At the end of September the Swiss government announced an average nationwide health premium rise of 4% in 2018. This government calculation is rather narrow. It only looks at the price of standard compulsory insurance, including accident cover, for an adult with a CHF 300 deductible. Price comparison site bonus.ch calculates that this policy configuration […]
Stiff new legal precedent could be set for using phones while driving
20 Minutes. According to 20 Minutes, a driver who caused a fatal accident while driving and using a mobile phone, has been charged with constructive manslaughter (meurtre par dol éventuel), a charge brought against those who willfully put lives at risk and kill someone. It is a harsher sentence than involuntary manslaughter (homicide par négligence), […]
A new law might put more distance between bikes and cars
When Swiss cyclists look back and see a car overtaking them, they have good reason to be extra cautious. One in ten bike accidents happen when a vehicle is passing a cyclist, according to The Swiss Bicycle Advocacy Association, PRO VELO. That’s why the group, meeting last weekend in Aarau, proposed that Switzerland adopt a […]
How a single event caused Switzerland’s global gender gap ranking to plunge
Every year the World Economic Forum (WEF), a Swiss-based foundation, publishes its Global Gender Gap ranking. This year Switzerland slipped to 21st, down from 11th last year. This slump was caused by a single event. The ranking scores countries in 14 areas. These are weighted and consolidated into a single figure. On 9 of the […]
Second rape claim hits high-profile Swiss Islamic scholar
Late last week, another claim of sexual assault by Geneva-born Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan surfaced, according to the French newspaper Le Monde. The woman, who came forward anonymously, claims she was assaulted in a hotel room in Lyon in 2009. This accusation follows another from Henda Ayari, who named Ramadan as her aggressor in a Facebook […]
Swiss Rail to test smoke-free train stations and platforms
Swiss Rail has announced it will experiment with smoking restrictions at various train stations in response to customer complaints about second-hand smoke and cigarette butts on platforms impacting on comfort. The tests will be run during 2018 in 5 or 6 stations. A document obtained by the newspaper NZZ listed the stations involved in the […]
Saving 4 tonnes of ‘junk’ from landfill: Swiss repair cafés
Switzerland’s Repair Cafés, part of a global movement started in the Netherlands, are turning the old saying: one person’s junk is another’s treasure, into: your junk is your treasure. On October 27th, about 1,500 items – everything from stuffed bears and toy tractors to vacuum cleaners and digital cameras – were saved from Swiss junk piles, […]
Why men in Switzerland die before women
It’s Movember, the season of unlikely moustaches, grown to highlight men’s health. Causes of disease and death are not always clear, however, gender differences in lifestyle and disease offer some clues to lower male life expectancy. Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office (FSO) puts male life expectancy at 81.5 years, 3.8 years behind women, who live 85.2 […]
Swiss hate lateness – a study shows just how much
In Switzerland, punctuality is important. Expectations vary by age, gender, political leaning and language. Someone among the 15% that frown upon any degree of tardiness is most likely to be male, over 65, politically right, and Italian speaking, according to figures published in a survey by Sotomo. The survey, done on behalf of the insurance […]
How Singaporean passports outrank Swiss ones
Some passports are better than others. To make comparisons easy, Arton Capital has created the Passport Index. The 2017 index ranks 199 passports based on the number of countries the holder can travel to with ease. At the bottom is Afghanistan. Holders of this passport need a visa ahead of travelling for 89% of the countries on the […]
