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WHEN THE HIGHLANDS ARE CALLING

The lure of the Scottish Highlands is hard to ignore. Rugged scenery, warm hospitality and single malts all conspire to draw people from around the world to this beautiful part of the UK. 

Driving is the only way to take in everything the Highlands has to offer truly, and the North Coast 500, an 830km drive around the northern coastline of Scotland, is the perfect framework for doing so. 

The biggest decision when starting out on the NC500, as it’s known, is whether to go clockwise or anticlockwise.  

No matter which direction you decide upon, you can start or finish your trip at Links House at Royal Dornoch.  

Situated just an hour north of Inverness, considered the heart of the Highlands and the beginning (or end) of the drive, it’s the sort of place where you can stop, breathe, and soak in the best of Highlands hospitality.  

“We want people to coorie in,” says managing director Phil Scott, explaining this Scottish phrase as “Highland hygge” after the Danish word we know to mean nestling in comfortable surroundings, enjoying simple pleasures.  

“It’s an opportunity to come and have a lovely dinner, stay in a warm room, have those fireside moments and enjoy a dram (of whisky).”  

A fireside dram captures the spirit of Links House at Royal Dornoch.

Golfers’ Retreat  

Links House was established as a golfers’ retreat in 2013, situated as it is less than 100m from the first tee at Royal Dornoch Golf Club, whose coastal Championship Course is currently placed in the number two spot on Golf Digest’s World’s Greatest Courses biennial ranking.  

Today, it’s considered a luxury destination in its own right and was recently named among the Top 50 Boutique Hotels in the UK.  

The hotel comprises two buildings, a beautifully appointed 1843 manse house, and a new building across the way created for the new hotel.  

The total number of rooms in this boutique hotel is just 15. Each is furnished with antique touches and contemporary comforts, with exceptional works of art and Scottish accents, including the ubiquitous tartan blanket.   

The spacious Mallart penthouse sits atop the new building, essentially a full apartment that invites pure, indulgent relaxation.  

The hotel’s restaurant, Mara, is named for the Scottish Gaelic word for “the sea”. Its menu is built on what the hotel calls S4+0—which translates as Scottish, seasonal, sustainable, slow with an aim to achieve zero waste.  

In terms of ingredients, that includes a focus on locally sourced seafood, meat and game, including hand-dived Orkney scallops, Sutherland venison and Clashmore pheasant.  

The “minimal intervention” menu, overseen by executive chef Theo Creton, last year saw the restaurant receive two AA Rosettes.  

“There’s a sense of informality, but everything is delivered with a five-star respect for the food and the guests,” says Scott.   

Mara, the restaurant at Links House, champions seasonal Highland produce with a focus on Scottish, sustainable and zero-waste dining.

Drinks with other guests before dinner is encouraged, just as you would enjoy if invited to a friend’s home for a weekend stay. And if you’d like a wee dram after dinner, you can do so with a round of Scrabble or a fireside chat.  

Where once 90 per cent of guests came for the golf, Scott says that since Covid, that number has inverted to just 10 per cent.  

And given all the traditional pursuits that the Highlands has to offer, fishing, stalking and falconry for starters, these can also be organised by the hotel with local exponents. 

For those less enamoured of outdoor pursuits, there are organised options such as “Retail and Relaxation” – taking in a local shopping experience in Dornoch, including antiques, bookshops and beauty retailers, followed by rejuvenating treatments at Aspen Spa.  

Inland drives 

If you want to take control of your own adventures, a two- or three-day stay at Links House will give you the perfect vantage point for some inland drives before continuing on the NC500. 

Loch Ness is just a half-hour drive southwest from Dornoch, where the vast expanse of water still shows no sign of that mythical monster (at least on the day that we visited).  

Along its northern side sits the ruins of Urquhart Castle, a medieval fortress that was once one of the largest castles in Scotland.  

Today, walking through the remnants of stone-walled rooms and taking in the remains of Grant Tower, you can only imagine the blood that was shed between the Scots and the English as they fought over this stronghold during the Wars of Independence.  

The replica trebuchet gives an idea of how war was waged in medieval times, with enormous rocks catapulted towards the enemy.   

The drive south to the Cairngorms National Park takes a little over an hour and offers plenty of scenic treasures, from spotting deer to taking in the grounds of Balmoral Castle, one of several castles in the park.  

Indeed, castle ruins seem to appear around every bend in the Highlands, overlooking every loch, acting as constant reminders of the rich and often bloody, history of this tiny country.   

 Just 15 minutes away from Links House across Dornoch Firth is Glenmorangie, one of the myriad whisky distilleries to be sampled across Scotland. 

 Even without a full tour, you can take in a thorough history of the brand, where you’ll also learn that you may have been mispronouncing it all these years… (For the record, it’s Glenmorangie, like orange-y.)   

 Depending on your level of fandom, James Bond tragics might also be tempted to drive three hours southwest from Links House to Glen Coe, where you can take the same scenic route as Daniel Craig and Judi Dench when they go off-grid in Skyfall.  

 The beauty of the unfolding landscape is breathtaking, its lush peaks covered in grass, ferns and heather, ominous clouds looming overhead, and tiny waterfalls winding down hillsides like tears down a craggy face.  

 This is picture-perfect Highlands. (To add another Bond attraction later in your NC500 itinerary, you can wander through Eilean Donan Castle, which stood in for the MI6 Scottish HQ in The World is Not Enough.)  

 Wherever your journey takes you, returning to Links House after a day of driving and sightseeing is nothing short of a tonic.  

 Taking a long bath, enjoying a delicious meal at Mara, and then that wee dram by the fire is exactly what Highlands dreams are made of.  

 Leaving is the hardest part, even knowing that more adventures lie ahead in the Highlands.  

When Scott sends you off with that traditional Scottish farewell, “Haste ye back,” you feel sure you’ll come back again.  

The writer was a guest of Links House and Visit Scotland.  This article appeared in the Autumn 26 issue of Kanebridge Quarterly, which you can buy  here.

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INSIDE ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST EXCLUSIVE POSTCODES

Greenwich, Connecticut, is in New England (just barely), but that doesn’t mean it’s a quaint, sleepy small town with covered bridges and white churches on the green. 

It’s leafy, certainly, but it’s also a luxury-minded power centre close to New York City, with many celebrity residents (director Ron Howard, singer Diana Ross, actor Meryl Streep and, at one time, Australia’s own Mel Gibson).  

The main shopping street, Greenwich Avenue, is home to brand stores such as Hermès, Kate Spade, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Tiffany & Co. 

And Greenwich, particularly in the “back country” north of the Merritt Parkway, is host to some of the most exclusive real estate in the world.  

The average price for a single-family home in the second quarter of 2025 was USD $3.25 million (AUD $4.9 million). But that’s merely an entry point, buying a smaller home in one of the town’s less desirable neighbourhoods. 

What does USD $43 million (AUD $66 million) buy in Greenwich?  

Last autumn’s most expensive listing offered a 1,068-square-metre waterfront home with eight bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, plus “Gatsby-like lawns”, a gym, games room, party room, wine cellar, fruit orchard, pool and spa. The front and side porches have heated floors. 

Prefer something more traditional and secluded? For USD $33 million (AUD $50 million), buyers could close on an 11,760-square-metre Georgian manor on 3.2 hectares, featuring eight fireplaces, an elevator, and a dumbwaiter.  

The first floor features a three-storey cascading chandelier. For bibliophiles, there’s a two-storey mahogany library. If bocce is more your pace, a similar USD $25 million compound on 7.5 hectares, built for a liquor magnate in 2009, may appeal. Fourteen bathrooms should suffice. 

The Greenwich market is strong, but not without challenges.  

“The big problem is that there’s no inventory,” said Evangela Brock, an agent with Douglas Elliman. “It’s extremely low at all price points.”  

In November, just 15 properties under USD $1 million (AUD $1.52 million) were listed without contracts, compared with 23 above USD $10 million (AUD $15.2 million). Of those, six had contracts pending. Greenwich has more than 17,000 single-family homes. 

Kanebridge Quarterly toured two mid-priced houses in Greenwich. “You don’t lose money in Greenwich real estate,” said Beth MacGillivray, a realtor with the Higgins Group. “This is the hot spot.”  

MacGillivray opened the door to a 733.9-square-metre Georgian colonial in the Sherwood Farms Association development her family built in 2005. The house was expected to sell for about USD $5 million (AUD $7,743,535). 

The six-bedroom, four-level house is move-in ready, with staged furniture showing its potential and many of the amenities that buyers in this range expect.  

Visitors enter through a two-storey foyer with a marble floor. A circular staircase leads to an airy living room with double-height ceilings.  

There’s a main bedroom with his-and-hers bathrooms, a cherry-panelled library with cigar-smoke venting, five fireplaces, and a state-of-the-art kitchen with a breakfast nook by Greenwich-based designer Christopher Peacock.  

Most rooms have huge walk-in wardrobes. Even the laundry room has granite countertops. Custom millwork, cabinetry and fixtures are evident throughout. 

The drawbacks? A smaller yard and no pool. Still, refugees from the city would marvel at the abundant interior space. 

Not far away, an entirely different house was on the market for USD $2.66 million.  

The imposing 696.7-square-metre, nine-bedroom, seven-bath Georgian/Federal home on Shady Lane in the Glenville neighbourhood was built in 1900. Its good bones and inherent grandeur were apparent, as was a clear need for updating. 

“It’s a good project for someone,” said realtor Kaori Higgins. “It needs the right buyer, someone who is looking to return it to its stately original condition.” 

Given the hot market, some buyers may be tempted to tear it down and build anew.  

But the house is filled with charming period details, including hand-built stone fireplaces, reading nooks, pocket doors, leaded windows and beautiful original millwork.  

The second floor offers a vast veranda with views of Long Island Sound and a built-in swimming pool. 

The drawbacks? Bathrooms that were awkwardly redesigned in the 1970s, unsightly flooring on the upper levels, and crumbling exterior elements.  

Higgins noted that a nearby sister property, fully renovated, sold for USD $11 million (AUD $17 million). Any buyer of Shady Lane’s faded elegance would need both imagination and deep pockets. 

For contrast, Kanebridge Quarterly left Greenwich for nearby Fairfield’s upscale Greenfield Hill neighbourhood to visit Lion’s Gate, a 595 square metre Tudor Revival home built as a modest dwelling in the 1920s but extensively expanded and remodelled in 2000.  

With three acres of land, a guest cottage, an artist’s studio and a pool house, the asking price is USD $3.3 million (AUD $5 million). Like the Sherwood home, Lion’s Gate is flawlessly move-in ready, with designer touches throughout. 

The entire second floor was added during the renovation and features parquet flooring, a massive main suite, arched doorways and 2.74-metre ceilings.  

Many rooms include walk-in wardrobes, extensive carved millwork and built-ins. The wood-panelled library (on the site of the former stable) is warm and inviting.  

The expansive kitchen includes a window seat with a hand-painted ceiling, a wine cooler and a butler’s pantry. 

Realtor Lorelei Atwood said Fairfield faces the same inventory shortage as Greenwich.  

“Demand is growing as more New York-based executives are being told they have to report to the office,” she said. “Fairfield has always been a commuter town.” 

Why is this home USD $3.3 million (AUD $5 million), and the Sherwood property around USD $5 million (AUD $7,743,535)?  

Location. Greenfield Hill is lovely, but Greenwich real estate occupies a rarefied class of its own. 

Note: Thanks to realtor Sherri Steeneck for chaperoning. 

This story appeared in the Autumn issue of Kanebridge Quarterly, which you can buy here. 

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The Workers Opting to Retire Instead of Taking on AI

Luke Michel has already lived through two technology overhauls in his career, first desktop publishing in the 1980s and online publishing later on. But AI? He’s had enough. 

So when his employer, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, made an early-retirement offer to some staff last year, the 68-year-old content strategist decided to speed up his exit. Before, he had expected to work a couple more years. 

“The time and energy you have to devote to learning a whole new vocabulary and a whole new skill set, it wasn’t worth it,” he said. 

It isn’t that he’s shunning artificial intelligence—he is learning Spanish with the help of Anthropic’s Claude. But, at this point, he’s less than eager to endure all the ways the technology promises to upend work. 

“I just want to use it for my own purposes and not someone else’s,” he said. 

After rising for decades and then hovering around 40% in the 2010s, the share of Americans over 55 years old in the workforce has slipped to 37.2%, the lowest level in more than 20 years.  

The financial cushion of rising home equity and stock-market returns is driving some of the decline, economists and retirement advisers say. 

But for some older professionals, money is only part of the equation.  

They say they don’t want to spend the last years of their career going through the tumult of AI adoption, which has brought new tools, new expectations and a lot of uncertainty.  

Many people retire when key elements of their work lives are disrupted at once, said Robert Laura , co-founder of the Retirement Coaches Association and an expert on the psychology of retirement. 

“Maybe their autonomy is being challenged or changed, their friends are leaving the workplace, or they disagree with the company’s direction,” he said.  

“When two or three of these things show up, that’s when people start to opt out.”  

“AI is a big one,” he adds. “It disrupts their autonomy, their professionalism.” 

Michel, whose work required overseeing and strategizing on website content, has been here before.  

When desktop publishing arrived in the 1980s, he was a graphic designer using triangles and rubber cement.  

The internet’s arrival changed everything again. Both developments required new skills, and he was energized by the challenge of learning alongside colleagues and peers. 

It felt different this time around. “Your battery doesn’t hold a charge as long as it used to,” he said. 

He would rather spend his energy volunteering, making art, going to operas and chairing the Council on Aging in North Andover, Mass., where he lives. 

In an AARP survey last summer of 5,000 people 50 and over, 25% of those who planned to retire sooner than expected counted work stress and burnout as factors.  

About half of those retired said they had left work at least partly because they had the financial security to do so. 

In general, older Americans are less likely than younger counterparts to use AI, research shows.  

About 30% of people from ages 30 to 49 said they used ChatGPT on the job, nearly double the share of those 50 and older, according to a 2025 Pew Research Center survey of more than 5,000 adults. 

Baby boomers and members of Generation X also experienced the sharpest declines in confidence using AI technology, according to a ManpowerGroup survey of more than 13,900 workers in 19 countries. 

“We as employers aren’t doing a good enough job saying (to older workers), we value the skills that you already have, so much so that we want to invest in you to help you do your job better,” says Becky Frankiewicz , ManpowerGroup’s chief strategy officer. 

Jennifer Kerns’s misgivings about AI contributed to her departure last month from GitHub, where the 60-year-old worked as a program manager.  

Coming from a family of artists, she said, it offends her that AI models train on the creative work of people who aren’t compensated for their intellectual property. And she worries about AI’s effect on people’s critical-thinking skills. 

So she was dismayed when GitHub, a Microsoft-owned hosting service for software projects, began investing heavily in AI products and expecting employees to incorporate AI into much of their work. In employee-engagement surveys, the company had begun asking them to rate their AI usage on a scale of 1 to 5. 

When it came time to write reports and reviews, colleagues would suggest that she use ChatGPT.  

“I’d be like, ‘I have no idea how to use that and I have no interest in using AI to write anything for me,’” she said. 

It would have been more prudent to work until she was closer to Medicare eligibility, she said. But by waiting until her children were out of college and some of her stock grants had vested, the math worked. 

Her first act as a nonworking person: a solo trip to Scotland, where she took a darning workshop and learned how to repair sweaters.  

“The opposite of AI,” she said. 

Employers already under pressure to cut workers—such as in the tech industry—may welcome some of these retirements, said Gad Levanon , chief economist at Burning Glass Institute, which studies labor-market data. 

“The more people retire, the fewer they have to let go,” he said. 

Some of the savviest tech users are also balking at sticking around for the AI upheaval. Terry Grimm, who worked in IT for 40 years, retired from his senior software consultant role at 65 last May.  

His firm had just been acquired by a bigger firm, which meant learning and integrating the parent company’s AI and other tech tools into his work.   

Until then, Grimm expected he might work a couple more years, though he felt that he probably had enough saved to retire. 

“I just got to the point where I was spending 40 hours at work and then 20 hours training and studying,” said Grimm, who has since moved with his wife from the Dallas area to a housing development on a golf course in El Dorado, Ark.  

“I’m like, ‘I’ll let the younger guys do this.’” 

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What Is Artemis II? The NASA Mission to Fly Astronauts Around the Moon

It’s go time for the highest-stakes mission at NASA in more than 50 years.  

On April 1, the agency is set to launch four astronauts around the moon, the deepest human spaceflight since the final Apollo lunar landing in 1972.  

The launch window for Artemis II , as the mission is called, opens at 6:24 p.m. ET. 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams have been preparing the vehicles to depart from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on the planned roughly 10-day trip. Crew members have trained for years for this moment. 

Reid Wiseman, the NASA astronaut serving as mission commander, said he doesn’t fear taking the voyage. A widower, he does worry at times about what he is putting his daughters through. 

“I could have a very comfortable life for them,” Wiseman said in an interview last September.  

“But I’m also a human, and I see the spirit in their eyes that is burning in my soul too. And so we’ve just got to never stop going.” 

Wiseman’s crewmates on Artemis II are NASA’s Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. 

Photo: NASA’s Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft being rolled out at night. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images

What are the goals for Artemis II? 

The biggest one: Safely fly the crew on vehicles that have never carried astronauts before.  

The towering Space Launch System rocket has the job of lofting a vehicle called Orion into space and on its way to the moon.  

Orion is designed to carry the crew around the moon and back. Myriad systems on the ship—life support, communications, navigation—will be tested with the astronauts on board. 

SLS and Orion don’t have much flight experience. The vehicles last flew in 2022, when the agency completed its uncrewed Artemis I mission . 

How is the mission expected to unfold? 

Artemis II will begin when SLS takes off from a launchpad in Florida with Orion stacked on top of it.  

The so-called upper stage of SLS will later separate from the main part of the rocket with Orion attached, and use its engine to set up the latter vehicle for a push to the moon. 

After Orion separates from the upper stage, it will conduct what is called a translunar injection—the engine firing that commits Orion to soaring out to the moon. It will fly to the moon over the course of a few days and travel around its far side. 

Orion will face a tough return home after speeding through space. As it hits Earth’s atmosphere, Orion will be flying at 25,000 miles an hour and face temperatures of 5,000 degrees as it slows down. The capsule is designed to land under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean, not far from San Diego. 

Water photo: NASA’s Orion capsule after its splash-down in the Pacific Ocean in 2022 for the Artemis I mission. Mario Tama/Press Pool

Is it possible Artemis II will be delayed? 

Yes.  

For safety reasons, the agency won’t launch if certain tough weather conditions roll through the Cape Canaveral, Fla., area. Delays caused by technical problems are possible, too. NASA has other dates identified for the mission if it doesn’t begin April 1. 

Who are the astronauts flying on Artemis II? 

The crew will be led by Wiseman, a retired Navy pilot who completed military deployments before joining NASA’s astronaut corps. He traveled to the International Space Station in 2014. 

Two other astronauts will represent NASA during the mission: Glover, an experienced Navy pilot, and Koch, who began her career as an electrical engineer for the agency and once spent a year at a research station in the South Pole. Both have traveled to the space station before. 

Hansen is a military pilot who joined Canada’s astronaut corps in 2009. He will be making his first trip to space. 

Koch’s participation in Artemis II will mark the first time a woman has flown beyond orbits near Earth. Glover and Hansen will be the first African-American and non-American astronauts, respectively, to do the same. 

What will the astronauts do during the flight? 

The astronauts will evaluate how Orion flies, practice emergency procedures and capture images of the far side of the moon for scientific and exploration purposes (they may become the first humans to see parts of the far side of the lunar surface). Health-tracking projects of the astronauts are designed to inform future missions. 

Those efforts will play out in Orion’s crew module, which has about two minivans worth of living area.  

On board, the astronauts will spend about 30 minutes a day exercising, using a device that allows them to do dead lifts, rowing and more. Sleep will come in eight-hour stretches in hammocks. 

There is a custom-made warmer for meals, with beef brisket and veggie quiche on the menu.  

Each astronaut is permitted two flavored beverages a day, including coffee. The crew will hold one hourlong shared meal each day.  

The Universal Waste Management System—that’s the toilet—uses air flow to pull fluid and solid waste away into containers. 

What happens after Artemis II? 

Assuming it goes well, NASA will march on to Artemis III, scheduled for next year. During that operation, NASA plans to launch Orion with crew members on board and have the ship practice docking with lunar-lander vehicles that Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have been developing. The rendezvous operations will occur relatively close to Earth. 

NASA hopes that its contractors and the agency itself are ready to attempt one or more lunar landing missions in 2028. Many current and former spaceflight officials are skeptical that timeline is feasible. 

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ROLLS-ROYCE UNVEILS YACHT-INSPIRED CULLINAN SERIES FOR BESPOKE CLIENTS

Rolls-Royce has revealed a new series of bespoke Cullinan motor cars inspired by the world of yachting, with four individually commissioned vehicles reflecting the materials, movement and design codes of life at sea. 

Presented at Goodwood in the UK, the Cullinan Yachting collection comprises four one-off vehicles themed around the cardinal directions, North, South, East and West, each expressed through distinct exterior finishes and interior detailing. 

The commissions lean heavily into maritime influence, a space Rolls-Royce says is closely aligned with its global client base.  

Each vehicle features marine-grade teak, hand-painted fascia artwork inspired by the wake of a tender cutting through water, and intricate marquetry compass motifs made from more than 40 individual pieces of wood veneer. 

Hand-painted elements have become an increasingly sought-after feature among Rolls-Royce clients, with the brand employing dedicated artisans to develop bespoke interior compositions.  

For the Cullinan Yachting series, the painted wake effect required months of experimentation to achieve a natural sense of movement. 

Inside, the vehicles are finished in Arctic White and Navy Blue leather, with hand-stitched detailing designed to echo the structure of nautical ropework. A signature Rolls-Royce Starlight  

Headliner has also been reimagined, with fibre-optic constellations arranged to reflect Mediterranean wind patterns. 

Each car’s exterior colour has been developed to align with its directional theme, ranging from lighter blue tones evoking northern waters to deeper hues referencing warmer southern seas and storm-lit horizons. 

Rolls-Royce said the collection reflects a longstanding relationship between the marque and the world of yachting, dating back to its co-founder Charles Rolls, whose family owned a steam yacht and travelled extensively through the Mediterranean. 

The release underscores the growing demand for highly personalised vehicles among ultra-high-net-worth buyers, with Rolls-Royce increasingly positioning its cars as part of a broader luxury lifestyle that extends beyond the road. 

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BMW’s Electric i3 and iX3 Raise the EV Standard With a 400-Plus-Mile Range

The current BMW i5 electric sedan has an official range of 278 to 310 miles, and it might be closer to 250 to 270 in the real world. 

That is why the coming 2027 BMW i3 50 xDrive—the first of the “Neue Klasse” cars coming to the U.S. early next year and just revealed to the world—is such a game changer.  

The range is estimated at 440 miles, beating most EVs on the road now, and it is coupled with exciting performance, including zero-to-60 estimated at 3.8 seconds and an impressive 463 horsepower (with 476 pound-feet of torque) from a pair of electric motors, delivering xDrive to all four wheels.  

A single-motor version is down the road. The price isn’t out yet, but it is likely to begin between US$55,000 and $65,000.  

If sedans aren’t your thing, the electric 3-Series will also be offered as an approximately $60,000 iX3 crossover SUV, which has a similar powertrain and performance.  

The twin-motor iX3 50 xDrive has a slightly lower 400 miles of range, due in part to its less-aerodynamic shape compared with the i3. It is also not quite as speedy, getting to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds.  

BMW design has been iffy lately, and virtually no one loves the cars with the huge kidney grilles, but the “Neue Klasse” turns the page, and the i3 and iX3 are both strikingly handsome.  

The i3 isn’t a particularly lightweight vehicle, at approximately 4,850 pounds, which is why both the i3 and iX3 need a huge 108-kilowatt-hour battery pack.  

The drawback could be longer charge times, but up to 400-kilowatt plug ins are available here.  

At a DC fast charger, a charge from 10% to 80% should take only 21 minutes.  

A 19.2-kilowatt home charger is available. The pack supports standard bidirectional charging, which means it could theoretically provide power to your home during an outage.  

A bonus is that the big battery can also supply 3,700 watts for whatever you have in mind, from tailgating to camping.  

The cars share basic suspension, but on the sedan an adaptive M-branded suspension is available.  

Both BMWs introduce the new Panoramic iDrive, which features an 18-inch touch screen angled at the driver.  

Early users say it is incredibly responsive. Inside, the standard trim features Econeer upholstery that is 100% fabricated from recycled PET bottles.  

M Design cars upgrade to black Veganza (aka vegan leather). The top trim is BMW Individual with black Merino leather.  

It is standard for automakers to introduce their fully loaded models out of the gate, with the more bread-and-butter versions appearing later.  

BMW is certainly doing that here, but i3s and iX3s priced below $50,000 are expected fairly soon.  

The momentum for electrics has certainly slowed, but cars like these—offering performance, dynamics and features superior to the conventional alternatives—should help EVs get back on track. 

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NEW DESIGN-LED SAFARI LODGE TO OPEN IN KENYA’S AMBOSELI REGION

Luxury safari operator  Abercrombie & Kent  has announced the opening of Kitirua Plains Lodge, a new design-led property in Kenya’s Amboseli region that aims to redefine traditional safari accommodation. 

Set on a 128-acre private concession bordering Amboseli National Park, the lodge has been designed to blend into its natural surroundings rather than dominate them.  

Developed in partnership with architecture firm Luxury Frontiers, the property reflects a broader shift towards environmentally responsive and community-integrated safari experiences. 

Positioned within sweeping savannah landscapes and offering uninterrupted views of Mount Kilimanjaro, the lodge features 13 standalone suites oriented to frame the iconic peak.  

The design draws on vernacular architecture and local artistic traditions, with an undulating black roof inspired by traditional Maasai buildings and lath screens based on indigenous construction methods to enhance ventilation and shade. 

The project marks a return to Amboseli for Abercrombie & Kent, where founder Geoffrey Kent first introduced clients to luxury safari travel in 1962, establishing a model of adventure by day and comfort by night that continues to influence the industry. 

Materials used throughout the lodge have been sourced locally where possible.  

According to the company, 90 per cent of the furniture was made in Kenya using mango wood and African teak, while Mazeras stone quarried nearby has been used for cladding and flooring. 

Interior finishes, including rough-plaster walls mixed with soil from the site, reflect the colours and textures of the surrounding terrain. 

Sustainability measures have been embedded into the design from the outset.  

The lodge operates on 100 per cent solar power, uses passive cooling strategies to reduce reliance on air-conditioning and recycles greywater for irrigation. 

Waste management systems, including recycling and composting, were incorporated during construction. 

Community engagement also formed a central part of the development, with local workers employed during construction and traditional techniques used to encourage skills transfer and economic benefit. 

Features such as hand-woven sisal ceilings, clay bead pendants and sculptural grass art highlight the role of regional artisans in shaping the property’s aesthetic identity. 

Kitirua Plains Lodge is scheduled to open on June 1, 2026, joining A&K Sanctuary’s existing Kenyan properties Olonana Lodge in the Maasai Mara and Tambarare Camp in Ol Pejeta Conservancy.  

The lodge will be available as part of the brand’s Tailor Made and Small Group journeys.

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Saudi Arabia Sees a Spike to $180 Oil if Energy Shock Persists Past April

Saudi Arabia’s oil officials are working frantically to project how high oil prices might go if the Iran war and its disruption of energy supplies doesn’t end soon—and they don’t like what they are seeing. 

The base case, several oil officials in the Gulf’s biggest producer said, is that prices could soar past $180 a barrel if the disruptions persist until late April. 

While that would sound like a bonanza for a kingdom still heavily leveraged to oil revenue, it is deeply concerning. Prices that high could push consumers into habits that slash their oil use—potentially for the long term—or trigger a recession that also hurts demand. They also would risk casting Saudi Arabia in the role of profiteer in a war it didn’t start. 

“Saudi Arabia generally does not like too-rapid increases in oil, because that then creates long-term market instability,” said Umer Karim, an analyst of Saudi foreign policy and geopolitics with the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. “For Saudis, the ideal equation is a relatively modest increase in prices while their market share remains stable.” 

Saudi Aramco, the country’s national oil company, which handles production, sales and pricing, declined to comment. 

This week’s strikes targeting energy facilities have pushed oil prices higher . In retaliation for an Israeli strike Wednesday on Iran’s South Pars gas field , Tehran hit facilities in Qatar’s Ras Laffan energy hub and attacked other Gulf infrastructure including Saudi facilities at Yanbu, the Red Sea end of a pipeline that can take crude around the chokepoint in the Strait of Hormuz . 

Iran also continued to hit ships in the Gulf, extending a string of attacks that have all but shut the strait, the narrow conduit for 20% of the world’s oil shipments. 

Attacks sent benchmark Brent futures as high as $119 a barrel before easing back Thursday. The contract’s all-time high, reached in July 2008, was $146.08.  

“$200 a barrel is not outside the realms of possibility in 2026,” analysts at energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie said. 

Gulf futures tied to Oman crude, which are less liquid but which quickly reflect local supply disruptions, shot past $166 a barrel. Oman is a benchmark for much of the oil sold by Middle East producers such as Saudi Arabia, with tankers of physical crude priced at a fixed spread to the benchmark, which floats up and down each day with the market. 

Some Saudi customers are balking at using the benchmark given its volatility, the oil officials said. Aramco, however, is insisting it is a true reflection of supply in the market, they said. 

The war has already removed millions of barrels of oil from global supply. Prices are up by around 50% since the conflict began Feb. 28. 

Modellers at Saudi Aramco need to assess the direction of the market in time to release the official selling prices for their crude by April 2. They pull in a number of inputs, including soundings on customer demand from staff who handle oil sales.  

Saudi Arabian light crude is already being sold to Asian buyers via its Red Sea port for around $125 a barrel. As extra oil in storage—some of which was shipped out of the Gulf ahead of the war—is used up, physical shortages will bite more deeply next week, causing prices to close in on $138 to $140, the officials said. 

By the second week of April, with no easing of the supply disruptions and the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed, the Saudi officials said they expected prices could hit $150 before stepping up to $165 and $180 in the weeks ahead. 

Oil traders are also putting bets on much higher prices, though many remain far lower than Aramco’s most dire scenario. Wagers that Brent futures will hit $130, $140 or $150 a barrel next month were among the most popular positions in the options market on Wednesday, according to Intercontinental Exchange data. A smaller but growing number of traders are betting prices could shoot up even further. 

“The market isn’t acting like this is an end-of-March thing any more,” said Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader for CIBC Private Wealth, referring to an ending for the war. “I don’t think $150 is out of the question in another month…You start talking about June, I’ll give you $180.”  

Many variables could keep prices from going that high, among them an end to the fighting or freed-up barrels from sanctioned producers such as Russia contributing to global supply. Demand could also fall, which would bring prices back down but potentially only in tandem with a recession. 

Energy producers are scrambling to figure out how high prices can go before buyers start cutting back, a phenomenon called demand destruction. 

“Generally, $150 Brent is where people will really start to put their pencils down and do the math,” Babin said.  

At that price, analysts say, Americans might start taking the bus, working from home or rethinking their summer vacations. Manufacturers could slow down rather than operate uneconomically.  

The more relevant price for most consumers is at the pump. Gasoline demand tends to start declining once prices exceed $3.50 a gallon, according to James West of Melius Research. 

For many, prices are already there. Americans’ average retail prices for gasoline jumped to $3.88 a gallon Thursday, according to AAA, up from $2.93 a month ago. Drivers in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado have faced the starkest sticker shock. 

Diesel’s even more rapid price surge, to $5.10 a gallon, is already hitting companies that rely on the fuel to move everything from produce to semiconductors to steel nationwide.  

“Higher fuel costs act like a tax on consumers and businesses, forcing households to spend more on energy and less elsewhere,” said Philip Blancato, chief executive at Ladenburg Asset Management. 

Another big risk to demand comes from industrial users curtailing consumption and from the broad economic contraction that can accompany oil shocks, according to Wood Mackenzie. 

That pullback in demand would likely initially hit energy-poor countries in Asia and Europe, where prices for jet fuel, diesel and more already are skyrocketing. 

An adviser working with Saudi Aramco said the company is weighing a scenario in which the rapidly rising cost of oil imports in Europe, Japan and Korea puts downward pressure on their currencies, raising their effective cost of energy, driving inflation and interest rates up, and eventually slowing their economies and demand. 

Analysts warn that a continued run-up in U.S. prices could eventually hit the U.S. , the world’s largest oil producer. 

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that persistently higher energy costs would buoy price pressures and ding growth. 

While the U.S. has become a major energy exporter in recent years, Powell said, “The net of the oil shock will still be some downward pressure on spending and employment and upward pressure on inflation.” 

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Gen X Is Stuck in the Middle and Financially Squeezed. How One Financial Adviser Is Helping.

Gen X families, including affluent ones, face a hornet’s nest of financial challenges, from helping out their adult children to providing care for ageing parents to managing careers in a perilous job market.

Zach Mangels, a senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors in San Rafael, Calif., estimates a quarter of his clients are in the Gen X demographic.

“Mortgage rates are higher, carrying costs are higher, educational costs are higher, groceries are higher, eldercare is higher—all of that stuff eats into cash flow. And even people with higher incomes are feeling that,” says Mangels, 40.

Barron’s Advisor spoke with Mangels about the financial challenges facing his Gen X clients, people between the ages of 46 and 61.

Mangels touched on how he creates short-term plans for clients concerned about career setbacks, why he recommends boundaries for Gen X parents who want to financially support adult kids, and how he guides clients with ageing parents.

How has financial planning for Gen X clients changed?

Typically, when you create a financial plan, you’re looking at long-range goals.

But now I look at more immediate needs because of the pressures Gen X families are dealing with.

For example, I see more clients whose children are coming back home after graduating from college, needing financial support for a much longer period of time than previous generations expected to receive.

How should help for adult children be structured?

If they need to support their child, I want to understand the nature of what the support will look like.

I have a client whose kids just graduated and whose majors don’t lend themselves to a high income right now.

They knew their kids would be coming back home after graduation and we talked about what the nature of their help would look like.

First we looked at their financial plan to see what kind of support they could provide and we defined the maximum amount.

Then we designed the support in a way that would be planned, explicit, and with purposeful boundaries.

That’s very important for the younger generation. Parents need to know how to help their kids without them becoming dependent.

The children need to have agency and to know they don’t have access to an unlimited piggy bank.

What was the plan?

The clients had a conversation with their kids about what to expect.

The kids could live rent-free for three years, with a small stipend, an amount that didn’t disincentivise them from looking for a job.

In this environment, entry-level jobs are increasingly hard to come by, but any job that moves you closer to a career you want is worth looking at. In this case, their daughter got a job as an assistant to a personal shopper, which was related to the direction she wanted to follow.

Do you help the parents practice what to say?

I didn’t provide a ton of details to the parents with what exactly to say. But I coached them on the basics—having a clear, purposeful, intentional conversation and getting buy-in from their kids.

How do you advise clients with ageing parents?

The cost of long-term care for seniors has increased dramatically.

One of the conversations I have with my clients is how they perceive their parents’ financial circumstances and to what degree they might have to provide a layer of financial support. My dad was in memory care for a few years and we paid maybe 15 grand a month.

My clients’ parents are usually relatively stable financially. But the most important issue is the use of the family residence to help provide support. A lot of people in California who have owned homes a long time have a lot of equity in those homes. That’s the ultimate backstop, the last line of defence.

What about the job market?

Gen X is also dealing with career and income volatility. We’ve seen all the headlines about tech layoffs and the rise of AI. A lot of my clients work in the tech industry.

The conversations I have more frequently focus on clients’ concerns about their ability to continue earning at the same level.

We look at diversifying their equity component more quickly, getting it out of company stock, especially for those in tech.

For example, some clients at Amazon have restricted stock units they can sell periodically. But now they’re selling those (Amazon) stocks and then deploying the [cash into other equities] more slowly.

We’re hearing about how quickly AI is going to change things. For people in software on the front lines, they’re pretty anxious about it.

Can you provide an example?

One client who works at Google told me he expected a lot of change with AI as the disruptive force.

A few companies will benefit, he feels. A lot won’t. So he’s actively selling his company shares.

Historically we would reinvest the proceeds as they’ve come in. But now he wants to slow that down. Hold cash a little bit longer and slowly deploy it.

His perception is that change is coming quickly. He doesn’t know what that will look like but it probably won’t be good.

In behavioural finance, we know you feel a loss much more significantly than you feel a gain. And he’s trying to avoid putting money in the market right before there is a big correction.

It sounds stressful.

It’s super stressful. And as we go into 2026, especially in the tech sector and among those with high incomes, I see a lot of anxiety.

I have another client who works in finance, but the nature of his job moves with economic cycles.

He was laid off at the start of Covid and he’s getting nervous again. It’s a “vibecession” that a lot of people are feeling right now.

How do you help someone worried about a job loss?

Over a year ago, we restructured where his investments are held, so that if he gets laid off and ends up spending his emergency fund, the next thing he’ll tap is a more conservative account we created.

It’s not that we took his overall asset allocation and made it more conservative. We just put more investments in this other account. It’s a matter of asset location and it gives him peace of mind knowing he has a fallback he can tap.

That strategy would be helpful for anybody today. The challenge is if you have accounts with a lot of capital gains.

Does multigenerational planning help?

My work with baby boomer clients often involves conversations about supporting their Gen X and older millennial children.

I’ve seen a lot of parents and grandparents of Gen Xers looking for ways to accelerate their generational wealth transfer, trying to provide assistance now when it’s more impactful on their kids’ lives.

For example, a baby boomer client was looking for ways to help her Gen X son, who is married with a child in middle school, but had started accumulating a lot of debt after he was laid off.

We worked together to model the level of support she could provide and how to structure the assistance so it wouldn’t impact her son’s sense of independence.

Ultimately, she decided on a one-time gift that would cover about six months of living expenses. I call this indirect Gen X planning.

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Las Vegas Power Couple Lists Home in the Nevada Desert for $19.5 Million

Jenna and Michael Morton have created some of the best-known nightclubs and restaurants in Las Vegas.  

But when building a home in the area for their family, they veered away from the glitzy excess of the Strip in favour of a calming, desert retreat.  

That’s not to say entertainment was an afterthought: The roughly 2-acre property in the Summerlin neighbourhood has a 60-foot outdoor slide and a DJ booth.  

“We are in Las Vegas,” Jenna said. “It’s part of what we do in this town. We do fun.”  

Now, after about 20 years of fun, the Mortons’ three children are out of the house, and they are listing the home for $19.5 million.  

Michael is a son of Chicago restaurateur Arnie Morton, who founded Morton’s The Steakhouse, which has more than 50 locations nationwide.  

His brother Peter Morton co-founded the Hard Rock Cafe, and Michael and Jenna operate restaurants including Crush at the MGM Grand and La Cave Wine and Food Hideaway at Wynn Resorts . 

The couple paid $1.25 million for the vacant Summerlin site in 2003. At the time, they were living in Chicago but planning to move to Las Vegas to be closer to their work.  

Located in the Ridges, a gated community about 15 minutes from the Strip, the property is at the end of a cul-de-sac abutting the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.  

“The first time we were there, there were wild burros behind us,” Michael said. 

The single-story house spans about 9,400 square feet and curves toward the canyon for privacy and mountain views.  

Photo: JPM Studios.

“The curve is an embrace of the mountains,” said Jenna during a video call as she walked outside, the vista framing her face. 

In contrast to the over-the-top vibe of Las Vegas hotels and casinos, the couple’s aesthetic at home is what Jenna described as “Japan meets desert,” with clean lines and neutral colours. 

The house has seven bedrooms; the primary bath has a soaking tub made out of a boulder. 

A wine room has colour-changing Lucite pegs that hold hundreds of bottles. A separate, roughly 530-square-foot guesthouse has a roof deck. 

The property is mostly flat, with the exception of a sloped section where the Mortons built the tiled slide, which drops into the pool.  

“I looked at it and said, ‘There will be a slide on that hill,’” Michael recalled. It isn’t just children who have enjoyed it—he and Jenna and many of their friends have taken a turn. “A lot of adults hit that slide,” he said. 

Photo: JPM Studios.

The Mortons said they entertained frequently, from fundraisers to a birthday party where their son filled an outdoor trampoline with bubbles.  

For Jenna’s 40th birthday, the couple hosted a 1960s-themed party that began with a 200-person sit-down dinner, followed by toasts and karaoke.  

Michael enlisted the rock band Cheap Trick to make a surprise appearance during karaoke.  

As Jenna took the microphone and started belting out their song “I Want You to Want Me,” the band began playing behind her. “We took the rods out of the reactor that night,” he said. undefined 

Although selling is bittersweet, the Mortons said they want something smaller now that their children are grown.  

The couple—he is 61, she is 59—have a second home in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and they plan to build a smaller house in Las Vegas.  

The luxury market in Las Vegas has exploded over the past few years, said listing agent Kristen Routh-Silberman of Douglas Elliman.  

There were 76 sales in the Las Vegas area above $10 million in 2025, up from 59 a year prior, she said. The record is held by a home at the Summit Club that traded for $35 million in 2024.  

A recent building boom means inventory is finally catching up to demand, according to Routh-Silberman.  

The spring market has started early this year, and there seems to be more activity thanks to demand from California and Washington transplants seeking tax advantages, she said.