Ask anyone in the Philippines when they celebrate Christmas and they will tell you, “September to December”. This means that, by now, one of Southeast Asia’s only Christian-majority countries should be well into its four-month festive extravaganza. Usually, halls are fully decked with holly and calendars are bulging with plans. But something is up. Christmas is amiss and joy is in short supply. 
 
Visiting Cebu City this week, I saw no decorations whatsoever. My treeless hotel lobby was completely bare of tinsel and there was not one bauble or Santa hat on display at any of the airport check-in desks. This is in stark contrast to regional neighbour Singapore, where decorations have gone into overdrive, echoing a general trend in Europe for Christmas creep. The reason for this lack of Filipino joy? A torrent of bad news.

The typhoon-prone archipelago has recently been hammered by several superstorms and the damage from these natural disasters has been exacerbated by a corruption scandal that saw money for critical infrastructure flood into lawmakers’ bank accounts. With recovery efforts ongoing, president Ferdinand Marcos Jr has ordered government agencies to keep their Christmas parties “simple” and save on their end-of-year celebrations. Showing respect for and solidarity with people’s suffering is an understandable gesture; appropriate even. An official belt-tightening exercise might also have seemed like a shrewd political calculation to placate an angry, graft-weary public. But curtailing Christmas is a huge gamble and unseasonal thrift could end up making the situation worse.
 
Large corporations are said to be following the government’s lead, scaling back festivities for fear of reputational repercussions. That collective bah humbug is damaging. Cutting back on boozy staff parties and dinners is not just bad for companies’ morale, it also deprives the hard-hit hospitality sector of an all-important revenue stream. Retail and restaurants suffer. And tourists lose out too. At this time of year, the Philippines is usually a magical place to visit, with a combination of ostentatious Catholic ceremony and traditional ornamentation. Prescribing a simple, quiet Christmas to this fun-loving country that is struggling is a massive misstep – the political equivalent of handing out lumps of coal. 
 
What Filipinos really need after a challenging year is a double helping of cheer with all the trimmings. Fortunately, there’s still plenty of time for a Christmas miracle in Manila. Marcos needs to show some festive spirit and, more importantly, a bit of political pragmatism. For inspiration, he need only look to the Thais, who are similarly down at heel right now. Thailand has had a horrible year to rival that of the Philippines and the government in Bangkok has made it clear that the end-of-year shows and festivals must go on (when the Queen Mother died, a sold-out Blackpink show still went ahead). No matter one’s opinion on ever-encroaching commercial cheer, ‘tis the season to be jolly, after all. 
 
James Chambers is Monocle’s Asia editor. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

As London prepares itself for the end-of-year shopping rush, Loro Piana has tactfully refurbished and expanded its New Bond Street outpost (writes Grace Charlton). As part of the reopening, the Italian fashion brand joined forces with London-based curator Judith Clark to install an in-store exhibition titled Master of Fibres. The showcase narrates the century-long history of the house, with cabinets that display fabric-sample books and documents from Loro Piana’s archive in Piedmont.

The simple, travertine-clad exterior of the shop betrays the vastness of its interior. Here, rooms are split according to function, from accessories and ready-to-wear to a space for top-bill clients, available by appointment only. Throughout the space, natural materials, such as marble, silk and brass, create a cohesive, tactile feel. If that’s not enough to entice, Loro Piana has made sure to turn up the twinkle factor on its window displays. Take note, Manila.
loropiana.com

There aren’t many products that you purchase in the hope of never having to use them (writes Rory Jones). But as fears of disaster, either natural or manmade, once again enter the public consciousness, a growing number of companies are pitching products at “preppers” – people preparing for the worst. One of these is Preppi, a Los Angeles-based company whose handsomely designed apocalyptic products include medical kits, fireproof survival backpacks and emergency radios. The radio can recharge using its built-in solar panel, or you can use its wind-up arm to supply power if it dies in the dark, plus an SOS siren, LED torch and weather-band frequency functionality to receive updates if there is no internet connection.

“The fires in LA at the start of this year really opened some eyes,” Lauren Tafuri, who co-founded Preppi with Ryan Kuhlman, tells The Monocle Minute. “Lots of people realised that they were unprepared in a scenario like this.” The company has support in high places. In March, the European Commission made an advisory statement that all of the bloc’s citizens should assemble a 72-hour emergency kit as part of its crisis-preparedness strategy. “Our backpacks matched the specifications perfectly,” says Tafuri.

Those preparing for disaster were once considered cranks but the wider availability and effectiveness of survivalist equipment, combined with a fashion for technological clothing, has encouraged a more discerning consumer. “Our products are built to be used. If required in a crisis, they must be functional as a priority,” says Kuhlman. “But why should that mean that they have to look like they’ve come straight from military surplus?” 

Further reading? With its handsome, reliable models that can keep people connected in crisis, Sangean is catering to a new demand for tactile technology. Read more here.