Perhaps I’m overdoing it, but I’m not a fan of the way Mark Leonard’s recent ECFR column is titled. “The revenge of the German elite” he writes, documenting concerted efforts by Bundespräsident Gauck, and ministers Steinmeier and von der Leyen. The basic gist of the piece is that the German...
🚨 This guide is now over 6 years old. And I am now looking for a new flat in Berlin. You can read about that here. And a whole new guide will be written at the end of the process as well! 🚨 I moved to Berlin on 26th October...
The former Tempelhof Airport is one of Berlin’s extraordinary places. The former airport is a huge open space in the city, and is larger even than Tiergarten (the park / forest further north in the city). Slow Travel Berlin has an excellent history of the airport and the field in...
Mit Blick auf die Europawahl 2014 initiieren die Stiftung Mercator und der Zeitbild Verlag das Projekt „RE:INVENT EUROPE – Jugend gestaltet Europa”, das Jugendliche in Nordrhein-Westfalen dazu motivieren soll, sich kreativ mit der europäischen Idee auseinanderzusetzen und eigene Ideen für ein zukunftsfähiges Europa zu entwickeln. Jon Worth, Europa-Blogger und Politikberater,...
I’m an intensely political person and it has been that way for a long time. I joined the Labour Party in the UK as a 16 year old, before I was even old enough to vote. This means I have spent more than half my life in the Labour Party,...
Today in Berlin I bought a bike. With cash. Yes, with a wad of €50 and €20 notes. Why? Because the bike store accepted only the German EC-Karte debit card, and not credit cards. On Thursday I will need to buy some furniture in IKEA and, as confirmed on their...
I’m back. Today is my first full day back living in Berlin since leaving here in March 2002. Then I had spent 6 months living in the city as a 21-year old recent graduate from the UK, trying to scrape together a living. I left for Brussels, and resolved one...
🚨 This blog post – and the guide “How to find a flat in Berlin” – are now over 6 years old. And I am now looking for a new flat in Berlin. You can read about that here. And a whole new guide will be written at the end...
At 1747 on Saturday October 26th my train will pull into Berlin Hbf and I will be arriving at the place I hope I will be able to call home. Since a short period living in the German capital between October 2001 and March 2002 I have longed to return,...
A small memorial to the Jews deported from Grunewald railway station in Berlin to the concentration camps in World War II. Each part of the platform lists a different chilling deportation. Here someone had put some candles in the shape of the Star of David on one part of the...
I’ve just listened to a speech by CDU member of the Bundestag Eckart von Klaeden about the EU’s role in the world and how important it is to open up our markets. He stated over and over again that there were almost uniquely benefits to Germany to being open to...
Two weekends, two election campaigns: I’ve been in Berlin this weekend and they are in the middle of a campaign for the Berliner Landtag, the state parliament. While I found the campaigning methods in Sweden last week quite fun and progressive, the efforts at promoting the elections in Berlin strike...