Radio Spaetkauf Berlin

The number of public bikes in Berlin increased to 6200 this week when Chinese company Mobike placed 700 of their orange and silver bicycles on the streets. They’re not to be confused with O-Bike, a Singaporean company which introduced 500 yellow-framed bikes just a few weeks earlier. In other cities, Mobike gives users credits for reporting broken bikes, and takes away credits for poor parking and “abandoning the bike when intercepted by police.” The Berlin transport department says another three bike sharing companies have expressed interest in operating here. Radio Spaetkauf co-host Jöran Mandik discovered a watery graveyard of Lidl Bikes in the Landwehrkanal near Admiralsbrücke where some hater has been throwing them. Police in Berlin recovered over 100 stolen items formerly belonging to John Lennon. A man has been arrested for allegedly selling the objects, worth an estimated €3 million, via an online auction website. They items were stolen from Yoko Ono by her former chauffeur, and passed on to a fence i

Dodgy Berlin real estate deals have been discovered in the Paradise Papers. According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, a company called Phoenix Spree based on the Isle of Jersey has been buying Berlin property, forcing out tenants, putting up the rent, then sending the profits to offshore accounts where they pay little tax. Wondering why rents are going up and where that extra money is going? Now you know. Another trick highlighted in the Paradise Papers are so-called share deals. Investors avoid Berlin's 6% property sales tax by buying shares in companies that own property, instead of the property directly. This trick robs the city of €100 million euros annually, according to the Berlin finance department. The Sony Center was sold for €1.1 billion in October under such a share deal. None of these tricks are illegal. They’re simply immoral. The Berlin Police Academy in Spandau is in the headlines. An anonymous letter published in the Tagesspiegel alleged Arabic gang members were being accepted as recruits. A poli

Almost 200 cyclists blocked traffic on Oranienstraße in a protest after a cyclist was doored and seriously injured. O-Straße is the third most dangerous street for cyclists in Berlin. What would happen if we painted our own bike lane? Over 34,000 bicycles worth almost €20 million are stolen annually in Berlin, only 3.5 percent are recovered. Air Berlin's turbulent descent into insolvency has reached its end. At 10.45pm on October 27 the final Air Berlin flight AB6210 from Munich will touch down at Tegel Airport, and the airline will cease to exist.Lufthansa won the bidding war to take over the majority of the bankrupt airline. It will purchase 81 aircraft and take on around 3000 employees and integrate them into its Eurowings brand. Lufthansa will soon carry over 90% of domestic German air traffic. Don't be surprised if ticket prices start going up. Time to take a train? The low-cost rail company Locomore has recently re-launched, offering tickets to Frankfurt and Stuttgart for €9.90. Berlin authorities have

Storm Xavier lashed Berlin with winds of 120 kilometres an hour on October 5. Public transport and flights were cancelled for most of the day, and regional train lines were cut for several days. Five people died from falling trees and car accidents, and 18 flamingos at the Berlin Zoo didn’t make it through the storm. How do storms get their names? You can pay €260.61 to name a storm. The money goes to climate research at the Institut für Meteorologie at Berlin’s Freie Universität. Sign up for one at http://www.met.fu-berlin.de/wetterpate. Only weeks after Berliners voted to keep Tegel Airport open, Lufthansa has announced it will soon begin operating Boeing 747s at Tegel. Three 747 services will run daily between Tegel and Frankfurt due to high passenger demand following the Air Berlin insolvency. The airline will have to pay a €515 euro penalty per flight to land the noisy jets, none of which goes to the long-suffering residents of Pankow. Following the German national elections, the Friedrichstadt Palast di

Comedian and journalist Drew Portnoy tells us about his return to Berlin after several years away. The city has grown by the equivalent of two Bonns in that time and is feeling much fuller. Berlin-based refugee rescue charity Jugend Rettet is in trouble. The organization's boat has been impounded by Italian authorities. Jugend Rettet says they are being bullied out of the Mediterranean. Are you a freelancer in Germany? Our guest Henrietta Mehlis from the SMart freelancers cooperative has some tips. Don't confuse your tax identification number from your tax number - they're different. And don't trust cheap health insurance. She is running a free info session as part of European Freelancers Week at 5pm, 11.09.17, at Betahaus. More info at www.smart-de.org. Berlin is sending 28 representatives to the Bundestag after last week's elections. Here's the breakdown by party: CDU 6; Die Linke 6; SPD 5; Die Grünen 4; AFD 4; FDP 3. The Greens barely held on to Hans-Christian Ströbele's seat after infighting. The CDU's fa

Tegel Airport fans won a referendum on whether the hexagonal Flughafen should stay open post-BER. The "yes" vote was 56.1%. But it doesn't mean Tegel won't close, as the federal and Brandenburg governments would have to agree. Renovation and residential soundproofing costs could reach a billion euros. Tegel supporters now want an U-Bahn extension as well. The referendum happened on the same day as the German federal election, in which Angela Merkel's CDU won almost a third of votes. Berlin voted differently: here the CDU won almost 23%, and Die Linke came second with about 19%. There were protests in front of the AFD election party at a venue at Alexanderplatz. The far-right party won 12% of votes in Berlin. On September 24, 28,000 runners raced in the Berlin Marathon.Kenya's Eluid Kipchoge won the race for the second time, but missed out on a world record by 35 seconds, The women's race was won Gladys Cherono, also from Kenya. Another runner was Berlin's former state secretary for security, Bernd Krömer from

Berlin is a city with over 2.4 million rats. Lately they've been sighted more frequently as heavy rain has flushed them out of the drains. Several playgrounds in the north of the city have been closed due to rodents. A slightly more unusual pest, the invasive red American crayfish, has been seen scuttling along the paths in Tiergarten. More than 3000 crustaceans were caught as part of a recent eradication program. This year's Lollapalooza festival at the Hoppegarten race track ended in S-Bahn chaos. There weren't enough trains to handle the crowds. Trains arrived already full of revellers from an Oktoberfest nearby. Police closed the packed S-Bahn station for several hours. The S-Bahn blamed the festival organizers for not paying for extra trains. Next year Lollapalooza will move to Olympiastadion - the third time it has had to relocate. Want to buy Air Berlin? You'll have to pay more than the current highest bid - half a billion euros. Air Berlin's pilots aren’t making things easy for the airline. This week

Comedian Caroline Clifford signed up as a bicycle food courier to earn extra cash. But she found the income depends on cycle speed and can be €5 an hour or less, especially as customers don't tip. Germany's federal election is on September 24. So far it's a dull campaign. But as Konrad Werner explains, in today's turbulent world a boring election is quite remarkable. Chancellor Angela Merkel "represents the state of the permanent present" that voters in smooth-running Germany desire. Is the Air Berlin bankruptcy being manipulated to favour Lufthansa? Ryanair is accusing the German authorities of helping Lufthansa take over Air Berlin, which would result in them grabbing 95% of the domestic German air travel market. The Tegel referendum is on the same day as the election. To quell concerns about the capacity of the new BER airport, BER's manager has released an expansion plan. BER will grow from 22 to 55 million by 2040, with new terminals. The Tagesspiegel reported that new terminals may be connected with a g

This summer's bad weather is affecting local fruit supply. Yields of regional apples, pears, cherries and plums are down by about 50%, pushing prices up by 15%. In other apple news, there's controversy at the Apfelfest in Guben in south-east Brandenburg. A man is suing the organizer of the Apple Queen competition, claiming the vote was rigged in favour of a female contestant. He said voters were mislead as the winner didn't have a driver's license. English speaking waiters in Berlin are getting on the nerves of CDU politician Jens Spahn, who said they should be able to take orders in German. He also criticized Germans who talk to each other in English as being elitist. Air Berlin has officially filed for bankruptcy after 37 years in operation. Germany's second largest airline has been losing money, passengers and their luggage for years. Now several airlines are fighting to buy the scraps of Air Berlin, which owns some valuable landing spots at key airports. The airline is still operating and tickets are stil

Meet Diana Arce, host of Politaoke, a cross between karaoke and political speeches. She hosts events where people read topical political rants while the audience boos and cheers. Diana is also part of White Guilt Cleanup, a service for people who don't know how to handle topics of race. Find out more at www.politaoke.com and www.whiteguiltcleanup.com We're live at the Mobile Kino Summer Camp at Klingemühle in Brandenburg, along with the brave folk who took a chance on the weather. There's a referendum coming up on September 24, the same day as the federal election. The question will be: should Berlin keep Tegel airport operating when BER finally opens? The no camp says Tegel will cost too much to renovate. The yes camp says it's necessary due to rising tourist traffic. Does Berlin really need more tourism? The Berlin Senate has finished a new law that ensures bicycle infrastructure will improve. There will be 50,000 new bike parking spots near public transport, including parking boxes. Bike lanes will be wide

Meet our guest host Caroline Clifford, who will also join us at this weekend’s Mobile Kino Summer Camp live recording! Over 210,000 posters are going up on the lampposts for the federal election, happening on September 24. The AFD posters manage to be both racist and sexist: “Burkas? We’d rather bikinis.” We doubt they’d really be happy with streets full of half-naked women. What’s a souvenir these days? A Berlin court has decided that teapots, cake slicers and cheese graters are not. A kitchenware in Mitte was fined for opening on Sundays: only tourist shops are allowed to do that. Permitted souvenirs include street maps, guidebooks, tobacco, film and camera items. When was the last time anyone bought film? Berlin's cute little squirrels are suffering from a virus that makes wounds grow on their paws. The squirrels can't hold on to trees because their fingers are stuck together. The wounds can be so painful that the poor squirrels sometimes die from shock. The condition has been named the Berliner Eichhörnch

This Berlin summer continues to be a wash-out, causing floods and public transport delays. Despite the rain, the Weissensee lake in north Berlin is drying up. The operator of Strandbad Weissensee is crowdfunding €90,000 to pay for 40,000 cubic meters of water or 20 Olympic swimming pools. Berlin just had its annual Christopher Street Day pride parade, which celebrated Germany's surprise legalization of gay marriage. But as Joel points out, all things are not well for gays in Berlin. Attacks against LGBTQ increased by 10% in 2016. And gays are banned from donating blood or becoming sperm donors. Time for a new campaign - sperm donor equality! Berlin city government lost a court case against Airbnb, which is partially banned in Berlin. It had tried to force the website to hand over the names of its users, but a court ruled in Airbnb’s favour because it is data is controlled from its Irish headquarters. Those illegally renting their whole flats could still get reported by your neighbours or uncovered by the city

Police raid Neukölln houses in search of the missing 100kg gold coin! The case of the spectacular robbery of the Big Maple Leaf coin from the Bode Museum is close to being cracked. Four men have been arrested, including one who worked as a security guard at the museum. The level of detail in the execution led to suspicions that it was an inside job. The Berlin Senate is floating extensions to several U-Bahn lines, including the U9, U1 and U7, which could run all the way to Schönefeld and the new BER airport. This might be because Tegel fans seem to be winning the PR war to keep the old airport open. These extensions would take 15 years, if approved. Fans of British royalty - get your flowers ready. William and Kate Windsor will be in Berlin on July 19. They’ll visit the Brandenburg Gate, the Jewish Memorial and a children’s charity in Marzahn. Berlin has just endured its most rainy June on record with 193 litres of rain per square meter three times as much as normal, leading to floods across our swampy city.

More than 200 Berlin police officers have been sent home from the G20 summit in Hamburg early after some were caught partying in their quarters. They were observed drinking and dancing on tables with their weapons, pissing in a row against a fence, and one couple was seen having sex in public. What might be standard behaviour for some Berliners was not acceptable in Hamburg. Berlin’s fascination with its captive bears continues. Two adult pandas have arrived from China. Meng Meng and Jiao Qing will be on display in a fancy new enclosure at the Zoo Berlin from July 7. Berlin’s gay pride parade, also known as Christopher Street Day or CSD, is happening on July 22. But there won’t be any Alternative CSD in Kreuzberg this year as the organizing team broke apart in a dispute. A replacement DIY picnic on Mariannenplatz was also cancelled after its Facebook event got too popular. This episode was presented by Joel Dullroy and Jöran Mandik.

New York has its Highline Park. Should Berlin have a lowline bike path under the U1 tracks? We interview a team member behind the idea for the U1 Radbahn. There’s controversy over plans to rename some streets in Wedding, where a citizen’s jury trying to replace German colonialist names somehow selected the name of a slave trader instead. Our guest Kilian Flad tells us about the revisionist history of street names. And our friend Konrad Werner is back to talk about whether Germany has an equivalent to Jeremy Corbyn in the coming federal election.

There's been a spate of mysterious dog deaths around the Tegeler See. The cause is unclear - either a dog hater leaving poisoned food, or a bloom of dangerous blue algae in the water. Swimmers are also advised to avoid the Tegeler See, Berlin's second biggest lake. It has been almost a year since a new law was introduced forcing dog owners to carry a plastic poop bag or face a €35 fine. But so far not a single fine has been issued. The law's vague description of "suitable material" for poop collection could be at fault. There's a debate over whether a crucifix should be placed on top of the dome of the new Stadtschloss, or Humboldt Forum. Another suggestion is to install the word "Zweifel" (doubt) on the building. Joel's preference? No cross, no doubt, no Stadschloss at all. Come along to our next live recording, Sunday June 18, 17.30, at the Comedy Cafe Neukölln. This episode was presented by Jöran Mandik and Joel Dullroy, and brought to you by RadioEins.

Only 26% of Berliners get around by car, a survey found. The rest walk, ride or use public transport. Those who take buses should be aware - the BVG has announced that it is looking for a security company to start checking tickets on buses, starting November 1. That’s because the city government wants the BVG to allow passengers to board buses through the rear doors to speed up departures. Berlin’s first-league football team Hertha BSC are unhappy with their home ground, the Olympiastadion, which they say is too big to create an energetic atmosphere. Now the mayor Michael Müller says the city would agree to reconstruct the Olympiastadion to extend seats to the edge of the field to keep Hertha happy. It could cost €160 million and push out athletic events. Karneval der Kulturen is on this weekend. The street festival runs from June 2 to 5, while the main parade is on Sunday June 4, moving from Hermannplatz to Yorckstraße. This episode was presented by Joel Dullroy and Daniel Stern, and brought to you by RadioE

The new TV series 4 Blocks depicts Arabic criminal networks in Neukölln. But fiction isn't far off fact. We interview 4 Blocks writer Hanno Hackford about the real stories behind the show. You can see the show on TNT, or watch it with English subtitles at Mobile Kino. Are you scared of lakes? Can't join in the summer trips to Brandenburg? Author Jessica J. Lee decided to get over her fear of still water by swimming in a different lake every week, including winter. She joins us to give her tips on how to brave the cold. You can find her articles at: http://www.slowtravelberlin.com/wild-swimming-in-berlin/ Berlin's months-old Lidl Bike shared cycle system has deteriorated quickly due to vandalism, leaving Joel disappointed in his fellow citizens. The new rival Nextbike system has now launched, as have a new category of shared transport - shuttle buses. One shuttle company promises to get you from Rosenthaler Platz to Kottbusser Tor for €0.25. In airport news, Sixt car rental company is being fined €30,000 for i

The official Mietspiegel rent index has been released. Average prices grew by 9.6% in the last two years, twice as much as during the previous review. The Mietspiegel determines how much landlords can charge. The City Hostel in central Berlin has been ordered to shut down because of its ties to North Korea. The hostel is next door to the North Korean embassy, which since 2004 has rented out the building for €38,000 a month. The German Foreign Ministry has ordered the hostel to close or face fines for breaching UN sanctions. The hostel operator says they will fight the order and are still taking bookings. Berlin S-Bahn ticket machines were caught in the global computer virus Wanna Cry. Many ticket machines across the city were malfunctioning for several days due to the malware. Passengers might not have noticed as S-Bahn machines are hard to use at the best of times. A project to make the Spree swimmable is progressing. The Verein Flussbad is installing a 42-meter barge near Museuminsel to test a water filtrat

This year's May Day party/protest attracted 200,000 people to Kreuzberg 36, including 10,000 demonstrators and 5,000 police. But there were hardly any public toilets outside the official Myfest area. Where people supposed to pee? Holding the door open on the S-Bahn can be injurious to your body and wallet. A young man was dragged 50 metres along the Brandenburger Tor train platform after sticking his hand in a closing door. He could also be fined or jailed. A medical research project has applied to distribute marijuana to 25,000 Berliners to test its effects. The Forschungsinitiative Cannabis would give 30 grams of weed a month to each participant. Smokers ignorant about data privacy can register online. But the study probably won't happen since its chief scientist recently quit as the study wasn't scientific enough. This episode was presented by Jöran Mandik and Daniel Stern, and brought to you by RadioEins.