Ah, and that's the problem. What defines relevancy?

But back to being cosy or not:

Three large cowbells used by the locals to ring in the Christmas season were stolen in a nearby town yesterday. Three young men were taking part of the tradition of "trychlen" and decided to stop in for a drink at a local Kaffee Stube hut. They set their bells down outside, next to 12 other bells, because there was no room for these large items inside. Upon leaving, they realized that someone had stolen the three bells.

The theft has been reported to the police and reported in my local newspaper. The owners are calling upon the thief's conscience to come clear and bring these heirlooms back to the original owner.

Not even the bells are safe anymore.

The thieves were reported by an elderly woman as leaving the scene "running away like the clappers..."

And just to make this non-political; neither their ethnic origin, sexual orientation nor their hairstyles were reported to ensure that a fair hanging takes place.

Probably because the person couldn't see it...

The victims were described as "Burschen" who have publicly threatened to scour Ricardo and Ebay for any hint of the thief selling these stolen bells. Their value has been estimated at Sfr 1,800.

I still think Switzerland is one of the safest countries to live in. I used to live in Africa so I have a total different perspective on crime. Bad things happen everywhere but I think its a real positive to know that the odds are really low here.

Accusations of "continentism" may result. This clearly is not the same as "incontinenceism" which is discrimination against people who unwittingly leave their mark when they never intended to.

More food for thought...72 year old man started shooting around.

http://www.blick.ch/news/schweiz/zue...um-sich-188300

It's true - you get a few robberies or someone going potty with a gun here and you get the internet equivalent of curtain-twitchers tooting that everyone is in danger.

I don't think many people here are under the illusion that Switzerland is "crime free" but for some people, the isolated incidents that get sensationalised by Blick is the start of a downward spiral into anarchy.

Notable because it wasn't at MacDonalds or Starbucks.

I guess we should collect around ChF 2500.-- for two tickets to Kingston.
PBB needs some vacation and I'm sure his wonderful girl is homesick.

As far as this particular case is concerned, his nationality is as relevant as the colour of his hair, or the type of shoes he is wearing i.e not in the slightest.
However, ALL these things would be relevant in the other scenario I described above.

Perhaps it is relevant as he has remained silent about his accomplice, and everyone knows Serbians ONLY hang out with Serbians...
More likely that it is just a Swiss reporter "not being racist, simply reporting the news", because Swiss people aren't racist, remember?!

Serb or Croat? and it is relevant .I am 72 old man but Swiss /Canadian ,bald und well hung

Man, you Canadians add a lot of information! Time to start reading Canadian newspapers.

PS: I find being bald isn't really relevant.

But being well hung is?

just by the way.. it's a trait shared by all Canadians.

Agreed.

Facts surrounding criminal investigations should be kept quiet, not splooged all over the news papers.

Journalists do more harm than good when it comes to covering crimes. I'd rather see them sticking to the police reports than trying to scoop each other.

Riiiiiight. You mean, just as the papers always state the nationality of every alleged perpetrator, including the Swiss ones, for example?

There's never been anything really "safe and quiet" about Bienne/Biel (in Canton Bern). It's been a hotbed of drug dealing since even before the large Kosovar population arrived, with all the fun that that entails. But they rarely used to use guns, that's something that is changing.

Oh and one of my best friends is Serb, a bit obstinate on irrelevant things but charming just like her family is.