The #Pilatus #PC24: The SUV of the skies

There's not much constraint on how one can use the aircraft

.

The light jet seats up to 12 people, including pilots – but it is far more than just a passenger plane. It can carry more than a tonne of cargo, or four passengers and at least a couple of motorcycles. It has a huge cargo door 1.3m wide by 1.25m high to the rear of the fuselage on the left: a door that size is rare in a private jet…There's more. The PC-24 can tackle short runways with a steep, difficult approach. It's speedy with a respectable range. And it can land on gravel or grass runways – the only jet to boast such an ability short of military weightlifters like the giant Boeing C-17 Globemaster.

...With the cargo-area bulkhead moved forwards, fewer seats can leave more room for stuff. Flying with just one or two pilots frees up the entire 14.2cu m cabin, which is 7m long. And finally, in medical evacuation mode there is room for three patients on stretcher beds, plus accompanying medics. There's not much constraint on how one can use the aircraft.

Read the whole review on the FT's How To Spend It here: https://howtospendit.ft.com/vehicles/207204-the-suv-of-the-skies

bit.ly/MasterLiving

More than one in ten Swiss nationals now live abroad - The Local

https://www.thelocal.ch/20190328/over-one-in-ten-swiss-nationals-live-abroad-immigration?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

thelocal.ch

More than one in ten Swiss nationals now live abroad

The Local Switzerland

2-3 minutes

---

France is home to the largest group of Swiss nationals living abroad. File photo: Depositphotos

The Local Switzerland

28 March 2019

14:04 CET+01:00

Just over one in ten people with Swiss nationality now lives abroad with 62 percent of them based in Europe, new figures show.

The latest figures from the Swiss Federal Statistics Office (FSO) reveal 760,200 people (10.6 percent) with Swiss nationality were registered with embassies and consulates as living overseas in 2018.

That figure is 1.1 percent up on 2017, the FSO said in a statement.

Read also: The huge foreigner-sized hole in Swiss democracy

Of this growing group, a total of 567,800 people (74 percent) also have a second nationality.

Dual nationality for Swiss citizens became legal in 1992, with Switzerland something of a pioneer in this regard.

The majority of Swiss people abroad (62 percent) live in Europe. Some 464,000 live in an EU or EFTA country and 357,000 people live in a country that borders Switzerland.

The largest groups of Swiss nationals living in Europe are in France (197,400), Germany (90,400) Italy (49,600), the UK (35,700) and Spain (23,800).

Meanwhile, 16 percent of Swiss citizens abroad live in the United States and Canada (80,400) and eight percent live in South America. The figure for Asia is seven percent while for Oceania it is four percent and for Africa it is three percent.

Around one in five Swiss nationals living abroad are aged 65 and over. Six percent are aged 80 and over.

The average of female Swiss citizens overseas is 44 and for men it is 39.

Swiss citizens aged 18 and over who are officially registered as living abroad can vote in Swiss federal elections and can also stand for election at the federal level. Some cantons also allow for Swiss citizens abroad to vote on cantonal issues.

By contrast, the more than 25 percent of the Swiss population who are foreigners cannot vote in Swiss federal elections.   

______________________________
MasterLiving
@MasterLiving

Why is it no one really wants to live in the most liveable cities?

Liveable v lovable

The FT asks a very good question, Why is it no one really wants to live in the most liveable cities? 

...The polls underlines the fundamental fault that lies at the heart of the idea of measuring cities by their “liveability”.The most recent surveys, from Monocle magazine, Forbes, Mercer and The Economist, concur: Vancouver, Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Copenhagen and Munich dominate the top. What, you might ask, no New York? No London? No LA or HK? None of the cities that people seem to actually want to emigrate to, to set up businesses in? To be in? None of the wealthiest, flashiest, fastest or most beautiful cities

“These surveys always come up with a list where no one would want to live. One wants to live in places which are large and complex, where you don’t know everyone and you don’t always know what’s going to happen next. Cities are places of opportunity but also of conflict, but where you can find safety in a crowd.
“We also have to acknowledge that these cities that come top of the polls also don’t have any poor people...” 

Liveable usually does not mean the most dynamic...

... can someone coming from somewhere else improve themselves, reinvent themselves? Is there upward mobility?” The top cities score badly again. London and New York are magnets for immigrants precisely because they allow those kinds of new beginnings. 

The common criteria of What makes a city great for all these surveys are:

● Blend of beauty and ugliness – beauty to lift the soul, ugliness to ensure there are parts of the fabric of the city that can accommodate change.

● Diversity – if lots of people are wanting to come to a city, there must be something there. 

● Tolerance – the only way diversity works but also an accommodating attitude to sexuality (gay communities are famously successful inner-city regenerators) and religion (there are signs of increasing intolerance towards religious minorities all over the world). 

● Density – density of habitation is crucial in ensuring density of activity, a vibrancy of commerce, residential and cultural activity. 

● Social mix – the close proximity of social and economic classes keeps a city lively. 

● Civility – impossible to measure and slightly against my stated notions about the benefits of friction but critical nevertheless. I once criticised the ingratiating politeness in the US and was told by an American who used to live in Paris that “it’s better to be told to have a nice day by someone who doesn’t mean it than to be told to go f*** yourself by someone who does”. Discounts any Israeli or Russian city from ever getting on the list. EH

Original Canned Air

Original Canned Air

So now there is Original Canned Air from Prague, Czech republic:

"The 'AIR from PRAGUE' is becoming a very popular souvenir and gift from Prague, Czech republic. We are offering an original product... 100% organic. Fresh air from Prague relieves stress, cures homesickness 
and helps fighting nostalgia."

"Feeling down? Got the blues? Buy a whole box of Air and open the cans whenever you feel sad, remember the atmosphere, marvelous time you spent in Prague and feel better."

Of course, the first time I saw this was in Jerusalem, where they still sell Holy Air.

As an alternative, I propose the following:

"Swiss Air" - Get High in the Alps  

One breath of Swiss Air and you’ll be relaxing before you know it. Perfect for winding down after that rough day at the office — or home.

Guaranteed Stress Reliever

"NYC Air" - Inhale the Action 

Party it up as if you were in the City that Never Sleeps. Purified to give you the buzz of New York City - without all the smog. 

Guaranteed to Wake You Up

Read the original post here.

Share

________________________
The MasterLiving Blog

Foreign firms continue to come to Switzerland despite problems in "paradise"

SWITZERLAND - A MAGNET FOR FOREIGN FIRMS

Mar 24, 2011 - 21:27

Cracks showing in business oasis Switzerland

There are not many empty flats left in Swiss cities (Keystone)

by Matthew Allen, swissinfo.ch

---

A shortage of affordable homes and international schools, along with a prolonged row over tax, threatens to weaken Switzerland's magnetic pull for foreign firms.

Lured by low tax rates and a high standard of living, a steady stream of overseas companies have set up operations in Switzerland in recent years. But there are signs of growing discontent from new arrivals.

Top of the grumble list is the astronomic rise in house prices in Geneva, Zurich and Zug – a trend that has already priced many locals out of the market, and threatens to do the same for foreign workers.

"The new Eldorado has become even more of a magnet and there is a risk that this could result in a social crisis," Emmanuel Fragnière of Geneva's HEG School of Business Administration told swissinfo.ch earlier this month.

"Politicians are very happy to collect the new taxes, but they need a coherent policy to promote the location that takes into account structural difficulties."

Problems are also showing up in Zug and in Rolle, situated between Geneva and Lausanne.

Noise control

"No one imagined what would happen with so many people from outside Switzerland coming here to work," Rolle Social Democrat politician Patrick Bréchon told swissinfo.ch.

"They are not really creating local jobs. The housing market is like a jungle. House prices have shot up unbelievably and infrastructure – transport, roads and schools – is really behind."

Local complaints have also been matched with anecdotal evidence of foreign workers finding it tough going in their newly adopted country. The British magazine, the Economist, interviewed newcomers complaining of boredom and a lack of places in international schools.

"You need muscle to get kids in international schools," said one financier named only as Alex. "Otherwise it's a Swiss school, where your kids will find it hard to settle."

Others experienced problems adapting to stricter Swiss regulations on noise and refuse collection than they were used to at home.

Geneva-based relocation expert Francois Micheloud acknowledged that the huge influx of foreign firms and workers had created some structural problems, made worse by slow planning and construction rules.

Tax uncertainty

But he firmly believed that solutions could be found to ease the pressures, such as developing rural areas north of Lausanne or in canton Vaud.

"We are not like Monaco – a small piece of rock where you cannot build any more," he told swissinfo.ch. "Bottlenecks will be resolved by companies spreading out to areas that are still within reach of Geneva airport."

Switzerland's vaunted tax competitiveness is also coming under sustained pressure from the European Union. The Swiss authorities have made noises that the corporate tax system could be revamped to meet some EU demands, but nobody knows how this could be done.

"Companies interested in relocation to Switzerland should know what the tax rules will be like in future," tax expert Stephan Kuhn of Ernst & Young told swissinfo.ch. "They would not come to Switzerland if the tax system is unpredictable and subject to major increases."

British-based companies, on the other hand, received a boost from Wednesday's budget announcement that tax rates would be cut by two per cent in the next three years, a full percentage point more than previously thought.

Incentives remain

This prompted advertising giant WPP to consider relocating its tax base back to Britain from Ireland, where it had recently moved.

In a recent interview in the British Observer newspaper, the chief executive of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, Andrew Witty, chided British firms for heading to cheaper tax regimes, saying they had broken their bond with society.

"We could go, in theory, anywhere for a low tax rate. But first of all, how do you know that country isn't going to change its tax rate in ten minutes?" he said.

However, Britain's new 23 per cent rate would still be higher than the Swiss burden. Depending on where a company is based, combined effective federal and cantonal rates vary between 24.5 and 14 per cent.

Francois Micheloud is convinced that the relocation of foreign firms to Switzerland will continue "for many years to come".

"The incentives for companies to come to Switzerland remain the same as before: competitive tax rates, excellent transport links, a central European location, access to a highly skilled work force, clusters of business competence and flexible labour laws," he told swissinfo.ch.

"And Switzerland is still a delightful place in which to live."

Matthew Allen, swissinfo

Taking your time in Geneva - The Irish Times - Sat, Nov 13, 2010

Taking your time in Geneva

Sat, Nov 13, 2010
The Swiss city is expensive to visit but don’t let that put you off – you get what you pay for, writes Adrienne Cullen
AS YOU MIGHT expect from Switzerland, Geneva is living proof that quality of life doesn’t come cheap. While it has an almost permanent presence in the world’s top five most attractive cities, you’ll usually find it in the top five most expensive as well.
Don’t let that put you off though. Again as you might expect, you get what you pay for – in this case the buzz of a global financial centre, the sophistication of a city that’s home to a telephone book full of international organisations, and a whole lot of local history, colour, and charm as well.
Plus, you’re in the home of high-end watches. That means you get to use as many watch, clock and time-related puns and references as possible during your stay. Hey, watch it! Just a second! This transport system runs like clockwork. That chimes with me. Don’t be alarmed . . . you get the picture.
Geneva is all about its physical setting. In the background there’s the awe-inspiring vista of the snow-covered Alps, with Mont Blanc visible on a clear day. In the foreground there’s the glamorous waterfront of Lake Geneva. So not surprising-ly, the big leisure time pursuits here are sailing and skiing – sometimes both in one day.