Poll results published this week show how Swiss view the environment and climate change. 72% agreed it was necessary to do something to combat climate change, 5% were undecided and 23% said it wasn’t. 43% were in favour of a carbon tax – a tax paid by polluters and redistributed to everyone, 14% were undecided […]
Archives for 2018
CERN gains new insight into a particle responsible for the burning of the sun
After years of subatomic particle busting and number crunching, researchers at CERN now know the mass of the W boson particle1. The findings are part of the ATLAS experiment, which uses CERN’s large underground particle accelerator, known as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), to smash subatomic particles into each other at extremely high speeds. The […]
The number of false Swiss residents coming clean rose in 2017
French communes bordering Geneva saw a rise in the number of those living in France but pretending to live in Switzerland coming clean in 2017. According to the newspaper Le Temps, the neighbouring commune of Saint-Julien-en-Genevois saw the number rise to 1,130 in 2017, more than the 1,000 in 2016 and the 600 in 2014. […]
Geneva – cross-border school rules to get stricter
Last week, Geneva’s government changed the rules on who qualifies for primary schooling in the canton. Currently, if there is room for children living outside the canton (usually in France or the canton of Vaud) they are accepted. Schools are managed at a municipal level and in some communes (municipalities) they are overflowing. François Longchamp, president […]
Bad traffic – Geneva and Zurich rank among Europe’s worst
Excluding the highly congested cities of Russia, Geneva and Zurich were the fourth and fifth most traffic congested cities in Europe in 2017, according to the automotive data company INRIX, which publishes a traffic ranking of around 1,360 cities across the world. Istanbul (3rd), Paris (2nd) and London (1st) were the only european cities ahead […]
Switzerland’s course for mathematically gifted children
It is easy to assume that exceptionally bright children are the lucky ones, automatically destined for great things. But being a very bright child can be hard. Many of these children feel lost at regular school. Some become withdrawn, others disruptive, while some leave school early. Kathryn Hess Bellwald, a Swiss-American mathematician at EPFL, one […]
FILM: THE 5:17 TO PARIS – Clint Eastwood’s version of the train terrorist attack
9 February 2018. As I was absent at the preview of this film, a friend who was there kindly wrote this review on it. What do you think of the movie, for we all see films with our own baggage, don’t we? Till next week, Neptune. THE 5:17 TO PARIS *1/2 On 21 August 2015, […]
A family applied for Swiss citizenship but not everyone in the family got it
Nyon, a town on the shore of Lake Geneva, was recently thrust into the limelight. A mum, dad and their children applied for Swiss citizenship together, however the mum had her application rejected by the commune, while dad and the children had theirs accepted. Last Wednesday, Nyon’s mayor, Daniel Rossellat said Salvatore Scanio, the father, […]
Swiss real estate risk falls two quarters in a row, says UBS
The UBS Swiss Real Estate Bubble Index declined in the last quarter of 2017, the second quarterly decline in a row. Prices are considered balanced when the index reaches zero. Between zero and 1 is considered a price boom, between 1 and 2 is considered at risk and above 2 a bubble. At the end […]
Basel Fasnacht – no ordinary festival
A parade that starts at 4 in the morning? With piccolos? And drums? In winter? Really? Yes, and you’ll be enchanted by the whole thing. Every year in the city of Basel on the Monday after Ash Wednesday (this year, February 19th), the Morgestraich (“Morning sweep” in Basel dialect) marks the beginning of the three-day […]
