“Everything has changed,” Keir Starmer warned us only a few weeks ago, noting how Donald Trump’s re-election is reordering the globe. And yet somehow, even after “Liberation Day”, everything in Britain has stayed the same. Austerity is back, just with …
Germany isn’t ready to fight
“Germany is back,” Friedrich Merz victoriously declared, fresh off securing a historic deal to boost military spending. Once, such a statement might have sent shudders across Europe. Now, it brings cautious relief. With the postwar order in disarray, London, Paris …
Will Thomas Tuchel answer England’s prayers?
Tonight, England face Albania in their first game under Thomas Tuchel, the first foreigner to take charge of the national side since 2010. That was the summer in which Fabio Capello, an Italian, oversaw a miserable World Cup campaign. After …
What Bismarck taught Dominic Cummings
Otto von Bismarck preoccupies Dominic Cummings. If you spend any time reading his blog, you will have noted the 1890 Punch cartoon Dropping the Pilot. The Pilot in question is a thick-necked walrus, Bismarck, descending from the Prussian ship of …
Germany’s soft spot for Russia
Mounted atop a former warehouse in Hamburg’s industrial-era docklands, the billowing form of the Elbphilharmonie concert hall rises above Germany’s second-largest city like an ocean wave. The glass-panelled building crowns a new, forward-looking section of the city, a modern and …
Germany is stuck in a centrist trap
The CDU has just declared victory — but Germany is as lost as ever. From its dysfunctional economic model to its ineffective army and the lack of leadership in Europe faced with Donald Trump’s onslaughts, the Federal Republic’s urgent problems …
Can Germany trust Friedrich Merz?
At the ripe age of 69, Friedrich Merz has waited decades for this moment. Ahead of Sunday’s election, he is Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, with his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) predicted to secure 30% of the vote. He’ll have to cobble together …
Germany’s immigration meltdown
He came from Afghanistan through Bulgaria, where he had registered his claim for asylum. In 2022, he travelled through the EU’s open borders to Germany where he settled in the north-western Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg. Last Wednesday, the man, now …
How China burned German industry
“Today’s Germany is the best Germany the world has seen.” So effused the Washington Post columnist George F. Will five long years ago. It’s hard to imagine anyone — even a German — writing those words today. The country is …
The duelling fraternity fighting the far-Right
I am standing in a smoke-filled cellar in Vienna at midnight, braced for my first duel. I am new to the sport, so I am wearing a motorcycle helmet, while my opponent dons a pair of steampunk metal goggles. Even …
Angela Merkel: mother of German decline
“Merkel-Nostalgie” has swept a Germany grappling with war, a tanking economy and a collapsed government. The former German chancellor’s autobiography sold 35,000 copies on the day of publication, and Berliners queued for hours to have her sign their copies. As …
How Trump will transform Poland
Across much of Eastern Europe, being a Trump whisperer has become an overnight job requirement. Aside from Viktor Orbán and a few other examples of genuine giddiness, leaders right across the former Soviet bloc have rushed to show their value …
What the AfD gets wrong about Bauhaus
What a sorry mess we are in. The other week, plans to celebrate the centenary of the Bauhaus’ arrival in Dessau were met with opposition. Proposing a motion called “The Aberration of Modernity” — which was rejected — in the …
Sahra Wagenknecht’s insider revolution
When Sahra Wagenknecht founded her new “Left-conservative” BSW party earlier this year, it seemed as if it might fill a gaping void in Germany’s political spectrum. In the UK, Maurice Glasman famously branded this combination “Blue Labour” — but until …
Why Germany is stuck in the slow lane
The three-piece band was doing its best to lift spirits with relentlessly upbeat pop songs and bursts of oompah music as rain plummeted down on a bleak autumnal day. A handful of people sat scattered at tables set up under …
