Radio Spaetkauf Berlin

In this miniseries, Izzy Choksey and Anne-Marie Harrison take a journey through the main waves of Germany's climate movement. We meet the people behind the headlines: from the tactics of the anti-nuclear movement, and activists clambering onto coal excavators in the early 00s, to striking school children and folks gluing their hands onto roads. We find out what motivates activists and why they are...

Cyclists, get ready to ring your bells. The new city government wants to shrink bike lanes, and is turning car-free zones into roads. We hear about the new war on bikes under the CDU transport senator Manja Schreiner. What hope is there for the referendum that sought to expropriate apartments from big private landlords? We get an update about Deutsche Wohnen und Co Enteignen from our friend Wouter...

Berlin is about to get conservative. The Christian Democrats have taken control of our once lefty, greeny, progressive and mismanaged city. The new CDU mayor is Kai Wegner, and he's already off to a bad start. Berlin's parliament took an unprecedented three rounds of voting to elect him, despite his coalition having a majority. That means some within his own ranks aren't happy with him in power, a...

Jöran and Matilde outline the underground market which is making it difficult for psychotherapists to treat patients under public health insurance. But, there's a work-around to getting psychotherapy covered! Find out what this magic word is on this episode, and read all about it in the current cover story for ExBerliner Magazine .    Want to share your story? Write to us here at hallo@radiospaetk...

Recorded Live on Sunday, March 27, 2023. Support from AG1 - link for our listeners here: https://athleticgreens.com/spaetkauf G uest host Drew Portnoy of 20% Berlin takes us through some political tidbits, his terrifying adventures in Frankfurt, and his thoughts on who shouldn't be allowed topless in Berlin pools. We talk with Jonny Tiernan, the new editor in chief of ExBerliner , about changes at...

Recorded Live at the Babylon Berlin Cinema in Mitte on Sunday, January 22, 2023.  A brand new year brings Berlin fresh cringe from mayor Franziska Giffey and a reignition of the annual fireworks debate. We look at how racism and feminism might play a role in that conversation. Berlin vs. Hamburg? 25 percent of Germans found Hamburg the "most likable" German city, but which city-state do Radio Spae...

In our second installment of the Brews and News winter tour we recorded at the Vagabund Brewery in Wedding from Kesselhaus. 1,500 fish died after the giant fish tank in the Radisson Blu exploded out into the street next to Alexanderplatz. We talk through an interesting transport proposal from Green Senator Bettina Jarasch to let bicycles park in car spaces, and another by the Berlin government to...

Its official! Berliners will have to return to the voting booths. Berlin's constitutional court ruled on Wednesday, that the Senate and Bezirks elections will have to be redone completely. Parties now have 2 months to get their ducks in a row and mount a sort of Sprint-Campaign before the re-election on February 12. Here to tell us all about the ramifications of this decision is friend of the show...

One year ago Berliners voted overwhelmingly in support of the Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen referendum to buy back corporate-owned apartments and communalize them. What's happened since? Friend of the show and host of the DW Enteignen podcast "Von Menschen und Mieten"  Wouter Bernhardt gives us an update with some exciting news. More here: https://www.darumenteignen.de/en/ Temperatures are fallin...

Maisie Hitchcock returns as special co-host for an outdoor episode recorded at Floating Berlin. The €9 public transport ticket is dead, but what if Berliners make their own cheap ticket scheme? We meet Mario from 9EuroFonds, a collective ticket insurance system. So far they've raised over €10,000 to pay members' transport fines. More at https://9eurofonds.de Some Berliners are freaking out about t...

Synopsis: A weekend of escapism turns into a confrontation with reality for a group of Berliners, who leave the city to find the countryside is a scary place. Location: A camp ground in the forest next to a lake. Cast: 500 film fans plus Joel, Dan and Michele Guido: https://www.training.comedycafeberlin.com/instructors/michele-guido/ Special Guest: Director Alexandra Semkina. Insta:  https://www.i...

It's pride month in Berlin but a virus outbreak is highlighting how policy makers keep failing the LGBTQi community and shows we learnt nothing from the last pandemic. People are being stigmatized and shamed, the vaccine program is slow - sound familiar? This time it's monkeypox. We talked to queer activist Pansy about how it is affecting the gay community.  Pansy is hosting an actual DRAG RACE on...

Jöran has just started looking for a therapist and can't believe how impossible it seems. Matilde is in therapy and still gets anxiety recalling her search. On this episode they swap stories and explain the basics about Germany's mental health system. They talk to several people who've done it all before. And they explain the first steps to take. Want to share your story? Write to us here at  hall...

This episode was recorded in the dying summer light of the floating university in Berlin; a location that is neither a university nor floating. Luckily, we had Jöran on site to explain the history of this fascinating location.  As everything gets more expensive, could Berlin make life more affordable by offering a basic income of over €1000 a month? This episode features the organisers of an attem...

What's left of revolutionary Berlin? On our outdoor May Day special, we ask author Nathaniel Flakin whether there's still enough activists to keep Berlin interesting. On a weekend when Berlin's mayor Franziska Giffey gott egged, activists squatted an empty hostel and thousands of people joined big marches, Nathaniel says May Day isn't dead yet. Ask your bookshop to stock his new book Revolutionary...

Berlin has welcomed 30,000 new residents as Ukrainian refugees fill the city. We meet Mimi, a volunteer from Wir Packens An. They send boxes to refugees - not just from Ukraine, but those forgotten in other parts of Europe too. You can help by volunteering to fill boxes for a day: www.wir-packens-an.info How is the war affecting Berlin, a city that runs mostly on Russian fossil fuels? Our energy b...

The BVG has reinvented the concept of time. Ticket checkers emerge from undercover. Tempelhof art show boycott explained. A huge art exhibition inside Tempelhof airport has gained millions in public funding. But Berlin artists say it's suspicious. The so-called Kunsthalle Berlin is sponsored by big property investors, won public money without an open process, and doesn't include Berlin artists. We...

Would premium class service encourage more rich people to take public transport? Housing activists score a temporary victory trying to squat an empty building. Why do the moving sidewalks at BER airport not move? New Year's Eve is effectively cancelled with limits of 200 people for indoor events and a ban on dancing in clubs. Much like last yea r, fireworks have been restricted but not banned outr...

Confusion in the club queues as new 2G+ rules start. Does the plus mean mask, test or both? The short answer is always check ahead. We're back to the bad old days of finding vaccine appointments by word of mouth. The website wirhelfenberlin.de can help you find an available vaccination center. Christmas markets are open for now. Izzy recommends the Nollendorfplatz Christmas Avenue LGBTIQ* Weihnach...

BER turned to chaos over the October holidays, with huge queues and many missed flights. Airlines advised travellers to come four hours early. The airport is only handling half the pre-pandemic passenger numbers. Who saw this coming? Should we use Gorillas or boycott? We meet three members of the Gorillas Riders Collective, who are suing the 10-minute-delivery company, and being sued, as they figh...

Berliner voters want more left-green politics and a radical state take-over of property - but the new mayor may ignore those demands. At Sunday's city-state elections, a majority (54.3%) voted for the R2G parties, showing the citizens want the current coalition to continue. Another majority (56.7%) voted 'yes' in the Deutsche Wohnung & Co. Enteignen referendum, instructing the city to forcibly buy...

The Berlin election results could deliver a shock result: instead of the current green-left coalition, we could end up with conservatives who want to build on Tempelhof, expand highways and stop rental reforms. We'll terrify you with the worst-case scenario. Instead of finishing the A100 autobahn, let's turn it into a giant urban farm. That's the latest mad idea from Paper Planes e. V., the dream...

Berlin is weeks away from its state election and a referendum on housing. We analyse the campaign posters with Konrad Werner, columnist for Exberliner, and host of the weekly German news show Megan's Megacan:  https://anchor.fm/megans-megacan The AFD has moved from anti-migrant to anti-Green issues, declaring "Your car would vote for us". The CDU are trying to convince Berliners they'd do a better...

What does Deutschrap have to do with the boom in bling-decorated iced tea? Maisie Hitchcock delves into her considerable knowledge of the genre to explain. Want a hot investment tip? Get into chili farming. Berlin's chili expert Neil Numb tells us how the city's hot sauce boom needs more suppliers. Start growing on your balcony. Visit this weekend's Berlin Chilli Fest at the new Reviere Südost: ht...

Everything is reopening. We're shooting up on vaccines, and shoving sticks up our noses in strange places - and loving it. And best of all - Maisie is back! Coronavirus testing centers are popping up faster than bubble tea shops. There are more than 1000 stations in the strangest locations - converted restaurants, bikes, basements. Is this creative capitalism, or a state-funded stimulus? The gover...