The Swiss government’s company tax reform plans have been reborn after the last plan met with defeat in a popular vote on 12 February 2017. The new plan, dubbed “Tax proposal 17”, aims to avoid issues that bedeviled the last project. Last time many were concerned by the potential financial impact of lower company tax rates, and […]
Archives for 2017
Snow returns to Switzerland
Meteo Swiss. Yesterday, Meteo Swiss predicted snow, and this morning, many in Switzerland awoke to a sprinkling of white on the ground. The main areas affected are central and western Switzerland, in particular the Alp and pre-Alp regions. The snow is the result of opposing high and low level air currents. North of the Alps, […]
Swiss naturalisation to get much cheaper in Geneva
20 Minutes. For those wanting to become Swiss, Geneva will no longer charge based on income. For some the price will be a less than a third of what they’d pay now. On Wednesday, the cantonal government announced that the fees will change on 1 June 2017. Currently the total cost ranges from CHF 930 […]
Swiss have never moved as much as they did in 2015
20 Minutes. In Switzerland, more than a million people moved house in 2015, 12.1% of the population. The figure has never be higher, according to a report called Immo-Monitoring published by Wüest Partner. The home moving covered around 490,000 dwellings. Of those who moved, 344,000 stayed in the same commune (Gemeinde) while the other 659,000 changed […]
New 50 Swiss franc note wins international beauty contest
The new 50 franc note, launched last year, was voted the best new bank note in 2016 by the International Bank Note Society, a society founded in 1961. Nearly 120 new banknotes were released worldwide in 2016. The Swiss 50 only narrowly beat the Maldive Islands 1000 Rufiyaa bill, Argentina’s 500 Peso jaguar, and the […]
VIDEO: A beautiful day next to Lake Geneva
Barry Ciocco from Lausanne posted this video, taken from a drone above Montreux and around Lavaux on the shores of Lake Geneva. The stretch of train journey in this video, running next to the lake between Vevey and Lausanne, is one of the best in Europe. For more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on […]
FILM: Guardians of the Galaxy, vol 2 – a super fun popcorn flick
28 April 2017. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, Vol 2 ***1/2 If you’re looking for a super fun popcorn flick, this is it! Those crazy space characters from Marvel comics are back again to amuse us while saving the Galaxy one more time, in this instant cult film. There’s of course the main man, Peter Quill, alias […]
Vote launched to legalise cannabis in Switzerland
Tribune de Genève. Last week a group called “Legalize it“, launched an initiative to have cannabis legalised. They now have 18 months to get 100,000 signatures, the minimum number required to qualify for a referendum, known as a popular initiative. Unlike a failed referendum on the subject in 2008, this one includes a ban on sales […]
Cyclists offended by insurance company video
A video published by Suva, an Swiss insurance company, has offended a number of cyclists. The video portrays the grisly fate of a smug dimwitted cyclist who ridicules his vindictive car-driving colleague and neighbour. His neighbour takes his car to work, even in winter, while the hardy cyclist rides rain, hail or shine. When the cyclist fails […]
On Saturday crowds took to the streets of Geneva in support of science
People around the world marched for science on Saturday. Some of the slogans, such as “There is no planet B”, “I’m with her…” and an arrow pointing at a picture of the earth, or “Alternative facts are the square root of minus one”, were humorous, however the message was serious: science underpins our success as a species […]
