Germany
Hitler’s émigrés
German-speaking refugees dragged British culture into the 20th century. But that didn’t go down well in Stepney or Stevenage, says William Cook
Incomprehensible genius
London’s Goethe-Institut has a two-month season of films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder (whose 70th anniversary it’s celebrating), but only five…
The house that Alfred built
This is a book about boundaries — and relationships. At its heart is the eponymous house by the lake, which…
Merkel’s folly
By making them more likely to attempt the perilous journey to Europe, the German chancellor is luring would-be migrants to their deaths
Strauss-ful
Richard Strauss’s Daphne is one of the operas he wrote during the excruciatingly long Indian summer of his composing life,…
The clock that stopped: the victory of nuclear arms and defeat of nuclear power
‘I visited the black marble obelisk which marks the epicentre of the explosion, and I saw the plain domestic wall-clock…
Hamburg
‘What was it like growing up in Liverpool?’ a journalist asked John Lennon. ‘I didn’t grow up in Liverpool,’ he…
A deal for the good of the world, but in Vienna rather than Brussels
As an occasional lecturer on the abstruse topic of the efficacy of sanctions in conflict resolution, I find myself much…
If Merkel shrugs…
Grexit would be worse for Germany than for Greece
Country house opera
I stole a blanket last night. Rather a nice one, in fact. I feel bad about it, of course, but…
Cameron’s friend in Brussels
Hungary’s Viktor Orban could be the PM’s most influential ally in EU renegotiations. So what does he want – and what can he get?
Two batons better
The morning after the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra failed to elect a music director, I took a call from Bild-Zeitung, Berlin’s…
Children of Gomorrah
The carpet-bombing of Hamburg killed 40,000 people. It also did good
The devil’s devoted disciple
It is ironic that this weighty biography of Hitler’s evil genius of a propaganda minister is published on the day…
Letters
Enemies within Sir: I thought Matthew Parris was typically incisive in his last column, but perhaps not quite as much…
Lime light
In April 1501, about the time Michelangelo was returning from Rome to Florence to compete for the commission to carve…
A truly radical review of business rates is worth more than all the Budget spin
Of all the measures talked up ahead of the Budget, the reannouncement of a ‘radical’ review of the business rates…
Diary
Last week I went to the exhilarating English National Opera production of Wagner’s The Mastersingers — five hours of wonderful…
Diary
It’ll be a Skype interview, says the producer from Greek television, and not live. In TV-speak that usually means not…
High life
The good news is that a Greek suppository is about to relieve the EU’s economic constipation. The bad is that…
The great European revolt
For Angela Merkel, it’s a crisis. For David Cameron, it’s an opportunity
Dresden notebook
Sachsenschweine — Saxon pigs — said the graffiti as my train moved out of Berlin on its way to Dresden.…
Long life
Whether or not you believe in the afterlife, death remains an impenetrable mystery. One moment a person is making jokes…
This time round, the eurozone looks robust enough to get rid of its Greek problem
Ever since European Central Bank president Mario Draghi declared himself ready, in July 2012, ‘to do whatever it takes to…
Back to the front
Germans are beginning to recognise that they will not always be able to stay out of military conflicts
