1. Anyone who pays high electricity and gas tariffs gets higher relief aid - politicians have to be careful that the brakes are not skidded
Thrift is not particularly valued in our society, where consumer enthusiasm is still celebrated as an important driving force of economic life and social life - and stinginess is seen as an ugly vice.
"Anyone who wants to save is lost," wrote the writer Theodor Fontane, "also morally." I personally find people who spend a lot of their lives looking for savings and benefiting from them rather exhausting.
But of course it makes sense to me that in this winter of crisis it makes sense for the Germans to use as little electricity and gas as possible.
And that it is right to give incentives for this.
Today my colleagues Claus Hecking and Thomas Schulz describe the sometimes surprising consequences of the so-called price brakes for electricity and gas, which come into force on January 1st.
According to the colleagues, the state payments could ensure that both energy suppliers and consumers benefit from tariff increases.
»As crazy as it sounds: Consumers can even benefit financially from the wave of inflation.
The higher your personal tariff is in the coming year, the lower your electricity and gas bill will be for 2023 – as long as you save a lot of energy.«
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Photo: Christoph Hardt / Panama Pictures / IMAGO
The price brake ensures that households have to pay a maximum of 40 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity and 12 cents per kilowatt hour for gas for 80 percent of their previous energy consumption.
And so that people save even more energy, they should be reimbursed the full tariff of their electricity and gas provider for every additional kilowatt hour saved.
The higher this price, the more money you get back.
A household that reduces its electricity consumption from 5000 to 2400 kilowatt hours has to pay a total of 960 euros at a tariff of 40 cents per kilowatt hour.
With a tariff of 1 euro per kilowatt hour, on the other hand, he gets the 2400 kilowatt hours for free.
For example, people who travel long distances in 2023 or own an indoor pool that they will no longer heat next year could benefit from switching to more expensive tariffs.
According to an expert quoted by colleagues, these are “strange incentive effects”.
The state pays the bill.
Will the savings goals of the politicians be achieved in the end?
"With the electricity and gas price brake, the state subsidizes households with particularly high tariffs particularly heavily if they save a lot of energy," says my colleague Claus Hecking.
»This can tempt providers and consumers to conclude extremely expensive contracts because both sides benefit from it – including at the expense of the state.
Politicians have to be careful that the price brakes aren't swindled.«
Read the full story here: How utilities and consumers benefit from tariff increases
2. China's rulers criticize German policy towards their country as "wrong medicine" - and may want to relax their own corona policy
Photo: Diego Azubel/ dpa
The Chinese foreign ministry has criticized strategy papers from the German foreign and economic ministries on future dealings with China.
Some sections of the German government are said to be prescribing the "wrong medicine" for China's economy.
The medicine metaphor is somewhat curious because the country is using the questionable drug of a zero-Covid policy in dealing with the corona pandemic.
The two confidential drafts of the German ministries recommend a much stricter course compared to Beijing and want to give German companies operating in China fewer or more expensive investment and export guarantees.
The Foreign Ministry's paper provides, among other things, for investment guarantees to be subjected to an "in-depth examination" - from environmental criteria to social standards such as the avoidance of forced labor in supply chains.
The paper does not rule out severe sanctions.
As in the case of Russia, the Federal Foreign Office wants to reduce dependencies.
In China itself, thousands of people took to the streets in several cities at the end of November - in protest against the rigorous measures of the zero-Covid policy, which consists of repeated lockdowns, forced quarantines, mass tests and constant monitoring of corona apps (more here) .
The Chinese authorities have responded to the protests with a heavy police presence and online censorship.
In Beijing and metropolises like Shanghai, passers-by were stopped by security forces and had to show their mobile phones, which were checked for suspicious content.
The West has expressed concern about the actions of the Chinese authorities.
The UN has called on Beijing not to arbitrarily arrest peaceful protesters.
In the meantime, it has become known that the hard zero-Covid policy in China could soon be deprived of its political and medical basis - with the authorities classifying the virus as less dangerous.
Because the virus is getting weaker, Covid-19 could soon only be classified as a serious, contagious disease, reports the Chinese state news agency Yicai.
"The argument seems flimsy to me," says my colleague Julia Köppe from our science department.
The fact that the omicron variant tends to lead to somewhat less severe courses is by no means new.
"Based on this argument, the Chinese government could have decided to relax much earlier.
What is new, however, are the protests in the country, which are also directed against the strict zero-Covid strategy, which is reaching its limits.« Epidemiologists also fear that omicron infections will only be more harmless if there is already broad protection from previous infection and vaccination in the population.
»Both«, says Julia, »is not the case in China.«
Read the whole story here: Beijing is angry about Germany's China strategy
3. Even at the World Cup in Qatar, which has been criticized by many people, there are a few winners of the heart
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Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images
In Qatar, 19-year-old Jew Bellingham is a surprising World Cup star.
The England national team player played so confidently in the 3-0 win against Senegal that he was also acclaimed in other parts of Great Britain – at least that is what my colleague Jan Göbel claims in his Bellingham portrait: »The whole island is enchanted.«
In his World Cup mini-column, my colleague Felix Dachsel deals with Poland's knockout round;
and also with another young superstar of this World Cup, the French player Kylian Mbappé:
I've spent a lot of time with nice Polish women and wonderful French people over the past week. When I watched the round of 16 yesterday, France against Poland, I had to think of them. How I talked to the Poles about Malbork and to the French about Macron.
I saw Lewandowski and Mbappé running across the pitch and suddenly wished that both teams would progress. This feeling comes over me in some games, very rarely. The quiet wish that in the end everyone is happy and nobody is sad.
Perhaps these are late consequences of my childhood. We didn't play Monopoly at home, but rather Save the Pond, a cooperative dice game from Ravensburger. The aim of the game is to protect a pond against an investor who is rolling in with his excavators. Together we rolled the investor from the nature reserve. In the end everyone was happy, nobody lost. A victory for us as a family, but especially for the frogs and dragonflies.
Yesterday the French cheered and the Poles buried their faces. There is the joy of victory only alongside tears of defeat. This is standard sport brutality. That evening I wanted to defy the laws of nature, France and Poland should both have won. Against the Qatari investor with his excavators or against Hui Bu, the World Cup mascot.
But life is not a Ravensburger cooperative dice game, life is more like monopoly.
And here is more news and background information about the World Cup:
After armed burglary at his family's - Sterling left Qatar:
Suspected armed burglars have broken into Raheem Sterling's home.
The England winger therefore left the World Cup to support his family in London.
Whether he will return is uncertain.
The team that Germany would like to be:
Efficient, sovereign, with the best chemistry between young and old: England dealt with Senegal like a top team.
The grandstands belonged to the African champions, while defending champions France are now waiting for England.
Wenger attributes poor World Cup results to “political protest”:
Anyone who makes political statements instead of simply playing football lacks the “mindset” to start a World Cup successfully.
That says Fifa official Arsène Wenger.
The logic of the ex-coach does not want to work out completely.
Nice football?
Nonsense, only success counts:
Stable at the back and effective at the front: With this simple recipe, the Netherlands qualified for the quarter-finals.
At home they roll their eyes, but Bonds coach Louis van Gaal doesn't care.
"Messi no longer counts on the title":
In the evening, Lionel Messi is fighting with Argentina for the World Cup quarter-finals.
Here his biographer Guillem Balagué talks about Messi's title hopes, how he deals with aging - and who is now the bigger one: Messi or Maradona.
News and background to the war in Ukraine:
Ukraine complains of sexual violence by the Russians, Moscow is said to be planning revenge for oil price caps:
According to Kiev, Russia's soldiers are using rape as a weapon.
President Selenskyj swears his people in for a difficult winter.
And: The oil price cap is not well received in the Kremlin.
The most important developments.
Apparently dead and injured in explosions at military airfields in Russia:
Russian media reports on almost simultaneous explosions at two Russian army airports - each well away from the Ukrainian border.
The background is unclear, the Kremlin is vague.
Find all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine here: The News Update
What else is important today
Attack on the way to school – a girl died:
A man attacked two girls in Illerkirchberg near Ulm.
A 14-year-old died from her injuries.
The number of transphobic and homophobic acts of violence reaches a new high:
insults, threats or physical violence: homophobic and transphobic attacks are part of everyday life in Berlin.
This emerges from the figures of a new monitoring report.
My favorite story today:
My colleague Anton Rainer writes in the series »People of the Year« about Hanna Herbst, the editor-in-chief of »ZDF Magazin Royale«.
Until December 24th, the series will introduce people who touched, moved or occupied us this year.
Herbst helped Jan Böhmermann gain his reputation as a revealer by revealing, among other things, the dubious mask shops of the influencer Fynn Kliemann.
"Humor, as Jan Böhmermann understands it, is always playing with fire," writes Anton.
While other satirists amuse the bourgeoisie from a safe distance, he provokes with childish enthusiasm.
Since he has been working for ZDF and with Herbst, Böhmermann has been recognized as an investigative uncoverer, even if not every one of his revelations turns out to be a coup.
The editor-in-chief, Herbst, is not very well known in Germany, "but pretty much everyone talks about her research," reports the colleague.
Herbst, 32, has lived in Vienna for many years, has written a book entitled »You don't say a feminist« and has resisted the temptation to pursue a career in Austrian politics.
She says: "As a journalist, you feel like a gold digger."
Read the whole story here: The mastermind behind Böhmermann
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL+
"If something should happen to me, hopefully everyone will know who is behind it":
A judge, a police officer and a journalist fled from Turkey to Sweden, for President Erdoğan they are considered terrorists.
Do they have to fear extradition because of a new law?
»There is no need to wait six months«:
The World Health Organization recommends waiting at least six months after a miscarriage or abortion before trying to get pregnant again.
Researchers are now calling for the recommendation to be changed – due to new data.
Why Toyota brings the Prius out of the woods:
The Toyota Prius polarizes: some love the eco-pioneer, a US MP blew it up.
The culture war over the car could now go into the next round - it gets a new chance.
Which is less important today
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Photo: Sarah Silbiger / REUTERS
Superwoman in the White House:
Gladys Knight
, 78, wonderfully cool soul singer, was a guest of the US President with a few other show people.
Together with colleague Amy Grant, 62, musicians from the band U2 and actor George Clooney, 61, she was received by President Joe Biden, 80.
The artists received awards for their life's work.
In one of her hits, Gladys Knight sings "I'm not (your) Superwoman." Fans like me think the opposite is true.
Biden articulated his excitement a little stiffly: "Tonight we're celebrating a truly exceptional group of artists."
Typo of the day
, now corrected: "Wheat donated by Ukraine to Ethiopia reaches Africa."
Cartoon of the Day:
Morality Police
And tonight?
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Photo:
FX Networks / Disney+
Could you watch the series The Patient.
Actor Steve Carell plays a psychotherapist in the ten-part show, which is available on Disney+.
The hero is kidnapped by one of his patients.
The patient is obviously a serial killer and is extremely compulsive in seeking therapy.
"Meanness is the prerogative of civilized man," Sigmund Freud once wrote.
My colleague Oliver Kaever writes that the series is really exciting and surprising, however, because it is less about the kidnapper's perfidy and more about the kidnapped person's search for identity.
Precisely because of Carell's extraordinary acting skills, Oliver thinks the series is "a masterpiece".
A lovely evening.
Yours sincerely,
Wolfgang Hoebel