Thursday, December 11, 2014

Don't mention the...

There's an interesting little piece in the BBC magazine by the English correspondent of the Berliner Zeitung, more or less politely expressing bafflement at the Sainsbury's football truce ad. They do things differently in Germany apparently. The problem is, that parts of the article have a very obvious explanation, which Herr Borger has evidently missed:
Whatever else their experience of living in Britain, most Germans here share one thing: an astonishment at the extent to which military traditions have survived in modern British society - and, at least to my mind, go more or less unchallenged. The military top brass is regularly seen and heard on the media. Retired generals and admirals have seats in the House of Lords and take an active part in public debate. That would be completely unthinkable in Germany.
 Can we think of any reasons why that might be? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?