A recent study from the Swiss Federal Statistical office, which followed young lawbreakers from 1999 until 2015 found a number of things that predicted the likelihood of someone committing another crime. A study of 6,649 young lawbreakers born in 1992 found the chances of crime as an adult rose significantly with the number of juvenile […]
Two thirds of population want cuts in Switzerland’s pesticide use, says survey
A recent survey conducted by GFS Zurich shows strong support for cuts in pesticide use in Switzerland. The survey, requested by BirdLife Suisse, Greenpeace, Pro Natura and WWF Switzerland, found that 65% of the close to 1,000 surveyed would like pesticide use reduced in Switzerland. In addition, 49% favoured restricting government support payments to only […]
Swiss vote on paternity leave gets enough qualifying signatures
20 Minutes. Before a Swiss popular vote or referendum can be launched 100,000 valid signatures must be collected within the space of 18 months. The group behind a vote to introduce paid paternity leave of four weeks recently announced it had collected more than 120,000 signatures, 6 months ahead of the 18 month deadline, suggesting there might be […]
FILM: Neptune’s second report from Cannes
2 June 2017. Neptune’s second report from Cannes It’s always a sad time when the excitement of a festival is coming to an end…booths emptying out in the Market, press conferences becoming easier to get into, the closing of the myriad tents on the beach in the International Village, and a feeling of nostalgia for all […]
Coop experiments with first 100% vegetarian store
Coop recently opened its first vegetarian shop. The store, which is in Zug’s train station, sells no meat and no strong alcoholic drinks, such as whiskey. The store concept dubbed “Karma” includes 2,000 meat-free products. The supermarket chain described the launch as not just good news for vegans, vegetarians and flexitarians, those who eat little […]
Steam train festival this weekend 3 to 5 June 2017
This weekend the Blonay-Chamby steam train museum holds it annual steam train festival. Running for 30 years the festival starts on 3 June 2017 and runs for three days. The event includes five working steam trains with extra trains running between Vevey and the museum in Chamby. Click here for this weekend’s timetable. For more […]
Swiss government moves a step closer to axing capital withdrawals from pensions
Swiss pensions have three parts. The first is a standard payment based on the number of years you have paid social security taxes (AVS / AHV). The second (2nd pillar) is based on a personal pot of money built up from compulsory salary deductions. And the third is a personal pot derived from optional tax deductible […]
Around one in 30 men in Switzerland don’t brush their teeth every day
In Switzerland dentists are expensive. Brushing and an occasional trip to the dental hygienist on the other hand is a relatively inexpensive way to dodge those costly trips. Despite this many still seem to avoid it, according to a report published this week. In 2012, more than half of the population (51%) visited a dental […]
Switzerland not the most expensive in Europe for some mobile packages
Yesterday, the price comparison website Verivox published a study comparing mobile phone costs across 13 european countries. On most measures Switzerland was the most expensive, and by a wide margin. A plan including 100 minutes of talk and 1 Go (gigaoctet1) of data per month costs an average of CHF 25 per month in Switzerland. […]
Mortgage reference rate falls opening way for Swiss rent cuts
Every three months the rate of interest used to set Swiss rents is reviewed. If it goes down some renters have the right to request a decrease in rent. This time it dropped 0.25% to 1.50%. The interest rate used to set the reference rate was the average rate on Swiss mortgages at 31 March 2017 […]
