#447: Food delivery dust up, fireworks ban a go, cats with bird flu
Christmas markets are the best
Hey 20 Percent!
This is just a quick note to say I’ve developed a German-like love for German Christmas markets. It’s like an entire month of someone’s birthday where you can just stop by, have a Glühwein, grab something to eat and peruse the usual Chinese-made tchotchkes you find at every other German market.
The cold just makes it that much more unique — like a challenge you have to master to get to the next level.
That is all. Have a good weekend!
Andrew
PS. Thanks to Feather for sponsoring this issue!
Save the date: Maurice hosts the second 20% Berlin News Quiz next Wednesday. It’s free, so RSVP.
Delivering food sounds awful
I also have a German-like hate of food delivery services (I just don’t like the idea of cold-ish expensive food in plastic containers). And I’m not wrong: An Uber Eats driver was beaten up by representatives of his employer — a subcontractor hired by Uber Eats — after he organized a strike against the low pay and miserable working conditions at the delivery service, according to RBB24. Officials are now considering ways of banning the use of subcontractors and forcing delivery services to directly employ their riders — Wolt and Lieferando use both models while Uber has never employed a rider directly. The services use subcontractors to simplify HR and — let’s be honest — save costs by outsourcing the circumvention of German labor laws.
Fireworks ban a definite maybe
And by ‘German-like’ I just mean ‘obsessive’, like my abhorrence of fireworks. But: politicians will soon have the tools to ban fireworks inside the ring — but not until next year. Germany’s 16 state interior ministers voted to allow themselves to prohibit fireworks use in highly populated areas Friday, according to Tagesspiegel. The German police union lobbied for the change and last year launched a petition in favor of a fireworks ban — 2.2 million have signed it so far. So can you. Since no new laws will likely be passed this year, we won’t be free of the dumb fireworks tradition at New Years until next year at the earliest. And btw, cops seized another 1,500 illegal fireworks on the A12 from Poland Wednesday, according to RBB24. Some were commercial-grade that require a license.
Theft of butter. Really.
And that brings us back to a German-like like of … butter. Three thieves were arrested in Potsdam Wednesday after stealing 59 packs of butter from a supermarket, according to RBB24. A customer called police after watching the sticky fingers pack the dairy goods into a bag and then abscond. The three are known to police and are now facing charges of commercial theft, though no one seems to know what they were going to do with the butter (Butterstollen, maybe?).
Cats found with bird flu
And: Several feral cats in Brandenburg have fallen ill with bird flu amid an outbreak in the leafy state surrounding Berlin, highlighting the dangers of the disease, according to the Märkische Allgemeine. At least one of the felines died from the disease. Nearly 200,000 ducks, chickens and other domestic fowl have been killed in Brandenburg following the outbreak in hopes of containing the disease. Cats are more susceptible to the disease than dogs, fwiw.
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🧑💼 David Brent now in German theaters (but he’s Stromberg here)
📜 Anti-bureaucracy proposal that seems soft
😈 German business group backs down from AfD-friendly stance
Factoid
Berlin’s zip codes start with 1 and then can be followed by every number but another 1. Why? Because 11xxx zip codes are reserved for government institutions in the Haupstadt, according to Tagesspiegel. The Bundestag (parliament) is 11011 and the chancellory 11012. That is, if you even remember how to address a letter.
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