Until recently, Georg Schmid was head of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) parliamentary group in the Bavarian state parliament. Last Thursday (26.04.2013) he stepped down from his office because of his wife's extremely well-paid job. He had employed her as a secretary for the very generous salary of up to 5,500 euros ($7,165) a month. Since 2000, Bavarian representatives have been prohibited by law from employing spouses or children. But Schmid made use of an exception for old cases: Read more [...]

Der Spiegel’s 2005 prediction of the Brauereisterben, the death of German brewing, is increasingly becoming a reality. Demographic shifts have already all but wiped out the lederhosen, and the next victim may well be domestic beer. Since even before the modern state was created, Bavarian brewers (in Germany's southern-most state of Baveria and home to Munich's Oktoberfest) have been setting the global beer standard. In 1516 Bavaria adopted the Reinheitsgebot, a law regulating its Read more [...]