Swiss Review 6/2018

Swiss Review / November 2018 / No.6 31 Two resignations from the Federal Council 5December 2018 promises to be a day of great suspense in- the Federal Palace. TheUnited Federal Assemblywill simul- taneously elect two newFederal Councillors, following the announcements by Federal Councillors Doris Leuthard (CVP) and Johann Schneider-Amman (FDP) that they will resignby the end of the year, as had been expected for some time. Leuthardhas been inoffice since 2006 andheaded the Department for Economic Affairs until 2010, followedby the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications. Schneider-Ammanhas served as theMin- ister for Economic Affairs and Head of the Department of Economic Affairs, Education andResearch since his election to the Federal Council. (JM) Paediatrician Beatocello has passed away On 9September 2018 Beat Richner, arguably Switzerland’s mostwell-knownpaediatrician, passed away at the age of 71. In 1974/1975, Richner worked in Cambodia but had to leave the country after theKhmerRouge offensive, whereuponhe returned to Zurich. In 1991, King Sihanouk asked him to re- build the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital in the capital city of Phnom Penh, since it had been destroyed by the Pol Pot regime. Fourmore clinicswere openedupbetween then and 2007. Today, the five hospitals treat over 80 percent of the country’s sick children free of charge. They are financed by the Swiss Confederation, the Cambodian government and private donors. Richner, whowas also known as the cel- lo-playing musical clown Beatocello, played an important role in collecting donations for this cause. (JM) An unusual number of fatal accidents in the mountains The persistently sunny summer of 2018 drewa particularly large number of hikers and alpinists to the Swiss moun- tains, which in turn resulted in an unusually large number of accidents in the mountains. In the first half of the year alone, 80mountain climbers were killed in accidents (first half of 2017: 38 casualties). Ten people lost their lives on the Matterhorn during the first sixmonths alone. According to the Swiss Alpine Club (SAC), most fatal accidents in the mountains occur in July and August. Therefore, the SAC ex- pects a record inmountain emergency statistics for the cur- rent year. (JM) St. Gallen also introduces burqa ban In the canton of Ticino, covering one’s face in public spaces has been banned since 2016. In September 2018, St. Gallen became the second canton to introduce a burqa ban by pop- ular vote. Violations will be fined at between 100 and 200 Swiss francs. In St. Gallen, the ban only applies when pub- lic safety or religious or social peace is endangered. This gives the police a great deal of discretion. (JM) News vance into the radio pop universe. And then this spring, they re- leased their catchy tune, “079”, that has broken all the Swiss charts records. Pop is a fickle business. But currently Häberli &Oggier are able to live off Lo&Leduc. “Verywell, actually,” says Häberli. With his 70per- cent workload he earns around four thousand Swiss francs a month in the office. “That’s enough for everything I need for myself.” That’s three and a half days in the office. The other days are dedicated tomu- sic. The earnings frommaking music can be added to what he makes fromhis office job. This won’t make him rich. “But it’s profitable. And that’s a privilege.” The question is, why does Lorenz Häberli still need his office job? He’s 32 years old now. But he doesn’t want to have to stand on festival stages when he’s 50 and might have a bad back or to run out of ideas for new songs. “Years ago, Luc and I decided that we always wanted to do something else alongside making music.” In addition, there’s the orderliness that the office brings into amusician’s life. “If a significant part of the week is already structured, then I can structure the rest of the time more easily.” This results in the routine and concentration that Häberli needs to write his songs. And finally: It’s about the same stuff, whether it’s pop or PR – language. So it’s about “why and how I say what I say”. Häberli says that what interests him in music is the opportunity of working with language. It is said that there are people who still don’t have “079” stuck in their heads. But you don’t have to like the song in order to notice the clever way in which a story is told during it. So someone falls in love with a voice on the information telephone line and ends up getting hit by a tramwhile talking on the phone – not even three and a half min- utes, but an entire drama. And, according to the NZZ, “Every line is an aphorism”. The album “Update 4.0”, which includes the song “079”, can be downloaded for free at: http://lo-leduc.ch/