I like it here, this island of time between Christmas and New Year. While it might not be a tropical paradise, it is somewhere that you can regroup, shrug off the excesses of Christmas and prepare for the new year. It’s a good spot for long walks, for reading, for making lists, for setting out your ambitions for the year ahead. (Hold on, aren’t these the same as last year’s?)

While Monocle never sleeps – for starters, there are newsletters and radio shows that require our writers, editors and producers to be on duty – it does go a little quieter here. You check your email inbox and wonder if there’s something wrong with the server as the usual deluge of messages is now a trickle.

This island also offers a vantage point from where you can look back across the year and commit to memory the moments that mattered.
So, from a year of Monocle travels and escapades, here are a few Tuck high points. I hope you have a good list to reflect on, too.

1.
Paris. In February, we opened our café-shop-radio studio setup on Rue Bachaumont (with a separate bureau just a hundred metres away) and it was love at first sight. People often ask me what Monocle stands for, what makes us who we are. Now I can reply, “Go and have a coffee at the Monocle Café in Paris and all will become clear.” That’s because it’s cosy, cool without straining, welcoming and part of the neighbourhood. It’s us.

2.
Throughout 2025 I went to trade events in Cannes, Abu Dhabi and Milan and more, and loved them all. OK, Mipim in Cannes in March was a little wet (I was dreaming of opening my first rosé of the year but ended up on a terrace wrapped in a blanket with rain-soaked shoes). But we met so many good people – those who build and transform our cities with care – that the monsoon almost didn’t matter. On the other hand, Milan for Salone in April was perfect. The sun shone, the design world gathered and there was a joyful generosity at play. Trade shows rock. Well, the ones I get myself invited to.

3.
Jakarta for Monocle’s The Chiefs Conference was fun and revelatory. I had never been to the Indonesian capital before and neither had many of our delegates. Even those who lived a few hours away in Singapore and Vietnam also turned out to be Jakarta virgins. The talks were perfect but the afterparty was insane – everybody dancing in a tiny bar with the best DJ. It’s a good lesson: go to new places with an open mind. Pack your dancing shoes. Get a ticket to a Monocle event in 2026.

4.
Speaking of which, The Quality of Life Conference in Barcelona. This was next level in a very real way. We arranged a surprise to close the conference with a troupe of castellers entering the auditorium to build a human tower, or castell. In fact, they created two towers in quick succession, tiny children clambering to the pinnacle each time. There was something about this literal example of having each other’s backs, of supporting one another, of taking the weight on your shoulders to let the young soar, that just got to people. There was cheering and there were tears.

5.
Palma. I am there every chance I get and, after Barcelona, we took a team of Monocle Patrons to the island to show them some of the places that have hooked me and the rest of Monocle. So to the folks at Cap Rocat, Ohlab (that’s you, Jaime and Paloma), Hotel de Mar, Arquinesia, La Pecera, Can Vivot, Can Bordoy – thank you.

6.
There’s been a lot of trips to the Gulf this year – the Monocle Weekender in Abu Dhabi, the World Governments Summit in Dubai and, along with my colleague Luke, we also made it to Sharjah. One night we were taken around the city by our hosts – on foot – and as the dhows bobbed on the creek and the light flicked to gold, I thought: I will add this day to my list of 2025 highlights. And I have.

If we don’t speak before we leave, enjoy your time on this island and see you back on the mainland in 2026.

To read more columns by Andrew Tuck, click here.

Quietly elegant in its formality, Vienna is a bastion of Mitteleuropean charm – a quality that the city’s residents reflect by favouring stylistic restraint over excessive glamour (writes Grace Charlton). But there’s more to the Austrian capital’s understatement than meets the eye. With its high-collared Loden coats, Viennese style expresses something of the city’s heritage as the former seat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This is also where, at the turn of the 20th century, the secession movement of Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann and others broke from artistic and design conventions, and where Sigmund Freud conceptualised psychoanalysis.

Though the shadow cast by its history is long, today Vienna moves at its own pace and on its own terms. “The luxurious thing about Vienna is that it’s still a slow city,” says editor and art historian Nela Eggenberger when Monocle meets her for breakfast at Café Prückel, which has served the city since 1903. Here, waiters in bow ties busily ferry silver trays stacked with eggs, chive toast and cream coffees. Two women in matching turtlenecks enjoy a catch-up while elderly men gather in a booth, setting the world to rights. “We have coffee houses where you can sit for hours without being pushed to consume more,” she says. “There’s a saying: ‘When the world ends, go to Vienna because everything happens 10 years later.’”

For Monocle’s ‘Alpino’ newspaper, we spent the weekend in Vienna meeting its best-dressed locals. Read our report in full here. 

In our Alpino newspaper, Monocle Radio’s music curator, Fernando Augusto Pacheco, picks the songs that will light up your winter. Spanning old favourites and new hits, these tracks will take you from a gentle evening by the fire to a pumping après-ski dance floor. Looking to bolster that New Year's Eve playlist? Well, look no further.

1. 
‘It’s Alright’, Cinnamon Gum
This warm, inviting song by the Gdańsk-based Cinnamon Gum is best enjoyed with a hot toddy while sitting next to the fire.

2. 
‘Blurry Moon’, Charlotte Gainsbourg
The French-British actress and singer’s ethereal new track was produced by electro musician Sebastian. The Lynchian video features Gainsbourg driving along California’s Mulholland Drive.

3. 
‘Santa Baby’, Eartha Kitt
Forgive us, Mariah, but the classic Christmas song that we’ll have on repeat this year is this 1953 track, with its velvety delivery by Kitt.

4. 
‘Habeeby Da’, Tul8te
Masked musician Tul8te’s latest album, Narein, is a perfect blend of bossa nova,
flamenco and Amr Diab-style 1990s pop. “Habeeby Da” is a good place to start.

5.
‘Misty Jungle’, Mind Enterprises
Italo disco seems to be blaring out from all of the cool parties this winter. This track by Mind Enterprises is a guaranteed hit on the dance floor.

To listen to our full winter playlist on Spotify, click here. 

Split between Denmark and Sweden, Cesar Equipment is a new menswear brand that looks to the coastlines of Scandinavia for inspiration for its cold-weather-ready designs. “We started this brand because we want to test ourselves and see how far we could go in terms of hi-tech functional garments, while adding a fashion element,” says Andreas Åhrman, one of the company’s five partners, from his base in Gothenburg. “We like functionality in clothing but looking as though we’d just come back from a five-day hike wasn’t our style.”

Since Cesar Equipment’s launch in October, its offerings have split into two categories: Active Tech and Casual Tech. The former centres around lightweight, waterproof and durable Japanese fabrics, cut into loose and clean silhouettes with functional details (think Aquaguard zippers and taped seams to prevent leaks or draughts sneaking in). From bib overalls to goose-down jackets, the Active Tech line will keep you safe and stylish during a snowstorm. Casual Tech, meanwhile, is aimed at city dwellers, who might not need such storm-appropriate clothes but still want to retain technical elements that will keep them warm and dry during the chillier months.

“We were tired of freezing in denim jackets that didn’t fit properly,” says Åhrman. Based near the North Sea, the team is well placed to test the viability of its products, from waterproof trousers to merino-wool beanies. “We’re sailors, we water ski and we take our dogs to the beach. Our favourite products to work on are those that aren’t traditionally seen from a design perspective, like a wetsuit. We want functionality but also an opportunity to make something more beautiful by twisting the design.” 
cesarequipment.com