Tribune de Genève. This autumn Geneva’s leaders will have their say on three projects proposing new laws related to Geneva’s system of religious neutrality or laicism. Burka and burkini bans will be among the topics debated. Laïcité or secularism is something fundamental to the the way the canton, or republic, of Geneva operates. It dates from […]
Archives for August 2016
Film: A strange magical film that should have won the Palme d’Or
26 August 2016. TONI ERDMANN **** (vo German) This surprising and innovative story from Germany, about a curious father/daughter relationship, was the biggest hit of the 2016 Cannes film festival. After years of exclusion from Cannes (except for the occasional Wim Wenders work), this German film by the vivacious Maren Ade showed there is tremendous talent, […]
Britain’s Brexit binge on Swiss watches
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. The pendulum for Britain has swung back to positive, and it’s tourists who’ve pushed it there. Britain was one of the few bright spots for Swiss watch exports in July, rising 13.4 percent from a year earlier and counteracting a massive 26 percent drop in June, according to data […]
Swiss need to retire at 67, says parliamentary commission
Le Matin. The Swiss might need to work until 67. In a report, a parliamentary commission suggests automatically raising the statutory retirement age, as part of a set of measures designed to eliminate a large pension funding shortfall brought on by an aging population and falling investment returns. The state pension system needs to find […]
Could Swiss pull out of Geneva airport?
Tribune de Genève. According to the Tribune de Genève, the airline has confirmed that its German owner, Lufthansa Group, is looking into the possibility. Aircraft carrying the Swiss logo could be replaced by planes from Lufthansa’s low cost airline, Eurowings. Le Matin Dimanche, reportedly heard of a meeting of employees of Swiss in French-speaking Switzerland, […]
Counting the cost of Olympic medals. Is it worth it?
After investing heavily, the UK has proved a medal superpower two Olympic Games in a row, chalking up 3rd place overall in Rio. Swiss broadcaster RTS (SFR) sets out how much Switzerland has spent on its athletes. Here is how the two nations compare. The Independent reports that the UK invested GBP 274 million, funneled from […]
Most popular Swiss baby names in 2015
Today, the Swiss government released statistics on the most popular baby names in 2015. The Swiss statistics office has been crunching this data for 30 years. Noah was the most popular boys’ name across Switzerland. 443 out of the 44,650 baby boys born in Switzerland in 2015 had this name chosen for them. However, while […]
Is the US slouching towards a Weimar scenario?
Remember Germany’s 1930’s Weimar Republic and the diminutive, firebrand populist who eventually seized power? Although he sees no problem in quoting Mussolini and at least initially hesitated at denouncing the Ku Klux Klan, Donald Trump is not exactly comparable to Hitler, at least not quite yet, but then neither was Hitler at the beginning. The […]
Final Olympic medal rankings adjusted for population – Switzerland gains 12 places
After updating the table after the Olympics closed last night, Switzerland rises 12 places to 24th after adjusting for population. The two leaders: United States and China slip down to 42nd and 72nd. It is no surprise that the United States and China feature at the top of the 2016 Olympic medal league table. With […]
Lucerne celebrates female talent with an orchestral event featuring only women conductors
Historically, only men conducted orchestras. In the last few years women have started to become more prominent. Symbolic turning points were the appointments of JoAnn Faletta as the principal conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic in 1999, followed by american violinist Marin Alsop as principal conductor of the UK’s Bournemouth Symphony in 2003 and the Baltimore Symphony […]