Bavaria is a mountainous and very picturesque area
of Germany.... a bit like Scotland is the mountainous area of
Britain and , like Scotland , it's always on the brink of breaking away .

Germans obsessed with Vizekanzler Philipp Rösler's Asian face

http://www.economist.com/blogs/charl...ection-diary-2

Germany is apparently heading for an energy crisis due to its commitment to renewables and its abandonment of nuclear though its CO2 emissions are on the increase as more coal is being used.

Don't forget the modern German is a federal nation, with each constituent state or "Land" having a MUCH greater degree of independent action than we have been used to in the UK up until the last 10-15 years

Bavaria was a fiercely independent kingdom right up until its forced amalgamation with the Kaiser's Prussia in the 19th century; and it got a good deal of independent decision-making/legislating power back again in 1919, and retained it until the Nazi era. Being a decisionmaking entity is nothing new to Bavaria - and it wants more than it has, even today.

The Bavarian state government had fewer powers in 1919 than it had as part of Imperial Germany 1871-1918. There was a Bavarian monarchy, Bavarian railway, Bavarian Army (had to follow Prussian command in case of war), Bavarian envoys.

There was also a Bavarian Monarchy..... lets not forget Mad King Ludvig 2nd
and his wonderful monument... Neuschwanstein, the fairytale casle built on
top of a mountain.

More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with up to 6,000 per day in the summer
thats a lot of dosh for the Bavarian politicians.

Doubt if the Tower of London get that many per day !

Yes
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/c...am-spoils.html

This will come as news to Bavarians. There is no successful separatist movement in Bavaria. At the late state election the one party of that type polled 1%.

The origins of the rise of Bavarian nationalism as a strong political movement were in the Austro-Prussian War and its aftermath. Bavaria was politically and culturally closer to Catholic Austria than Protestant Prussia and the Bavarians shared with the Austrians a common contempt towards the Prussians, leading Bavaria to ally with Austria in the war.
Austria along with Bavaria and its other allies were defeated by Prussia and its allies.
In the aftermath Bavaria paid a large indemnity to Prussia and joined the Prussian-founded German Empire in 1871.
After unification with Germany in 1871, Bavarian nationalists were adamantly opposed to the Prussian-domination of the German state and refused further integration into the German Empire.

Hitler was only too aware that Germany could break up... Bavaria could break away.
He wanted to unify the German people , he was a Nationalist.
Perhaps today the Bavarians just want to get on with living, they ve had enough political upheaval in the 20th century and dont want any more.

What? Bavarians don't wish to break away from Germany. It's certainly not comparable to Scotland's independence movement. Like one poster above said, the different Länder in Germany are far more independent than any country in the UK because Germany is a federation.

Lets remember what a huge land mass America is ..

for eg. Michigan is the size of Germany

and there are 10 states in America bigger than Michigan.

All about? The failure of the private sector banks in 2088 had nothing to do with it?

The Tower of London averages 2 million visits annually.

You just new some pedantic idiot was going to look that up, didn't you.

Reasonable industrial relations is true of all of northern Europe, and is a factor in their sustained good economic performance. By contrast, in the UK it's a state of war. British managers who loot a company for their own benefit and drive down wages and conditions of those on the shop floor are seen as fine examples of good leadership.

Looks like the Tower of London gets more visitors than
Castle Neuschwanstein, then... but then the Bavarian Castle is at the top of a mountain !

Whats that... new swan rock... that cant be right !

As we're on the subject of Tyskland/Germany, one of the smaller component states, Saarland, has a particularly interesting history:

Between the world wars, Saarland war part of a British and French controlled mandate that was created through the Treaty of Versailles. During World War II, the capital Saarbrucken was bombed heavily by air attacks. The capital city sustained similar aerial attacks during World War I. A decade after WWII, Saarland joined the Federal Republic of Germany after being under French occupation.
http://saarland.com/history-and-facts/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saarland#History

Whilst it might seem a modern invention, there have been administrative authorities in that area for centuries apart from Prussian times, e.g. the Principality of Nassau-Saarbrucken or the Department de la Sarre in Napoleonic times.

quote
By contrast, in the UK it's a state of war.
end quote

whats that ? on a day when the British car industry report
record high production figures !
the British Car industry is booming

Plus, the German's pride themselves on their training - which maintains and passes on skills from generation to generation in support of their industries, while also developing self-discipline, self-confidence and pride in their young people.

While Britain has been a safe tax-haven for get rich quick merchants, with well-educated youngsters left to work in service industry jobs flipping burgers for the minimum wage.

Keep an eye out for Webster Tarpley on the net,
he often talks about Germany, the 1st w war etc, seems hes made a special study of it.

The villain of the piece is Edward 7th who became
anti German and .. according to Webster... was the architect of the 1st world war.... despite the fact that he died before 1914 !

His mother Qu Vic was more pro German, but Ed and his Danish wife Alexandra were dead set against the hun .

This is like the longest German history lesson/thread spread over 3 years ever.
Great stuff

In which case, this thread here http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showt...623&highlight= and this website here http://www.dw.de/ might be of interest.

In addition, My Channel is available on Sky 203 / Eutelsat 28A 11344 V 27500 2/3 and they show quite a lot of Deutsche Welle's English language programming.

At my daughters school those children that are 'struggling' are directed towards vocational education as a means to get them out of the class room. Her friend of the same age, 15, at school in Germany the same training is aspirational. Now not sure how wide spread this possible isolated experience is but it does strike me as strange,

German wind energy giant Prokon filed for insolvency on Wednesday, leaving tens of thousands of investors worried about their money. The company advertised itself as a safe bet offering eight percent returns.

http://www.thelocal.de/20140123/germ...okon-insolvent

Doctor Who?

Thats a good point Peter. A friend of mine went to Germany to look at how youngsters were trained (back around 1998) came back 'shocked' to see how apprenticeship's were still common place there while the UK was ploughing ahead pushing the NVQ route...the 'shock' was that the apprenticeships worked. For the qualified engineer it was a matter of pride to make sure his youngster(s) finished their training with a high level of skills.