Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
There’s nothing like sledging in Switzerland – the snow flying in your face, your heels scraping the snow, and that sense of relief when you arrive at the bottom in one piece. It is both terrifying and exhilarating, but a bit more of the former according to one New York Times journalist.
More on this in today’s briefing but first the news.
In the News: a new robot, a big Santa Claus, and lots of problems with fake news.
- As internet use increases so do the problems with disinformation and disparaging comments. According to surveys by the Federal Statistical Office, more than 60% of 15 to 29-year-olds have been confronted with hate speech on the internet, and half of people surveyed found questionable content in the three months prior to the survey. Particularly worrying is the fact that many feel they don’t have the skills to verify this information.
- Researchers in Switzerland presented a new robot this week in the journalExternal link Science Robotics. It’s based on a robot that mimics animals that was used to spy on crocodiles and lizards in the wild in Africa. Now they are being adapted for use in disaster response.
- Swiss artist Gerry Hofstetter, known for his massive light projections, is at it again. This time he created the world’s largest Santa Claus, which was projected onto a mountain just above Montreux.
- Housing is becoming increasingly expensive in Switzerland. Rents rose in almost all municipalities in Switzerland in the third quarter. This was strongest in the Zurich area with an almost 11% bump.
Swiss sledging – an extreme sport or a fun commute to work?
“There’s nothing tame about sledding (or sledging) in Switzerland,” wrote New York Times journalist Elaine Glusac about her attempt to take on Swiss sledging in the Bernese AlpsExternal link.
It also takes a lot of skill, she points out. Of course, for many Swiss that skill is something honed at a young age, that it becomes second nature. This is why it isn’t unusual to see, as Glusac notes, a grandmother with two young kids speeding down the mountain.
For many people, sledging is a pure adrenaline rush, for others it’s the fastest, and most fun way to get home from work. Whether it’s a sport or means of transportation, sledging was given a Covid boost. “During the pandemic, everyone wanted to come to the mountains, but not everyone knows how to ski,” Bruno Hauswirth, the director of Grindelwald Tourism, told the New York Times. “So they tried sledging.”
It’s also much cheaper than a ski holiday, which has become much more expensive according to a recent reportExternal link in Tages-Anzeiger. An 8-day ski holiday for a family of 4 can cost up to CHF8,000 in some resorts, which some blame on the Americanization of ski resorts in Switzerland.
Whoever is to blame, sledging is the big winner. And added bonus? If you’re really daring, writes Glusac, you can even do it at night after the ski pistes have closed and you’ve had a gooey pot of melted Swiss cheese.
Has the magic formula lost some of its magic? We’ll find out in a week.
The election of federal government ministers is less than a week away. The big topic is who will replace Alain Berset, who submitted his resignation a few months ago. Berset’s party – the Social Democrats – have two candidates in the running – Beat Jans and Jon Pult. Check out our profiles of them here.
A vote for one of the two would follow the so-called “magic formula”, which has been the way the parties have divvyed up the 7 government seats up to now.
But as Le Temps writes today, there are some wild scenarios out there,External link which would break with the status quo. Could someone try to unseat a sitting minister? Could someone be elected from the Social Democrats, who isn’t one of the official candidates? Could the Centre party try to steal a seat away from the Radical Liberals?
It would definitely create some buzz, or perhaps even a scandal, if any of the above scenarios were to happen in stable, predictable Swiss politics (relative to other countries). But anything is possible and even if there are no big surprises, the fact that someone is even writing about the possibility of a change in the magic formula is enough to make people think. Join our dialogue on the topic here.
What’s behind door number 7? Check out today’s film on the seventh day of Advent.
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