Encounters with bossy Germans
DONALD TRUMP is not half such a fool as the world thinks. He has done the seemingly impossible and brought Kim Jong-un to the negotiating table. And he stood up to the EU, which seems to think it has a God-given right to dictate trade terms to him. The picture of Angela Merkel leaning threateningly over a table while Trump stares back unmoved is one of the most entertaining bits of press coverage of 2018.
I too encountered a rather bossy German in the restaurant car of a train this week where half a dozen passengers were debating Brexit. “Don’t mention the war,” I joked to myself as he predicted that Britain would never leave the EU because it was not in her interests, and said our nation was so divided that another referendum would reverse the result, whereupon to my joy, one of the other passengers said he had voted remain but if asked again would vote leave.
I pointed out that we had asked a question, got an answer and must now implement the will of the people. He told me that was arrogant, at which point people disappeared behind their menus to cover their smiles. He was in earnest. The EU was essential to our welfare. We could not manage without it. The current Italian crisis would soon pass.
He is a nice chap but both deluded and complacent. I rather wished I could put him together with Trump.
Afghans’ refuge
AT LAST some sense has entered the debate about Afghan interpreters and under pressure from the public and the media, government is finally agreeing that these brave souls can seek refuge here from the vengeance of the Taliban.
However one of the last straws was when Germany proposed to deport two interpreters back to Afghanistan, telling them to apply to the UK from there.
Hang on a moment, Angela Merkel. Is your country not obliged by the 1951 Refugee Convention to offer a refuge to any person in genuine danger of persecution? And was not the war in Afghanistan a Nato-wide exercise in which Germany suffered 54 fatalities and had 245 service personnel wounded? Were not these men your allies?
And are you the same chancellor who lectured Britain on its attitude towards refugees before flooding your own country with all manner of criminals and bogus claimants alienating your own supporters as a result? Have you really not got room for a couple of decent chaps as well?