I’m not saying Germans are overly cautious, but my parents in-law are having a a very long discussion about whether the kids should wear cycle helmets when riding the Bobby Car around the garden.

OK story time: Before I dive into my quoted tweet, let me give you some context. I met my husband four months after I moved to Berlin. He was my Bumble match. Yup you read that right! We connected over music: I was wearing a Sonic Youth t-shirt, and he was listening to Slowdive.

Far right extremist AfD in Thuringia predicted to get more than 1/3 seats giving them a blocking vote even if excluded from government. As predicted, but if that is the final result, this is a first. An extreme far right party with a fascist leader winning an election in Germany.

With the exit polls in for the #Landtagswahlen, it does seem odd how many German headlines talk about the AfD "winning" the election, given it's proportional representation, and that the AfD don't have the numbers or allies to form a government.

Interesting. Despite AfD success in Thüringen, poster boy Björn Höcke failed to win a direct mandate. If the Ampel-Koalition hadn't panicked, the FDP hadn't been economically illiterate, and the CDU hadn't spent last year boosting the AfD message, this could have been avoided.

Germans love insurance, they have policies on top of policies. Being British, I laughed at my wife & our friends for needless insurance, I mean, we even had flood insurance on a 4th floor apartment. I stopped laughing when the bath flooded and the insurance covered us.

Returning to Germany after vacation can whack you like a wrecking ball ⚠️⛔️

One day after a far right extremist party won its first state election in Germany after 1945, one of the leaders of the centrist conservatives has nothing better to do than publicly destroying the Greens while parroting the paroled of the far right. Dangerous strategy.

German pronunciation is tricky, even without the long compound nouns. Take these 3 for example: - Schraubenzieher (screwdriver) - Röntgenbild (x-ray) - Rührei (scrambled eggs) My tip to say these words is to stretch thoroughly beforehand, and make sure you have a running start.

For a man that presented himself as a different kind of politician, utilising his oratorical skills & slick marketing to do so, this is the nadir of Christian Lindner's political career. Nothing new here. Outdated economic policies have damaged Germany far more than migration.

The debate on migration in Germany is pretty awful to watch, but we've now reached the point where political talk show hosts like Markus Lanz just throw out ill informed opinions like "migrants make rent higher". Of course, price gouging landlords are totally fine apparently.

Merz, 23.12.21: "Mit mir wird es eine Brandmauer zur AfD geben." Merz, 04.09.24: "Das Wort Brandmauer hat nie zu unserem Sprachgebrauch gehört."

Some Germans: "Our population has increased so rapidly because of migration! Our housing system cannot possibly cope with that!" Meanwhile, population trends in Germany:

Sag nicht, ihr hättet von nichts gewusst.

Don't know about anyone else, but I'll never understand the lionisation of Currywurst. Mid at best.

I've always found Germany's propensity to complain familiar, it's similar in the UK. Mostly it's a way to bond over common issues. I do find it odd that some Germans & non-Germans, who also complain, hate it when others do so. Gatekeeping who can/can't complain is a bogus move.

After the disastrous strategy Merz employed last year, when he willingly boosted the AfD message and gave their backwards arguments legitimacy, he might have learned his lesson... ..but no, he's a one trick pony, no real answers to Germany's problems, other than blame migrants.

This reductionist approach is typical of internet debate. No "good guys" or "bad guys" in history, that thinking leads nowhere. To imagine 1 person responsible for the devastating famine in Bengal doesn't aid understanding. You may dislike Churchill, but he wasn't Hitler.

After three weeks away, guess who's back? Why it's Nic Houghton of course! Fresh from his holidays, Nic rejoins the team to talk about Italian holiday camps, and why lamb is all he orders when back in the UK. Find out more on Ep 195, coming Saturday!

Once, when speaking to a German friend, I started a sentence with "The fun thing about speaking German is...". My friend looked me dead in the eye and said "Our language is not designed to be fun". Their voice so monotone, it took 5 minutes before I realised it was a joke.