Every year in late November, Americans come together with family and friends to reflect, be thankful and help those in need, all while sharing a sizable meal composed of roast turkey, cranberry stuffing, mashed potatoes, string beans and decadent pies. There are few American celebrations that represent the comfort of home and family as whole-heartedly […]
Bill Harby’s new fave burger joint in Geneva
Writer and Geneva resident Bill Harby went for a wander in Geneva on Sunday. Here is what he found. Today in Pâquis, Geneva’s intriguing neighborhood full of immigrants and Swiss who run cafés, restaurants, and other, ahem, businesses, I had the luck of the flâneur. Flâneurs are people who simply wander to see what they […]
Swiss fact: Switzerland’s newest canton was created as recently as 1979
Most consider 1291 to be the date Switzerland became a nation. That year, the three cantons of Uri, Unterwalden and Schwyz, agreed to stand together against outside judges and aggressors. Progressively over the years Switzerland expanded from these three cantons, to 25, when Geneva joined in 1815. Switzerland would wait more than 160 years to […]
A pilgrimage to Geneva’s cemetery of Kings, with artist and writer John Berger
British writer and artist John Berger – 90 years-old on 5 November, 2016 – has lived in the nearby French Haute-Savoie since the 1970s and has made a name celebrating the vanishing culture and life of European peasants. But as Peter Hulm points out, Berger is also a surpising fan of bourgeois Geneva, and of […]
Those with less are worth more in Schwyz than Geneva
Last Friday, the federal Swiss tax office published the latest statistics covering the wealth and earnings of the nation’s more than 5 million tax payers – Switzerland has wealth tax, so net worth is included in tax returns. The highest percentage of the very wealthiest (CHF 10 million plus) lived in Schwyz. Geneva also made […]
Art in an alpine setting – the Pierre Arnaud Foundation in Valais
On 12 November 2016, Museums in Switzerland are free. Valais resident Peter Hulm suggests going to the Pierre Arnaud Foundation in Lens, just below Crans-Montana. Not just because of its magnificent building and a restaurant whose young chef was trained by a three-star Michelin cuisinier. The chances are you won’t have seen the “Dutch and […]
Charlie Chaplin, still making us laugh at the new Chaplin’s World in Vevey
By Bill Harby Even today, nearly 39 years after film legend Charlie Chaplin’s death, who among us doesn’t know “the Tramp” with his signature mustache and big floppy shoes, twirling his cane as he loveably bumbles through a world of comedy and pathos? Whether you only know the Tramp for his slapstick, or you’re a […]
More Swiss visas for non-Europeans in 2017
20 Minutes. Visa quotas for non-EU workers will rise next year. The increased quotas will include 3,000 B-permits and 4,500 L-permits, 1,000 more than this year. These limits are still lower than in 2014, when Swiss politics turned against the free movement of workers from the EU. 2014 quotas of 3,500 B-permits and 5,000 short-term L-permits, […]
Assisted suicide up 26 percent in Switzerland
Recent figures show assisted suicide increased by 26% in 2014, a rise of 250% since 2009. The rise partly reflects an aging population. In 2014, 742 people in Switzerland were helped to end their lives. This represents 1.2% of deaths for the year. 94% were over 55, and the vast majority were suffering from a serious […]
The almost invisible machinery that uses Lake Geneva to heat 400 homes
Today, a new heating facility on the shores of Lake Geneva was inaugurated. Le News was shown around the plant by an engineer from the maker, Celsius Groupe e. The largest of its kind in Switzerland, it takes heat from the lake, and has enough capacity to heat around 400 buildings. Finding the facility is […]
