What makes for a good national anthem? The melody should be festive, solemn, create a sense of identity and unity around shared values and, be easy to remember. Apparently the current Swiss national anthem fails this last test. The majority of Swiss people cannot remember the Cantique Suisse, if they even know it at all. […]
Archives for April 2015
Why poetry beats parenting books
These days I find I’m getting a lot of useful parenting advice from poems like The Prophet and Desiderata; poems I grew up seeing badly framed and hanging in everybody’s guest bathroom. Who knew that one day I’d honestly find them more helpful than most parenting books? And why? Well, take the example of the […]
Swiss banks swell as Greek ones empty
More and more Greeks are deciding that leaving their money in a Greek bank is not worth the risk. The Economist reported that households and private firms withdrew €24.6 billion from Greek banks between December and February. The capital controls and bank balance “haircuts” in Cyprus in 2013 set a precedent that some fear could […]
Switzerland’s discount heaven
Another day in Happy Valley…with warmer weather and budding trees suggesting that spring finally is on its way. So too is the tradition of doing some spring skiing, before the thoughts of the denizens of Happy Valley turn completely from schussing down the ski-hill, to boating across Lake Leman to buy various goods in France […]