Are you a man under 150cm in height, who’s never molested a child and can wiggle your bottom in time to the music? If so, things are looking up for you today (well, at this height, perhaps looking up is always a given). On Thursday in Madrid, I sat next to a man – we’ll call him Nicholas – who told me about some marketing work that he had once done in Florida that involved hiring people to slip themselves into mascot costumes and parade around trade fairs. 

Locating potential human innards proved quite the task. While the costumes were often petite, they were also heavy; and if there were going to be children in the room, the person being, say, a rabbit or giant tortilla, needed a special licence to prove that they had been police vetted. Plus, this was Florida, where demand was high because of the likes of Walt Disney World being in the state and offering premium gigs to potential Goofys and Plutos.
Oh, and then there are all the organisations that take care of mascot-worker rights, such as the National Mascot Association (NAM), which I have now looked up and see that it has the motto: Fuzzier Together, Safer Together. Can you imagine how much fun the annual general meeting must be? “I’ll take one final question from Pauline the Pineapple but then over to you Mr Chunk-o-Cheese.”

Anyway, it meant, explained Nicholas, that many of the mascots were raking it in. The minimum fee is apparently $100 an hour and let’s just say that some of these small, sturdy, bottom-wiggling performers insist on being paid in cash. It begs the question: how would a tax official ever track down any miscreant? You could hardly put out an alert to all your agents for anyone that they happened to see dressed as a hot dog or bottle of tequila.

I was in Madrid because we were hosting a cocktail party at the Mandarin Oriental Ritz for Fitur, the international tourism fair (where there were apparently lots of Spanish mascots running amok – I even saw a giant gorilla on Gran Vía). The party was joyful and various attendees told me about why I should visit Angola, Guatemala’s push to attract visitors beyond the Spanish-speaking world and why I need to spend more time in Menorca (all ears). But I was also brought up to speed on Boro.

Sunday’s high-speed train crash in southern Spain saw 45 people lose their lives and even though the investigation into what happened is ongoing, it has already become a political blame game. Rightly, there’s intense anger. Amid all of this, one small story had, it seemed, gained an incredible following throughout the week: the story of a woman on the train, Ana García, who had escaped bruised and battered from the wreckage but minus one important thing: her dog, Boro. García’s plea to help find her hound took off in the media and as people anxiously awaited news, animal rescue organisations stepped in and the police promised to assist. Then, on Thursday, Boro was found and, judging from video clips shown of him reuniting with his owner, was rather surprised at all the fuss. 

Also at dinner on Thursday was our Adelaide-born Madrid correspondent Liam Aldous, who revealed that, in his youth, he had a successful stint in marketing, including dressing up as a detective as part of a shop promotion. It didn’t go well – people thought that he was accusing them of shoplifting. He also told us about a job that involved dressing up as a huge, to use his term, “satisfier”. He insisted that this was a stimulating gig taken by “a friend”. Whoever it was, I hope they get invited to NAM’s AGM. “Whoever’s making that buzzing sound, can they stop now please.”

It’s been some week, some month, in which our leaders have sported all sorts of guises – strongman, diplomat, Canadian – as they try to navigate a wobbling world order. But I don’t know many who have triumphed on the satisfier front. The smiles, as they often are in times of great upheaval and grief, have been left for the small stories of triumph – tiny moments when good things come to pass – such as when Boro came home.

And me? I’m thinking that life inside a mascot suit might be a comforting place to be. So, when Tyler asks for volunteers to don Monocle’s Monochan outfit at the next Christmas Market, I might just accept (as long as he agrees to my Mascot Union’s demands).

To read more of Andrew’s columns, click here.

The Monocle Café’s near neighbour on Rue Bachaumont, Timuntu, is enlivening Paris with African craftsmanship (writes Kai Fraile). The concept shop, led by Congolese sisters Aline, Inès and Marcelle, is a thoughtful expression of the continent’s makers, with an offering spanning hand-woven cushions from Dakar, lightweight Ethiopian cotton trousers and Moroccan hand-thrown ceramic vases.

Aline designed the space, from its timber fittings to built-in niches. Made-in-Morocco velvet slippers with leather edges are one of the many products that draw the eye, as are the napkin rings, inspired by traditional Ghanaian Adinkra symbols. Marcelle discovered them on a trip to Accra with Inès and, as she puts it, they “dress the table beautifully”. The sisters plan to expand on their success in Paris with a boutique in Palma this spring.
timuntu.com

Shopping in Paris? Take a look at our City Guide for the best retail on offer. 

The nominations for the 98th Academy Awards are out (writes Fernando Augusto Pacheco). It’s a strong year for international cinema as Norway’s Sentimental Value racked up an impressive nine nominations, while Brazil’s The Secret Agent picked up four. Here are five Oscar-nominated films that you need to watch.

1.
‘Sirāt’ 
Spain’s Sirāt, directed by Oliver Laxe, is perhaps the most groundbreaking film of the year. Watching it feels like a spiritual experience. This is not one for the living room – buy a ticket and head to the cinema if you can.

2.
‘The Secret Agent’ 
This political-crime thriller is a visual feast and marks the second year in a row that a Brazilian film features heavily in the Academy’s good graces (last year it was I’m Still Here). Wagner Moura’s star performance sets the picture apart.

3.
‘Sentimental Value’
Joachim Trier’s poignant family drama deserved all the nominations it received, including for its superb cast. Bravo, Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård.

4.
‘Train Dreams’
This contemplative Netflix drama was the surprise of the season, receiving a Best Picture nomination and three more besides. Set against the backdrop of the US expansion at the turn of the 20th century, this timely drama is made lush by the beautiful cinematography of Adolpho Veloso.

5.
‘Weapons’ 
Horror enjoyed a strong year in 2025 and Weapons was a surprise box-office hit. Why? Well, Amy Madigan’s nominated performance as the manic and supernatural Aunt Gladys is reason enough in itself. 

Stay tuned for our Oscars coverage on Monocle Radio. Listen to our interview with Best Director nominee Joachim Trier here. Interviews with Wagner Moura from ‘The Secret Agent’ and Oliver Laxe from ‘Sirāt’ are also coming up on Monocle Radio. 

I hosted a small gathering at my apartment in Paris last week and, naturally, the conversation turned to the thing that the city’s residents hate more than almost anything else (writes Susanna Schrobsdorff). I am talking about calcium build-up. Don’t laugh. The struggle is real.

Let me explain. There is so much calcaire (calcium carbonate) in Parisian water that it is like coronary artery disease for appliances. It kills water heaters, washing machines, coffee-makers and dishwashers. It makes wine glasses and shower doors look as though they have been splashed with watered-down white paint. And, worst of all, it can leave your hair dull and flat. 

Not long after moving to the city, I lost my young water heater to calcium at the tender age of four. The repairman took a look, shook his head and said one word: “calcaire”. Everything that Parisians do is for a reason, whether it’s the order in which they eat cheeses, when to close the windows in a heat wave or which cleaning products they need. Does it work? Who knows. The anti-calcaire product market is half faith, half science. This launched a discussion of other calcium-fighting tactics: shower-head filters, special shampoos and an R2-D2-sized water filter that someone’s husband bought to trap all suspect minerals. Parisians can sometimes seem to be affecting their esoteric ideas and fixes but on the subject to the water the hard times are real – I will never doubt them again.

Click here to read on. 

A new chapter for Giorgio Armani began during Milano Fashion Week Men’s. At its Brera headquarters, the quintessentially Milanese house showed its first collection designed without direct input from its eponymous founder, who died last September. On a brightly lit runway, described by the brand as a return to the late 1980s, models were dressed in mostly monochromatic suits in the house’s signature palette of silver grey. There was also plenty of snow-ready outerwear, a nod to Armani’s role in dressing Team Italia for the upcoming Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.