Swiss Review 2/2019

Swiss Review / March 2019 / No.2 31 CHF 15 billion loss for the Swiss National Bank The Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced in January that it expects tomake a CHF 15 billion loss for 2018. This news is not a complete surprise, because currency fluctuations in particular had been fuelling expectations of an ex- tremely negative result. The federal government and the cantons benefit from the SNB’s profit distributions and therefore take keen interest in the bank’s results. Such payouts are crucial for some cantons. Despite the record loss, the SNB is likely to pay the maximum possible sum of CHF 2 billion to the federal government and the can- tons. This is due to the SNB’s high profit distribution re- serves. (MUL) Skipping school in the name of climate protection In January, thousands of pupils aged 12 and older held co- ordinated demonstrations against climate change in virtu- ally all of Switzerland’smajor cities, protesting at what they see as political inertia on this issue. Since the first demon- strations of this type began in December 2018, the student protest movement has rapidly grown. Activists are calling for a national declaration of climate emergency, zero net greenhouse gas emissions in Switzerland by 2030, and “sys- temic change” across the board. (MUL) Change affecting Swiss television From3 June 2019, youwill no longer be able to receive Swiss television via an indoor or roof antenna. This change will also affect some viewers in neighbouring countries, who in future will only be able to receive SRG SSR broadcasts via the methods that most of us already use: cable, satellite or Internet. A website in the three national languages of Ger- man, French and Italian (http://ogy.de/swiss-tv) contains information and advice about the change. (MUL) Further increase in health insurance premiums Swiss health insurance premiums have increased again in 2019 – this time by around 1.2%. However, the starting point for this rather modest increase was already high. Amount- ing to an average of CHF 4,464 per capita, premiums are on- erously steep for many families and are the second most common reason for indebtedness. More and more voices within the National Council and the Council of States are now calling for tax deductions on health insurance premi- ums to be increased at the very least. However, any such move would have no effect in putting the brake on Swiss healthcare costs. (MUL) Patti Basler She calls herself an “accomplished know-it-all”. After all, this farm- er’s daughter from Aargau was a teacher and educationist before be- ginning her career as a wordsmith and cabaret artist. “Frontalunter- richt” (Frontal Teaching) was the name of her first full-length stage show in 2016. On the side, she took part in slam battles and was run- ner-up Swiss champion at the 2018 Poetry Slam. Now, Patti Basler is receiving the Salzburger Stier – the most pres- tigious cabaret award in the German-speaking world – presented in Meran, South Tyrol, inMay. The jury praised the “hard-hitting direct- ness” the 42-year-old Swiss native uses to expose the linguistic and political contradictions of our time. Among Basler’s trademarks are her performances as the “instan- taneous recorder” in the “Arena” programme on Swiss television, for example. She follows the debates live on location and summarises the votes at the end of the show – as poetry and rhymes and always with biting satire. She is not afraid of failure. “I simply don’t have time for it,” she says. The instantaneous format is absolutely ideal for her, since she suffers fromself-diagnosed chronic procrastinitis. “You could say I have made a career out of procrastination.” Extreme time pressure seems to inspire her creativity. Patti Basler has been on tour in German-speaking Switzerland since the beginning of Marchwith her new “Nachsitzen” (Detention) stage show. Together with musician Philippe Kuhn, she explores hu- mans as “beings learning in a worldwide classroom”. There are more than enough reasons for detention in life, but we all want to get back in the teacher’s good books. For Basler, the keyboard of life has more than just black and white keys, “it also has 50 shades of grey”. THEODORA PETER Top Pick News