antipattern

The results of Sunday’s federal elections lead to a new centre-right coalition government which is economically much more liberal than the previous government. The Free Democrats were proclaiming drastic economic reforms during their electoral campaign and the Christian Democrats already indicated that they wanted to end the unpopular Grand Coalition with the Social Democrats for similar reasons. I try to explain the current strands of debate in Germany, and assess whether Merkel will now turn to Thatcherite positions.

The following text was a reply to a friend of mine asking me for my view on the German elections. It turned out to be rather lengthy, and I thought it might be worth putting it online

It’s World Towel Day:

…yet. But there isn’t much left.

How regimes rely on bananas.

Absolutely hilarious: Mark Thomas!

Old grannies get scammed with electric blankets and knife sets. But whilst an electric blanket probably wouldn’t attract the attention of students, other goods do.

Not only Obama promises hope, but also the Social Democrats in Saxony. They decided to veto Mr Schäubles recent reform of the federal police, the BKA. With the resulting abstention vote of Saxony in the Bundesrat, the law seems to be blocked—at least temporarily.

A short rant about Hobbes