Germany
Another AfD win could mean the end for Germany’s embattled chancellor
Just two weeks after the Alternative for Germany’s (AfD) victory in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, two more state elections are…
How full are Britain’s care homes?
Before 9/11 11 September will always be remembered for the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon 25 years…
Can Britain learn from Sweden’s immigration crackdown?
There is a decisive shift occurring in European politics. It’s happening across nations – and parties. It lies behind the…
Is Europe brave enough to keep pointing the finger at Putin?
Just under a month after three drones were discovered in quick succession at Leipzig airport, the German government took the…
We should politicize the Berlin Pride attack
Of all the platitudes trotted out after an Islamist attack, the maddest has to be: “Don’t politicize this tragedy.” The…
Who believes the latest version of the Nord Stream saga?
If you want to start a myth, make it a good one. Look at Odysseus. Imagine if the old liar…
Pity us poor Celtic fans
Although the past few footballing weeks have been dominated by the convulsive conclusion to Arsenal’s season – and the upcoming…
My annual pilgrimage along the route of the Berlin Wall
Each time I return to Berlin – that wonderful, awful city where I whiled away the best days of my…
For Trump, it’s lonely at the top
King Charles III and Queen Camilla were at their most emollient in Washington, where they exchanged a flurry of presents…
The unlikely link between Nuremberg and The Devil Wears Prada
In the aftermath of Peter Magyar’s victory in Hungary, while I watch people dancing in the streets as they celebrate…
Is it time for me to renounce the Devil?
As I spent much of January in dry dock in Tommy’s hospital (‘dry’ being doubly appropriate), other avocations were needed.…
The citizens of nowhere adrift in the West
Threatened with violence in her native Turkey, the writer Ece Temelkuran finds herself, like countless migrants, permanently ‘unhomed’
The Kremlin’s plan to create a new wave of Ukrainian refugees
What is the limit of Ukrainian civilians’ endurance? In nearly four years of relentless war, Ukraine’s people have faced summary…
European countries are expanding their militaries. Why aren’t we?
Following America’s extraordinary raid on Venezuela last week, Donald Trump has pointed to Greenland, which belongs to the Kingdom of…
The catastrophic dumbing down of German education
German teachers are a privileged species. Most of us enjoy the status of a Beamter, a tenured civil servant. We…
Why can’t Friedrich Merz just say sorry?
‘We live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world,’ began a seemingly innocuous speech by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz…
Never date a German man
Call me unpatriotic but, although I’m German, nothing could ever have persuaded me to date a German man. I married…
Why France hates Macron
One of the pleasures of spending the summer in France is that I can turn aside from our national problems…
Clerical skulduggery on the far borders of 1830s Germany
The Barchester Chronicles it isn’t, but this short and lively account of one of history’s footnotes reminds us that the culture wars existed long before TikTok and Twitter
How governments gaslight
The posters now plastered around German public swimming pools are so hilarious that you may have seen them already. Keeping…
There was no escaping the Nazis – even in sleep
Soon after Hitler came to power, a Jewish journalist, deprived of regular employment, began secretly recording her nightmares – and, as the terror increased, those of her fellow citizens
Can freedom of movement survive Europe’s migrant crisis?
Freedom of movement in the EU received another nail in its coffin yesterday after Poland became the latest European country…
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…
