The Foreign Desk

If Emmanuel Macron is elected as the French president next month it could revive one of the most important relationships in global politics: the Franco-German axis.

The UK and Ireland have a long and bloody past but since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 the countries have remained mostly at peace. But since Britain’s exit from the EU, the relationship between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK has become murky once again.

We’ve seen how Donald Trump’s administration dealt with Australia, Germany and the UK. If this is how he deals with his closest allies, how will he act when it comes to Turkey and China?

The battle for Mosul was supposed to be over by now but the coalition has found it harder than it predicted. The toll has been great: hundreds of civilians have died and tens of thousands have fled. What happens next?

As the fallout from the US secretary of state Rex Tillerson’s tour of Asia shows, treating the media like the enemy can cause problems.

No nation fell as far during the 2008 global financial crisis as Iceland. But unlike other countries Iceland decided to hold those responsible for the crash to account. Now, nine years on, the country has recovered. What can other nations learn from Iceland’s actions?

The dream of working less and relaxing more is not a new one. But for too long we’ve talked about work purely in terms of money.

The first of Europe’s big-three elections of 2017 takes place next week; in the Netherlands it is yet another test for liberal democracy. Monocle’s Steve Bloomfield is joined by Philippe Remarque, editor in chief of ‘De Volkskrant’, and [Emilie van Outeren](https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2017/03/08/who-is-geert-wilders-the-dutch-populist-who-could-win-but-not-rule-a1549168), a political journalist for ‘NRC’, to discuss why this vote matters.

German chancellor Angela Merkel heads to Washington to meet Donald Trump. It will be his trickiest meeting since taking office – Merkel is one of the few world leaders who has made no attempt to hide her disdain for him.

At some stage this month the UK prime minister Theresa May will trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, formally announcing that the UK wishes to leave the European Union, kickstarting two years (or more) years of negotiations. We’ve heard a lot from May and her merry band of Brexiteers about what the UK wants – indeed, expects – from the negotiations. But what does Europe want? And isn’t it about time that the UK started to listen?