Portside

More strength left of the aisle could make a difference, and Europe’s future direction is indeed a weightier matter than talk show rudeness - and of a certainty it is not just baloney!

And yet by now most critical SPD voices, though unhappy, have been won over, partly with threats, but often due to fear of the alternatives. Attempts at a coalition of the CDU with the Greens foundered. A combination of SPD, the Greens and the LEFT party, which would have a very slim majority, is still taboo, leaving nothing but new elections, which could simply repeat the results of the September vote - or be even worse for the SPD. So, say the SPD bosses, vote Yes!