Germany
Germany’s Bundeswehr bears no resemblance to an actual army
Confusion abounded this week when the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Ukraine could use western missiles to hit…
Texas is the perfect holiday destination
Business travel isn’t quite the perk it is cracked up to be. For one thing, you have no say about…
Orphans of war: Once the Deed is Done, by Rachel Seiffert, reviewed
Interlinked stories of displaced children in Germany in 1945 capture this devastating moment in history. But amid the pain and trauma there is hope and resilience, too
Can German cars survive Donald Trump?
In 2003, Donald Trump took delivery of a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, a $450,000 German supercar that blended precision engineering with…
Portrait of the week: Foreign aid cut, Pope in hospital and King pulls a pint
Home Before flying to Washington, Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, said: ‘We have to be ready to play our…
What Europe gets wrong about the far right
The head of America’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (Doge) has written to all federal workers in the US asking them…
What the rise of the AfD means for Germany
In the Thuringian city of Weimar, opposite the theatre where the National Assembly hashed out Germany’s constitution in 1918, stands…
Letters: The brilliant uselessness of art
Wonderfully useless Sir: Michael Simmons overlooks some scandalous examples of frivolous funding right under his nose (‘Waste land’, 15 February).…
Letters: The real value of independent schools
Strength of service Sir: Matthew Lynn and Steven Bailey (Letters, 1 February) are quite wrong to deplore the decline of…
The AfD’s moment has arrived
‘The firewall has fallen!’ Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), posted on X, barely able to…
‘I am the German Donald Trump’: an interview with the AfD’s Maximilian Krah
‘My knife is at your throat,’ says a Turkish barber, wielding a razor blade around Maximilian Krah’s face. Krah, one…
Don’t believe the ‘Believe Her’ movement
I never expected to have strong feelings for a member of Germany’s Green party, but I really do feel extremely…
Why I’m voting for the AfD
On 23 February, I will vote for the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party in the German general election. As someone…
In defence of first past the post
Here comes a new law in political science: Joe’s Law. As I write, the Republic of Ireland is still working…
Two forgotten men brought down the Berlin Wall
Here in Berlin, 35 years ago today, at a dull press conference in a dreary conference room a short walk…
Few rulers can have rejoiced in a less appropriate sobriquet than Augustus the Strong
The 17th-century Elector of Saxony was notoriously vain and incompetent, and his reckless bid for the Polish crown was disastrous for all concerned
Will AfD voters ever return to the mainstream?
For the second time in three weeks, the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) has received a significant percentage of the…
Olaf Scholz has won a hollow victory in Brandenburg’s state elections
In what will surely come as a relief to the German chancellor Olaf Scholz, his SPD party has won this…
The wonder of wine from the Mosel
Conservatives used to be good at inspiring a mass membership, underpinned by organisations. Before the first world war, the Primrose…
How to manage migration like the Swedish
In the end, the German state of Thuringia did not fall into the hands of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland…
John Healey’s ‘joint declaration’ with Germany is pure waffle
The new cabinet cannot be accused of laziness. John Healey, secretary of state for defence, has just been on a…
I lost to Harry Kane at darts
Gareth Southgate has always been a man interested in life outside the football circus. When he played for England, I…
Agent Zo: the Polish blonde with nerves of steel
Clare Mulley celebrates the courage of Elzbieta Zawacka, who repeatedly risked her life in the second world war liaising between London and the Polish Resistance
Why were Germany’s Covid files redacted?
There are two kinds of long Covid. One is a medical syndrome, the other manifests as a healthy obsession –…
