Bakker Bugle Blog Say it three times fast. In Luxembourgish.

First, the news of the last several days, courtesy ARA City Radio. Please note the changed link to their local news. Also note that the headlines are our own editorial responsibility.

Lots of news from the Luxembourgish Department of Obviousness

CEPS/Instead has been conducting a survey into attitudes to immigrants. For the first time they’ve looked to see if men and women have different feelings about migrants here, and also what immigrants themselves think of other immigrants. The survey found that both men and women are equally concerned over the impact of immigrants on Luxembourg society. Immigrant men and women worry that more immigration will mean more competition for jobs. Indigenous men and women seem more worried about their impact on social security and crime figures. But second generation immigrants seem to start sharing the concerns of the indigenous population the longer they live here.

And in another important piece of social research, National Statistics Bureau STATEC has discovered that wealthy people are generally happy. Researchers say people with high incomes feel better about life than those who struggle financially. 94% of people in the survey’s top income bracket said they satisfied with their life. Only 71% of the poorest surveyed said things were going their way. But its not just about money, the researchers say. They also found that the more educated a respondent was, the more likely they were to feel positive about life.

Unions and Employers: Fighting together against change

Unions and Employers have joined forces to condemn proposed legislation to prevent harassment at work. LSAP deputy Lucien Lux has been trying to get his legislation adopted for nearly 9 years. (more…)

First up: The Bakker household now has expert advice to support its plan to stay home and stay semi-prone this weekend:

TRAFFIC WARNING
Drivers are being urged to avoid travelling this week-end if at all possible. The start of the half-term holidays means heavy traffic as families head off for winter-sports breaks. The ACL says people should leave on Friday morning if they can or wait for Sunday. The combination of heavy traffic and difficult driving conditions, could make for extremely long journeys, especially for those headed for the Alps.

(more…)

It’s time for another survey of the week’s news in Luxembourg. As usual, we owe the good folks at ARA City Radio in Luxembourg for the news reports, which we hear in the dulcet voice of Mark Weedon almost every morning during Phoebe Winter’s breakfast show.

Filed under “Overkill”

HELICOPTER NAILS SHOPLIFTER
The police helicopter was in action in Ingeldorf on Saturday afternoon. It was hunting down a man who’d stolen a shell suit from a local shop. He had run off after staff noticed him trying to smuggle the stolen gear out of the shop in a black bag. He was eventually tracked down hiding behind a hedge in a barnyard, and is facing charges of shoplifting.

The follow-up story, filed under “CYA”

WE WILL NEVER KNOW
The Police say their helicopter was not called to track down a man who stole a shell suit in Ingeldorf at the week-end. (more…)

Local news for the week ending 27 November 2009:

SMOKING BAN TO BE EXTENDED
Health minister Mars di Bartolomeo says he’s considering extending the national smoking ban from restaurants to include bars and discos also. He said the government wanted to afford better protection to non-smokers who worked there. Mr Bartolomeo said the legislation would be brought into force next year and that objections would be ignored. He added that since a smoking ban in restaurants and workplaces was introduced in 2004, the number of smokers in the country had declined.

THIEF LOCKS HIMSELF UP
A young thief managed to lock himself in the supermarket he was robbing on Monday evening. (more…)

Headlines from the past week: Complicated Scam with Imported Carpets; Car Party for One; Luxembourgers Subject to Belgian Speed Laws; “Unashamed Policy of Class War”; Greenpeace vs Coal-fired Power; and Germans Now Threatened by Panther. (more…)