What do they know of England...

Hard to believe, but apparently true: a British army veteran has been thrown out of a pub for the unspeakable crime of...wait for it...speaking German.

Tom Sharp, 71, said he was talking to his half-German daughter in the Packhorse pub in the Peterborough village of Northborough when their conversation slipped into German. Mr Sharp, who also served with the Royal Signals for 26 years during which he met his wife Anni in Germany, said the pub's landlady flew into a rage when she heard the language being used on Wednesday evening. He claims she told him: "We are white, you are English so you speak English in my pub otherwise get out." Other drinkers who witnessed the row and spoke up for Mr Sharp and his 49-year-old daughter Nichole Falconer were also ejected, he said.

Appalling.

All our best wishes go out to Mr. Sharp, his daughter and those fellow drinkers who showed enough Zivilcourage (and what I would hope to be genuine British cosmopolitanism) to stand up for him.

I imagine there are other, more hospitable places in Northborough to quench one's thirst (though I've not been there).

(I am reminded of Rick Blaine's comment when asked his nationality: 'I am a drunkard.') 

Hitlermania in Linz? Computer says "no"

An article in today's Telegraph about this year's European City of Culture, Linz in Austria, is marred by yet another of the sensationalist headlines so beloved by what will henceforth be only referred to as "The 'Great' British Press" at this blog:

Adolf Hitler at the centre of Austria's City of Culture campaign

This, however, clearly misrepresents what is actually planned in Linz for 2009.

As the article itself reveals, Linz uses its special cultural status as an opportunity for a bit of what we Germans call fondly "Vergangenheitsbewältigtung." The city is not in the process of creating some kind of Hitler themepark (as the headline implies), but is facing up to the city's connection with Nazism: Linz, where Hitler spent nine years of his life, was his favourite city, though the great plans that he had for the city thankfully remained unfulfilled. What will be offered as a part of a much broader cultural programme are exhibitions, installations and historical walking tours to remind visitors of that past.

Sorry to disappoint -- if you wish to feed your Nazi-fetish, Linz might not be the place to go this year (and it's not because the computer says "no"). How about Bogalusa, LA.?

Anyway, this passage from the article has just been nominated journalistic clanger of the day:

Liverpool naturally highlighted its connections to the Beatles, its most famous sons, when it became City of Culture in 2008. But the Austrian city of Linz, with no lederhosen version of the Fab Four to exploit, has instead decided to showcase the works of the architect of the Third Reich.

People get paid for writing stuff like this! I'm amazed.

If you're interested in real information on the topic (because believe me, what they tell you Brits about Germany is a cartoon version of reality), here's a somewhat more balanced and interesting Deutsche Welle piece.

Party like it's 1941

Notice anything...odd?...about the selection of stories the Times has decided to run on New Year's Day 2009?

Yeah.

Suggestive journalism

Just the title ... just the frigging title!

UPDATE: John (who currently is in Blighty on a secret mission but keeps checking what's going on at the homefront) just informs me that the Mail has changed the headline that had enraged me a trifle. The original version can still be found on their homepage, however:

"Father and Daughter, 8, killed in holiday jeep crash after '4x4 driver is blinded by German during water pistol fight."

"Blinded by German", you see. Not "by a German tourist" or just "blinded during water pistol fight". We want to be right specific here, don't we, just to make sure that the bleeding finest hour will never come to an end (even if we have to defend it with ... water pistols!).