The World Economic Forum in Davos, which opens on 23 January 2018, has been running since 1971 but who started it? It is the brainchild of German-born Klaus Schwab. Schwab, born in Ravensburg Germany in 1938, trained as an engineer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, before training as an economist […]
Switzerland ranked the world’s most affordable country
In a survey of 119 countries, Switzerland ranked at the top of the Local Purchasing Power Index with a score of 147. The 2015 index was calculated recently by Numbeo the world’s largest database of user-contributed data about cities and countries. Someone in Switzerland on an average wage can buy 47% more typical goods and […]
Morning Mood
What’s the music of your morning? These days, mine is far less ‘Morning Mood’ and more ‘Ride of the Valkyries’; less sipping herbal tea as I watch the sun peer pinkly over the Alps, and more hefty contributions to the Swear Jar as I run around trying to get everybody ready and out of the […]
Big losses for the Swiss National Bank
After the recent increase in value of the Swiss franc, foreign currencies held by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) will now be worth less in Swiss franc terms. In the case of Euros around 17% less than before. This decline in value will drive a loss. It is not possible to calculate the actual figure, however […]
5 beauty products you can make at home
Why spend tens and even hundreds of francs on beauty products when you can just as easily make them yourself, using simple ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen pantry? Making your own beauty products will not only help you cut your expenses, but your skin and hair will also benefit from the […]
Possessed: mum’s stuff meets the messy elves
I know what they mean, about children keeping you young: every day, I’m sounding more and more like a toddler. ‘My shoes,’ I find myself saying, firmly, pointing to the object in question. ‘My bed. My phone. Mine!’ It started innocuously enough: one bored afternoon the older child nicked a pair of my shoes to […]
PEGIDA expands to Switzerland in the wake of Charlie Hebdo attack
The German PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident) movement is using the outrage following the Charlie Hebdo attacks to further its cause. It was founded in October 2014 in Dresden, Germany and its Facebook page now has over 140,000 likes. It is difficult to ascertain the group’s objectives. The German news service […]
The latest edition of Charlie Hebdo hits the streets
Today, one week after the appalling attack on Charlie Hebdo’s office in Paris the weekly satirical magazine published its regular weekly edition. According to the Swiss newspaper the NZZ it will be translated into 16 languages (including Arabic) and be available in Switzerland in German on Friday. The French version is expected to arrive tonight […]
Solar Impulse 2: going to sleep at the wheel
A few years back, two pilots, Bertrand Piccard, the famed Swiss balloonist and André Borschberg, a businessman and former Swiss Air Force pilot, presented the world with the first ultra long distance solar aircraft: Solar Impulse 1. Following the record breaking 26-hour non-stop trip of Solar Impulse 1 in 2010, the Swiss pair and […]
From School to University : a giant leap?
The IB, A-Level, Maturité and Bac are all stepping stones to university but how adequate are they in preparing students for what is to come? Does one serve that purpose better than others? These different diplomas offer different styles of studies but are equally valid in terms of academic level. The Maturité trains students to […]
