A right-wing campaign of neighbourhood terror has been carrying on for years on the streets of Neukölln. For a long time, the police just seemed incompetent. Now there are accusations that some police may have had connections to suspected right-wing attackers. We talk to the Mobile Counsel Against Right-wing Extremism Berlin: www.mbr-berlin.de/ The next coronavirus wave is upon us. The city is well prepared, with lots of available hospital beds. But politicians aren't taking chances, introducing...
Oct 23, 2020•58 min
The AfD has won a court battle to remove pop-up bike lanes. How can cyclists fight back? We meet Dirk von Schneidemesser from Changing Cities who says we can convince drivers to give up cars if we have better, safer bike paths. Become a supporting member of Changing Cities here: https://changing-cities.org Football used to be banned for women in Germany. But for ten years the NGO Discover Football has been making soccer more female-friendly and empowering women. We talk to Johanna Small about th...
Sep 18, 2020•1 hr
Maisie mingles mit medical misbelievers and miscellaneous misinformed masses. Brace yourself - winter markets may be cancelled. Plus Berlin’s building and housing senator has been forced to resign… what does this mean for the rent freeze? Berlin’s population has fallen for the first time in almost two decades. There are 3.7 million residents registered here. But 7000 moved away since the start of the year. The reason is because of fewer foreigners coming here - only 1000 moved here since the sta...
Sep 03, 2020•1 hr 4 min
Are you faking your details on restaurant sign-in sheets? Now the police are requisitioning venue contact lists for non-health-related investigations. About 20,000 corona deniers marched through Berlin on Saturday, showing that covidiots aren't only found in the US. At the same time, police brutally cracked down on a left-wing demo in Neukölln. Hasenheide parties have become international news. Maisie was at a small gathering in the park and witnessed the policing strategy of banning bass freque...
Aug 04, 2020•33 min
Why does the German media still use racist cliches, and focus on race in stories about coronavirus outbreaks? We meet Gilda Sahebi, journalist for Taz and Neue Deutsche Medienmacher*innen. She tries to help educate newsrooms about persistent casual racism. Follow Gilda at https://twitter.com/GildaSahebi Can you film racist incidents and put them online? Only if you blur the faces, warns Joe von Hutch, a writer and lawyer. Joe says white allies should put their bodies on the line to protect peopl...
Jul 06, 2020•1 hr 9 min
This mini episode features Daniel Stern interviewing artist Aram Barthall about his recent installation “Unlock Life” which utilizes remnants of the recent bike share boom. Find out more about at Aram Bartholl at https://arambartholl.com and see the exhibit until the 16th of August at https://www.kunstraumkreuzberg.de. Additionally: We are happy to announce that we will return to live recording with an audience on Saturday July 4th at 3pm - detailed announcement coming soon. Thanks to our recent...
Jun 29, 2020•16 min
Almost everything is open again, but the crisis isn't over. 30% of Berlin workers are now jobless or on Kurzarbeit suspension. Many cafes, shops and big businesses have closed. Maisie tells us about job hunting following her return to Berlin. Corona rule confusion continues. Masks must be worn in supermarkets but not gyms. Customers mask up in shops but not staff, but in restaurants it's the other way around. And now a court has invalidated some of the fines handed out for non-distancing. The BV...
Jun 08, 2020•57 min
Berlin starts counting the cost of the shutdown. Business tax revenues have plummeted by 90%. Who’s going to pay the bill? Are we going back to the dark days of “saving till it squeals”? This week’ status: Mask compliance is at about 90%. Public transport use is at 50%. Restaurants are open, but only until 10pm: they’re demanding an extra hour of trading. 400 people are in hospital with the virus. After Berlin's successful project of converting roads to temporary Spielstraßen, play streets, Dan ...
May 24, 2020•44 min
Berlin is days away from the great restart.Restaurants, pools, hotels and kitas will soon open again under new rules. But there’s no return in sight for the things some people liked about Berlin the most - drinking, smoking, partying and then recovering in cinemas. What will Berlin look like after this involuntary rehab? The Club Commission is requesting that clubs and bars be allowed to operate open air areas until midnight, with guests wearing masks. Clubs want to use public spaces, such as pa...
May 10, 2020•1 hr 5 min
Berlin is emerging from its lockdown hibernation. Shops are open again, but some of us have lost the will to consume. Restaurants are still closed. They're bearing the cost of the government's strategy of transmitting a message of abnormality. Joel says restaurateurs should be compensated for lost profits, not just costs. Simple masks will be obligatory on public transport from Monday. But the BVG says it can’t enforce the rule and is worried about vigilantism. Maisie gives a review of your face...
Apr 25, 2020•1 hr 7 min
Berlin police ask snitches not to block the emergency hotline 110 with coronavirus kontaktverbot reports. They'd prefer to use drones to control people. New fines are in place: it could cost you €10 if you leave the house without a reason (or a creative response). The Financial Times reports on illegal 'raves' in Berlin costing €100 a head. We can't prove they didn't happen, but the story smells like a fabrication to us. Let us know if you went to one of these top-secret warehouse raves. E-scoot...
Apr 12, 2020•49 min
Put that picnic blanket away, and don’t dare drink a beer in the park. Berlin's signature freedoms are being restricted. How far is too far? Should you cancel your gym membership, or keep paying to help businesses survive? And Tegel Airport may soon fall victim to the virus crisis. Berlin police are busy patrolling parks and shutting down candlelit dinners in 'spreadeasies.' We debate the morality of flouting the rules for a bit of fun. Are you tech-savvy and want to help build community solutio...
Mar 28, 2020•55 min
This mini episode of Radio Spaetkauf features an interview with Chad Matheny aka Emperor X of Neukölln music venue Donau115. A few Berlin news updates with Daniel Stern: Berlin is quiet as new restrictions limit gatherings and movement. Districts are offering financial support to residents who are helping their neighbors. Schools and daycares remain closed but some workers are entitled to childcare. Connect to Donau115 at http://donau115.de Find Chad’s music at http://emperorx.net More Radio Spa...
Mar 26, 2020•19 min
How are we going to survive this month of Sundays? Berlin freelancers are being promised €5000 cash, but who can get it and how? Rent payments could be delayed so we can stay in our flats and keep our shops. And… what good changes have come from our time under lockdown? Keen to maintain their distance from one another, Radio Spaetkauf's Joel Dullroy, Jöran Mandik, Daniel Stern- in Berlin- and Maisie Hitchcock - in the UK- linked up remotely using the wonders of modern technology. The lockdown ha...
Mar 23, 2020•47 min
"The time for partying is over," Berlin's health senator Dilek Kalayci said, announcing the shut down of the city. Berlin's government has enacted the widest restriction of liberties since the war as it struggles to combat the Coronavirus pandemic. Hosts Daniel Stern, Joel Dullroy and Jöran Mandik record an unscheduled episode in an empty room. Our correspondent in Maisie Hitchcock joins us via Skype to tell us about pre-lockdown England. Noah Telson from the Comedy Cafe Berlin tells us about sh...
Mar 16, 2020•58 min
Berlin's rent freeze has begun, but nobody seems to know what's going on. Landlords and tenants alike are confused about what to do next. Rents are now capped at the rate paid in June 2019 - all increases since then are invalid. New contracts can't exceed about €9.80 a square meter - half as much as many advertised prices. And landlords face fines of half a million euros for cheating. On this episode we go inside Berlin's parliament to hear the moment the rent freeze law was passed. Supporters a...
Mar 02, 2020•27 min
Berlin’s favourite free coworking space also has books. We meet Juliana Pranke from the ZLB, Berlin's central library. She tells us the secrets of the Bibliothek: You can borrow art to hang on your wall, digitize vinyl and stream films online. Why don't you have a library card already?! The revolutionary Mietendeckel has started. It applies to all tenants, even subletters in WGs. Find out more on our spin-off podcast Rent Freeze. The next episode is landing soon. Berlin Mayor Michael Müller says...
Feb 24, 2020•55 min
What happens when an entire city of 3.5 million residents stops paying rent increases for the next five years? Welcome to Rent Freeze, a podcast about Berlin’s rental revolution. Berlin is about to introduce the Mietendeckel, a law that will freeze rents for five years, cap new rental contracts at a maximum price, and allow some tenants to claim a rent reduction. Supporters say it will be the best thing to happen to the city since the fall of the Wall But investors and landlords are outraged. Th...
Jan 28, 2020•19 min
Some of Berlin's most infamous nightclubs are closing as investors cash in on their properties. Grießmühle is almost gone, and KitKatClub may be forced out by the summer. What's different about this round of club closures? And what could the city do to save its culture? In Berlin's monocultural housing estates, some kids never meet people of other religions. Shalom Rollberg changes that by offering after-school activities, taught by Jewish volunteers. We meet founder Yonatan Weizman. He says the...
Jan 27, 2020•49 min
Maisie, Dan and Joel meet at Gendarmenmarkt Christmas market to catch up on the news. Berlin's advertising boards are full of complaints by companies against the city government. Airbnb is demanding that bureaucracy more efficiently approve its hosts' applications. Do they expect citizens to care? The revolutionary rent freeze law has been passed, meaning our rents can't be increased for the next five years. Investors continue to buy up property. The SPD's new leftish national leadership wants t...
Dec 18, 2019•39 min
On this month’s Radio Spätkauf: Segregation in Berlin’s public schools, an artist and curator reinvents the Berlin‘s S-Bahn‘s disused spaces. And what is the Night of Solidarity & why should we take part in it? Courtney O'Connell has been working with children, youth, and their families in emergency shelters and temporary accommodations for people seeking asylum in Berlin since 2015. She talks to us about how Berlin‘s public school’s two-tier eduction system is proving a big stumbling block ...
Nov 22, 2019•55 min
Have you ever wished you could rest your rear on a comfy spot, but there isn’t a seat anywhere in sight? Or do you sometimes want to perch on a bench in a picturesque location, but the overflowing dustbin next to it is a bit off putting? Well now help is at hand. We speak to two creatives who are behind a pretty unusual Guerilla urbanism project: Benching Berlin. The two anonymous founders build public benches out of waste wood, then place them around town (chained up, so the authorities don't t...
Oct 22, 2019•49 min
Bicycle riders working for Deliveroo have gone from being precariously employed to unemployed. We meet some of the former Deliveroo riders who have started their own food delivery company. Christoph and Stefano founded Kolyma2, and are ready to take your order: www.kolyma2.de The rent freeze is coming. More details keep leaking out from the city government office that is preparing this radical policy. Rents are to be capped at prices ranging from around €4m2 to €9m2, depending on the building ag...
Sep 10, 2019•55 min
We're out in the woods for Mobile Kino's annual camping trip. The Lakeside Film Festival is in its sixth year, and this was the biggest so far. We interview founders Joshua and Fernando about their recent scare with Facebook's business-killing algorithm. How will Berlin's five-year rent cap affect you? If you got a rent increase notice before June 18, you may have to pay it. But the rental experts at Wenigermiete.de say at least 50% of rent increase notices have technical errors that make them i...
Aug 12, 2019•49 min
Berlin now has 750 millionaire residents - twice as many as in 2016, according to the Finanzamt. The majority live in the city's west. More live in Kreuzberg than Prenzlauer Berg. Strangely, the Finanzamt defines a millionaire as someone with over €500,000 in income and assets - a hang-over from the Deutschmark days, as DMs are worth half as much as Euros. The former German royal family wants its castles back. The remaining Hohenzollerns are relatives of the Nazi-supporting Kaiser Wilhelm II, wh...
Jul 27, 2019•5 min
Berlin now has two top level football teams after FC Union jumped up to the Bundesliga by winning a play-off match. FC Union started back in the DDR. Their die-hard fans actually helped rebuild the stadium in Köpenick with their own hands. Maybe they could help finish BER? Enjoying the heat? Spare a thought for horses pulling tourist carriages in the city center. New rules now apply - carriage operators have to stop if air temperature in the shade reaches 30 degrees Celsius. There’s been another...
Jun 17, 2019•6 min
Are you recycling, or ‘wish-cycling’? We talk to Thomas Klöckner, spokesman for BSR, Berlin’s waste processing company. It turns out we're all doing a pretty good job. But bulky waste is a problem. The solution for old mattresses? Talk to your neighbours and book a bulk collection for €50. Here's where you do it: https://www.bsr.de/sperrmuellabfuhr-20237.php Should we drive cars out of the city - and make sure they never return? Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain Green politician Florian Schmidt has propo...
May 28, 2019•53 min
Are you one of four million EU citizens living in Germany? Now's your chance to vote in the European Parliament elections. We decipher the street posters. Maisie explains why photos of chin-scratching men win more votes. Konrad Werner joins us. Listen to his podcast Meghan's Megacan: https://apple.co/2AtuB27 We speak with Joanna Bronowicka from Democracy in Europe (Diem25), who want to reform Brussels and create a 'green new deal' for Europe: https://bit.ly/2PzNx5y Why are people lying down on B...
Apr 29, 2019•1 hr 3 min
RS presents a pilot of a podcast series created by Joel Dullroy and his colleagues at DW. Well, Actually questions common assumptions and reveals surprising perspectives through exceptional stories. Unfortunately this podcast series did not make it past the pilot stage. But we thought the story of Lukas and his struggle with the church, state and his mother was too good to waste. Well Actually was produced by Elizabeth Schumacher, Mara Bierbach, Cristina Burack and Joel Dullroy at DW in Bonn....
Apr 12, 2019•34 min
Why does the BVG allow its U-Bahn stations to be used as heroin hotspots? Several stations seem to have been abandoned to drug dealers and addicts. Schönleinstraße is the centre of the problem. The BVG says it sends security guards there regularly, but we've rarely seen them. What's to be done? Forget Brexit, things are getting interesting in Berlin! The conflict between renters and landlords is getting serious. A campaign to seize corporate-owned apartments starts on April 6. Signatures will be...
Apr 01, 2019•55 min
