[web2py] controller not returning variables

[jonas]

this is probably simple but I post it anyway

I have a layout that includes sidebar.html:

    <section id="main" class="main row">
  <br>
  <br>
        <div class="span2 left-sidebar offset1">
  <!-- <div class="headerDivider"></div> -->
  {{block left_sidebar}}
  {{include 'default/sidebar.html'}}
  {{end}}
        </div>

and sidebar.html:

{{left_sidebar_enable=True}}
<h4><i class="icon-user"></i> me (from sidebar.html):</h4>
{{for pre in about:}}
  {{for pr in pre.presentation.split():}}
  <dl class="dl">
  <dd><i class="icon-check"></i> {{=pr}}</dd>
  </dl>
  {{pass}}
  <h5><i class="icon-arrow-right"></i> Contact: {{=pre.contact}}</h5>
{{pass}}

however, my controller returns variables but I cannot see them in the view. 
When checking, the controller is not even called: 

def sidebar():

    query=db.about.id>0
    ab=db(query).select()
    print 'called sidebar'
    return dict(ab=ab)

the view is in view/default and the controller is in controller/default.py

why is not the controller called?

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