#458: Icy streets, strikes, free potatoes
The fastest tax bureaucrats in the nation
Dear friends,
News of the week: FREE POTATOES.
A farm in Saxony has 4,000 tonnes of extra spuds it doesn’t know what to do with. Thanks to local tree-planting search engine Ecosia, they’re being distributed at hundreds of points in Berlin from Thursday, January 15 — the map of when and where will be here (but isn’t yet live). I’ll be living off of Rösti for the rest of the month. What will you make?
More news below.
Maurice
P.S. The 20% Berlin News Quiz this Wednesday is all booked out - but keep an eye out for the next one.
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It’s slippery
I just walked to REWE and back. It’s SLIPPERY AS ALL HELL out there, thanks to temps hovering around zero and drizzle freezing into black ice on the pavement. It’s so slick that Brandenburg has made school optional today (Tuesday). School is on in Berlin. Sorry, kids. Berlin’s main trauma hospital in Marzahn says the conditions have it at capacity.
Strikes!
In negotiations with the Berlin administration, unions that represent public sector workers are demanding 7% more pay or at least €300 more per month. To bolster their bargaining power, they’ll hold “warning strikes” this week. State schools, universities, city-owned daycare facilities, police and some public services will be affected, the unions GEW, Verdi and GdP announced. Schools could be partially affected Wednesday afternoon (about 1/3 of the teachers themselves can’t strike as they are civil servants), with some daycares closed both Wednesday and Thursday. The LEA( immigration office) 🙄 and Bürgeramt could see a disruption of service.
Power cut fallout
It’s been a week since the longest power outage since World War II, but the political fallout has only just begun. After it came out that Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) played tennis on the first day of the emergency, the opposition has been linking its chops. An internal email leaked from the opposition Greens says: “We have a strategic interest in ensuring that the debate surrounding Kai Wegner receives extensive media coverage”, rather than focusing on the perpetrators. Meanwhile, Tagsspiegel reports that heating specialists are still working round the clock to repair home heating systems damaged by the massive blackout.
How safe do Berliners feel at night?
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Events curated by The Next Day Berlin
🖼️ Rhythm & Soul: Brazilian Contemporary Art
Opening: Thursday, 15.01, 6-9 pm. 68projects by KORNFELD, Fasanenstr. 68, Charlottenburg. Free.
15 Brazilian artists across generations curated by Tereza de Arruda, with Heitor dos Prazeres, Lia D. Castro, Panmela Castro, OBastardo, Yanomami artists Ehuana and Joseca. Rhythm as cultural and political force: Afro-diasporic spirituality, Indigenous cosmologies, body, territory, resistance. Next door at 69salon, OBastardo's first European solo opens simultaneously.
🕯️OTHER SONGS: hear now berlin. & Rachen Fenlon 🎻(sponsored)
Friday, 16.01.2026, 20.00 (doors/bar from 19.30), Tangoloft, Kühlhaus Berlin (5th floor with elevator) Luckenwalder Str. 3, 10963 Berlin Tickets: donation-based at the door, 10-20 EUR suggested.
Music by the multifaceted American musician Caroline Shaw sits at the heart of this chamber music concert in the Tangoloft at Kühlhaus Berlin. Renowned soprano Rachel Fenlon joins contemporary sextet hear now berlin to perform music which is song-driven and tactile, blending clear melodies and raw textures. An intimate evening of warmth and shared energy.
🎭 TURN by Gob Squad, Ethan Braun & Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop – Berlin Premiere
Fri-Sat, 16-17.01, 8 pm. In DE and EN. Berlin Premiere. Volksbühne. €26.
TURN invites audiences into a denim-clad ballroom where dance, music, and conversation explore shifting perspectives on society, from the individual to the cosmic. It’s an immersive, participatory reflection on change and collective movement.
🎹 Save the date: CTM Festival 2026 23.01 - 01.02.2026. Berghain, Radialsystem, and more If you're into experimental music, this is your festival. Earth, Blawan, Emma Ruth Rundle, Ellen Arkbro, spatial sound programme.
Factoid
Last year, Berlin’s tax offices were the fastest in country, according to new data released by tax software firm Lohnsteuer-kompakt.de. Thanks to digitalisation and efficiency measures, the wait time from submitting your income tax return to getting your income tax assessment averaged 46.3 days — compared to the national average of 50.2 days. Maybe Berlin isn’t such lost cause. One caveat: The slowest individual tax office was the Berlin International Finanzamt, which specialises in cross-border tax issues, foreign assets, etc — understandable since they probably do a lot of faxing to other countries.
🔗 🔗 🔗 Useful links 🔗 🔗 🔗
🎙️The 20% Berlin Podcast on Spotify
Wait why do Berliners feel unsafe at night – except for those exceeding rare days with black ice in the bike lanes? I think there is quite a disinformation / hybrid war out about the EU and Germany in particular. Can we get someone competent to look at why Berlin has fewer hotel nights these days?