Tom Nuttall

Thank you. But presumably nothing equivalent for party congresses of the Finns?

but then I'd want to know why comparable acts in other countries don't attract the same scale of demonstration, if that is indeed the case.

OK, but that simply begs the question. It was an internal party matter, a bureaucratic act. I was there, the day was taken up with endless votes to the board, discussions over the name etc. You might regard this in itself as worthy of protest, given the nature of the party, the JA precedent etc.

Europol hive mind - do routine events organised by populist-right parties in any country other than Germany attract the sorts of mass protest we saw in Gießen over the weekend? I'm talking tens of thousands on the streets, huge police turnout etc rather than chucking a milkshake over Nigel Farage.

A selection of merch at today's founding congress of the AfD youth wing.

Hercules had 12 tasks. Luckily there's another very big one confronting the Belgian government!

There sure is!

To avoid crushing change, Europe must take control of its destiny If it does not, China will exploit the continent’s weaknesses

And accompanying cover leader, with a grave warning for Europe.

To avoid crushing change, Europe must take control of its destiny
economist.com/leaders/2025...

With help from stellar colleagues @codendahl.bsky.social, @spignal.bsky.social and @mattsteinglass.bsky.social

Chinese regulations and competition are panicking European manufacturers Recent curbs on computer chips and rare earths are feeding broader fears about deindustrialisation

Our new cover story is on the threat posed to German and Europe by China’s industrial model and its decision to exploit its stranglehold on chips/rare earths. Based on my reporting from Berlin and a trot around the Mittelstand in the Black Forest.

economist.com/briefing/202...

fwiw a couple of locals told me there had been a noticeable spike in arrivals from France in recent years

Many Israelis complain, often with justification, at their vilification at the hands of Europeans who know little about their country and have never visited it. It was striking to experience the mirror image of that phenomenon (3/3)

eg European countries are undergoing thoroughgoing and accelerating Islamisation; Britain will sooner or later succumb to Sharia; Germany has signed its own death warrant via uncontrolled immigration, etc (2/3)

Just back from a week in Israel/West Bank. Fascinating trip, tho I'll spare the world my half-baked thoughts on the Middle East. But what struck this European was how often I heard Israelis of all stripes, including avowed leftists, repeat what are here usually regarded as far-right tropes (1/3)

I have one and use it every day. When it conks out I buy (increasingly expensive) replacements on ebay. Friends think it's a hipster affect but it's a great piece of tech.

"lol," said the Bundesrepublik. "lmao". www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

Why funding Ukraine is a giant opportunity for Europe The bill will be huge. It is also a historic bargain

Eurobonds for Ukraine, say we. www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

With the official prognosis giving one additional seat to PVV and one to FvD compared to the ext poll, the narrative should really not be that the Netherlands/Jetten has beaten the radical right. The far right bloc remains remarkably stable.

Absurd fragmentation of Dutch electorate means everyone can legitimately do a "why the election shows my politics are right" take - perhaps excepting the trad left there's a party of nearly every flavour that did well.

One peculiarity about being a correspondent in Germany is the regularity with which you meet Germans who are completely bemused that someone might be interested enough in their country to choose to live in and write about it.

And I hear that Merz failed to win approval for his proposed pension reform in Germany at the Western Balkans summit. Looks like it was lose-lose :(

we're so back lads :)

keine Experimente, auch bei Wahlplakaten

"I never thought this man who has been shitposting for over a decade would do a LITERAL shitpost"

The question is put to Merz, the segment below is his response.

Merz im Interview: „Wir wollen die stärkste konventionelle Armee in Europa aufbauen“ Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz sieht das vorläufige Ende der regelbasierten Ordnung. Er spricht von Grenzen der Integration in Europa und setzt auf die Nationalstaaten.

Translated from this interesting new interview with Friedrich Merz. www.faz.net/aktuell/poli...

The @faznet.bsky.social has discerned a strain of unhappiness among German Christians over gay marriage that I confess has so far eluded me.

Not sure I buy that. INSA's last poll before the Bundestagswahl was v accurate. And we have a recent Infratest poll in S-A putting the AfD on a comparable score.

Another poll puts AfD within sneezing grasp of a majority in Saxony-Anhalt (election next Sept). Perversely, some in the CDU suspect they will find an AfD majority easier to handle than the party just falling short. That could see the AfD seek to tempt CDU waverers, potentially splitting their party