Should a man who once trained with the Stasi be allowed to run Berlin's housing department? Professor Andrej Holm has been named city secretary for housing. He's been the most vocal critic of the city's policies for many years, and advocates high taxation on real estate speculation. His critics say he shouldn't have such an important job because in 1989 he joined a Stasi training academy. His supporters say a person's mistake as an 18 year old shouldn't affect them 26 years later. Should the city install more security cameras, after that terrible kicking attack in an U-bahn station? Berlin was shocked by a video showing a man kicking a woman in the back, sending her flying down the stairs of the Hermannstrasse U-Bahn station. The man was caught on a bus after being recognized by a passenger. The new R2G has promised to reduce the number of surveillance cameras in public places. And should the city take free money to rebuild an imperial monument? The federal government wants to give Berlin €18.5M to rebuild the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial. Why not build something new instead? Want to protect your data while using the BVG's free WiFi network (or any other)? Join our guest Adam Burns at a Cryptoparty: https://www.cryptoparty.in/berlin It's cold out. If you see someone on the street in danger of freezing, call the Kaltbus on 0178 523 58 38. Become a Radio Spaetkauf supporter! Donate just €1, €5 or €10 a month to help us bring you the news. Go to http://www.radiospaetkauf.com and click "Donate." This episode was recorded at Comedy Cafe Berlin on Sunday December 18. It was presented by Maisie Hitchcock, Joel Dullroy and Daniel Stern. Thanks to Katharina Bille for video work, and Joshua Alas from Mobile Kino for sound.

Berlin still has an estimated 3000 unexploded WWII bombs under the surface. One was discovered this week between Neukölln and Treptow, causing the evacuation of 2600 residents. The city also has a lot of people in jail for not paying their public transport fines. Almost 10 percent of the city's 4100 inmates are there for dodging train fares. Now the new justice senator, Dirk Behrend from the Greens, plans to roll back the policy of jailing so-called "Schwarzfahrer". He wants to let them do community service instead. Michael Müller has been sworn in as Berlin's mayor for a second term as head of the R2G coalition. But it hasn't been the best week for the returning mayor. His top aide, Björn Böhning from the SPD, is being investigated for alleged corruption. The controversy is about a report written by the consulting company McKinsey into the city's refugee situation in 2015. McKinsey originally said this would be done pro bono. But later Mr. Böhning authorized a payment of €237,000 to the consultants, one of whom was a former SPD party secretary. The mayor is supporting Mr. Böhning. The investigation continues. Residents of Neukölln and Wedding awoke this week to the first snow of the season. Meteorologists said the fine layer of white snow actually came from the city's fossil fuel-fired power plants. Steam from the plants crystalized in the cold foggy air and fell to earth. They're calling it "Industrieschnee." Our next live show is on Sunday December 18 at the Comedy Cafe Berlin. Come along! This episode of Radio Spaetkauf was presented by Jöran Mandik and Daniel Stern, and was brought to you by RadioEins, Berlin's public broadcaster.

Berlin's bird flu outbreak keeps getting worse. Now residents near the central waterways are being told to keep their pets inside - even cats. The petition to keep Tegel Airport airport has progressed to the next phase. The supporters could trigger a referendum if they collect enough signatures by March. Radio Spaetkauf's next live show is on Sunday December 18, 6pm, at the Comedy Cafe Berlin. This short update was presented by Maisie Hitchcock and Daniel Stern, and is brought to you by radioeins, Berlin's public broadcaster.

While the rest of the world votes for crazy leaders and dumb ideas, Berlin's new coalition has just announced an amazing social program that makes this city even better. On this special 5th anniversary recording of Radio Spaetkauf, we remind ourselves why we came to Berlin, and why we plan to stay. There's plenty to talk about in the new red-red-green (R2G) coalition agreement, including more social housing, less automobiles and better bicycle infrastructure, but sadly no maglev to the airport. How will Berlin pay for it all? Our special guest Konrad Werner defends the government's plan to take on more debt to upgrade schools and hire more public servants. Also, we welcome Craig Schuftan, who together with his band Ducks! and musician Ray Mann created Radio Spaetkauf's new jingle. Radio Spaetkauf is hosted by Joel Dullroy, Maisie Hitchcock, Jöran Mandik and Daniel Stern.

Welcome to our new series of short news updates produced for RadioEins, Berlin's public broadcaster! On this show we talk about how Berlin's new "red-red-green" coalition between the SPD, Die Grünen and Die Linke plan to change the city. Their coalition talks include closing Unter den Linden to most vehicle traffic, and building several new tram lines across the city. The incoming coalition also plans to end the crackdown on marijuana in Görlitzer Park, and perhaps even introduce legal medical weed apothekes. Come along to the next live recording of the hour-long Radio Spaetkauf monthly show on Sunday November 20, 6pm, at the Comedy Cafe Berlin on Weserstraße, Neukölln. More at www.radiospaetkauf.com This episode is presented by Joel Dullroy and Daniel Stern. Radio Spaetkauf is brought to you by RadioEins, part of the RBB network: www.radioeins.de

Berlin still has no official governing coalition, as the SPD, Die Linke and Die Grünen drag on their negotiations. Public transport ticket prices for 2017 have been announced, and they're going up again, despite the BVG pulling in a record profit. Come along to Radio Spaetkauf's next live show on November 20 at Comedy Cafe Berlin. And stay tuned for a very special new project. Radio Spaetkauf is teaming up with RadioEins, Berlin's public broadcaster, to produce a bi-monthly short news update!

The Berlin election results are in. And it looks like the SPD's Michael Müller will remain mayor, if he can build a coalition with two other parties - most likely Die Grüne and Die Linke. This election was a protest against the major parties. Every party lost votes, except for AFD (+14.2%), FDP (+4.9%) and Die Linke (+3.9%). Michael Müller's SPD won the most votes, with 21.6% and 38 seats. But that's down 6.7% from five years ago. It's the SPD's worst performance in Berlin since World War 2. Frank Henkel's CDU also lost big, dropping to 17.6%, a loss of 5.7%. Also a historically terrible performance. Radio Spaetkauf co-host Jöran Mandik ran for election in the district of Neukölln 1 as a journalistic exercise. And he got... 66 votes! At least he beat the candidate from the neo-nazi NPD party, who got 52 votes.

We're decoding the Berlin election with a full run down on what each party is promising, with some graphic design critique thrown in. Who's going to run Berlin after the September 18 vote? Probably not the CDU, who have lost voters to the far-right AFD. The SPD doesn't want to govern with them, and neither do the Greens. It makes an SPD-Greens-Linke coalition a pretty likely scenario. Our own candidate Jöran Mandik talks about his campaign (or lack of it). Turns out if he could get 2500 votes, he'd earn over €6000 in public campaign contributions. We have a special guest, blogger John Riceburg, who has his own controversial opinion on the election. He doesn't like any of the parties, who aren't promising any great changes at all. Special thanks to our hosts Comedy Cafe Berlin!

At our annual outdoor recording in the woods, we interview three Syrian refugees - Ghaith, Omar and Munzer - who have created an app to help deal with German paperwork. It's called Bureaucrazy. Some rich person out there should really give some money to this: http://www.facebook.com/Bureaucrazy.de/ After a glorious weekend of watching movies, watching bands and swimming in the lake at Klingemühle, Mobile Kino organizers Joshua and Fernando announce that they need a new name for their festival. The word Weekender is trademarked, can you believe.

On this quick update, we talk about the secretive British investment company behind all the problems between punks and police on Rigaer Straße. Daniel thinks the whole scenario could be turned into a musical, possibly called "Henkel's Leftist Orgy of Violence" after Berlin's interior minister, who has been embarrased by a court ruling this week that found the police-assisted eviction at Rigaer Straße 94 to be unlawful. We also get an update from co-host Jöran Mandik about his attempt to run as a candidate for the upcoming Berlin city elections. Come along to the Mobile Kino Weekender on July 29-31. It's a cinematic camping trip out in the woods by a lake. Radio Spaetkauf will be recording a live episode there. Can you sponsor a Syrian refugee to come to the festival? E-mail us if you're willing to contribute €40: [email protected].