Despite recent turbulence we know that there is always somewhere that's up-and-coming and places whose doors are open to people who have fresh ideas. So what are you waiting for? Let's explore.
Sole charge
Londoners overwhelmingly want to remain in the EU. So what would happen if they did just that? We take a look at how the UK's capital could make it a reality.
Upward mobility
Cities around the world are easing freedom of movement to lure the best and most ambitious businesses. We profile the cities that are holding the doors open and meet the mobile entrepreneurs who accepted the invite.
Roberto Azevêdo, director-general of the World Trade Organisation, discusses the challenges facing international trade in the light of Trump's grumbles and the fallout from Brexit.
Reading the race
This year's US presidential election has featured baffling twists and bewildering turns. We meet the correspondents tasked with explaining the inexplicable and translating the debate for their audiences at home.
Turmoil in Turkey, progress in Slovenia and urgent recalibration in the EU.
German politician Henriette Reker was stabbed shortly before she became Köln's new mayor – and just weeks later hundreds more women were assaulted. At a time of social and political unrest, can she give the city a glimmer of hope?
There's no love lost between journalists and politicians but at least Portland is in a caring, sharing mood.
Find out why Indonesia's president flies Economy and why South Korea is cutting back on handouts.
China takes a punt down the Suez Canal and Premiership football scores big in Africa.
Australia's governor-general and his military bling – and Fiji spreads its aviation wings.
Urbanism briefing
Why the UK leads the way in city security and the public baths in Denmark that are making a splash.
Norway's sensitive border with Russia and materiel wealth in Botswana, Iran and Portugal.
We're on the 26th floor of Hong Kong's Admiralty Centre to meet France's consul-general.
Fresh appeal
A poverty-stricken nation with the potential to become a global powerhouse, India's greatest challenge is its biggest hope: can Modi harness the power of the youth?
We all want to work in an environment that's friendly, challenging and gets the best out of us. The companies featured here are benchmarks in particular fields, whether it's looking after employees, maintaining traditions or simply providing the smartest staff uniforms.
What I've learnt: How to start again
Whether on a whim or with years of preparation, quitting a job to follow your entrepreneurial ambitions is a bold move. Here we meet four enterprising originators who did just that and trace the stages of their businesses, from flashes of inspiration through occasional crises to that triumphant moment in which they knew that their business was a success. We get a few top tips along the way too.
Business community: Good neighbours
Formerly quiet neighbourhoods all around the world are now resolutely booming thanks to entrepreneurial businesses whose vision has realised an area's potential. We take a tour of three such districts where companies have struck gold and today sit at the forefront of thriving communities where quality of life has never been higher.
Start-up community: Shared ambition
In Istanbul, creative types are banding together in a new kind of shared working space. By pooling their skills and industry, these entrepreneurs are building a strong community and a hopeful future to counteract the city's turmoil.
Shop floor: Seeing green
We check in with a US company that's working to make homes more eco-friendly and an easygoing garden centre that's blossoming thanks to its customer service. Their key to success? Having a clear goal.
Work, eat & stay: Come on in
Hospitality heroes in Japan, the US and Spain, united by their willingness to take a risk on an inspired idea, talk us through their nascent ventures in F&B and the hotel business.
Craft: Make it big
Becoming an entrepreneur is often about finding a niche in the market or just doing things a little bit differently. These three makers demonstrate how having a vision, the confidence to follow it through and the ability to adapt can pay huge dividends.
Joyce Wang: Interior motives
Joyce Wang got her big break as a 27-year-old in Los Angeles, redesigning the interior of the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard. After two years on the West Coast she moved back to her native Hong Kong in 2011, set up her own studio and now works for some of the city's smartest restaurant and hospitality groups, such as the Mandarin Oriental. Last year she finished renovating her 10-man studio in Hong Kong and opened another in London with six more staff. She now travels between the two every month.
Eureka moment: Changing fortunes
Monocle 24's flagship business show 'The Entrepreneurs' now has a little brother: 'Eureka'. Each week Daniel Giacopelli brings you one entrepreneur's story, from early inspiration, through trials and tribulations to the first step on the road to success – all in under 10 minutes. Here we cast the spotlight on five business leaders featured on the show; tune in every Friday to hear more.
Some light reading at a new Taichung bookshop followed by a tasting session at a Tokyo winery.
✕5 Essays
Good business means more than a glossy finish and a pithy mission statement. We speak to five founding figures about how best to build bridges and teams and the importance of being armed and ready when opportunity comes knocking.
Spirit of enterprise
As the first Suntory president selected from outside the Japanese drinks firm's founding family, Takeshi Niinami has needed all his creativity and management guile to help the classic brand reach beyond its home market.
If TV is now a battle for eyeballs, who are the generals directing the fight? We take the temperature of three leaders in different fields: current affairs in Taiwan, mafia-worrying drama from Italy and sumptuous subtitled drama from Germany (via the US). What binds them together? They are the future of TV.
She's got talent
Cécile Frot-Coutaz heads up the Fremantle Media Group, a content provider with a huge global reach thanks to its TV brands including 'The X Factor' and 'American Idol'. She discusses evolving viewing habits and how she intends to 'aggregate eyeballs'.
Though television shows are played out on the small screen, in recent years they have become huge business across the globe. Discover the series coming out of Brazil, Nigeria and the Middle East that you should be switching on for.
Wealth of good material
Germany's financial powerhouse has a lesser-known face as a quietly influential news hub giving Munich and Hamburg a run for their media money. Monocle pays a visit to discover a city rich in newspapers and broadcasters unafraid to deal with complex stories.
High-definition is going stratospheric – discover the technology giving your telly some welly.
Place your bids in Singapore and Auckland.
Books, music and a Turkish TV tyrant.
Smooth selling
Boasting doesn't come easy to the Basque but we meet the furniture movers, shakers and makers who are going against the grain and doing just that: selling themselves and redefining their industrial heritage in the process.
Jackets, jewellery and jumpers join together to herald the joys of seasonal attire.
Be it furniture in the Czech Republic or a sauna in Finland (of all places), we've sought out some gems.
Designs of the time
'House Vision' is an exhibition that invites creative thinkers to explore new possibilities for urban living. Welcome to the future of the Japanese house – delivery-friendly outdoor fridge and handy pull-down bath included.
This modernist home designed by little-known architect Reginald N Uren looks deceptively simple but it's a surprisingly complex structure that has been lovingly nurtured.
Inventory N°96
We bring you up-to-the-minute timepieces, slick storage solutions and snazzy bottles that will stand out from the crowd in any drinks cabinet.
Discerning stop-offs
Whether you're looking for your next sunny bolthole or are taking time out in a major city en route to your next meeting, our selection of the finest new openings will see you dine, shop and keep fit in style.
Bean around the world
They say life is like a box of chocolates – and so it proved for Samuel Maruta. When the French native relocated to Vietnam he was as surprised as anyone else to find himself packing in a finance career to go in search of the finest highland cocoa beans.
People's republic
This creative corner of Vilnius is more than just a neighbourhood – it's a state.
The co-owners of Café Altro Paradiso bring different things to the table and it all comes together in this Italian oasis on bustling Spring Street.
Food briefing
September brings with it some scrumptious drinking and dining news, including the opening of a bar down under, a Japanese coffee grinder to get your hands on and a young chef to watch in Berlin. Plus: a round-up of Copenhagen's best new openings.
First-class selection
Each month we'll review the best and boldest of a city's retail – and this month we're in Taipei. Across the Taiwanese capital, low rents have contributed to a boom in 'select shops', which are almost as numerous as the assortment of items they offer. One gap in the market is a homegrown menswear store stocking Taiwan's sharpest designs – most smart gents still head to Japanese brands Beams on Fujin Street or Beauty & Youth by United Arrows. Here's the best of the rest.
For Italian film director Paolo Sorrentino, cooking is something to save for old age. Eating, however, he loves to do – especially if it involves a bowl of pasta.
Editor in chief Tyler Brûlé reflects on the EU referendum and charts the response. Read on to find out what's changing and what will never change at Monocle, and why having an international workforce is so important to our brand.
Standing on solid ground
The Czech town of Zlin was transformed by a visionary shoemaker who wanted to house his workers in a garden city – we put our best foot forward to explore his functionalist masterpiece.
Embassy design no. 02
On a pedestal
Rome — BRITISH EMBASSY
Year built: completed in 1971
Architect: Basil Spence
This brutalist edifice is the result of a much-overlooked episode in history: the terror campaign initiated by militant Zionist group Irgun. In 1946 Irgun targeted the British embassy's mission in Rome and destroyed much of the villa built in 1825 by Don Marino Torlonia, Duke of Bracciano.
In 1960 the Scottish modernist Basil Spence was called upon to replace the building. The architect behind Coventry Cathedral created a bold angular statement using travertine marble and light oak. The building shares a site with Michaelangelo's Porta Pia; to respect this renaissance masterpiece and the surrounding gardens, Spence raised his project on pillars, giving the building a sense of lightness. The ceremonial entrance, a bridge over a pool, adds to the ethereal effect.
Monocle comment: While many other Roman embassies inhabit elegant ancient buildings, this structure stands as a reminder of the radical thinking seen in the post-war era. Spence was part of a bold exercise in national branding.
Ambassador no. 40
Eric Berti
Hong Kong — French consul-general to Hong Kong and Macau
Colonial-era Hong Kong used to be a haven for all kinds of exiles under the British flag. Yet 19 years after the handover a new wave of European émigrés are painting the town a different shade of red, white and blue. Hong Kong is home to the biggest French community in China, as entrepreneurs escape high taxes in Paris and pollution drains the expat populations of Beijing and Shanghai. "Five years ago a French expat in Hong Kong could say, 'I know everyone here,' but now it's impossible because you have French everywhere," says Eric Berti, France's new consul-general in Hong Kong and Macau, who joined the Gallic influx last year after four years in the same role in Sydney.
"It is almost like a mid-sized embassy in Hong Kong, which is not the case at all in Sydney," says Berti, who now oversees three times the number of staff across cultural, economic and media sections. A consular posting to the Chinese special administrative region is still considered unique; Berti is one of only two French consuls to attend an annual meeting of ambassadors in Paris. The situation requires careful diplomacy: February's visit by the French finance minister was the first ministerial visit in three years, as Paris is wary of offending Beijing by giving too much prominence to Hong Kong.
French culture is the biggest diplomatic business in town and this year the new consul-general received his first taste of Le French May. The huge two-decades-old arts festival, organised by the consulate, now runs through June and spills over two borders into Macau and Shenzhen. "We don't want French May getting any bigger because I want to develop other fields, such as in education," he says. About 600 students from Hong Kong go to France each year and the consul-general believes that more can be done. "The image of France will be good as long as we are perceived as a country that improves Hong Kong."
Today's consulate hangs above Hong Kong on the 26th floor of the Admiralty Centre, a modern update from a century earlier when the French Mission occupied the monumental Edwardian residence of the first British governor to Hong Kong on Government Hill.
France appointed its first consular agent in Hong Kong, a US businessman, in 1842. It took another 20 years to get a consul-general proper and a French national. A current staff of 60 are split evenly between general consular matters, the cultural attaché and the economic section.
The consul-general is encouraging closer co-ordination between the consulate and Hong Kong's French Chamber of Commerce, one of the largest in Asia. His "Team France" initiative involves projects such as the So French So Innovative showcase of French technology.
Sweet-talking students
Would-be diplomats from unrecognised states will get a crash course in statesmanship in September: the NGO Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization is offering lessons on lobbying European institutions.