Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern,

Where in our last daily briefing of 2022 we look forward to a wild night of fruit juice and milk to ring in the New Year this weekend – alcohol-free celebrations are in fashion, it seems. Cheers, and until next year!

Keystone / Matteo Bazzi

In the news: no new action on China travel, and good news for ski fans.

• Swiss authorities said today they are not yet planning any new entry requirements for travellers arriving from China. Faced with the rapid outbreak of coronavirus infections in China, various countries have introduced a requirement to show a negative test, including the US, India, and Japan. Switzerland says it will coordinate its position with the European Union, which is due to discuss the issue next week.
• Experts from the International Ski Federation gave the green light to the Bernese resort of Adelboden to carry out its World Cup ski race on January 7-8. Given the lack of snow and with temperatures set to rise into the teens this weekend (see yesterday’s briefing), there were fears that the event would be cancelled. Snow “reserves” and various other tricks of the trade have however made it possible.
• Swiss scientists have used a 3D printer to print a skin for a robot which can repair itself after being damaged. They did this using a fungus whose metabolic activity allows for the artificial skin to regenerate itself after – for example – being cut. In future, the technology could “bring life to the world of materials”, the researchers wrote in the Nature Materials scientific journal.

Keystone / Str

More than just a dry January: alcohol on the decline.

Just in time for New Year’s Eve, the Tages-Anzeiger today has a sobering interviewExternal link with “alcohol coach” Maria Brehmer. Unlike football or sleep or life coaches, Brehmer’s job is not to boost performance. Rather, she helps people to drink less or not at all. She herself quit after realising (at a previous New Year’s Eve party) that she wasn’t able to control the progression from two to three glasses of prosecco, and she has since been advising others who can’t get a grip to stop completely.

Rather than being a proselytising party-killer, however, Brehmer is in part simply responding to demand. As the newspaper writes, “mindful” drinking or abstinence is in fashion: sobriety podcasts and articles are flourishing, gyms pop up where dingy bars die out, and in Switzerland, alcohol consumption has dropped by almost 30% since 1990. Brehmer puts this in the context of a larger trend towards “mindful consumption”; she also compares alcohol to the very much frowned-upon activity of smoking, now seen as “neither cool nor enjoyable, but a lethal habit”.

Is alcohol heading the same way? Brehmer says the trend is “irreversible”, but for now alcohol is still too firmly anchored to disappear. Indeed, figures show Swiss adults still drink on average the equivalent of 2.5 bottles of wine or 4.4 litres of beer every week; up to 300,000 are estimated to be dependent on alcohol. The social pressure to drink at parties is also lasting, Brehmer says. For those who want a sober evening but can’t face the stigma, she has some get-out-of-jail excuses: “I’m on antibiotics”, “I’m driving”, or “I got really drunk last night: I need a quiet one tonight”.

Diana Pfammatter

Swiss arts scene: looking strong in 2023.

All this week we have published various outlooks for the Swiss agenda in 2023. After business, the economy, politics and foreign policy, today it’s culture: SWI swissinfo journalist Eduardo Simantob explores what’s in store for Swiss museums, artists, theatres and cinemas over the next 12 months. Will digital art and NFTs go the same way as crypto-currencies? Will Swiss museums finally exit the spiral of bad news related to Nazi-looted paintings? Read the outlook here.