Ah, it was inevitable (login: wrreaders). If you find yourself slipping behind in the polls in Europe, then play the immigration card. After all, it worked in 1999 for Roland Koch, who rode the wave of the CDU’s nasty petition campaign against dual citizenship - a campaign backed vociferously by Edmund Stoiber - and was subsequently elected prime minister of Hesse in a surprising upset.

And now, with German national elections just five days away (vote, people, vote!), the apparently terrifying spectre of a multicultural Germany has been called up once again. Because Schroeder has gained in popularity thanks to his competent handling of the floods last month and his firmly independent stance on a war against Iraq, Stoiber finds himself floundering just the tiniest bit - and has thus decided to scare everyone into voting for him. I just hope the Germans are confident enough to see through that ploy.

As an aside, I love the New York Times’ rather bizarre description of Joschka Fischer as "an elfin former radical". Elfin? What a weird way to describe a man who always looks as dapper and suave as Kofi Annan. Well, on second thought, I can kind of see it…