Why the Germans don’t do it better

Germany, not so very long ago, was the example of how to do it. Shiningly spotless and effortlessly efficient – the country where they’d got it right. Today, with its economy doom-spiralling and levels of internal unquiet that look likely to see the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) do very well in this Sunday’s federal election, alles is not looking quite so klar.

We must resist the temptation to take any pleasure in German misfortunes. I’m sure they don’t ever smirk at our very similar troubles, and surely don’t even have a word for such a thing. 

Let’s turn our attention instead to the homegrown strangeness of British people who idealise Germany. The journalist John Kampfner, former Newsnight reporter and Chatham House bigwig, published a book in 2020 titled Why the Germans do it better – Notes from a grown-up country.