You In Your Small Corner…

There's another reason I think why Germany took in so many refugees in 2015 while Britain took in so few. It's only a very primitive hypothesis so don't quote me on it --but here goes. Germans just need less space. Like I say, it's only a hypothesis and I haven't really thought it through. I …

Pragmatic

Moin! That's North German for "good afternoon" by the way. I've been up in the north of Germany for a couple of days now. Base camp has been the port city of Bremerhaven and I've never been here in my life. I'm travelling alone and the dialect has me reaching for the phrasebook -- but …

Who Won The Bloody War Anyway?

One thing that I miss about living in the UK is the seagulls. In the north of the country it seems like you are never so far inland that you don't see them circling somewhere. Predictably enough, when I did live in Britain, I barely noticed they were there. If I thought about them at …

The Princess Factory

Come on, is there anybody out there who doesn't enjoy a royal wedding? I'm tempted to answer: "the bride" to that particular question. Don't get me wrong here; I'm not denigrating the looks and charms of the Windsor boys. I'm sure Kate and Meghan are very happy. But I do wonder how they'd feel if, …

Whistler

Pub quiz night in Dortmund. The stakes are high: two hundred euros in small change and the title of Summer Champions. I'm responsible for security; a tough job but somebody's got to do it. Such is the German will to win that I could be in for a busy evening. I doubt it will get …