In January 2019, prices fell 0.3%. This follows monthly declines of 0.3% in both November and December 2018. Falling clothing, shoe, heating oil and medicine prices were the main drivers of the monthly price decline, which was muted by rising hotel and electricity prices. By the end of January 2019, Swiss consumer prices, based on […]
Archives for 2019
Question of the week: when a majority won’t vote for essential change how can democracy deliver it?
In Switzerland, like many countries around the world, a static retirement age combined with rising life expectancy and a rapidly aging population is creating cracks in the nation’s pay-as-you-go pension system. Eventually, a shrinking working population will buckle under the strain of funding the pensions of a growing number retirees. In a survey following Switzerland’s failed […]
Switzerland’s federal surplus even larger than expected
In October 2018, government number crunchers revised Switzerland’s federal forecast budget surplus up from CHF 0.3 billion to CHF 2.5 billion. Today, Bern announced that provisional calculations for 2018 now show a surplus of CHF 2.9 billion, CHF 0.4 billion more than last year’s revised figure. The increase was driven by strict spending discipline and […]
Switzerland to allow UK citizens to come to work in Switzerland after Brexit
Yesterday, Switzerland’s Federal Council decided that it would continue to allow UK citizens to come to work in Switzerland after 30 March 2019 in the event of a no-deal Brexit. A government press release stated there would be a separate quota of permits available to UK citizens. The temporary quota would allow 3,500 UK citizens […]
Vote results on freezing construction land and secularity in Geneva – 10 Feb 2019
The federal vote to stop urban sprawl was rejected by 63.7% of voters. Majorities in all cantons voted against this initiative which would have frozen construction land. The only cantons close to majorities were Geneva (47.7%), Neuchâtel (46.2%) and Basel-City (46.5%). In Geneva the law restricting restricting religious clothing in public office was accepted by 55% of voters, while initiatives […]
Sick animal meat ends up in restaurants
Last weekend, government staff from numerous EU countries were running around trying to find the meat of potentially sick animals illegally slaughtered in Poland and sold across the EU, according to the newspaper 20 Minutes. While the hunt to identify the meat and pull it from shop shelves was underway, authorities in Poland confirmed that […]
Swiss health authority now recommends vaccinating against tick borne encephalitis
This week, Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) issued a statement recommending vaccination against tick borne encephalitis for those living in or visiting nearly all of Switzerland. The vaccination is recommended for all people exposed to ticks in Switzerland and anyone living in or visiting any Swiss canton other than the cantons of Geneva […]
The best way to save forests, according to a forester
Last summer, two mates and I set out on what turned out to be a “bridge-too-far” walking project. Switzerland is blessed with more than 60,000 km of walking trails crowned by seven iconic National Routes. The National Route 5 (which extends as the GR5 into France’s renowned “Grande Randonnée” hiking network), but is also known the […]
FILM: THE FAVOURITE – a sick and cranky queen under the control of her longtime friend
8 February 2019. By Neptune THE FAVOURITE **** This is a deliciously malicious view of the corridors of power in early 18th century England during the reign of Queen Anne when France and England were at war, which was a huge drain on the royal coffers. But this film is mostly a portrait of the […]
Switzerland’s prison population swells 50% in less than 30 years
The number of prisoners in Switzerland rose 50% from 1988 to 2017. Much of this is due to population growth. Switzerland’s population grew 28% over the same period. However, population growth doesn’t account for all of the increase in prison numbers. In 1988, there were 70 prisoners per 100,000. By 2017, the same figure was […]
