Another brick in the wall

On the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and commemorations around this massive event, it is quite bizarre that ZaNuLiebour do not see the irony of even speaking of the occasion.

While Gormless might utter: "Two Berlins are one, two Germanys are one, two Europes are one", there is a strange irony that cannot be mistaken by anybody with a quarter of a brain cell.

Take tonight's Evening Standard. On pages eight and nine, there's a spread on the anniversary events. Further in on pages 22-23, there's a feature on Anne McElvoy who "spent much of the eighties" in East Berlin and who discusses the file held on her by the Stasi. This is illustrated by a photograph of rows upon rows of some of the paper files that the Stasi held on millions of people.

Meanwhile, on page two of the newspaper, we have the headline "Email snooping powers to win go-ahead despite abuse warnings" and - on the front page - the headline reads "Citizen snoopers recruited to spy on Londoners", detailing how Harrow Council is getting 2,000 people to volunteer to spy on and snitch on their neighbours.

Anyone spot any ironies in these contrasting, civil liberty positions?

From what we hear, the good folk of Germany would never accept the level of State surveillance we're subjected to. And, if you've ever spent time in a lovely German city - such as Cologne - you'll know, as we do, that the lack of constant visual presence of a menacing State makes the streets feel so much more relaxed and safe.

So, if you're fearful of life in Britain, GermanWings have some great prices on one way tickets to Berlin and other German cities. If someone can find us a flat and a job, we'd happily accept a one-way ticket - thank you very much.