Membership in the European Union is sometimes referred to as a “géométrie variable,” member countries have different obligations; the United Kingdom is a full member but retains its own currency, the Pound and not the Euro. On a recent visit to Kiev, I was impressed by how my comments on the need for international cooperation […]
Archives for November 2014
Film reviews: Der Kreis (Le Circle); Strange
Der Kreis (Le Circle) **** (vo German) Switzerland’s selection for this year’s Foreign Film Oscar and winner of every festival it has entered, including the Teddy award at the Berlin film fest, this is a brilliant docudrama about the first gay men’s magazine and organization created in Zurich in the 1940s when it was extremely […]
Payot’s best sellers of the week
Seventeen Coffins, Philip Caveney, Fledgling Press From the author of the Sebastian Darke thrillers and Crow Boy comes an exciting novel that both teens and adults will enjoy. Seventeen Coffins is the second book in the Crow Boy series and stars Tom Afflick and his mysterious Plague Doctor. Tom is drawn back to Edinburgh. At […]
Cut your heating bills
Nyon has long been keen to develop its green credentials and live up to its self-proclaimed sobriquet “Cité de l’énergie”. Putting its money where its mouth is, the city has announced that it is running a seminar on 24 November on how to save money by cutting heating bills. Its aim is to inform the […]
Fight against impunity
On 17 September this year, Martina Johnson a former Liberian rebel commander, was arrested in Belgium. She is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges have been brought thanks to the determination of a Geneva Lawyer, Alain Werner, who specializes in documenting crimes committed during the civil wars in western Africa. For […]
Manor in Chavannes reopens
After spending CHF 15 million on the refit of one of its key stores, Manor Chavannes reopens on 20 November. The main renovations and changes include the modernisation of and upgrade of all the departments “to reflect latest concepts”; a significant enlargement of the shop’s already pretty impressive food hall (as well as the enlargement […]
Coloured gems smash records at Geneva auctions
Rubies. Sapphires. Diamonds. Pearls. It seems as though a new record was set every time the gavel came down at Geneva-based auctions held earlier this week by Christie’s and Sotheby’s. At the Christie’s auction, 346 items were sold on Tuesday for a total of CHF 147.2 million, a sum exceeding that of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewel […]
Swiss precision in space
As the world celebrates the remarkable landing of the robotic Philae lander on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko ten years after it was launched from earth, scientists are looking forward to analysing the first panoramic and 3D shots of the comet’s landscape taken from ground level. The pictures will be taken by seven cameras developed in Neuchâtel by […]
Swiss don’t speak English very well according to new study
How well do the Swiss speak English? Not as well as most of their counterparts in other European countries according to a study released Wednesday by EF Education First. The 4th edition of the EF English Proficiency Index ranked the English skills of 750,000 non-native speakers around the world. Switzerland placed 18th out of 63 […]
German Community celebrates St. Martin’s Day in Geneva on Saturday 15 November
Imagine small children bundled up in winter clothing carrying homemade lanterns and munching on pretzels. They sing in unison well-known songs like “Ich geh’ mit meiner Laterne” and “Abends, wenn es dunkel wird” (see performances on Youtube) as they follow a man riding a horse through the snowy cobbled streets of Geneva’s old town. Eventually […]