Berlin is a wonderful city, even if its hipster vibe is a bit much for a square like me. The decadence is part of the charm, and the Germans, or at least the Prussians, are good at it, having enough sense of order that it can feel squalid without feeling unsafe.

When I most recently visited the German capital last year, there seemed to be quite a bleak mood. The politics of sustained boredom that characterised the successful post-war Federal Republic had run out of road, and a mindset which had worked for so long now seemed to be pushing the country to the brink of disaster. As someone who loves Germany and admires its culture, I find this very sad, although at least it provides a brief distraction from my own country’s woes.

Demography is starting to have real political effects across the West, especially in big cities

Demography is starting to have real political effects across the West, especially in big cities

That mood will not have been improved by two recent elections, the first of which brought Alternative für Deutschland to the brink of power in Saxony-Anhalt and the second a spectacular result for Die Linke, the successor party of the East German Communists, in Berlin.

What explains this support for the AfD? Is it affordability? Is it nostalgia for an era that didn’t exist, driven by inequality? Perhaps it’s AI. There is an elephant in the room, but people will go through all sorts of mental gymnastics to avoid mentioning it.

Every criticism of Germany could equally be applied to Britain, and every criticism by an Englishman might appear like projection, but it is a common observation among people who speak to their politicians that they lack the imagination to change course. Many find comfort in the idea that ‘if you adopt the negative framing around immigration, you’re playing into the hands of the far right.’ This is all down to an over reliance on the power of narrative, which influences politicians across western Europe who have taken on board the power of words to shape reality, but not for reality to shape public opinion. It drives the increasing concern with misinformation, talk of censorship, and draconian punishments for hate speech.

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One New York Times op-ed even suggested ‘innovative new policies to fight back’ against the AfD, such as buying ‘empty real estate in inner cities’ to set up ‘cooling rooms’, and even more immigration. In one sense, more immigration will indeed crush the far right, on a local level, because there will be more immigrants to vote against them. This is how the........

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