Dear Friends of German Comedy,
Gordon Brown has decided against calling a snap election this autumn. Whilst this might or might not have been a good decision I am concerned about the fact that British politics and public debate seem to be entirely based on opinion polls, conducted amongst only a handful of people outside a post office or most likely entirely made up by the poll commissioning paper’s editor.
It’s almost ironic that the last time a British government stood up for their beliefs in the face of perceived public opinion was when Britain entered into the ill-advised Iraq war, one of the biggest contributors to Gordon Brown being PM.
But now to the more important things: no, not the 10th anniversary of that drink-driving accident. I am talking about Jose Mourinho leaving Chelsea – big news, huh? Not really. The long-term impact on mankind will be infinitesimal compared with the last time a Roman and a Jew conspired against a ‘special one’.
Talking about football: Stuttgart, Bremen and Schalke have played so far two Champions League matches each and won 3 out of a possible 18 points. Nobody expects Bundesliga’s financially limited mutual societies, as that is what the clubs are, to overcome the multi-billion money laundering vehicles of Russian criminals and disgraced Third World despots but losing away to Glasgow Rangers and at home to Olympiakos Piraeus is simply not good enough.
It won’t be long before German club sides regard narrow defeat as a thorough success, an attitude that even Scottish football has all but abandoned.
Thank God German humour is doing better.
Henning
