#231: Last Generation tricking cops, fewer buses, Erdogan visit
And 14 cyclists are injured every day in Berlin
Hey 20 Percent!
First a quick shout-out to everyone who came to my solo last Friday. I had a blast and really enjoyed talking to readers after the show. I’m doing something similar again at Cosmic Comedy in January and then there’s the 20 Percent Berlin Office Christmas Party on Dec. 16 at Comedy Cafe Berlin (I’ll post ticket links to both soon).
Tuesday I also rushed off to Kino International to catch a film before it closes next year for rennovations. Anatomy of a Fall is obviously a good movie — it won the Golden Coconut, or whatever the award is at Cannes — but imagine my shock when issues facing bi-national couples became a key point in a key scene (the issues actually appeared earlier but in a positive way — “He left his garbage dump in France and I left my garbage dump in Germany for something better in London.”).
I can recommend it both as a film buff and as half of a bi-national couple, though I doubt French courts are as chaotic and prone to conjecture as portrayed in the film. But then it is France: anything is possible.
Have a good week and be sure to visit today’s sponsor, insurer Getsafe.
Andrew
PS: As always you can support by paying for a subscription using the button below or by contributing on our Patreon. I just ordered a fresh round of coffee mugs to reward subscribers/contributors.
Yes, there are actually fewer buses
Public transport provider BVG will slash its bus offering by 6% because it’s having trouble recruiting bus drivers and is now lacking 350, according to rbb. The company said it will reduce frequencies when it releases a new schedule on December 10 but won’t specify what will be cut, though it said routes with alternatives (like S- or U-Bahns) or on popular tourist stretches like the 100 will most likely be affected. The company is also bumping up its referral bonus for employees to €2,500 from €1,500, which reminds me of the time Bloomberg News cheated me out of several thousand euros after I got a friend hired there. We probably need to convert some car drivers into bus drivers.
No, it’s not the train strike fuxx0ring traffic
A visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the reason traffic is snarled in Mitte today (and Saturday). It’s his first visit in three years and Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s (SPD) willingness to meet with him is being criticized after Erdogan made statements accusing Israel of crimes against humanity, according to Tagesspiegel. Areas around the Turkish embassy in Tiergarten as well as the chancellory have been sealed off by police, who see his visit as high risk. A protest against Erdogan’s politics and the prohibition against the PKK party is planned in Kreuzberg on Saturday at 11am. The German national soccer team will play a friendly against their Turkish counterpart Saturday at the Olympic Stadium because maybe the German national team can perform better there than either Berlin pro team.
Did the Last Generation trick the Polizei at Brandenburger Tor?
Apparently unhappy that experts had finally removed their orange paint from the Brandenburg Gate, two Last Generation activists were arrested Thursday after again painting our city-state’s trademark landmark in their favorite color. The activists were successful, thanks to a report of a suspicious person nearby with an axe, which drew away five officers tasked with protecting the monument from Last Generation activists, according to T-Online. The suspicious person was found and police are investigating whether the suspect has any connection to the activists (as a decoy, for example). To be fair, the paint covered up some of the soot left on the landmark by fossil fuels. Both the paint and soot will again be removed by experts.
Factoid
Fourteen cyclists were injured in Berlin traffic every day between January and August, according to Tagesspiegel (paywall). Thirty people have died on Berlin streets so far this year including 12 cyclists and 9 pedestrians. Collisions between cars and cylists are the most common accident (3,264), usually while vehicles are turning right.
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It‘s true about Erdogan‘s visit. I saw him today in a shisha bar at Karl-Marx-Straße