Tag Archives: politics

Some Comments on the 2017 German General Election

As you may know, Germany had a general election today. Angela Merkel’s CDU is still the strongest party, though they suffered significant losses. Her coalition partner SPD under Martin Schulz, former president of the European parliament, fell to only 20% … Continue reading

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Reactions to the 2017 Hugo Finalists

Currently, the SFF world is all abuzz talking about the Hugos, but of course there are other awards announcing their shortlists at this time of the year as well. One of them is the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction and … Continue reading

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Rest in Peace, Carrie Fisher and George Michael, and Fuck 2016

The annus horibilis of 2016 has struck once more, because after the death of George Michael on Christmas Day, we also lost Carrie Fisher yesterday, aged only sixty, following her heart attack on December 23. And her mother Debbie Reynolds … Continue reading

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New Release: St. Nicholas of Hell’s Kitchen, a Silencer Christmas novella

I promised you more new release announcements in the run up to the holidays and here is number 2. This one is for St. Nicholas of Hell’s Kitchen, a Silencer Christmas novella. Now I’ve always been fond of the Silencer … Continue reading

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Attention: Rant Incoming

I’m sick of misogynist, homophobic, xenophobic and racist white people. I’m fucking sick of all those white people (and the overwhelming majority of them are white) who complain that their country of residence is not their country anymore, because now … Continue reading

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There will be no golden age…

So Britain (well, Wales and England minus London) voted to leave the European Union today. I’m pretty pissed off about this, because I rather like Britain, have lived in London for a while and also like to visit on occasion. … Continue reading

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The 2015 Nebula Awards, the Bram Stoker Awards, the Eurovision Song Contest… and a bit about football

So the Eurovision Song Contest was last night. I was watching something else and occasionally switched over, only to decide that I really could not bring myself to care. I finally tuned for the voting only to realise that a) … Continue reading

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Yet more Hugo Debate 2016 – and a bit about the Clarke Awards

The 2016 Hugo debate is still going on, which isn’t surprising, since last year it lasted all the way until the winners were announced in August, whereupon it morphed into a debate of the winning works. For my own contributions … Continue reading

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The Böhmermann Case

I’m one of them. One of the approximately 300000 to 500000 German TV viewers who knew who Jan Böhmermann was before last week and who regularly watched his comedy program Neo Magazin Royale in its Thursday/Friday night post-midnight graveyard slot. … Continue reading

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Remembering Guido Westerwelle

Yesterday, Guido Westerwelle, former head of the liberal party FDP and German foreign minister in the second Merkel cabinet from 2009 to 2013, died aged only 54. Westerwelle was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2014, but was until recently believed to … Continue reading

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