One of the notable developments on the German political scene this year has been the rise of a new ‘Left’ party. For a novice party (although it did draw support from the ‘reformed’ Communists in the former East Germany who have, shall we say, been around for a while) it did reasonably well in the recent elections. As if that were not dismaying enough, the Guardian is now reporting this:

“Germany’s new Left party, which could play a crucial role in deciding the next chancellor, faced acute embarrassment yesterday amid claims that at least seven of its MPs had collaborated with the Stasi, the East German secret police.”

Hmm, let me see. New German MPs may have collaborated with the secret police of a former German dictatorship.

I shall await the anguished newspaper articles, resolutions in the EU ‘parliament’ and so on…