Read this!

Described by its publisher as ‘a new, global, European-based media brand... delivering the most original coverage in global affairs, business, culture and design’, Monocle is the latest lifestyle magazine to hit the shelves.

The magazine is aimed chiefly at men between 25 and 65 who’ve got a bit of money to spend, enjoy foreign travel and have a keen eye for business. The publisher suggests its readers will be drawn from a professional elite, which might include ‘the Polish banker in London, the Finnish architect in Zurich, the Spanish management consultant in Dublin.’ And the construction manager in Leatherhead, perhaps?

It’s beautifully designed, borrowing more from the revamped Guardian than from other monthly men’s mags, and issue one weighed in with almost 300 pages. It’s packed with features – on the Japanese Navy, Norway’s oil economy and Catalonian nationalism – and briefings on emerging cities and business zones, such as Samara in Russia.

Uniquely, Monocle has an ongoing comic book story within its pages – of the Japanese manga variety, so it reads from right to left and starts at the back. A weird hybrid of The Economist, Wallpaper* and 2000AD, there’s nothing else like it on the stands.