Many traditional end-of-year markets and Christmas lights in France and Germany will go dark hours earlier than usual. But local politicians said they must still offer some kind of festive spirit to lift what they called the glum mood amid the war in Ukraine and the rising cost of living.
The western French city of Tours will replace its popular outdoor festive ice rink with rollerskating. Keeping the rink cold enough had cost its private operator €15,000 ($15,370) in electricity bills in 2020, and €7,500 last year after its size was reduced.
"It seemed a bit of an aberration to have an outdoor ice rink when the temperature here at Christmas has been 10C-15C for several years," said Martin Cohen, the deputy mayor in charge of energy and environment. "There seems no sense in keeping ice, whatever the cost, just to maintain a sense of Christmas."
He said that with global heating, towns in France "have to accept that Christmas is no longer the image of snow, ice and big Christmas trees. We'll maintain what we can because we need the magical, festive side of Christmas, but some elements have to evolve."
Denne historien er fra November 25, 2022-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra November 25, 2022-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Finn family murals
The optimism that runs through Finnish artist Tove Jansson's Moomin stories also appears in her public works, now on show in a Helsinki exhibition
I hoped Finland would be a progressive dream.I've had to think again Mike Watson
Oulu is five hours north from Helsinki by train and a good deal colder and darker each winter than the Finnish capital. From November to March its 220,000 residents are lucky to see daylight for a couple of hours a day and temperatures can reach the minus 30s. However, this is not the reason I sense a darkening of the Finnish dream that brought me here six years ago.
A surplus of billionaires is destabilising our democracies Zoe Williams
The concept of \"elite overproduction\" was developed by social scientist Peter Turchin around the turn of this century to describe something specific: too many rich people for not enough rich-person jobs.
'What will people think? I don't care any more'
At 90, Alan Bennett has written a sex-fuelled novella set in a home for the elderly. He talks about mourning Maggie Smith, turning down a knighthood and what he makes of the new UK prime minister
I see you
What happens when people with acute psychosis meet the voices in their heads? A new clinical trial reveals some surprising results
Rumbled How Ali ran rings around apartheid, 50 years ago
Fifty years ago, in a corner of white South Africa, Muhammad Ali already seemed a miracle-maker.
Trudeau faces 'iceberg revolt'as calls grow for PM to quit
Justin Trudeau, who promised “sunny ways” as he won an election on a wave of public fatigue with an incumbent Conservative government, is now facing his darkest and most uncertain political moment as he attempts to defy the odds to win a rare fourth term.
Lost Maya city revealed through laser mapping
After swapping machetes and binoculars for computer screens and laser mapping, a team of researchers have discovered a lost Maya city containing temple pyramids, enclosed plazas and a reservoir which had been hidden for centuries by the Mexican jungle.
'A civil war' Gangs step up assault on capital
Armed fighters advance into neighbourhoods at the heart of Port-au-Prince as authorities try to restore order
Reality bites in the Himalayan 'kingdom of happiness'
High emigration and youth unemployment levels belie the mountain nation's global reputation for cheeriness
