1. According to the Brits.....Boris Becker (convicted) will be released from prison right before Christmas, and deported back to Germany. Boris today? Mostly broke but still a draw for tennis analysis.
2. Chatter from the UK indicates taxes will be escalating....for mostly everyone. Doing this in the middle of recession....about the dumbest thing you can dream up.
3. I sat last night watching HR (my regional Hessen public TV network) and they featured a 10-minute piece with their reporter in Qatar.....talking to various German soccer players and some Qatar official over the negative hype of the World Cup games (soon to start) in Qatar.
Fairly serious piece....slams the Qatar government. I felt sorry for the players being in the middle of this. General position by most German journalists is negative about the Cup games being played there. If you asked me on hype in Germany....it'd usually be ultra high and people pepped up for the games to start. I don't see that attitude much.
4. Explosion in Istanbul's shopping district yesterday. Blame? Right now....PKK is thought to be behind it. Proof? Zero.
5. Topic from last night's Anne Will public forum show on ARD? Burgergeld.....'citizen's money' (welfare).
I watched around 20 minutes of the chat forum. For the average German on welfare, the program (to be voted upon this week) dumps approximately 50 extra Euro into their monthly pocket....that's it.
The only hype that is really attracting attention? The coalition folks (SPD, Greens and FDP) want to dump a requirement. The requirement is.....if you accept welfare, and we (the Job-Center) hand you a job opportunity or a training package....you have to accept it or the welfare disappears. In the general public view....dumping that requirement means that 'lazy' people will never be motivated to get active to find/accept work.
The blunt side of this discussion....every German has an opinion on this topic, and probably two-thirds of the public believe that half-a-million Germans are just plain 'lazy' and not motivated to take up a job. Whether true or not....it doesn't matter....this belief lingers around. Trying to educate the public to reach a different conclusion....doesn't seem to be working.
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