Ever felt you’d like to get to know your neighbours, but have never really had the chance? Help is at hand. On Friday 23 May, all around the region, thousands of neighbours will congregate at hundreds of Neighbours’ Day parties. Started in 1999 in France, the aim is to build and strengthen communities and improve […]
Archives for May 2014
Payot’s best sellers of the week
Top 10 best selling books of the week
Weekend in an Italian constellation
If you are planning a weekend away and want to take in some history and enjoy nature, you can find an ample supply of both less than three hours’ drive from Geneva. Nestling in the Piedmont mountains near Turin in northern Italy, in a region called the Via Lattea (or Milky Way), are the villages […]
True confessions of a book fiend
“Goodbye, my darlings,” I waved to them, as they sped away in the back of the charity shop van. “I’ll never forget you.” My books. Boxes of them, packed off as if they meant nothing to me. As if they hadn’t given me some of the happiest moments of my life. My husband, who has […]
Preparing for the next Swiss tsunami
A tsunami on Lake Geneva? Well, one did happen over 1,400 years ago. BERN As difficult as it may be to imagine a tsunami in landlocked Switzerland, geophysical and climate scientists consider it their duty to adopt a long-term view of cataclysmic events to help mankind prepare preventive measures. Records show that a tsunami caused […]
Blocher resigns from parliament
Billionaire politician Christoph Blocher, the driving force behind the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (UDC), has resigned from the House of Representatives, with effect from the end of May. Blocher has long been an outspoken critic of parliament and, indeed, of most Swiss political institutions. He is leaving to pursue other political goals. The 73-year-old former […]
Swiss quality, yes. But what about good value?
Whenever visitors baulk at the high price of a coffee, a hotel room or a lamb cutlet, the Swiss are always quick to respond: we provide quality. This may be true to a point. It is certainly the argument of the Swiss taxi cartel to justify its incredibly high rates or Swiss airlines in its […]
Cyber disarmament talks
GENEVA An idea is circulating in Geneva to create a round of disarmament talks for a new type of arms control: waging war in cyberspace. This time, however, the talks would encompass more than UN member countries and include what’s known in UN-speak as multi-stakeholders such as private companies and civil society. Geneva is under […]
Payot goes international
GENEVA Much has been written about the bleak future for bookshops in the face of digital competition, with booksellers around the world fearing their shops may become quaint relics of the past, like tobacconists, albeit for different reasons. This phenomenon also has been noticed in Switzerland where Payot, the Suisse Romande chain, has stood fast […]
Suisse romande recovering fastest
According to the Crea Institute of the University of Lausanne, the six cantons of the largely French-speaking Suisse romande did far better economically in 2013 than expected. The gross domestic product (GDP) of the region, which represents one quarter of the Swiss economy, or almost CHF 150 billion, grew by 2.1% rather than the 1.3% […]