9 July 2024: Thirteen German News Stories

 1.  Interesting story off ARD (public TV)....the Bundestag has roughly 60 members who are pro-dog and wanting to have open-policy to allow members of the German parliament to bring in their dogs.

Current rules?  Police dogs are the ONLY dogs allowed into the building, and it's actually written into the rules.

The angle being pursued?  If you have some disability and require a dog....they say the rule change is likely.

2.  If you are on welfare funding, and get offered a job....which requires a commute of 1.5 hours to the job....under the new rules....you'd have to accept the job or lose support.  

How many Germans travel 1.5 hours one-way?  I've yet to hear a statistical number of this, but I doubt it's more than 2 or 3 percent.  Twenty years ago, I knew a German who lived deep into the Pfalz....working in Mainz.  On a good day....he'd spend just over 3 and a quarter hours on travel time for the day (by car).

3.  Germany's response to the French election outcome?  Fair amount of commentary indicating that Macron is probably on his way out....early.   Other response is that it's great that the right-wing folks lost.

After looking at the graphic chart....in almost all non-urban voting districts....the right-wing party led/won.  It's when you get to the big 10 cities of France.....that the far-left folks took big numbers and won.  

The fact that NO majority exists in the French Parliament?  Well....yeah, it's basically three groups of generally equal  size....left, center, right.  Pretty obvious that no serious legislation will occur over the next year or two, and another snap-election probably will occur.  

4.  This 49-Euro monthly Bahn card?  Well...LOT of chatter....by end of the year....it probably will go to a minimum of 69 Euro, and some hype suggests 79 Euro.

Still, that's a 4-star good deal.  Before all this crap started up....in most states, the monthly ticket was in the 95-to-100 Euro range.

5.  I bring this poster that has been around Germany for about 2 years now.....trying to persuade people NOT to repopulate the country.....because of climate change.

Asking me if the posters had any effect?  I'd say that most Germans over the age of forty (male and female) just had a laugh. Maybe the 16 to 25 year olds....some of them engaged in conversation over it....wondering if this kid thing is all BS anyway.

The curious thing....around my local area....there just weren't any of these posters.  You needed to venture into Frankfurt, or Berlin, or Hamburg to see them.  

Me?  I'm thinking it'd be neat to convince 15-year old kids to wander off into the woods....living off the land, and sleeping under bridges....to save the Earth.  Based on the number of bridges in Germany....I think we can handle 10,000 per year living in this style. 

6.  Some heat 'blast' for Tuesday in Germany.  I'm expecting 31 C (88 F), for 24 hours....then we get another north Atlantic chill coming back for ten days.  Weird weather locally.

7.  BSW Party pushing a new agenda.....language tests for kids 3 years old.  They want to establish the fact that a fair portion of German society's youth....can't speak or read German.  

8.  Focus piece this AM....talking over Turkish 'Grey Wolves' extremists in Germany.  Their count?  The suggestion is that 12,000 exist in Germany today. Their slant?  Right-wingish.

9.  There's an interesting WELT piece this AM....talking over the business-death of city center commercial traffic across Germany. Blame?  They blame three things: lack of accessibility, cleanliness, and safety concerns.

I'll just say that you could take a 'picture' of commerce in Germany in the 1980s, and suggest today that getting downtown (in any place....from Stuttgart, and Koln....to Frankfurt and Berlin) is a pain.  In most cases, I'd tell you to ditch the car and attempt the trip by bus/rail.  

10.  Amusing anger situation.  Euro-Cup soccer action this weekend...Spain has to play France, in Munich.

Spanish team has a training 'center/hotel' in Stuttgart (about 190 km from Munich).  Team announced yesterday....they'd arrive at the game via plane....NOT bus.  There had been this assumption....they'd board a bus and just drive down....in a 2-hour situation. 

Well....no, the team said they'd fly down (roughly a 25-min flight). 

Environmentalists all hyped up against this.  

Considering traffic jams and potential for things to go wrong....yeah, I'd go by plane too....if I were the team.

11.  For about 30 years, there was a written standard in Germany for postal delivery....that if you mailed something by 5 PM....80-percent of the time, it'd be delivered (anywhere in Germany) by end of business on the 2nd day.

Well...change....from 2025, the 80 percent requirement is gone.

New rule?  95 percent of items must be delivered within three working days, and 99 percent of items must reach their destination on the fourth working day.

Yeah, even if you mailed a response from your house to a business 20 km away....it might not be there until the 4th day.

12.  New Brit Labour gov't says they are on some path to build 1.5-million new homes/apartments over the next five years.

I suspect if you gathered up a dozen Brits and asked if they believe this feat will happen....most all will just start laughing.

13.  Chaos in Spain over tourists?

Well....this is a little tale of woe.

Back in the 1950s....Germans started to discover the great Spanish weather, relative cost of a vacation, and the beaches. By the 1970s....the Spanish had figured various ways to attract Germans.

So along with this deal....came excessive partying/drinking, a problem with housing, and some dislike of the mess created.

Then as Covid arrived....for roughly two years....very quiet times, and less chaos.  The housing market did a brief recovery.

In the past year, Spaniards across the country have stood up and been openly hostile toward German tourists.  Week by week, you see incidents occurring and a negativity existing.

The magnet-status?  Its drifting away.  I would suggest within five years....German tourism in Spain will drop by half, and Greece/Turkey will find a way to seize the advantage.