Skip to content
TrackPodcasts
newsSep 24, 202635:38

Does the UN still have teeth? Plus: Monocle’s October style issue

The Briefing

Get every episode summarized

Each time The Briefing publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.

Email me new episodes

Free for 3 shows. No card needed.

About this episode

“Just like the briefing, Monaco Radio's weekday house view on the world, Brookfield speaks with quiet authority with a human touch about the essential forces that shape the global economy. Because Brookfield is a different kind of wealth creator.”From the transcript

As countries strike out on their own and conflicts abound, does the UN still hold sway? Alex von Tunzelmann reminds us what the organisation is capable of. Then: Monocle’s October style issue hits newsstands.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosts & guests

Transcript ready

574 searchable segments. Every word is indexed and playable.

Does the UN still have teeth? Plus: Monocle’s October style issue

The Briefing

0:00
35:38

Full transcript

The Briefing — Does the UN still have teeth? Plus: Monocle’s October style issue. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.

You're listening to the briefing on Monaco Radio brought to you in association with Brookfield. Just like the briefing, Monaco Radio's weekday house view on the world, Brookfield speaks with quiet authority with a human touch about the essential forces that shape the global economy. Because Brookfield is a different kind of wealth creator. Brookfield invests in the businesses that form the backbone of the global economy. Through the scale of its ecosystem, the depth of its operational expertise and the conviction of its long-term vision. Brookfield turns insight into opportunities to deliver enduring value. Shared values and a passion for stories of growth, innovation, and change. Brookfield and the briefing on Monaco Radio. Brookfield own what's next. You're listening to the briefing first broadcast on the 24th of September, 2026 on Monaco Radio.

Hello and welcome to the briefing broadcasting live from Studio One here at Midori House in London. I'm Chris Churmak. Coming up on today's program as world leaders gather at the United Nations this week we'll look back at some of the bigger moments of the UN to ask how the organization can maintain an amount of global influence. After that, our people and I think in many countries in the region understand that there is a information war going on in addition to the actual events that are taking place. Jordan's Minister of Government Communication there on his country's place in the Middle East caught between wars with Israel and Iran. We'll also take a look through the pages of Monaco's October issue just on news stands today and well it wouldn't be a Thursday without Fernando Agusto Pacheco's global countdown. Hello Chris, today we find out about the wonders of the Sri Lankan music charts. Looking forward to it Fernando, all that right here on the briefing with me, Chris Churmak.

A very happy Thursday to all of our listeners around the world. This week is supposed to mark the annual high point of international diplomacy for the United Nations. And yet with so many global powers basically going their own way, conflicts abounding, questions about the UN's usefulness have been growing louder. This is of course as much an indictment of the world as it is of the organization. The UN is only ever as powerful as the member states are willing to make it. Well Alex von Tonseman is his story and author and screenwriter joins us now. Alex, great to have you during this big heady week of diplomacy. This will not be the first time that the United Nations has been called into question. But have you felt like listening to speeches and everything else analysis this week that it is of a different character? Well, actually I think it's been quite dramatic and impactful what we've been discussed so far. Of course we had Trump speech about wanting to annihilate Iran which of course caused the huge stir.

And then Zachyan, the Iranian president with the Americans walking out. We've had Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela and Zelensky from Ukraine. I actually think in a way it makes quite a news impact. Now whether it makes the same kind of impact on action is of course another question. Well, definitely. And I guess the point is that you give those examples of speeches from this week. All of them are about various global powers asserting themselves on the international stage. Was there any room within that for international diplomacy? Well, not necessarily. And I do think that's something that often happens around the edges. I think historically, this has always been a question that comes up with the UN. Is it just a talking shop? But in a sense, a talking shop is quite a valuable thing to have. When you've got 150 countries, what's your best idea for how we could bring them all together? It's useful for them to be able to kind of come together and consider each other in this way. There has to be some forum for it. And we haven't figured out any best away really

to have a global forum or to have a global conversation. So I think it still does have value. But as you absolutely write it down in the introduction, it really depends on the belief and investments of member states. If they take it seriously, it's a serious organization. If they don't, it does lose credibility. Well, speaking of the more serious aspects of the organization, we wanted to talk about this by way of some examples from the past to remind people of the UN's better days, what it's capable of when member states are, willing to let it be. Let's start with H. A. E. Vat. President of the General Assembly in 1948. It is the first occasion on which the organized community of nations has made a declaration of human rights and fundamental freedoms. And it has the authority of the body of opinion of the United Nations as a whole. And millions of people, men and women and children all over the world, will turn for help and guidance and inspiration to this document. Alex, listening to that, the universal declaration of human rights,

it really remains one of the bedrocks of the United Nations. Although we have seen a lot of leaders, frankly, this week, warning that it's no longer really being followed in the same way. Well, certainly, and that's always been an issue with it. But the fact is that at least it laid down some expectations. But actually, the interesting thing is how much that has culturally become something that people now do understand globally as a bedrock, as a kind of base level for what human rights you expect. It's really a tremendous achievement in 1948 to do that, to get this level of agreement on something like that, which of course has controversial aspects. But of course, it depends whether people will observe it. But the whole point is that it gives you something queuing for. Next up is one of the UN's biggest hitters, Dag Hammershield, UN Secretary-General on the 1956 Suez Peacekeeping Force. The third report, document A, stroke 3289, is my first report in reply to the request of assembly.

That within 48 hours, the Secretary-General present a plan for the establishment of United Nations Force to secure and supervise the cessation of hostilities. Peacekeeping also a part of the United Nations DNA, even in the Middle East, Alex, but we are seeing, I mean, again, in Gaza today, countries have to kind of welcome that role. Has it become too easy to reject the UN's role in peacekeeping? It certainly is something that you can see really, that, for instance, in Gaza, the United States and Israel have tried to circumvent and take over themselves. And obviously, the Israel-Palestine question is one of the oldest issues at the UN. That's been going since 1948. What you just heard there from 1956, the sort of Suez crisis is actually the first time that the UN created an international peacekeeping force. And that's really what transformed it in the sense from just a talking shop into an organization that could have real power.

Actually, at that point, when forces had to be a great agreement with Gamal Abdul-Nasser of Egypt, of course, about which forces would be allowed, to be to Egypt, not connected with Britain, the US, and so on. And the forces that went in, they suddenly realized that, of course, they had no way, no uniform, no way of distinguishing themselves, but they had some blue spray paint and some hats. So they made blue berries, which, of course, became the visible sign of UN forces around the world afterwards. Absolutely. The blue helmets, we all know very well. Well, finally, Alex, we have you turned UN Secretary General on the 1970 nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The treaty is not an end in itself, but is step towards disarmament. And that the treaty imposes to all parties a solemn obligation to pursue negotiations on effective measures relating to the cessation of the nuclear arms race.

Alex, listening to that, I mean, UN treaties, even the nuclear non-proliferation treaty that is being described there are often born out of crisis. I think if they're to say that fear that we could literally destroy the world in the case of nuclear weapons, I think the one that we're screaming out for this year is probably AI. Do you get the sense that that might still be a possibility? What does it take for a global treaty like that to come together? Well, it often does, as you say, take crisis and take an emergency to force the kind of level of cooperation that is required to really strike everybody concerned with the level of seriousness that they're going to need to do something about it. And certainly with something like AI, we see a situation where actually there is a lot of this quiet right now about, particularly the sort of cracking that seems to have occurred. And this is obviously a cross-border problem. It's only something really that can be dealt with with a level of international regulation. And absolutely we saw that really a high point,

I think of the UN kind of 50s, 60s, early 70s periods where actually think about that nuclear non-proliferation treaty with the US and the USSR involved enormously important, historically. So at that point, it certainly could achieve things but comes back to your point that the member states had to be invested and had to take it seriously. Alex von Tonserman, historian, author and screenwriter. Thank you very much for taking us on a quick trip through the UN's history and relevance today. Now here's a need of re-auto with today's other news headlines. Thanks, Chris. A US federal judge has ordered President Trump to restore White House access to three news outlets. District Judge Tim Kelly said the decision to prohibit journalists from Politico, CNN, and MS now, was likely unconstitutional. Trump banned the media organizations on Friday, claiming their reporting posed a risk to national security. Taiwan's Coast Guard says it has comprehensively upgraded its maritime patrols around the protest islands

in the disputed South China Sea. The Taiwan-controlled archipelago has seen an uptick in Chinese activities lately and is considered vulnerable to attack. And finally, the Netherlands will return to next year's Eurovision Song Contest. Public broadcaster NPO has stepped in to coordinate its participation after the previous broadcaster pulled out over Israel's involvement in the competition. Ireland has already confirmed it won't be taking part in the 2027 event, and Spain is also considering extending its boycott. Those are today's headlines back to you, Chris. Thanks very much, Anita. Bahrain and Jordan are among those countries most impacted by the war in Iran because of the presence of US military bases which have become targets for the Islamic Republic. Jordan's King Abdullah was among those at the UN General Assembly this week warning that the conflict has impacted well everything from energy and food to trade and investment in the Middle East.

Well, we're joined now from Abu Dhabi by Insamim Rashid, Monica's Gulf correspondent. Inzi, you spoke with Jordan's Minister of Government Communication at the Arab Media Summit last week. We're going to hear more of that in a moment. But just tell us first of all, what is your impression of Jordan's role in all of this? Yeah, good afternoon, Chris. Really interesting because look at the end of the day, Jordan is not part of the GCC, and I put that to the information Minister who gave his response in relation to that. But Jordan has been at the very heart of this conflict like many of the Gulf Arab states because they have fielded some of the Iranian retaliation. And that's all down to, as Iran puts it, because there are US bases inside of Jordan that have been used to target Iran throughout this whole conflict. And so what we've seen now over the last few weeks is that there has been images released from inside of US bases inside Jordan,

where they've been damaged pretty severely as well. US facilities being targeted by Iran and damaged as a result. And so Jordan, as I said, has fielded a lot of these ballistic missiles and drones from Iran. So speaking to them directly, what's interesting to hear about, the situation that they feel about being in the middle of this war and actually the reason they're being targeted is because they host US facilities. But also, they're root to get out of this as well. Now, as you mentioned, Kigab Dullar had spoken at the UN General Assembly just the other day, where his speech was actually hugely respected by many countries around the world at the United Nations. But also, Jordan and Iraq had joined the meeting that President Trump had with the GCC member states. So they were part of that wider conversation with the US of trying to bring an end to this conflict, whether there was something concrete that came out of that meeting is obviously a bigger question.

But Jordan clearly, a country that has been rattled by this war. And that's what I was speaking to the Information Minister about the Arab media summit last week. Inzi, just to quickly follow up before we hear the tape, I mean, when it comes to those US military bases and what you're describing, are there any questions in Jordan or for that matter in some of the other Gulf nations about whether to keep their US bases? That is the big question, right? And I think you can only imagine when this meeting that took place between President Trump and the GCC leaders, including Iraq and Jordan, well, they were pretty angry. They're angry because President Trump has got the Gulf nations into this war, a war which he said would last four to six weeks. We are now seven months in, and the damage to the countries has been irreparable. You think of the UAE where I am. The economy has been damaged hugely. You go to Bahrain who are suffering massively because their air interceptors haven't been as good.

And so I think it will make a lot of the Gulf states question whether they can host US facilities here. One thing I would say about the UAE and conversations I've had with sources here, Chris, is that they have doubled down on their relationship with the United States. They know that it's one of the strongest defencilies they have. And so going forward, they will only improve their relationship directly with America. So I wouldn't expect Americans to be leaving the UAE anytime soon, but I also want to be surprised if there are other Gulf states who are rethinking that strategy, Chris. Well, in ZU and our own Andrew Muller spoke with the Minister of Government Communication, introduce him if you could and what he spoke about. So this is Dr. Muhammad Hussein Al Mamaniz, the Minister of Communications in Jordan. And we spoke directly about Jordan's current standing on the whole conflict between Israel, the US and Iran. Let me say a couple of things. First, Jordan will continue to be a force of stability in the region. We always call for dialogue.

We call for de-ascalation, because we think this is for the benefit of all societies and states in the region. Having said that, it is important. And Jordan strongly believed that this is the age of misinformation and disinformation. So we need and have a great duty of continue to search for the truth and the facts and report these facts. Government communication is under so much, I would say there's a duty for government communication to inform the public about the different policies with huge clarity. So it is important for all of us to understand that this is the time whereby there's a lot of misinformation, and the governments have a duty of informing the public of the accuracy and the facts about the different things. On that front, what have you learnt about the practicalities of doing that in a situation of crisis? I was reading that in July, for example,

a rumor took hold that the seaport and airport at Acaba were being evacuated, which wasn't true, and you had to issue a statement saying this isn't true. But what have you learnt about how to keep up with the disinformation? Because as we have all learnt by now, that travels a lot faster than official sources or usually actual factual reporting? Well, there's this historic balance between speed and accuracy, right? So you need to be fast as much as you can, but at the same time, not on the expense of truth and accuracy. We learnt that through technology at least, we can fact check different things and then tell the people, in as fast as possible, what is the truth? That has been the case in several occasions in Jordan, and we understand the need for the speed. But again, it's on that on the expense of accuracy. Your excellency, on that point, as a journalist who's been covering the conflict over the last seven months, and been looking at all the different countries and getting information when they have been perhaps, you know,

hostile Iranian tax towards the country, I found that social media has played a huge part in you getting your message out there. So, for example, recently, when they have been a tax towards US facilities inside Jordan from Iran, you and your ministry and the defense ministry inside Jordan have been very quick to put messages out there, clarifying the number of ballistic missiles coming in. How important and what has been the process of getting those clear messages out for people across the world to understand what's happening on the ground in your country? It is important. It starts by the military telling us what's exactly going on, and then we ask that the military itself actually issue a statement of the facts. Between this and that, sometimes we get a flood of lies and many posts and many information that are inaccurate. In this case, over time, actually, our people, and I think in many countries in the region, understand that there is a information war going on in addition to the actual events that are taking place.

So, people have developed a sense or a level of awareness to understand that there are so many lies going on out there. Let's state for the official truth from the entity responsible for that piece of information. Mohammed Al-Mamanee, Jordan's minister of government communication, they're speaking with Monaco's Andrew Muller and our Gulf correspondent, Inzamam Rashid. Inzi, stay with us for just a moment longer. You're listening to the briefing on Monaco Radio. You're back with the briefing. I'm Chris Charmac. Monaco's October issue is on new stands today. It is a style-focused issue and we'll get to that in a moment. But first, Monaco's Inzamam Rashid, still with us and Inzi, you spoke with the editor of the national. So, I spent time with Mina Al-Arabi. She's the editor-in-chief of the national for Monaco's editor's chair. And this felt like a particularly important moment to have that conversation.

Because we're reporting against the backdrop of war and conflict across the Middle East when information itself is contested and audiences are being pulled between broadcasters, social media, influences, even governments and algorithms. And Mina's view is quite clear that journalism shouldn't preach to its readers. The job is to report, explain and allow audiences to make up their own minds. And this is even for a newspaper which is effectively owned by the state. So, this story is really about trust and what a newsroom really needs to do to earn it at a moment when trust matters more than ever, especially in times of conflict. Inzamam Rashid, thank you very much for joining us with that little snippet of your interview to discuss more about the October magazine. We also have Monica's editor Josh Fennard right here in the studio. Good afternoon, Josh. Good afternoon, Chris. Great to be here. Good to have you. Tell us about the magazine.

What's the theme for October? Oh, it's a wonderful one for our readers. And hopefully for our listeners too, who I'm going to hope are going to head out and subscribe. Now, the theme is style, but let's be clear. Like everything Monica does, it's not limited to a magazine that's about trousers you should be buying or a nice deconstructed blazer, though you may find them at the back of the issue. It's also a broader point about how we turn up in the world, how our mayors represent us, how our cities serve us, and it's a broad-backed magazine packed with some rather beautiful stories, which I'm hoping will unpack a little bit now, Chris. Have you seen anything caught your eye under the covers? I am just curious when you say style about the style 25, what goes into something like that? Well, that is starting at the back of the book and talking about some of the, yeah, some of the brands that we admire from around the world. I think, you know, for MonacoL, clothes are much more than status symbols or things you buy. They're signals to how you, you know, how you want to be treated in the world,

how you think about yourself and every single shirt, pair of shoes, brand that we back. We do so because we think there's an important conversation going on in the world today about where and how things are made. So it may seem like fripper-y, but, you know, at the back of the book, we've got the things to buy to look after you from the beach to the boardwalk, wherever you get up to. But in the front of the book, we've also got some great stories about nations and how they're playing with their national image. There's a wonderful, wonderful story written by our foreign editor, Alexis Self, where he goes off with a Swedish marching band that represents the army, you know, you know, parading the king through the centre of Stockholm. But it's also a story about how you recruit in a country that is, you know, right on the eastern flank of Europe that is facing potential conflict in the future, or certainly paying some attention to its security. But how the music of Abba, which I wish we had lined up to play as a cue, could be part of a brass section which unites people from across different parts of the country

to serve in the army. We also sent Ed Stocker, our man in Milan, who was back in New York for a short while. Off to do a really interesting urbanism story about how Manhattan is reconnecting with its nearest beach rockaway, an amazing Robert Moses project that was supposed to link the urban sprawl to the deep blue sea. But being revived today and I believe young Ed Stocker has even managed to stir himself from slumber in Milan to file a quick package about what he saw. The Rockaway Ocean Club story, yes, it's about a club in New York for New Yorkers, but it's much more than that. It's about how you value your coastline as climate change makes summers hotter and hotter and people need to cool off. It's about how you balance what is a private club with what will also be a lot of public space. And it's also about this incredible restoration project. You know, the building was constructed in the 1930s, but it was shut in the 1970s due to

a lack of maintenance. And to see this real historical gem brought back to life after being shuttered for so long is a real win for anyone interested in historical preservation. Josh, I don't know if you know this, but listening to Ed Stocker there, my own family, my mother grew up on Long Island, not so far away on the other side. So our beach was Jones Beach, which is another beach that many New Yorkers kind of go to. And it is fascinating to hear about these places. Rockaway Beach, Jones Beach, that kind of, I mean, you have the same thing in the UK, right? It's sort of lost seasides that are now being revived for those who want to get out of the city. Yeah, and it's interesting. Isn't it? How cities present themselves for the people there? And it is a long-running debate. And you can almost see the waves of urban theory washing over the story, you know, the parks scheme in the 30s that opened it up, the downturn in the 70s that closed it down. And there may be a reconnection today. I must say I don't know the area well.

The great Gatsby is the extent of my knowledge of Long Island. So I think you're telling me you lived in West Egg, isn't that right? Not quite, but not actually that far from the house. One of the story actually while we're on New York, I'm just going to throw this one at you because I find it interesting that typically we have sort of almost a different take on street art here, which I just found interesting, the wall dogs that are giving street advertising, a personal touch in New York. I just, I found that sort of an interesting story for us to do because obviously we, we want our streets to be presented well. And it's interesting in that sense that we're kind of moving away from it. It's almost like a modern version if you will have graffiti or a purposeful version of graffiti that they do. I have to take issue with what you said there. I've got a real problem with street art. I think it was actually invented by a state agent to make a neighborhood look edgy. But actually often they're a real mess. This story is kind of interesting because it's a purposeful version of that. Yeah, but it's kind of like the antithesis to the digital billboard. So the digital billboard gives you the capacity to play any message, to

play video, to really alter what's said there. But actually there are people doing really interesting things for brands in paint in this way that ages gracefully. And where you manage to honor a craft on an art. And I think that's another thread that's sewn through the issue. You can have everything all at once or you could pick the things that are best for your city, for yourself, for your wardrobe, for your military, for your beach club in Rockaway. And I think the nice thing about the style issue is presentation really matters. But it's also how things are achieved. And I think you've picked a wonderful example there, Chris, the way that advertising is moving forward by looking a little bit backwards as well. Well, just finally, Josh, sort of looking backwards and forwards. I know at the end we've done that, Chris. Very good. We also have a little something on our own quality of life conference in Lisbon. What are your lessons from there? What should we take forward from that that you've picked for the magazine? Oh my goodness. Well, we did a

funny thing going into our Lisbon quality of life conference at the beginning of September, an event that we host every year for two to three hundred people, 25 speakers, three day event. We weren't quite sure what we were going to do. So we set three photographers, three documentary photographers who we, whose work we admire, the task of capturing the event. So it does everything from going backstage, seeing people prepping, doing their hair and makeup to some of the on-stage actions and portraits of the people who took past. It's doing a couple of things this story. It's showing people the event that we did, which was hopefully a great event, which we enjoyed, which the people there enjoyed, which the speakers were an integral part of. But it's also showing some of the preparation that goes into making something look effortless. And because it's the style issue, you know, we've done little section on what to wear to a conference because people always ask us, they say, should we dress up? Should we dress down? And we often say, just, you know, dresses yourself, but slightly smarter. And then you're probably not far off. But it's a wonderful visual report.

I'm flicking through it now. I can see the Japanese musician Verbal, who is one of our speakers. I can see the mayor of Portugal. It just brings to life a few days where we as monocle host to the world. And we try and show people in fine style, I hope. What a great conference can look like. And what a meaningful conversation can look like. So something that links the issue through its style theme and through all the stories we try and tell. Life lessons, style and photography with Lisbon, Monaco's Josh Fennert, editor of Monaco. Thank you very much for taking us through Monaco's October issue, which is out on Newstans now. You're listening to the briefing on Monaco Radio. Well, we all know what that means. It is time for the global countdown here on Monaco Radio with Fernando Augusto Pacheco, our senior correspondent Fernando. Why Sri Lanka? I'll tell you, I'll be very honest with you. Sometimes when I have no idea where I'm going, I ask some of my colleagues and people genuinely try and Thomas this time, our colleague Thomas,

he said, Fernando, why don't you do Sri Lanka? And I said, you know what? I will do it. By the way, I don't always accept those offers because then I look at the charts. I'm like, it's not a good week for Dan. But I generally thought the Sri Lankan charts were quite fun. Do you accept offers from listeners as well while we're doing this Fernando? Absolutely. I've done one's Canada because a listener emailed me about it. But don't worry, I don't do it every week. Sometimes I'm very adamant about a country, but this time is Sri Lanka. This one you've listened to audience or in this case, monical feedback that gone with Sri Lanka. So what kind of music are we going to be hearing? Very different. We're going to start with a sad bell. Sorry that we're going to start on a bit of a sad note. But this is an open-coming artist from Sri Lanka. He sings in Hala Pop, which is the language of the country. This is Moteja Sanaha's featuring Delubits with my memories are with you. And I'm translating the title just so you know, let's have a listen.

You can almost sing along to that if you knew Sinhala, right? It's quite sad. Yes, it's to learn the language now in order to be able to sing along to the sad, sad songs. And I'll tell you why it's sad. I'll no longer linger on those memories since you will never truly be mine again. Oh, it's got a sort of James Blunt sound to it. Anyway, he's doing very well and even the video is a bit sad. Sorry that we started on that note. Are you going to be picking us up through this global countdown for an end? I promise I will. Maybe not so much with this one, because I think this one is also a bit of a softer song here. This is Imash Sandepo at number four with my own rather.

We're getting progressively more upbeat. Agreed. And Imash also won the voice Sri Lanka season three last year. But when I was reading about that program, can you believe it? It's eight months long. It's on air. So it's it's grueling. So if he won my god, well done. Well done for surviving eight months worth of the voice. I thought it was like three months or something like that, but yes, every country has a different way of doing the voice, but clearly the Sri Lankans go for the long haul. And I was talking, you know, with our colleague staff about kind of music reality shows that I don't think they are in vogue anymore, but I guess depends on each country because clearly Imash is there on the charts doing very well. He's on the charts, but only at number four. So what do we have at number three? Number three, you have a blockbuster song from India. He's a Malayalan rapper, of course, he's from Kerala. Of course, the Indian music scene is quite fascinating. I have to say because so many regions, so many different languages. And this song as well is not only big in Sri Lankan India, it's the number five song worldwide as well.

So it's fascinating. It's blockbuster vibes. It's Arjan with Kaliani. You're my It makes me want to dance the video for that song is very expensive. And Arjan as well, of course, we just heard the voice of the guest vocalist. He's kind of a businessman as well because, you know, he's the leader of the of kind of money, very records. I hope I'm saying this correctly. He also had a little career in Canada and singing in English, but then he said, you know what, I'm going to sing in Malayalan. So that's perfect. So he knows how to create a blockbuster, but nonetheless, to make it to the fifth most bought song in the global charts is quite something.

It's quite something indeed. But you know, you're talking about, we're talking here about different genres. We had the blockbuster, we had the sad ballads, but now we have some, I felt that is a bit of a social hip hop. When I say social hip hop because the video for that song is quite sad, there's someone in hospital. It's a man taking care of his kid. You know, it's about the tough lives that we all live sometimes. I like that. I think there's a social critique there in the song. He's a great artist from Sri Lanka, hip hopper. Can I say hip hopper? Hipper, rapper, sorry. Hipper, hip hopper. You want to coin your own phrases here, Fernando? This is your global counter and you can do what you want. I'm doing whatever I want today. This is Luron Praba and Tick Koda with Latin Go.

I like it. There is quite a variety on these charts. I have to say we are going from, as I say, the ballads to the blockbusters to rap. So Sri Lankan, they really like their mixes. And number one, it's a mix of the genres because there's a rap in the song, but there's also a little bit of a romantic ballad. In between the name of the songs, Kwipoatek, we have Ravi Jay and Ipuni Shana, the number one with Bavita Flowers. And Bavita is a wild flower and damn it to Sri Lankan. It has kind of quite a cultural importance to the country as well. So it's quite beautiful. So we're also in touch with nature here. Let's have a listen. I love the instruments there. Beautiful. New age-esque as well. Love it. Really love the number,

one. That one sort of takes you on a bit of a trance. I feel I put you in a trance, doesn't it? I think he is the better word there, Chris. Very good. I enjoyed the top five overall. That was a good top five from Sri Lanka. Where will we head to next, Fernando? Well, I think I can tell that we are being Brazil, so we might do something in Brazil indeed. We look forward to a Brazilian-flavored global countdown next week. Fernando Augusto Bacheco have a great trip home. That is all the time we have for this edition of the briefing. It was produced by Anita Riota, researcher with Kayleigh Martin, and our studio manager was Elliot Greenfield. The briefing is back tomorrow at the same time. I'm Chris Tormac. Goodbye and thanks for listening.

More episodes

More from The Briefing

View all episodes →