Just about the last thing Europe needs is for Berlin and Brussels to clash. The EU is, to say the least, not amused by a ruling of the German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe that could force the Deutsche Bundesbank to drop out of any future support initiatives by the European...

It is not just the Chinese government that mistrusts its people and thinks they cannot handle the truth. Today, it transpired that even the UK government fears public scrutiny and prefers to cloak its knowledge and actions with a shroud of mystery – or, somewhat less poetically, employ a black...

Look and read, but please don’t tell. This is, believe it or not, a defence of US President Donald Trump as he stumbles, trips, and bluffs his way through the corona pandemic whilst its centre of gravity shifts towards the United States. It is easy, almost gratuitously so, to deride...

In a bizarre paint-by-numbers exercise, the world map of the corona pandemic is constantly being redrawn as viral hotspots suddenly appear, and others slowly fade away. Until recently relatively immune to corona, Russia is reporting a jump in the infection rate whilst in the United States the virus is spreading...

It is time to revisit China. Of late, Xi Jinping, the country’s ruler, seems to be taking fashion advice from his elusive counterpart just across the border in North Korea, replacing his stylish suit and tie for the drab attire that marked the Maoist Era. With a somewhat disconcerting frequency,...

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil remains without equal. Mr Bolsonaro not only mimics the behaviour of his US counterpart Donald Trump, whom he considers a good friend and model leader, but takes the art of indifference to an entirely new level....

‘Deplatforming’ is alive and kicking, and apparently not affected by the pandemic. Controversial US filmmaker Michael Moore was loudly booed after the release of his latest documentary in which he questions the dogmas surrounding climate change. The film was met with cries of shame and calls to outlaw its showing....

Idle hands are the devil’s workshop and so is an idle mind. Being cooped up at home is an open invitation to bodily harm and unhinges the mental balance as well. The wielding of potentially lethal tools to craft do-it-yourself hobby objects that usually offend any lingering sense of aesthetics...

Disconcerting news from Germany. The corona reproduction rate (R) has crept back up from 0.7 to 1, meaning that every person carrying the virus, knowingly or otherwise, on average infects one other person. The news, not entirely unexpected after last week’s easing of the lockdown restrictions, prompted Dr Lothar Wieler...