Earlier this week, I had lunch with an expat friend from Vaud at one of Geneva’s leading hotels overlooking the Rhone River. He has been living in Switzerland for nearly 30 years, including a nearly decade-long stint in the German-speaking north. So he is very much aware of the divides that exist within Switzerland itself, […]
On the beach
One morning during our recent summer holiday in England, my husband leaped out of bed, joyfully announcing, “It’s a Beach Day today!” “Really?” I asked, peering out of the window at the grey sky and the trees bending horizontally in the wind. “Why do you say that?” “Because it’s not raining!” The children and I […]
Hostages: To pay or not to pay, that is the question
The grotesque assassination of the American journalist James Foley has publicly raised the complex question of whether or not governments, companies or individuals should pay a ransom to free hostages. There are supportable arguments on both sides of the issue and, not surprisingly, there are differences on to how to deal with the problem. There […]
Things that Go Bump in the Night
Every time I read an article about someone who swears they saw the face of Elvis in a piece of toast, I’m reminded of how good we humans are at putting random shapes into patterns, and trying to make sense of them. It’s what makes cloud-watching so much fun; it’s also what gave us the […]
A more communal stance for humanity
While much of the Swiss summer has proved miserable, for those of us who managed to get abroad, there were constant reminders of just how globally relevant the Lake Geneva region is. Somehow Switzerland is mentioned one way or another in any media coverage of the Middle East, banking, football, climate change or Ebola. It […]
Suicide tourism rises
ZURICH More than 600 non-Swiss residents died of assisted suicide in Switzerland between 2008 and 2012, helped by organizations such as Dignitas. In 2012 alone, the majority came from Germany (77), followed by the UK (29), Italy (22), France (19) and the US (7). A study by the Journal of Medical Ethics, which looked at […]
Swiss observers to go to Western Sahara
The government announced on 20 August that Switzerland is to send half a dozen military observers to Western Sahara. Stressing that the observers will be unarmed, the government has announced that they will join the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara to reinforce peace-keepers supervising the 1988 ceasefire agreement between Morocco and the […]
Swiss struggles with Russian sanctions and neutrality
A Swiss law professor once bemoaned to me that he had spent 25 years of his career dealing with one word, “neutrality”. We all know that legally neutrality means that a country will not join armed alliances or fight in wars other than for self-defence. But, politically, for Switzerland neutrality can run the gamut from […]
Shop till the staff drop – Federal Council moves to liberalise shopping hours
The Federal Council decided on Wednesday to continue its efforts to liberalise retail opening hours across the country. The proposed law allows retailers to open from at least 6.00 to 20.00 during the week and from 06: 00 to 19.00 on Saturdays. This contentious decision is taken in the face of direct opposition from the […]
Grison derailment
The continuous downpours of recent weeks and rainfall of 40 to 60 mm in the past 24 hours has caused a shock landslide to hit a Rhaetian Railway train carrying 200 passengers running along the Albula line between Tiefencastel und Thusis in the Grison. Three passenger cars were derailed and 11 people injured. One of […]
