‘Just look at this horrible mess!’ bellowed the bigger child the other day. ‘Who did this?’ At first I thought she may be referring to the post-breakfast fallout under the dining room table … but no. Apparently I’m still the only one who notices that. Or cares about it. Or cleans it up. What the […]
A Swiss solution to Greek problems
Greece is certainly in a pickle. It needs to borrow more money to keep its wheels turning, but has borrowed to the point where it needs a loan write-off. Try asking your bank manager for a loan write-off while asking for more money and see what she says. The Swiss on the other hand have […]
TedX Lausanne – interfacing and interacting
Ted X (the X in this instance stands for Lausanne) is alive and very much provoking. The 2015 event held this week on the UNIL campus in Lausanne offered over 200 attendees a remarkably diverse selection of presentations in English. But this is to mislead – because it’s often not just the presenters who are […]
Swiss 2014 exports break new record
With all the gloom that has descended on Switzerland after the sharp rise in its currency, it is nice to be reminded of its economic strength. Goods exports excluding services for 2014 grew 3.5% to reach a record 208 billion francs, surpassing 2008’s record of 206 billion. To give this context, Switzerland’s goods exports alone […]
French tax on Swiss inheritance becomes a reality
Since 1 January 2015 French residents receiving Swiss inheritance are subject to French taxes on it. Many are up in arms at what they see as a predatory French tax grab and are calling for further negotiations to establish a new agreement to replace the 60 year Franco-Swiss accord that ended at the end of […]
No Italians employed here – new Swiss sticker sparks accusations of racism
Switzerland’s small population of around 300,000 Italian speakers lives mainly in the canton of Ticino on the Italian border. Directly across the border are around 60 million Italians speaking the same language who under current rules are free to work in Switzerland. Add to this Swiss pay that is more than double the Italian average […]
Switzerland – staring down the barrel of deflation
The recent rise in the Swiss franc is driving deflation in Switzerland. The prices of imported goods are declining and there is talk of reducing salaries in some corners. Deflation is bad for an economy, particularly for the heavily indebted – your mortgage remains the same even if your salary declines and Government debts increase […]
Making products speak Human Rights
Delivering human rights is abstract and hard to measure however, what if you could see the human rights history of a product before you bought it? The founder of the Swiss clothing company Switcher has created such a system. Respect Code, his novel track and trace system allows consumers to see the source and history […]
The Swiss introduce their version of a 35-hour week
On 27 January 2015 the Swiss government announced that Swiss companies could reduce their wage bills by cutting staff working hours and compensate them for the lost pay with partial unemployment benefits. The objective of the measure is to limit layoffs brought about by the rapid rise of the Swiss franc. Companies are required to […]
Where the top 1% live – Switzerland leads
There was much talk of inequality at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos. It is ironic then that the host country Switzerland has the greatest percentage of residents in the top 1% of the world’s wealthiest. Over 13% of Swiss are in this group, the highest proportion in the world according to the Credit […]
