SPIEGEL in-depth interview with former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt on rising prices and the oil crisis.

“Petrol and Matches”

Right-wing extremism: For the first time, three dropouts are affording outsiders a glimpse behind the neo-Nazi scenes. They managed, with great difficulty, to escape a shady, criminal world, in which boozed-up skins and ardent admirers of Hitler indulge in a Teutonic cult. Now they will have to answer to the courts for countless crimes. In SPIEGEL magazine the three for the first time report about circles and rituals which were until now hidden from the public; they tell of a world in which the leader and the ideology of the murderous Nazi system are honoured and propagated in a jumble of groups and sub-groups.

“The Money Killers”

New Market: Gigabell was the first company on the New Market to collapse. Many people regard this case as marking the beginning of a long-overdue cleansing process. The high-tech stock exchange is ridding itself of dubious gambler’s stocks. The founders of the start-ups got rich quickly by going public – and with them many top talents. But the prospect of the money lured many who would have been wiser not to set up a joint-stock company.

“The Thrill of the Deep”

Electronics: Is 3-D television just round the corner? At the Photokina Fair, manufacturers are presenting a new type of monitor on which three-dimensional images can be marvelled at without special glasses.

“Fairground of Opinions”

Internet: Consumers are seizing power. On the Internet they sit in judgement over deep-freezes, sex services and fruit juice. The success of the consumer democracy is based on clever computer technology – only the best product testers make it. Tens of thousands have been seized by this passion. All over the country they are sitting down and writing reviews about products that have given them delight or displeasure. Here it is consumers’ turn to speak at last, and they are not about to relinquish the opportunity again. Many leisure critics spend hours writing, almost every day. What is their reward? Marks, like in school. Readers can immediately rate each article according to its quality, by clicking on a scale from “very useful” to “useless”. Opinions about goods are themselves only goods and have to stand up to the consumers’ judgement.

“Freight Drones in the Underworld”

Transport: A Bochum professor is proposing a new system of transport as a way out of the traffic snarl-ups on our roads. In future, goods are to be transported entirely automatically along tubes beneath the cities. Economists believe that the tunnel project may actually be viable. The transport drones are intelligent, well equipped with computers and sensors, they know where they want to go, turn off as required and constantly relay their position to the world above. Transportation without congestion, noise or stench – and without road deaths. And no space is needed either: while children play above ground, the supplies for the consumer society whiz around below in the metropolitan dispatch network. Goods would be ordered on the Internet – and speed invisibly to consumers along Stein’s “under-net”.

“Death in the Sea of Sand”

Tourism: Armed raids on Sahara tourists are on the increase. The authorities are powerless, or else corrupt. The attacks not only affect the travellers themselves, but also the national economies of the Saharan states. Desert tourism had become an important source of income in the 1980s, until it broke down in the early nineties. Since the beginning of this year, hope has been stirring again for the first time. But if the authorities do not succeed in stopping the savage raids, the positive trend will quickly be reversed again.

“Europe’s Stepchildren”

Ukraine: In the blind spot between the East and West lie the Ukrainian Carpathians. Habsburg’s emperors, Hitler and Stalin ruled here one after another. Since 1991, the destitute area has been ruled from Kiev. It is the home of Hutsanii shepherds, devout Jews, gypsies who speak ten different languages, and of a monument – to the centre of the continent.

“We Are Interfering”

SPIEGEL in-depth interview with Douglas Adams. Will the democracy of the future be electronic? The best-selling author firmly believes so. Only that people are incapable of recognising the transformation already taking place:

“Because of the speed with which everything moves in the world of the net, we have, for the first time, the opportunity to discuss every wrong immediately and to take remedial action. That’s never been the case before in all of history. … There will be a dramatic paring down of the governments, just as has happened to the large corporations which have realised that many of their structures are superfluous today and get in the way. … Once there is a rudimentary restaurant guide for Berlin, people will drop by and wonder “Why is this restaurant in there and not that one?” Then they can do something about it. That’s also how electronic democracy works – through co-operation. We used to complain “Why doesn’t television report about this? Why is no one interested in this, why don’t they do something against that?” On the Internet there is no longer this Us and Them. There is only one big Us.”

“Help from the Simulator”

Aviation: More near collisions, more crash victims, mysterious causes of accidents, all these are upsetting airlines, pilots and passengers alike. Experts are calling for a data network for aviation. Modelled on the US Space Shuttle, whose flight data are transmitted to ground control during each mission, air-traffic controllers and pilots are to be linked on-line through satellites and data lines. In addition, all readings of the flight recorder that are relevant to safety would be relayed to flight control stations. If an aircraft got into distress, experts on the ground would have the same information at their disposal as the crew. Acting as a virtual crew in flight simulators, they could then pass on tips to the cockpit.