“Don’t mention the ‘R’ word!”

Germany is in recession. As an indicator of how bad things must be, the BBC World Service disrupted its regular flow of news of insurrections, genocides, dictatorships and other run-of-the-mill events from the former colonies. Instead, they provided an in-depth analysis with interviews and reports from the capital. Ministers were at pains to point out, however, that the world’s biggest exporter is in difficulty not because they are financially inept but because the rest of the world at the moment can’t afford to buy German technology and big Mercs.