Switzerland Today

Dear Swiss Abroad,

Do you avoid the news? More and more people around the world, including in Switzerland, are. Why, what are the consequences, and what can be done about it?

Two-thirds of survey respondents said that dogs in the office were positive for the workplace atmosphere, satisfaction, work-life balance, wellbeing and for interaction between colleagues. Keystone / EPA / Omer Messinger

In the news: Dogs in the office, low birth rate, low interest rate, reasons for the 2023 election result, and the winner of the Prix Suisse 2024.

While some Swiss employers are strictly against dogs in the office, a survey shows that dogs improve the working atmosphere – and not only for their owners, but also for other employees. Around two-thirds of employees said that dogs in the office were positive for the workplace atmosphere, satisfaction, work-life balance, wellbeing and for interaction between colleagues.

The number of children per woman in Switzerland reached an all-time low in 2023 at 1.33, below even the 2022 level of 1.39. A total of 80,000 children were born in Switzerland last year, 2.8% fewer than in the previous year. 

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is lowering its key interest rate once again, from 1.5% to 1.25%. Underlying inflationary pressure had fallen again compared to the previous quarter, the SNB said today. By lowering the key interest rate, it was able to maintain appropriate monetary conditions, it said.

Concerns about immigration and the receding green wave of 2019 gave the right-wing Swiss People’s Party and the left-wing Social Democratic Party gains in Switzerland’s 2023 federal elections. The People’s Party was able to better mobilise voters, while the Social Democrats benefited from debates about purchasing power and health insurance premiums. 

Büne Huber, frontman of Swiss band Patent Ochsner, has been awarded the Prix Suisse 2024 for his accomplishments as a musician, painter and artist. 

Overall interest in news has been declining in Switzerland in recent years. Keystone

Record numbers of people are turning away from news. Is this due to general news fatigue, mental health worries or mounting concerns about the use of artificial intelligence?

The Digital News Report 2024 documents the scale of these challenges across 47 countries, including Switzerland, based on surveys of around 100,000 people.

A key takeaway this year is that news avoidance is at record levels: 39% of people worldwide said they sometimes or often actively avoid the news. This is up from 29% in 2017. In Switzerland, 36% of respondents said they refrain from consuming news at least some of the time – an increase of ten percentage points compared to before the Covid-19 pandemic.

My colleague Simon Bradley analysed the report, which also looked at the challenge posed by artificial intelligence (AI) and specifically the situation in Switzerland.

Tucking into sausages at the St Gallen Children’s Festival in 1977 Keystone

The St Gallen Children’s Festival is this year celebrating its 200th anniversary. The motto of this year’s festival was “A journey through time 1824-2024-2224” and was chosen by the schoolchildren for the first time.

After eight postponements due to the weather, the children’s festivalExternal link in northeastern Switzerland was held yesterday (main picture). At 6am, firecrackers from old cannon announced that the event would go ahead. Around 6,000 pupils, 550 teachers, 550 musicians and around 30,000 festival-goers enjoyed a perfect festival day with ideal weather. The special shorts, skirts, shirts and T-shirts they wear were tailored or supplied in collaboration with St Gallen textile companies.

The St Gallen Children’s Festival is an urban festival. Schoolchildren from the city’s schools parade through the city in festive costumes to the Children’s Festival Square, where they perform various shows. More than 30,000 people gather on the large meadow on the Rosenberg above the town.

The children’s festival is usually held every three years on one day in early summer, but it doesn’t have a fixed date. The next festival will take place according to the regular schedule in 2027, between mid-May and the end of June.

Xherdan Shaqiri celebrates after scoring one of the goals of the tournament so far Keystone

Is Swiss footballer Xherdan Shaqiri better than Cristiano Ronaldo? The diminutive Swiss continued his remarkable run of goals at finals with his stunning strike against Scotland last night.

He has scored at least one goal at every World Cup and European Championship since the 2014 World Cup. No other European player has achieved this. Ronaldo is the only one who could follow suit should he also score in Germany.

Shaqiri has now scored ten goals at Euro and World Cup tournaments. The 32-year-old already held the Swiss record in this regard before Euro 2024. It has now taken him 22 appearances to score ten goals, and 102 games to score the other 21 goals in a Swiss national team shirt. In short, Shaqiri likes scoring when it’s important.

Shaqiri’s ten goals at the finals are evenly distributed between the Euros and the World Cup. With five or more goals at both the Euros and the World Cup, Shaqiri belongs to a very exclusive circle. Apart from him, only six other players have achieved this: Michel Platini, Jürgen Klinsmann, Zinédine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku.