What are you doing the first week of September? That’s when we’re hosting The Monocle Quality of Life Conference in sunny Lisbon and I would like you to join me and the rest of the crew, of course. It will be the 10th outing for the event and over the past 11 years (Covid punctured a hole in the line-up), we have created something pretty special.

To explain, I’ll steal the words of a guest at last year’s gathering in Barcelona, “This isn’t just a conference, this is an urban retreat where you get to spend three days in the company of amazing people and go home with a new outlook on life.” And, no, she wasn’t my mum – not least because she’s dead.

This comment hits it on the head. We bring readers, speakers, editors together for a gathering that includes incredible conversations on stage and off, fun lunches and dinners – dancing too – and access to a city’s most impressive buildings, ateliers and galleries. This Monocle moment is always a highlight of my year.

Still unsure? Here are a few more things to consider. You will make new friends and you will be surrounded by people who care about making better businesses, cities and lives. You can come on your own – most people do and everyone thrives.

OK, I’ve said my bit – check your diaries for Thursday 3 to Saturday 5 September and click here for more details (we are not revealing everything just yet but we have a few surprises planned).

When Monocle started almost 20 years ago, and I had not a grey hair, we promised ourselves that we would always have fun with print, look at new ideas that merited getting presses to whirr, ink to hit paper. That’s one of the many reasons why I am delighted to announce the arrival this week of our new summer newspaper, Med, Mountains & More. 

But, “Ah”, I hear you say, “don’t you always have a summer newspaper?” Well, yes, and thank you for paying attention to our print schedule. But this year it comes with a large-format glossy summer supplement that might just blow your socks off – or your Birkenstocks if you are currently hosiery free in your part of the world.

Why? Well, have a look at our report from Syria’s chic beach clubs, come with us as we discover a different side to Sardinia, check in to the new Mandarin Oriental in Mallorca as the brand sets out to reinvent the resort (wonder who wrote that?) and come to the Alps with us on Austria’s military secret: the handsome donkey.

It’s on sale at all wise newsstands from Thursday and available for pre-order here. But I noticed a nice pile already in our Zürich shop this week – so head to Dufourstrasse 90 to be a print leader of the pack.

For more of Andrew’s columns, click here.

Monocle’s summer newspaper is about to hit the shelves, and is available to pre-order online now.

Inside, we sit down with Albanian prime minister Edi Rama, invite you to settle in for a drama-packed beach read by author Edward Chisholm and test your knowledge with a selection of puzzles. Plus: Don’t miss our glossy 50-page supplement, featuring our top-five stays from Malta to Merano, breezy menswear on Spain’s Costa Brava and much more.

RM Williams has successfully pivoted from a rugged Outback outfitter to a luxury leather-goods maker. Grace Charlton, sat down with the Aussie boot maven’s CEO, Paul Grosmann, for the latest episode of Monocle on Fashion to discuss its new flagship shop on London’s Jermyn Street. 

Is RM Williams the first Australian brand to open a shop on Jermyn Street? 
I’m not aware of any other. It’s a big statement for us to be sitting here proudly alongside some of the most iconic global heritage brands. We also now have nine shops in the UK, up from just two a little more than a year ago. It’s a significant moment in terms of our commitment to this market but also in our international expansion.

How do you achieve a deeper, meaningful relationship in retail? What’s the strategy behind this new flagship? 
One of the first things that you notice about the shop is that it’s very welcoming. It’s not a big statement but it’s quite Australian in that way. It’s very warm. It’s very open. It celebrates a lot of the things that we do as a brand, [such as] craftsmanship and the importance of the 88 pairs of hands that go into making each pair of our boots. We celebrate Sebastian Cox, a renowned British craftsperson that designed and made all of the furniture in [our] shop. It’s uniquely Australian but it’s also about the coming together of two incredible cultures.

RM Williams went back into Australian ownership in 2020. What are the benefits of manufacturing in Australia?
When the brand was brought back into Australian hands, there were three distinct priorities. One was to lean into the country’s manufacturing, accelerating localised craftsmanship. [The second] was elevating the product and the third, once we were ready, was international expansion. Since then, we’ve doubled the production facility in Adelaide, adding 350 or so jobs. It’s been a huge ramp up in terms of production, and this is now the exciting phase of being able to capitalise on a lot of that hard work by taking RMs to the world.

To listen to the full interview with Grosmann, click here.

Anyone who has visited Germany is likely to be startled by the lack of options for Sunday shopping (writes Chris Cermak). It’s a bit like going back in time to a quainter era when Sundays were meant for church and family. Sure, you can buy bread (German bakeries are underrated) and flowers during limited hours, or head to restaurants and cafés, but that’s about it. The funniest example of the stringency of German Sunday rules is found at Bauhaus, a DIY chain along the lines of B&Q or Home Depot. Though the garden section remains open, don’t even think about buying a drill – shopping for power tools is strictly prohibited.

The reason for this is partly historical but it’s also because of the German scepticism of modern-day changes. Print newspapers are still widely read and most, if not all, businesses accept cash. There’s a widespread doubt in the country about whether to take progress, technological or otherwise, at face value. Germans will question whether these developments will truly add or subtract from their lives. And, like in neighbouring France, there’s a precious fealty to the idea of work-life balance. Germans might have a reputation for efficiency but that’s still kept within regular working hours.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz, however, doesn’t seem to care too much about that; he has a stubbornly stagnant economy to revive. Earlier this year, Merz was in hot water for implying that Germans were lazy and, more recently, he helped to pass a law clamping down on the ability of his compatriots to take sick leave without a doctor visit. On a mission to boost productivity and spending, the chancellor is now coming after Sonntagsruhe (“Sunday peace”) – a concept so sacrosanct that it’s written into the country’s constitution, the Basic Law.

Polls show a roughly 50/50 split between those who want more shops to be open on Sundays and those who want to keep them closed. Most states already allow Verkaufsoffener Sonntag, an exception to the closures where shops can open anywhere from four to 10 Sundays a year. Retail groups also point to the fact that online shopping is always open and that Polish workers are toiling away on Sundays to fill crossborder orders when the same money could be going to cash-strapped German businesses.

But Merz’s quest has also prompted a broader discussion about how Germans should live. Opponents to the change point to the social benefits of having a day in the week free from retail frenzy. As an American who remembers with horror the wholesale commercialisation of Thanksgiving – a holiday that is meant to be for family – there’s something pleasing about that sentiment. Surely there are other ways to get Germany’s economy back on track without disturbing the peace.