Tag Archives: Germans

Fallen behind?

March 21, 2024 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Home Cooking Tags: , , Leave a comment

Germany? In happiness?

I don’t understand. Isn’t falling behind in happiness the whole point of being German? So falling behind in the annual World Happiness ranking this year should make everybody here happy, right? I just don’t get it. Germans are einfach kompliziert (simply complicated).

Why Germany has fallen behind on happiness – Like the US, Germany has fallen behind in the annual World Happiness ranking. Especially young people don’t appear to be doing as well as they did before.

While Finland again tops the ranking in the annual “World Happiness Report, “Germany has fallen behind.

In Germany, people are not unhappier than in previous years, but people elsewhere have surpassed them. That puts Germany at 24th — and only 47th among people under the age of 30. A similar trend is seen in the United States, which overall ranks 23rd. That’s the first time the US has fallen out of the top 20 due to significant unhappiness among younger people.

Half of Germans support reintroducing military service

March 13, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

For the other half.

And for some odd reason the younger Germans are much less enthusiastic about the idea than older Germans.

Around half of German citizens are in favour of reintroducing compulsory military service, according to a survey by opinion research institute Forsa.

In the poll commissioned by German news magazine Stern, 52% of respondents were in favour of compulsory military service, the magazine said on Tuesday.

Some 43% were against it and 5% expressed no opinion. According to the data, the strongest supporters of compulsory military service were found in the over-60 age group, with 59% in favour. In contrast, 59% of 18 to 29-year-olds were against compulsory military service.

When in doubt…

February 22, 2024 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Higher Education, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Just say no. When not in doubt, sowieso (anyhow).

“Expansion” is a scary word. It sounds too much like growth, increase, prosperity, success. We vote no! Because you can never know, unless it’s no.

Tesla in Germany: Locals vote against factory expansion plan – Residents of Grünheide near Berlin have voted against expansion plans for the large Tesla facility there. But the vote is not binding and local authorities can still decide. Turnout was high, though, indicating interest.

Predictably unpredictable

February 18, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

What do expect from a coalition government of three consisting of Green utopians, spendthrift social democratic regulation freaks and free-market capitalists (true liberals, in other words)?

This is how Germans vote. Remember: “Every country has the government it deserves.” Just look at the Banana Republic itself, if you don’t believe me.

EU partners lose trust in Berlin after policy U-turns – Lawmakers and diplomats in Brussels express frustration at Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpredictable coalition.

For years Germany was seen as a rock of stability and predictability in the EU. These days, its partners wonder what curveball Berlin will throw at them next. 

Last week the German government sent shockwaves through Brussels by withdrawing its support for a piece of legislation that it had long appeared to back: the EU’s new supply chain law.

Who says Germany isn’t world-class anymore?

February 17, 2024 By in Hard Facts, History Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s achievements like these that will silence the critics.

Germans beat record beer drinking session – More than 40 Germans from a gun club have smashed a drinking record in the island of Mallorca this week.

The group downed 1,330 2ooml glases of beer in a bar in Playa de Palma, meaning more than 10 pints were sunk per person on the group, or 5.8 litres of beer.

This epic session of drinking took 8 hours with the challenge beginning at around 11am and finishing at 7pm last Saturday.

I don’t know why they do either

February 7, 2024 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

But I sure do wish they’d stop.

It’s dangerous out there on the streets with all these aggressive bike bats out fo hell.

Why do Germans cycle?

Is Germany only the land of cars? Yes and no, says Shabnam Surita. Even though Germans make and drive a lot of cars, their relationship with bicycles goes back a couple hundred years. And when it comes to bike-friendliness, Germany ranks quite high among other countries in the world.

Will the escalation never end?

January 30, 2024 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

First, German climate activists of the “last generation” kind decided to glue themselves to the roads (and boy have those roads ever been cold these days).

Now they’ve decided to up the ante and begin organizing “disobedient assemblies.”

The next thing you know they’ll be holding hands and breath together until they turn blue in the face! This senseless escalation of violence must finally come to an end, people. I mean it.

German climate activists to stop gluing themselves to roads – Climate group the Last Generation said they will no longer glue themselves to roads as a protest method. They will now use the tactic of organizing “disobedient assemblies.”

PS: German of the day: Wütend (the guy with the sign). That means angry.

Does Germany have a choice?

January 24, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Germans are running out. They will soon be in the minority.

In their own country.

Germany weighs allowing foreign citizens into the army – A senior lawmaker has told DW a potential scheme could include people not just from current EU members, but also from candidate countries, and provide a quicker path to German citizenship.

Germans award literary prize to an author who compares Gaza to Nazi-era ghettos

December 17, 2023 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Ain’t no big deal. Nazi talk has never been doing better in Germany.

The name-calling kind. It’s the latest rage, around the globe even. Join the fun. Everybody’s doing it!

Gessen was originally due to receive the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought on Friday in the city hall of Bremen, in northwest Germany, but the sponsoring organization, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the Senate of the city of Bremen withdrew from the ceremony.

“Who?”

November 30, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

“Germany has a president?”

“You, there! You look official. Drive down to the airport when you get a minute and welcome him.”

Germany’s Steinmeier left waiting on tarmac in Qatar – Standing with arms folded at the doors of the airplane was probably not how German President Steinmeier thought he would spend almost 30 minutes of his official 3-hour visit to Doha...

In Germany, Doha’s influence on the Israel-Hamas war is seen as somewhat controversial as Qatar is home to Hamas’ political wing. That led some to wonder if Wednesday’s apparent snub was a response to statements made recently by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock prior to Al Thani’s long-planned visit to Berlin back in October.

“We do not accept support for terror,” Baerbock told public broadcaster ZDF at the time. “To put an end to this terrorism,” she added, “countries like Qatar have a special responsibility.”

Put a positive spin on it, I say. Maybe Germany’s Steinmeier was just being überpunktlich. German diplomat-types can often be that way. If they ever arrive at all. They’re not always so punctual when it comes to leaving, however.