Germany
Brexit is none of Mark Carney's business
Surely there is a difference between Mark Carney’s intervention in the Scottish referendum last year and in the EU one…
The EU is on a suicide mission. Do we want to be a part of it?
It’s bad enough here, but Europe’s migrant folly is suicidal
If the migrant crisis goes on like this, there may be no EU for Britain to leave
Imagine if Nigel Farage declared that police should be ready to shoot migrants trying to make it from Calais to…
Exit, pursued by drunk polar bear
The hotel reception was lit by three gloomy low-wattage light bulbs. It should have been six but the management was…
It’s not only Germany that covers up mass sex attacks by migrant men... Sweden’s record is shameful
The truth about the recent mass sex attacks needs to be faced
Portrait of the week
Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, decided to allow ministers to campaign for either side in the referendum on membership…
How the Germans made Glyndebourne
This is hardly the time of year for picnics on the lawn, but I have nevertheless had a week dominated…
What’s it like to have a Nazi for a father?
This is a documentary in which three men travel across Europe together, but they’re not pleasurably interrailing, even though there…
What's so special about German Christmas markets
Why the fuss about German Christmas markets? Surely they’re just schmaltzy shanty towns, full of stuff you’d never dream of…
Hayek was right: you can’t understand society without evolution
In December the controversial satellite TV channel ReallyTV launches its Christmas season with a flagship reality show called From Homs to…
Tony Abbott is right about immigration - and turning back boats
For many years, Australia has been turning away boats filled with migrants. From a remove, this looks cold–hearted — a…
Angela Merkel will survive – but will the soul of post-war Germany?
The migrant crisis is testing the country’s post-war idea of itself
German refugees transformed British cultural life - but at a price
German-speaking refugees dragged British culture into the 20th century. But that didn’t go down well in Stepney or Stevenage, says William Cook
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s films verge on the incomprehensible — but that doesn’t stop him being a 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 grandstanding on Syrian refugees will lead to many more deaths at sea
By making them more likely to attempt the perilous journey to Europe, the German chancellor is luring would-be migrants to their deaths
As with so many Strauss operas, Daphne's one redeeming feature is its end
Richard Strauss’s Daphne is one of the operas he wrote during the excruciatingly long Indian summer of his composing life,…
The triumph of nuclear weapons – and the 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…
Wealthy, cosmopolitan – and sometimes rough: the secrets of Hamburg (and my grandmother)
‘What was it like growing up in Liverpool?’ a journalist asked John Lennon. ‘I didn’t grow up in Liverpool,’ he…
Some good came out of the negotiating chamber this week, but it concerned Iran rather than Greece
As an occasional lecturer on the abstruse topic of the efficacy of sanctions in conflict resolution, I find myself much…
Greece’s secret weapon: Grexit would hurt Merkel most
Grexit would be worse for Germany than for Greece
Country house picnics (with some ace opera attached)
I stole a blanket last night. Rather a nice one, in fact. I feel bad about it, of course, but…
Why Viktor Orban could be David Cameron’s new best friend
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?
What really happened in the Berlin Philharmonic election
The morning after the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra failed to elect a music director, I took a call from Bild-Zeitung, Berlin’s…
The carpet-bombing of Hamburg killed 40,000 people. It also did good
The carpet-bombing of Hamburg killed 40,000 people. It also did good
