Social issues

Publicly funded librarians impose their world view on readers by an index of dangerous books

by Norbert Häring*

(24 January 2025) (CH-S) In Germany, the “addiction” to censor public opinion is still gathering pace, whereas in Switzerland, thank God, it has not been as strong so far. Although there are forces here that want to emulate Germany and the EU in this respect – keyword “Digital Services Act” – they have been somewhat curbed so far. Elon Musk – whatever one may think of him – has already created a strong headwind and stirred up the censorship miasma. However, the trend towards opinion restriction is continuing in Germany, as Norbert Häring shows using the example of public libraries.

“Integration & inclusion – a growing burden”

What are the arguments against small classes and special needs schools?

by Michael Felten,* Germany

(24 January 2025) (CH-S) At the beginning of the new year, the author held a lecture at a “Swiss Standpoint” event on this hotly debated topic, which is also being discussed in our schools and universities. He summarises the essential points for us.

The LA fires look like a nuclear apocalypse

Except a nuclear apocalypse would be unimaginably worse

by William J. Astore,* USA

(17 January 2025) (CH-S) The author warns emphatically against underestimating the power of nuclear weapons and calls for an end to their construction. The catastrophic damage caused by the fires in Los Angeles is only a fraction of what would be caused using a nuclear weapon. – This is all too quickly suppressed.

Germany

The sad truth behind the ePR hack – our health data is to fall into the wrong hands

by Norbert Häring*

(9 January 2025) The author clearly identifies the dangers that have proven to be unavoidable in Germany with the forced digitisation of highly sensitive patient data. The Swiss equivalent of the German “electronic patient record” (ePR), the “electronic patient dossier” (EPD), was based on the principle of “double voluntariness” in 2017: both the patient and the outpatient practitioner were free to open or maintain an EPD. It has been in place in inpatient facilities since 2020. The Swiss national parliament is now discussing whether to make it mandatory for all outpatient healthcare facilities. However, patients are still free to open an EPD – or not.

Sex education for babies and toddlers?

by Marita Brune-Koch

(9 January 2025) Kindergartens offer rooms for children to masturbate undisturbed. Such reports keep appearing in the press. The kindergartens did not come up with such methods of early sexualisation themselves. Rather, they are based on the WHO guidelines “Standards for Health Education in Europe”. According to these, parents and teachers should be encouraged to explore sexuality with children “from birth”.

“Power requires control”

Political party scientist Hans Herbert von Arnim takes stock – and explains why Switzerland is doing better

by Robert Seidel

(2 January 2025)The quarterly votes are a matter of course for the Swiss, they are part of everyday life. They are not only important in terms of content but are also an extremely valuable corrective against political solo efforts, cronyism and megalomania.

The German constitutional expert Hans Herbert von Arnim has spent decades investigating the problems in the German party state – and this is also of interest to Swiss readers.