luxury groups have come to control many of the most potent and important labels, he stayed independent – the sole owner of his empire. This allowed him to do things his way, whether that was telling models to smile and look happy or being the only spokesperson for the company. Our fashion director, Natalie Theodosi, was granted backstage access to report on the runway show for his final collection to see how his determination will live on. Her report is combined with the glorious photography of Andy Massaccesi.A cultural shift is shaking up the health-and-fitness industry. Younger folk – well, a lot of them – see going to the gym less as a necessary evil to combat their daily excesses of food and booze, and more as a way of life. This cohort of clean-living Gen Z consumers will happily spend all day tending to their body’s needs. Enter the “super-boutique” gym, a place not just for taking a class but also for health tests, spa treatments, dining on virtuous meals and hanging out. For this issue, writer Grace Cook travelled to Brussels to meet entrepreneurs (and health advocates) Alexandre de Vaucleroy and Antoine Derom at their recently launched Animo Studios, a space designed to be the backbone of members’ fitness, social and even work lives.Political, military and diplomatic determination also makes an appearance in this issue. In our Affairs pages, we head to Poland to see how the country is preparing to defend itself should Russia attack. We also sit down with former Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas, who now, as vice-president of the European Commission, is in charge of the EU’s foreign policy (even if member states are hard to align). In an interview with our foreign editor, Alexis Self, she explains why she is determined to stand up to threats from the East and unwanted challenges from Washington.You will also read about the doggedness of art sleuths, the firm focus of three Pritzker Architecture Prize-winners and how Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, minister of state for the UAE, is unwavering in her belief that we need to listen to everyone, while maintaining red lines. I hope that this issue will harden your resolve, as you look ahead. It’s an issue that shows you how you can stick to your principles and do good too.

Culture

How Solvej Balle turned 18 November into one of literature’s most arresting time loops

2025-12-20 06:53:02

Writer Solvej Balle achieved literary stardom in her native Denmark with the publication of her 1993 novelIfølge loven. Today, that fame has spread with the English-language translation of her seriesOn the Calculation of Volume. The first volume was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025 earlier this year.While the books have been decades in the making, the narrative revolves around only a single day. The story follows an antiquarian bookkeeper named Tara Selter, who is stuck reliving 18 November. You might think that re-experiencing the same day is dull but in Balle’s hands, it is always compelling. Here, Balle discusses her unique time-loop narrative, whether the novel is a love story and why she picked 18 November.You began writing the series 10 years after deciding on the title. Had you already planned that this would be a seven-book series? At what point did you realise there was so much material in a single day?I initially thought that it would just be a novel. But that’s a very vague term, isn’t it? I knew it wouldn’t be a short story and I thought of it as a single book. I wrote bits and pieces at the start – just fragments. After I began writing it properly, around 1999 or 2000, I envisioned it as a two-volume book. Later, I imagined that there would be four. I realised in about 2017 that there would be seven books when I started to see very different pieces, all with certain themes or atmospheres. Has writing the series changed how you experience time in the real world? Yes, especially with ageing. I have grown nearly 40 years older over that time. I knew early on that Tara Selter was going to be there for a long time and that she would age. At first I was trying to understand what it meant to age but it’s hard when you are 25 or 26. I interviewed people and asked them what it is like. Later on, as I started to see signs of ageing on myself, I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, this is research.’ I had to understand firsthand what it’s like to have an ageing body to write the story. Did you ever have any doubts about whether the concept of repeating the same day would work?I certainly knew from the beginning that it was a stupid idea. I tried to throw it out many times because in the 1980s, there was a certain doubt about writing from a concept. I often felt that I had to let go of it but it kept coming back. I realised that there was something in it that I wanted to know more about – the philosophy of the repetition; what happens if the day repeats itself. I hadn’t yet seen the filmGroundhog Daybecause it didn’t exist at the time, so I never thought that things would simply click back – that everything would be the same each day. I knew that Tara would age and that she would move from place to place. When I finally watchedGroundhog Day, I was certain that I wouldn’t write it in the same way. It felt as though someone had researched for me about how not to do this. There were so many philosophical questions in it that I wanted to embark on. And if ever I felt bored, I would let it go. I’ve started many projects and I believe that when you start something, you’re not required to finish it. If it can’t keep you ticking, there’s no point. To what extent do you look at the books as stories about relationships as much as they are a philosophical reflection on the meaning of time?I thought of the first book as nothing other than a love story. But suddenly, all sorts of details came in that were not part of the plan. It is as if the love story were dissolved in the mechanics of time. What was your reason behind the choice of the date? Originally, the date was 17 October. I thought that for a very long time, even after I began writing the story 25 years ago. Yesterday, I was sitting near the sea and looking up at a cloudless October sky. I have had this feeling many times: October is too crisp, too sharp and too clear. I needed something more blurred. There was too much machinery in October and when I landed on 18 November, I realised that it worked much better. November gives more than it promises. We don’t expect much of it, so when it gives us something wonderful, we are rather surprised because it’s the kind of month that we need to get through.You’re now working on the final book of the series. How does it feel to approach saying goodbye to a project that has been so significant in your life? Some time ago, I would have said, ‘It’s great that I can see the end of it because I’ve been working on it for so long.’ But I’m not sure. I think I will miss Tara Selter, though I don’t think she will miss me. 

Culture

Paris radio darling La Patate Douce turns up the volume with a new café in Le Marais

2025-12-20 06:53:02

If you have eaten in a decent Paris restaurant lately, you might well be familiar with La Patate Douce radio station – perhaps its lively, on-the-hour jingle or its upbeat playlist that keeps your toes tapping, whether you’re a pot-washer, a chef or a diner. “I once recognised our playlist in a restaurant by the beach in Biarritz,” says Jules Effantin, the station’s founder. “That made me smile.”Jules Effantin, founder and DJTapas at La Patate DouceTo mark the fifth anniversary of La Patate Douce (which means “The Sweet Potato”), Effantin, a former DJ, has combined his penchant for music with his other love, hospitality. He has created a physical space for fans of the station: a café and listening bar in Le Marais. Furnished with his own objets d’art sourced from flea markets, the 1970s-style interior invites the station’s 200,000 monthly listeners – and those yet to discover its eclectic mélange of disco-funk, jazz, Afro-soul and house music – to gather in the company of its creators.A listening bar by nightThe bar keeps things lively well into the eveningIf Effantin’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the brother of Victoria Effantin, one of the co-founders of Parisian boulangerie Mamiche. By day, customers can enjoy the music with one of her pastries in hand. “This is the only other coffee shop in the capital where you’ll find Mamiche’s treats,” says Effantin. By night, there are musical soirées, DJ sets and concerts.The radio station and café’s enthusiasm for the humblepatateof their name makes itself known on the menu, which tries not to take itself too seriously. Wash down the ceviche with the cocktail à la Patate Douce: tequila, lime juice and, you guessed it, a little sweet-potato juice.lapatatedouceradio.comUp in smokeLa Patate Douce live on airOut on the café’s terrace

Culture

How Wonderfruit founder Pete Phornprapha built Asia’s most global festival

2025-12-20 06:53:02

Wonderfruit, Asia’s answer to Burning Man and Glastonbury, is preparing to host its 10th edition in Thailand this December. The festival’s founder, Pete Phornprapha, joined us at The Chiefs conference in Jakarta earlier this year, where he spoke about his formative experiences in the 1990s rave scene and the dangers of limiting the genre of music that you dance to. (Image: All Is Amazing)How would you describe the unique proposition of Wonderfruit?It’s a five-day, 24-hour, fully immersive celebration of culture in Chonburi, a province located just one and a half hours from Bangkok. It’s not just a music festival – it’s also a living, breathing cultural experiment. We own the land where the festival is held; we have planted more than 30,000 trees using the Miyawaki method; and we create permanent structures that allow for deep cultural exchange. We must be the most multicultural gathering of 28,000 people anywhere in the world. You go to Burning Man and more than 80 per cent of its attendees are American. At Glastonbury, I would say 90 per cent are from the UK. We attract a truly global audience and we’re not just showcasing culture – we’re actively creating it. We collaborate with architects, musicians and cultural practitioners to experiment and innovate.What was the initial market gap that inspired the first event?When I came back to Thailand in 2010, there was a lot of news about the environmental crisis and I became a bit scared. I wanted to become part of the dialogue rather than just listening to it and I thought that culture would be an interesting way to engage people. We began producing short films, none of which we shared publicly, and then it just catapulted into assembling a gathering.(Image: Courtesy of Wonderfruit)(Image: Courtesy of Wonderfruit)How have you scaled the festival since that first gathering?Organically. We do very little marketing and PR. We have seen remarkable growth from the likes of India, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia. France is now our largest contingent from Europe; it beat the UK last year. The only country where numbers are down is Thailand. Connecting to the local audience is very important to us and it’s something that we need to improve.The festival is like a vibrant, 24-hour village. We host continuous cultural programming that blends music, art and environmental consciousness. About 70 per cent of our visitors fly in for Wonderfruit and most of them stay for five days, either camping or lodging in unique accommodations such as our Slow Wonder bungalows. Locals tend to book rooms in hotels nearby, spending about 10 hours with us at a time.(Image: Courtesy of Wonderfruit)What pricing have you landed on for stays in the Wonderfruit Village?A five-day pass costs about $280 (€240), with accommodation options ranging from free tent pitching to $5,500 (€4,717) bungalows. Interestingly, we’ve noticed that as the years progress, fewer people opt for free camping and the more expensive options are increasing in popularity.Are you looking at international expansion?We’ve been asked many times to bring Wonderfruit elsewhere, with particular interest from Japan. It’s not something that we’re closing the door to but the result wouldn’t be Wonderfruit. We would have to spend extensive time in Japan to understand the country and explore how to express the same kind of wonder and culture in a local context. (Image: Courtesy of Wonderfruit)And finally, there’s something we’ve been wondering.Are young people still dancing?They certainly do at Wonderfruit. But what’s important is that we dance to all genres of music. It gives us enormous joy to see people dancing tomor lam, which is similar to Thai folk music. When Wonderfruit started, you would only hearmor lamin taxis and in the countryside.

Culture

Why Italy’s beaches became a battleground this summer

2025-12-20 06:53:02

This summer in Italy, a fierce debate over the country’s beaches made big waves. Though thespiaggeis public by law, stretches from Amalfi to Liguria are now dominated by private concessions. These operators charge hefty fees for colourful umbrellas, cushioned sunbeds and private entry. Soaring prices for access to shade, showers and sustenance sparked national debate as Italians questioned whether their right to the sea was being priced out of reach.While the private beach-club model exists all over Europe, nowhere has it proliferated to such an extent as in Italy. In the municipality of Gatteo, on the country’s Adriatic coast, some expanses of sand are almost entirely privatised and packed full of small family-run businesses. Concessions pay low fees to the state (averaging a total of about €100m annually) despite occupying prime public land. While there are laws that are meant to guarantee everyone a sunny spot to spread out a towel, the reality is rather different, with punters being charged simply for accessing the beach or having to fight for a tiny strip of free sand.Sand grab: Crowds on the beach in Monterosso al Mare, Liguria(Image: Alamy)Though Italians are used to factoring the cost of beach beds into their annual trip, this summer saw costs rise even further, with the country’s media announcing a “crisis of the middle class”. As holidaymakers increasingly chose to forsake the beach due to spiralling fees, people – and EU lawmakers – have begun to wake up to the management monopolies and the lack of free beaches in Italy. Earlier this summer, there was an outcry in Sicily after the Italo Belga company installed turnstiles at the entrance to a large beach club at Palermo’s Mondello beach. Many felt that the added fencing restricted access to what the law guarantees as a free shoreline. The turnstiles were eventually removed after several politicians got involved.In 2006, when the EU passed the Bolkestein directive, aiming to make the market fairer, more transparent and open to transnational competition, Italy was dragged along kicking and screaming. And while the nation agreed to end automatic renewals of beach concessions following a 2016 European Court of Justice ruling, governments have delayed its implementation on successive occasions. Still, the current far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni has evidently agreed to put 28,000 concessions for beach bars up for a bidding process by June 2027 (barring another last-minute decision to delay, which could lead to potential fines from Brussels). Beyond a fairer system of beach management, some also want to see an equal split between free and paid-for beaches. This is also demanded by the president of Italy’s Mare Libero (“Free Sea”) organisation, Roberto Biagini. The lawyer and former city councillor speaks to Monocle from Rimini.Why is the lack of free beaches particularly bad in Italy?Because in Italy there isn’t a serious political class. Left, right, centre, the Five Star [populists] and technical governments have all been under the thumb of the beach establishment lobby. Is there a beach concession mafia? I didn’t want to say it but you did, so I’ll add to it. There’s a mafia-like system of electoral exchange between politicians and the beach businesses. Just think – we have had and currently have owners of beach concessions sitting in parliament. Is that not a conflict of interest?It’s a serious conflict of interest. We have mayors and city councillors who own bathing establishments, as well as regional presidents with family ties to these businesses. How can these individuals – and their legislation – go against their own investments?The state isn’t making a lot of money from beach concessions either, is it?When you divert a public asset from collective use, you take [virtually] nothing because there’s a [low] fixed price per square metre for public property. Do you know how much a beach bar in Italy pays in concession fees? Many are paying the minimum amount of €3,225 per year. But when it comes to selling a beach business, which includes the use of the concession, the seller might ask for €1m to €1.5m – even if they’re only paying just over €3,000 for the concession. You can see how the political will is missing. Is everything set to change in 2027?The extension of [existing] concessions [to 2027] has already been declared illegal by some regional courts, like with the other extensions that started back in 2009 under [former prime minister] Silvio Berlusconi, who pushed the date forward to 2012 and then 2018. Now it’s 2027 but it could continue ad infinitum. In theory, judges or the public administration should cancel these extensions. If Italy were a serious country, the port captaincy or the municipal police would go to the beach and explain: You can’t be here. A judge should seize the beach establishments because [technically] the concessions have expired. Do people understand the problem? That’s a great question, because it wasn’t something people felt much before. But now, when they’re asked to pay to enter a beach, or spend €20 to €40 to rent an umbrella for a day, they have started to question whether they can afford it. Many young people in Rimini ask me about a free beach, and I don’t know what to tell them. A free beach is like air – you only realise that it’s important when you start to lack it. Is this a battle you can win, given that you’re going up against money, power and politics?This is a battle we’ll win because Italians are starting to understand. We’ll win because we believe in protecting human rights. We owe it to our founding fathers, who died to give us freedom. Freedom also means being able to go for a swim without having to pay apizzo[mafia-like illegitimate payment]. When such a system doesn’t exist in Greece, Spain, Portugal or Croatia, does it need to exist in Italy? Have we returned to fascist times? I can assure you that I’ll keep fighting. Want more stories like these in your inbox?Sign up to Monocle’s email newsletters to stay on top of news and opinion, plus the latest from the magazine, radio, film and shop.Your EmailSubscribe

Culture

What to stream, visit and read this month: October 2025 cultural releases

2025-12-20 06:53:02

ArtUnicorn: The Mythical Beast in ArtMuseum Barberini, PotsdamReligious icon, LGBTQIA+ symbol or pointy-horned horse with delusions of grandeur? Featuring artworks more than 4,000 years old, this collection explores our fascination with the unicorn.‘Unicorn’ runs from 25 October to 1 February 2026Maria Helena Vieira da Silva: Anatomy of SpaceGuggenheim Bilbao, BilbaoLooking at Lisbon-born French artist Maria Helena Vieira da Silva’s vast abstract canvases can feel like diving under a patchwork blanket. She has also worked in tapestry and stained glass, with an interest in cityscapes.‘Anatomy of Space’ runs from 16 October to 22 February 2026TelevisionHouse of GuinnessNetflixSteven Knight, the creator ofPeaky Blinders, is back to rifle through history’s grubbiest pages with the wild story behind Ireland’s most famous export. Set in 1860s Dublin and New York, when Guinness was one of the world’s largest breweries, the series follows siblings Arthur (Anthony Boyle), Edward (Louis Partridge), Benjamin (Fionn O’Shea) and Anne (Emily Fairn), saddled with the family legacy after the death of their father, Sir Benjamin Guinness.‘House of Guinness’ is released on 25 SeptemberThe SavantApple TV+“Is it possible to stop a mass shooting before it happens?” asked a 2019Cosmopolitanarticle by Andrea Stanley that profiled an anonymous investigator tracking violent misogynists online. Known as “the Savant”, she had an uncanny instinct for knowing when evil words were about to spill into evil deeds. Her story has inspired this nail-biting series starring Jessica Chastain.‘The Savant’ is released on 26 SeptemberMr ScorseseApple TV+Martin Scorsese has contributed so much to cinema history that Rebecca Miller’s plan to shoot a single-part documentary ballooned into a five-part epic, shot over half a decade. How very Scorsese-esque. Miller, the director behind Greta Gerwig-fronted comedyMaggie’s Plan, was allowed unrestricted access to his private archives, plus the time and insights of the filmmaker and his closest collaborators.‘Mr Scorsese’ is released on 17 OctoberFilmA House of DynamiteKathryn BigelowThe Oscar-winning director ofThe Hurt Lockerreturns after an eight-year absence with another politically charged thriller, led by Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson. The White House scrambles to respond to a missile from an unknown source. Kathryn Bigelow’s clear-eyed lens on geopolitics and knack for action make for a complex look at American exceptionalism.‘A House of Dynamite’ is released on 3 OctoberSouleymane’s StoryBoris LojkineThis socio-realist drama delivers a raw, urgent glimpse into the precarious life of an undocumented immigrant bike courier in Paris faced with only two days to gather the funds for his asylum papers. The film exposes systemic exploitation and fragile hope within a flawed asylum process and an exploitative gig economy, anchored by Abou Sangaré’s breakthrough performance. Boris Lojkine’s unflinching direction expertly balances grit with sensitive humanity.‘Souleymane’s Story’ is released on 17 OctoberAfter the HuntLuca GuadagninoThe prolific Luca Guadagnino follows last year’sQueerandChallengerswith a psychological thriller. Julia Roberts plays a professor caught up in a scandal when her protégée Maggie (Ayo Edebiri) accuses her fellow professor Hank (Andrew Garfield) of assault. Edebiri holds her own against the two A-listers, as Garfield twists his charisma to create a mercurial, menacing presence.After the Hunt’ is released on 20 OctoberMusicTron: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)Nine Inch NailsTrent Reznor, vocalist of industrial-rock stalwarts Nine Inch Nails, has become a successful go-to for soundtracks. Last year, sexy electro beats drove his music for Luca Guadagnino’sChallengers. Now he returns with his first soundtrack with his band for the latest film in sci-fi franchiseTron. Lead single “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” is pure NIN, its rocky danceability nodding to the films’ futuristic themes.‘Tron: Ares (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)’ is out nowInteriorZimmer90After creating a buzz on social media, German duo Zimmer90 have released their debut album. As its title suggests, the Freiburg-based duo are looking inward, via a selection of gentle songs with melancholic touches. Among the highlights are “Makes Me Wanna Dance”, a delightful piece of bubbly pop, and “Wait for You”, an enchanting 1990s-style electronica tune.‘Interior’ is out nowThe Art of LovingOlivia DeanDean’s dulcet tones, easy-listening songs and warm persona have made her a big hit in her native UK. She has described her sophomore album as a deep dive into the different facets of love. “Nice to Each Other” is an uplifting track about kindness, while “Lady Lady” is a soulful coming-of-age anthem. Next year fans will experience that gorgeous voice on an extensive European tour.‘The Art of Loving’ is released on 26 SeptemberPhotographyErwin Olaf: FreedomStedelijk Museum, AmsterdamWorking in photography but not confined by it, Dutch artist Erwin Olaf used his camera to challenge societal norms, advocate for marginalised groups and deliver provocative advertising campaigns while conjuring moments of pure, unadulterated beauty. This first major exhibition in his homeland since his death in 2023 will debut a poignant, unfinished video work.‘Freedom’ runs from 11 October to 1 March 2026BooksThe Loneliness of Sonia and SunnyKiran DesaiIndia-born US writer Kiran Desai chronicles generational sagas and post-Partition growing pains with cultural sensitivity. This tender epic, which depicts two young diasporic Indians at the start of their writing careers, contemplates the complexities of loving in an era of immigration, displacement and globalisation – and the resulting feelings of loneliness and fragmentation. Desai asks her protagonists whether solitude is necessarily a bad thing.‘The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny’ is out nowIt Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane BirkinMarisa MeltzerWhen Sotheby’s made history this summer by selling a handbag for €8.6m, there was only one item that it could have been – the original Hermès Birkin. Jane Birkin has often been remembered more for the bag that she inspired and her famous relationships than her work as an actress and singer, but this new biography captures both her colourful life and extraordinary creative talents.‘It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin’ is published on 6 NovemberVaimJon Fosse, translated by Damion SearlsIn his first novel since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2023, Fosse navigates the dark waters of a coastal Norwegian town. Here, Jatgeir travels by boat to the city of Bjørgvin to procure needle and thread but returns with a woman – the long-lost love of his younger years. As the story unfolds, relationships become complicated and the stakes higher, and Fosse shows his mastery of the unnerving atmosphere and page-turning plot.‘Vaim’ is published on 23 October

Culture

In Italy the real dolce vita experience is at the village ‘sagra’

2025-12-20 06:53:02

At this time of year the streets of Peschiera del Garda are clogged with traffic as holidaymakers descend on the lakeside town. Alongside the Italians flocking to second homes and annual rentals, many of the number plates stuck in gridlock display the letter D – a testament to the fact that this picturesque corner of northern Italy becomes mini-Deutschland during the summer months.The Germans are lured by the cypress trees and swimming spots, as well as the five-hour drive time from Munich. Though they head for restaurants and aperitivo bars, they’re missing out on the true dolce vita. While Garda’s lakeside establishments offer great views of the water, they completely miss out on what makes Italy such a beguiling place: thesagra.   La dolce vita: It takes a village(Credit: Alamy/Zuma Press)Thesagradoesn’t really have an Anglosphere equivalent. Often organised by the local parish, it’s an evening-time village party, which is usually a celebration of a patron saint or seasonal food (the annual asparagus festival is held in Cavallino-Treporti in late April). The one that we recently attended in Castion Veronese with my Italian family seemed to be entirely devoid of tourists. My sister-in-law, Annapaola, couldn’t help but wonder why foreigners didn’t partake in the experience. “Thesagrais a slice of Italian life,” she told me. “And it’s authentic.”Authentic would be one way to put it. Raw and unpretentious would be another. Take the relaxed approach to parking, for example. Naturally, no dedicated spaces have been provided, so people become intrepid. A patch of grass on a roadside hillock that leaves the car tottering at a 35-degree angle? Ideal, apparently. With the prime spots taken, we slowly drive down a bike lane and park next to it.Though asagramight sometimes have a religious element, this takes a back seat to the main event: feasting and drinking. “You always eat well here,” said my sister-in-law as we dined on lambarrosticini(grilled skewers) and a traditional and thoroughly satisfying Veneto dish that you’d struggle to find on menus around the lake:risotto al Tastasal(a homely white-rice dish made with pork sausage). It’s washed down with beers for €3 and cocktails for €5 – prices that the Germans by the lake are unlikely to find.An authentic Italian experience also means bringing the kids along, no matter the time. Children sat around the stage as a concert struck up, featuring a cover band of Italian pop group 883, cranking out 1990s hits at an ear-splitting volume. It was all rather lost on me, though after five years in Italy I did know one of their songs: the hilariously named “Hanno ucciso l’Uomo Ragno” (“They killed Spiderman”). Aside from the music, there were also plenty ofgiostre(rides) to keep the children entertained until the wee hours, as well as trampolines and a bouncy castle. It was all wonderfully chaotic.In a country where so much has been constructed to appeal to what a touristthinksis a real Italian experience, thesagrais the real deal. These village festivals are about as far away from souvenir shops and English menus as it’s possible to get. As much of Lake Garda becomes bundled up to appeal to the Aperol Spritz-laced idea of the perfect summer, thesagrais a place to revel in Italians just being Italians: family time and simple pleasures. It’s nothing special – but it’s special precisely because of that. Ed Stocker isMonocle’s Europe editor at large.For more opinion, analysis and insight,subscribeto Monocle today.This story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe

Culture

Following specialist investigators on the hunt for Nazi-looted works of art

2025-12-20 06:53:02

When Dutch journalist Peter Schouten rang the doorbell of a house in Mar del Plata in early August, he didn’t know that it would unleash a global media storm. Schouten had travelled to the Argentinian city at the behest of a colleague, Cyril Rosman. For a decade, Rosman had been on the trail of a trove of missing artworks; the story of which reads like a thriller, with an intriguing cast of characters and a plot that spans geographies and generations. Rosman’s investigations centred on the family of Friedrich Kadgien, a ﬁnancial adviser to Nazi politician Hermann Göring, who escaped to South America after the Second World War. Rosman had long suspected that Kadgien’s two daughters, Patricia and Alicia, might have knowledge of artworks looted during the Nazi regime from Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker. The latter’s heir, Marei von Saher, is in her eighties and lives in New York; she has spent much of her life searching for her father-in-law’s collection.1473 – High-seas heistThe first recorded art theft took place in the 15th century, when Polish pirates boarded a ship bound for Florence and absconded with the Hans Memling painting (above) “The Last Judgement” (1467-71). The artwork currently resides in the National Museum of Gdánsk, much to the chagrin of some Italians.(Image: Stephen Barnes/Alamy)A dog barked inside the house but no one answered the door to Schouten. As he waited, he noticed a “For sale” sign and took a photo on his phone. Later, while having dinner at his hotel, he found the listing for the property online and spotted an image of a gilt-framed painting hanging above a green velvet sofa. He sent the link to Rosman in the Netherlands, who, the next morning, replied with excitement that he was reasonably conﬁdent that the artwork was the 1710 painting “Portrait of a Lady”. Over the next couple of weeks, Schouten was able to conﬁrm that the painting was still in the house and tried to contact Patricia Kadgien through multiple channels. He received some ambiguous replies before being blocked on social media. Schouten’s story about the discovery was published on the Dutch news site Algemeen Dagblad (AD) on 25 August. “And then the rollercoaster started,” he says.Along with the world’s media, multiple law enforcement agencies – Interpol, the FBI and the Argentinian police – quickly became involved. But when officers raided the Kadgien house and four other properties a few days later, the painting seemed to have vanished. The artwork’s second disappearance did nothing to quell the interest and the local general attorney assigned 15 people to work on the case. Eventually, the collective pressure of the media and the police yielded a response from the Kadgiens. On 3 September, the family handed over the painting and it was put on view at a media conference.A criminal investigation has since been opened, which will focus on Patricia and her husband, and whether they attempted to obstruct justice by hiding the painting. “Portrait of a Lady”, meanwhile, will most likely make its way to New York and to Marei von Saher. “To dedicate your life to getting back all of your family’s possessions must be unbelievably tough,” says Schouten today, who was in regular contact with Von Saher throughout the saga. But he wishes that he could have spoken to the Kadgien sisters and heard their side of the story. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to have a father like that,” he says. “You are not to blame for your parents’ behaviour but you carry it with you your whole life.”1911 – Mona goes missingThere was far less fuss about Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” before it was stolen from the Louvre by a thief dressed as a museum employee in 1911. Parisians flocked to see the empty space where it once hung. The thief and the painting were eventually found in 1913 when he tried to sell the work.(Images: Getty Images)The Nazis are thought to have looted about 20 per cent of Europe’s art between 1933 and 1945, much of which – at least 100,000 objects – has yet to be returned. Of course, their regime was just one perpetrator of art theft. Schouten’s story made headlines across the globe but the everyday work of hunting for (and occasionally ﬁnding) lost or stolen artworks usually takes place with less fanfare.On a quiet lane in central London is the unassuming office of the Art Loss Register (ALR), an organisation with the world’s largest private database of stolen art, antiques and collectables. Unlike Rosman’s quest to locate artworks from Goudstikker’s collection, the ALR checks individual items entering the market to investigate their provenance and demonstrate due diligence. The register currently features more than 700,000 lost or stolen artworks and the ALR performs about 450,000 searches on items prior to their sale. These are carried out on behalf of the likes of governments, law enforcement, museums, auction houses or private individuals.“What we are looking for is some proof that the item can be sold on the open market,” says Olivia Whitting, the ALR’s head of cultural heritage and client manager. The organisation also registers the theft or loss of items and helps to reunite some of them with their owners. “It’s quite exciting because it’s the kind of detective work where you end up knowing so much about random parts of history, such as the great telephone exchange of the year 2000,” says Whitting. “That was when London phone numbers went from starting with ‘0171’ or ‘0181’ to ‘020’. If a document is from before 2000 but it has the newer telephone code, you might question whether it’s real.”1990 – Getting away with itHundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of art was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. The robbery is believed to be the world’s largest art heist and remains unsolved.(Image: Ryan McBride/AFP via Getty Images)The work of registering objects on the database – or trying to match items to them – is usually done digitally. But when Monocle visits in early autumn, among the desktop computers, coffee mugs and copies of theAntiques Trade Gazetteis an extraordinary artefact. In the corner of a room, under a blanket, is a 14th-century cenotaph. The grave marker was handed over to the ALR for restitution by an antiques dealer who had been tipped off that it was probably stolen. The ALR is now researching its origin to enable its return. The organisation has ascertained that it is probably from the late-medieval Timurid empire and from the grave of a young man or a child. The next step will be to approach the relevant embassy and investigate whether it can be returned to its country of origin.When something is registered as lost on the database, the ALR will ask for proof of loss (such as a crime reference number) and of ownership. This might be an acquisition invoice or insurance document but it could also be a family photo featuring the artwork. Whitting was recently sent an image of a three-year-old girl having a tantrum on the ﬂoor in front of a Palmyrene sculpture and another picture of a Roman bust dressed in a tinsel crown at Christmas. “It’s a window into someone else’s childhood,” she says.The ALR database of missing artworks reﬂects the breadth and strangeness of the wider market. It includes a toy car (an Aston Martin replica), JMW Turner’s death mask and a set of George Washington’s false teeth. “When human remains come up, that’s often when we think, ‘I wish this wasn’t on the art market,’” says Whitting. She recounts how a Belgian zoo recently wanted to look up a human head that had somehow, years ago, ended up in its collection. The ALR refused to search it and advised the zoo to try to return it to the Polynesian island from which it originally came.1995-2001 –Master of his craftFrench thief Stéphane Breitwieser stole more than 200 works by the likes of Jean-Antoine Watteau from 172 European museums. When he was arrested, his mother destroyed most of the pieces to hide the evidence.(Image: Christian Lutz/AP via Alamy)Items on the register – paintings, vases or the occasional body part – might have been taken in a burglary or looted as the spoils of war. In the estimation of James Ratcliffe, the director of recoveries at the ALR, about a quarter of the database consists of works that were lost during the Second World War. “That doesn’t even touch the sides of what was taken by the Nazis,” he says.Others are looking for these objects too. In Magdeburg, the German Lost Art Foundation acts as the country’s central body overseeing looted cultural property. It oversees hundreds of projects exploring Nazi looted art and manages its own register, the Lost Art Database. “We always have to keep in mind that we’re not only talking about the works of Pissarro, Picasso and Cézanne,” says Andrea Baresel-Brand, the head of the documentation and research data-management department. “We’re also talking about everyday things: knives, forks, cups and plates. For a family, they could mean everything.”The story of looted art is tied to history but shaped by the present. In Germany, that often means contending with right-wing political parties that, says Baresel-Brand, “prefer not to deal with the past”. Elsewhere, attitudes in the art market have changed when it comes to dealing with items from colonised countries. “It’s interesting to think about the new frontiers of repatriation and the moral side of acquisitions,” says Ratcliffe. “Ten years ago the colonial history of an object was a curiosity. Now there’s a recognition that it’s an issue that needs to be addressed.” It’s a complex environment and Ratcliffe believes that the art market is sometimes a scapegoat for bigger questions facing society. “We’re calling this decolonisation but it’s not,” he says.2006 – Art of goldGustav Klimt’s dazzling “Adele Bloch- Bauer I”, stolen by the Nazis from Jewish industrialist Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, hung for years in Vienna’s Galerie Belvedere. It was returned to Bloch-Bauer’s heir in 2006.(Image: Herbert Pfarrhofer/EPA via Shutterstock)The ﬁeld of looking for lost artworks is changing in other ways too. There has been a move towards “positive registration”, with the cataloguing of artefacts in museums that might be in danger because they are in a region at risk of conﬂict. Meanwhile, artiﬁcial intelligence is expected to improve the image-matching process but it will take longer for it to perform the intricate work of due diligence. It’s also likely that technology will be used to create fraudulent documentation. “Say you have an export licence for a Roman mosaic from Lebanon in the 1970s,” says Ratcliffe. “Suddenly it’s possible for that document to appear with another mosaic. Tech will help people ﬁghting against art crime but will also help those committing it.”Combining the knowledge of an art historian with the nous of a detective, solving art crime is a complicated business. From the ALR’s database of artworks, three to ﬁve matches a week are made, while another department – the organisation’s busiest – looks into stolen watches and logs about 15 matches a day. Meanwhile, ﬁnding a “just and fair solution” to the question of what to do with a found stolen object is often not a straightforward process. Legal technicalities clash with the beliefs of individuals and, sometimes, the history of entire nations. As Schouten has discovered, the simple act of ringing someone’s doorbell can have sweeping consequences. It seems that the past, with all its painful memories and unresolved questions, is closer than we think.

Culture

Contrary to what you might have heard, Europe is a 21st-century success story

2025-12-20 06:53:02

Listen to the critics and you would think Europe was finished. Too bureaucratic, they say. Cannot agree on migration. Moving at glacial pace while Silicon Valley races ahead. It has become such a tired narrative that we have almost started believing it ourselves.But here is what the doom-mongers miss: Europe has quietly become one of history’s most remarkable success stories. We are talking about a continent that has created unprecedented prosperity while maintaining social cohesion and projecting influence. This transformation represents a fundamental shift in how we should understand European power and potential.Consider what Europe has survived over just the past decade and a half. The eurozone nearly collapsed under sovereign debt. Britain walked away. A pandemic shut down the global economy. War returned to European soil for the first time in generations. Each crisis was supposed to be the final nail in the coffin. Yet here we are: institutions intact and co-operation deeper than ever, constantly adapting and finding pragmatic solutions. Not bad for a region that supposedly can’t get its act together.True colours: Copenhagen shows Europe at its best(Image: Hilary Swift/Bloomberg via Getty Images)Walk through Copenhagen, Vienna or Zürich and try to argue this is a continent in decline. European cities dominate every quality-of-life survey worth its salt (read Monocle’s here). The trains run on time. You can get decent healthcare without going bankrupt. A bright kid from a working-class family can still make it to university. These are not small things – they are the stuff that determines whether ordinary people can live decent lives.Innovation? Please. We are not trying to be Silicon Valley – and that is exactly the point. While others chase the latest app or cryptocurrency bubble, European companies are solving real problems. BioNTech helped to save the world during the coronavirus pandemic. Novo Nordisk is tackling diabetes and obesity. ASML builds the machines that make computer chips possible. Airbus keeps people flying. Our renewable-energy sector is reshaping how the world powers itself. This is not flashy disruption – it is the kind of deep, patient innovation that moves civilisation forward.Even our supposed weakness – all that regulation – has become a superpower. General data protection regulation (GDPR) did not just protect European privacy; it forced tech giants everywhere to change how they handle data. Our environmental standards, consumer protections and competition rules get copied around the world. Europe is second only to the US in economic clout and miles ahead of China in per-capita wealth. Ten of the world’s 20 most competitive economies are European. Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland all outproduce US workers per hour, while still taking proper lunch breaks and holidays.Sure, we have problems. Our capital markets are a mess of national silos. The birth rate is falling. Getting 27 countries to agree on anything can feel like herding cats. But these are fixable problems, not existential threats. Integrate financial markets, get smarter about attracting talent from abroad and commit properly to green investment. None of this is rocket science.The real problem is in our heads. We have internalised the decline narrative so completely that we cannot see our own success. Meanwhile, the world is shifting around us. The US is tearing itself apart over culture wars and conspiracy theories. China is staring down a demographic cliff and drowning in debt. Against this backdrop, Europe’s combination of prosperity, stability and openness starts to look pretty attractive.The 21st century will not belong to whoever has the loudest voice or builds the biggest military. It will belong to whoever can integrate diverse societies, create sustainable prosperity and maintain democratic institutions under pressure. Europe has been quietly mastering these skills for decades. The only thing missing is the confidence to recognise what it has accomplished.Professor Arturo Bris is a Monocle contributor and director of Switzerland’s World Competitiveness Center. He is the author of ‘SuperEurope: The Unexpected Hero of the 21st Century’. Want more on Europe’s potential? Read how the continent could gain from a US brain drain. This story originally appeared in The Monocle Minute…Monocle’s free-to-read daily newsletter. Sign up to get insight from Monocle in your inbox every day.Your EmailSubscribe

Culture

It’s time to raise soft boys and tough girls: Here’s how Iceland breaks down gender stereotypes

2025-12-20 06:53:02

If you had to name a nation that’s home to a network of schools practising strict gender segregation, your answer would probably not be Iceland. The country, which has been ranked first in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index for 16 consecutive years, currently has a female president, prime minister, head bishop and chief of police. But it is also the birthplace of the Hjalli model, an education system that is attempting to break down gender stereotypes among preschoolers by teaching girls to be more “masculine” and boys to be more “feminine”.(Image: Hiroshi Ichikawa/Alamy)Devised by progressive educator Margrét Pála Ólafsdóttir in 1989, Hjalli (“rock” in Icelandic) is based on the theory that children are stunted by being taught in mixed classrooms because social pressures cause them to gravitate towards behaviour commonly coded as either male or female. Today it is estimated that almost 10 per cent of nursery-age Icelandic children are being taught under these principles in 18 Hjalli preschools and primaries.These schools encourage girls to take more risks, speak confidently and directly, and engage in manual forms of play such as stacking blocks. Boys are taught tenderness by playing with dolls, co-operation by painting each other’s nails and being in touch with their caring sides by, for example, giving each other gentle massages. Hjalli children play with gender-neutral toys and wear unisex uniforms, and are surrounded by bare walls and soft colours. This is all supposed to foster creativity and calm concentration. Ólafsdóttir believes that if you separate the sexes and encourage them to behave in ways that are stereotypically associated with the opposite gender, they will develop into more rounded adults, who will in turn forge a more egalitarian society.Not everyone in Iceland is sold on using such radical, gender-focused methods on toddlers. Kristín Dýrfjörð, a professor at the University of Akureyri, has said that the curriculum at Hjalli schools has calcified. She has written that their regimented structure and stripped-back environments produce schools that are “clinical”, “without history” and as unyielding as the name “rock” would suggest. Researchers at the University of Iceland also found that while Hjalli educated children were more confident, there was little difference in their academic performance compared with other children. That might be why similar ideas, in vogue across the Nordics in the 1980s, fell out of favour.The Hjalli approach might have more take-up in Iceland than elsewhere precisely because its citizens are already open to its goal – though the fact that most of the country’s schools are not segregated would suggest that such a model is not required to produce world-leading gender equality. Iceland has pioneered efforts requiring companies to report their gender pay gaps and imposed quotas for female representation on company boards of directors. Could it be that Hjalli is more of a consequence than a cause of this success? There has been a Hjalli outpost in Scotland for several years but it has yet to implement its strict gender segregation. If only Iceland’s constitution were as easily exportable.CommentWhile the rest of the world argues over defining gender, Iceland has achieved world-leading equality on terms that everyone understands.