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Local Germany
3 days ago
- Climate
- Local Germany
Inside Germany: A sunny forecast, travel tips and a dramatic change in foreign policy
Inside Germany is our weekly look at some of the news, talking points and gossip in Germany that you might've missed. It's published each Saturday and members can receive it directly to their inbox by going to their newsletter preferences or adding their email to the sign-up box in this article. Is it summer yet? Beside one, admittedly intense, heatwave at the beginning of July , summer in Germany this year has very summery so far. People who have spent more than a couple summers in the country will be aware that a few weeks of cold weather and rain, even in the middle of July or August, are not uncommon. But the more-than-month-long stream of grey weather days, punctuated by chilly evenings and thunderstorms have really gotten to some people. 'We've been robbed', wrote Local writer Tom Pugh this week, lamenting the loss of summer sunshine that meteorologists had practically promised us a few months back, at the end of a particularly warm and dry spring. He was joined by the likes of Jordan Prince , whose often humorous videos about life in Germany have gained him a significant online following. Fortunately for them, and everyone else who prefers their summer with a bit a sunshine, the next wave of warm weather has begun. On Saturday, the German weather service (DWD) has forecast high temperatures in the lower 30s in much of southern Germany, as well as Dresden and Berlin. And the warm weather is expected to stick around for a few days. High temperatures are expected to hover around 30C in southern Germany, and in central parts of the country they are expected to rise up to around 34C by Tuesday. In northern, coastal regions temperatures will remain cooler with high temperatures ranging between 22C and 28C through the top of the week. Advertisement Tips for your holidays Someone who just recently moved to Germany told me that his whole street (in a very central Berlin neighbourhood) seems to have suddenly emptied out. He was wondering what strange event he missed that could have caused the quiet exodus. I told him, it's probably just August - the month when it seems like the whole country packs up and goes on vacation. For the uninitiated, this guide to vacationing like a German can help you really soak in the entire Ur laub experience. A woman floats on Lake Garda, a lake in northern Italy that is a popular destination for German tourists in the summer. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Daniel Reinhardt And if you plan on flying home with a bag full of souvenirs, you can check this list to find out exactly how many bottles of Spanish wine, or Italian handbags, you can bring back duty-free. Whatever you do, be advised not to try and pull your kids out of school early to extend your vacation period or beat the crowds. Media reports on Friday highlighted how local authorities can issue fines against families that do so. Reportedly, 303 fines for the "unauthorized extension of holidays" were issued in Hamburg this year - a new record number of violations for the northern city-state. READ ALSO: LISTED - The new direct flights from Germany this summer Five of Germany's busiest tourist attractions and where to go instead Advertisement No more German weapons for use in Gaza Germany is stopping the export of weapons to Israel for use in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced Friday. The Chancellor's announcement came shortly after Israel said it would "take control" of Gaza City, a plan which sparked immediate criticism from governments around the world. The arms export freeze marks a dramatic change of course for the German government, which has long been one of Israel's staunchest international allies as it has sought to atone for the Holocaust. Recent days and weeks have seen leaders, both political and cultural within Germany, show signs that they are increasingly willing to speak out against the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Germany's Foreign Minister began with somewhat cryptic comments, such as saying that Israel was "increasingly in the minority" on the issue of Palestinian statehood , after allies like France suggested they were ready to do so. Since last week, a growing list of German celebrities - including pop-star Nina Chuba and Israeli Golden Globe winner Ari Folman - signed an open letter to Chancellor Merz urging him to to stop arms deliveries. Germany is known to be the second biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, behind the US. Deliveries from Germany have included firearms, ammunition, weapons parts and special armoured vehicles, among other equipment, the government said in June in response to a parliamentary request.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Looming petrol price increase could hit fragile consumer confidence
Petrol prices are expected to rise as escalating conflict in the Middle East has driven oil sharply higher, which along with tariff uncertainty, could impact consumer confidence, according to market research and data analytics company GfK. Oil prices have surged over the past week as Iran and Israel have continued to attack each other with missile strikes. Brent crude futures (BZ=F) rose 1.2% on Thursday, to trade at $77.65 a barrel, their highest point since late January. There are concerns that the conflict will lead to a disruption in oil supply, particularly to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which is just off the coast of Iran. The waterway is described as an "oil artery", with around a fifth of global supplies passing through this channel. In a note on Monday, Tom Pugh, a partner at consultancy firm RSM UK, said that the primary way escalating Middle East tensions would impact UK businesses and the economy "is through higher oil and natural gas prices". He said that when oil prices hit $75 a barrel on Friday, the day that Israel launched attacks against Iran's nuclear facilities, that represented a $10 per barrel (pb) increase over the previous week. Read more: Bank of England holds interest rates at 4.25% amid inflation fears "The most immediate impact will be on prices at the pump," Pugh said. "A $10pb rise in oil prices will probably result in a 5p increase in pump prices over the next couple of months. "As higher fuel prices make their way through the system, a rule of thumb is that a $10pb rise in the price of a barrel of oil eventually adds 0.1% to 0.2% to inflation." UK inflation came in at 3.4% in May, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday, which was in line with expectations. That figure compared to a jump in inflation to 3.5% in April, driven by a wave of household bill increases. However, the ONS said an error in vehicle tax data meant that this figure had been overstated by 0.1%. It explained on Wednesday that in line with its revisions policy, the April headline figure had not been amended but that the corrected information had been used when producing the May index, instead. James Smith, research director at think tank Resolution Foundation, said: "Rising oil prices following renewed conflict in the Middle East mean that struggling families will be facing further cost of living pressures in the coming months." "With oil prices up more than 15% this month, family petrol and utility bills look set to rise in the coming months, adding to pressures on struggling families, particularly those on lower incomes." Read more: UK inflation slows to 3.4% in May as transport costs ease May's inflation reading was also still ahead of the Bank of England's 2% inflation target, with the UK's central bank announcing on Thursday that it was keeping rates on hold at 4.25%. These fresh challenges to easing UK inflationary pressures threaten to weigh further on consumer confidence. While GfK's latest consumer confidence index, released on Friday, rose by two points in June, it remained firmly in negative territory at minus 18. GfK said its index showed that confidence in the general economy over the coming year rose by five points, but still remained at minus 28, which is 17 points worse than last June. Neil Bellamy, consumer insights director at GfK, said: 'Consumers have been resolute in their views on their wallets, with June's personal financial situation scores — past and future — unchanged from May. 'Yet confidence is still fragile because the dark shadow of inflation is a day-to-day challenge for so many of us. 'With petrol prices set to rise in the coming weeks following the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, and with ongoing uncertainty as to the full impact of tariffs, there is still much that could negatively impact consumers." He added: 'With so much volatility, now is certainly not the time to hope for the proverbial 'light at the end of the tunnel'." Read more: Number of million-pound homes for sale in Britain doubles since 2019 Eurozone inflation falls below ECB target to 1.9% Bitcoin price steady above $105k as Trump mulls Iran strikeError in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Local Germany
16-06-2025
- General
- Local Germany
The things they don't tell you about raising kids in Germany
Germany is a great place to raise children, with generous state assistance for parents, good schools, and a generally safe environment. It's not quite like raising kids in your home country, however, which means that recent arrivals find themselves constantly taken by surprise – by the good, the bad, and the bizarre. Drawing from personal experience, Tom Pugh looks at the pros and cons of raising kids in Germany. Generous pre-school provision versus Kinderlärm When I learned my wife was expecting our first child, I rang friends in the UK to share the good news. One of my oldest friends nearly burst into tears. He and his wife had recently had their second child, which meant they were a one-income family again... which meant they could no longer afford childcare for their older child... which meant my friend's wife was trapped at home all day with a new-born and a three-year-old incandescent with rage at having been taken away from her friends to spend her time cooped up with a screaming infant. Imagine my joy, therefore, when I discovered that pre-school childcare in Berlin was both affordable and available between the hours of eight and four, five days a week. The cost and extent of preschool childcare provision varies from state to state in Germany but is generally based on the idea that early years' education is a social good rather than a luxury, with opening hours designed to make it possible for both parents to work. READ ALSO: 'I was terrified she'd stop talking' - How to make your German child bilingual On the other hand, this generous pre-school provision tricked me into thinking I'd arrived in the kind of country where the waiting staff in restaurants go into raptures over chubby-cheeked infants and passers-by stop and smile when they see lines of school children snaking through the streets. Advertisement In fact, large numbers of people in Germany seem to hear the piping voices of small children as if they were the sound of nails on a blackboard. With vaguely terrifying regularity, the sight of tiny children in orange bibs being marshalled across a road can make normally rational people lean on their car horns and shout curses through their windows. It wasn't until 2010 that laws were changed in Germany to prevent Kinderlärm from being ranked as an equivalent nuisance (and justification for complaint or legal challenge) to drunken louts or pneumatic drills. At times, it feels as though public attitudes are still struggling to catch up. Wonderful clubs versus ridiculously short school days An absolute highlight for me, as a parent in Germany, has been discovering the country's abiding passion for Vereine (clubs or associations). READ ALSO: 'Vereine' - How you can start your own club in Germany There is a Verein for everything in Germany. Many of them are subsidised by the state and all of them rely on the goodwill, time and energy of an army of volunteers – the result of which is an almost infinite variety of affordable after-school activities for children, from arts and crafts to sports, music and drama. Signing your children up for activities with a local Verein feels like a particular necessity in Germany, because so many schools still seem to close at lunchtime every day. The logic behind a German school day remains a mystery to me. Children generally have to arrive at 7:45 in the morning. My two children struggle to keep their eyes open during their morning lessons. Then, when they're finally awake and ready to engage, their school day comes to an end. READ ALSO: What parents in Germany should know about the planned schools shake up This won't be the same for everyone, of course. Germany has its share of Ganztagesschule (all day schools), and there are plans afoot to ensure that every school in the country can offer all-day schooling by 2030. At the moment, however, my son's lessons at primary school are finished by 12:30 and my daughter is done at her secondary school an hour or so later. Advertisement That said, Germany takes its Schulpflicht (obligatory schooling) seriously when it wants to. When I want to extend the weekend by a day or two, for example, the tutting and headshaking is endless. Of course the same rule never seems to apply to the school itself. In addition to numerous Studientage (training days for the teachers) and Brückentage (bridge days), my son's school closes on two more days each year for Elternsprechtag , known as a parents' evening almost everywhere else in the world. Not only does this mean my son has no school on these days, it also means my wife or I must take time off work to visit the school for twenty minutes during the day -- to be told very little we didn't already know. As I write, my daughter hasn't spent a single day at her secondary school for the last two weeks. Apparently, the final year students at her school require an absolutely silent building in which to take their exams. The unexpected effect of raising children in a country surrounded by countries The UK and Australia are both islands. The US and Canada are both the size of continents. As a result, many countries in the English-speaking world tend to focus on their own internal affairs – and turn their backs on the world whenever it begins to feel overwhelming. Located squarely in the middle of a crowded continent, and sharing land borders with nine neighbouring countries, Germany does not have this luxury. READ ALSO: The German election party pledges that families should know about Advertisement My children have lived through a lot in their short lives, from the COVID 19 pandemic to Russia's invasion of Ukraine (which feels much more threatening in Germany than it does in the UK). While I sometimes worry they've been exposed to too much too young, I admire the way they've learned to look for win-win solutions to problems – and I'm happy to give Germany a significant share of the credit for this. There have been other surprises along the way, but these are the ones that stand out for me after thirteen years of raising children in Germany. What stands out for you? We'd love to hear what's impressed you about the German approach to parenthood – as well as what's left you shaking your head in despair. Share your experiences in the comments below, or drop us an email at news@
