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Will the coming flag referendum pick the right flag? It looks like we might never know. Read more

Remember R.E.M.? The cult rock band’s song ‘It’s the end of the world as we know it’ would make the perfect soundtrack to Europe’s current crisis. Read more

Every Thursday during fourth form, come third period, Miss Sumner would roll in the equipment trolley, laden with tripods, pipettes, Bunsen burners and volumetric flasks. Class, of course, was expected to test some simple hypothesis and judiciously record our results in the standard issue yellow lab book. Read more

Last week, I telephoned a friend of mine who heads the economics research department of a major German company. As we talked through current affairs, I asked him if Chancellor Angela Merkel might be toppled by her own party over her handling of the refugee crisis. Read more

"The way this country is run is broken", the cabinet minister said in his speech. "It is high time we faced the facts. Read more

Last week, I telephoned a friend of mine who heads the economics research department of a major German company. As we talked through current affairs, I asked him if Chancellor Angela Merkel might be toppled by her own party over her handling of the refugee crisis. Read more

Despite the political turmoil the refugee crisis has created in Europe, it is often argued that the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees might help to solve the problem of Europe’s ageing population. And indeed, if you have a preference for rose-tinted glasses, the migrants will not only rejuvenate the old continent, but will bring their skills and qualifications and make their recipient countries stronger than they had been before. Read more

Trialling policy reform in regions that are keen to see the benefits could solve rather a few of the country’s policy problems. New Zealand has one of the world’s more centralised forms of government. Only about nine cents of every dollar of government expenditure is spent at the local level. Read more

Angela Merkel has been Germany’s Chancellor for 10 years, but this is the first time that she is facing serious challenges. Merkel may have survived the euro crisis without a dent in her popularity but Europe’s refugee crisis is leading observers to a hitherto unthinkable question: what if Merkel stumbles over the uncontrolled influx of migrants into her country? Read more

As Mahatma Gandhi once said: “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win”. I was reminded of this quote when I read about George Osborne’s speech to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester last week. Read more