I’m the moderator of the European Alternatives debate in Berlin on Saturday between the MEPs Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann (SPD), Alexandra Thein (FDP) (yes, her of the posters fame), Helmut Scholz (Die LINKE) and Michael Cramer (Grüne). The debate is at the end of the Transeuropa Caravans tour that has been running over the last couple […]
German Politics
Wortwechsel, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Freitag den 2. Mai, 1907-2000
Today has been a bit of a step into the unknown. I was a guest on the Deutschlandradio Kultur show “Wortwechsel” that was recorded at lunchtime and will be broadcast tonight between 1907 and 2000. The programme will be available live here. It’s the first time I have ever been the guest […]
The empty slogans of the ‘Volksparteien’ in the European Parliament election campaign in Germany
From its headquarters at the southern end of Stresemanstrasse as far as Potsdamer Platz, the SPD has filled the street with huge election posters for the European Parliament election campaign… and they are awful. The five main posters are shown below. For me the main test for an election slogan […]
Time for some policy-based evidence-making – how the Jacques Delors Institut Berlin ought to work
Back in my days as a civil servant one phrase dominated UK government-speak: evidence-based policy-making. The essential idea was to gather adequate evidence about a problem, and how various solutions could work, and determine a policy choice based on that. Now of course this was constrained by the ideology of […]
The elite calls out the elite for being elite. Or is it leadership?
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 […]
How to find a flat in Berlin
I moved to Berlin on 26th October 2013, and now, less than 3 months later, I am already living in my second flat. I’ve gathered an enormous amount of knowledge through the two flat searches, and this blog entry is a summary of my learning. Do comment below, or tweet […]
Why I’m in favour of building on parts of Tempelhofer Feld / Tempelhof Flughafen
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 […]
Video | RE:INVENT Europe (auf deutsch)
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, […]
Why I’m leaving the Labour Party, and joining the Grüne in Germany
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, […]
The German EC-Karte oddity
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 […]
So why this affinity for Germany?
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 […]
Moving to Berlin: I need a place to live (a little social media experiment)
The days when it was easy to find a flat to rent in Berlin are long gone. While rent, in comparison to other EU capitals, remains reasonable, trying to find an adequate place is complicated. An additional annoyance is that estate agents charge the tenant in Germany (normally 2 months […]