h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Among the people we're pulling for today: Henriette Reker, the newly-elected OB (Oberbuergermeisterin, or Chief Mayor) of Cologne. Praise to the Koelner, because they elected Frau Reker while she lay in hospital in an artificial coma. Her recovery is expected to take some time.

What happened:

Last month, Cologne was supposed to have a mayoral election. They put it off when officials realised that the ballots weren't right, so they had to reschedule when the printer got back to them. On the original ballots, the names of political parties were huge compared to the names of the candidates. Very confusing, particularly since the frontrunner, Henriette Reker, was being endorsed by five parties, but didn't 'belong' to any of them. She's a cool lady, and if you read German, you'll enjoy her bio:

http://www.ksta.de/koeln/henriette-reker-im-portraet-das-ist-die-neue-stadtchefin,15187530,32192416.html

She's married to an Australian professional golfer, and she loves Carnival. She also works really hard. Her previous job was figuring out where Cologne's going to put its shared of all those refugees - up to 1.5 million may be coming. It's urgent: lots of families are stuck on the Croatian border, with no shelter and nowhere to go, and winter's on its way. Winter. In the Balkans.

As Nietsche said, 'Wohl dem, der jetzt noch Heimat hat.' In other words, you'd better find housing for the winter. I'm suspecting that the good people of Cologne are down with finding shelter for those people, if only because Grandpa is yelling at them about what the winter of '45 was like when they huddled in the ruins. I'll bet he remembers, and if he got even one CARE package, he knows what it means. This might explain why so many are showing up at the train stations and welcoming them.

One man wasn't, and on Saturday, the last day of Cologne's mayoral campaign, he showed up at the market and stabbed Henriette Reker in the neck with a Bowie knife. She's in hospital, he's in jail. The next day, Cologne elected her mayor. I'm not sure whether she knows that yet.

I like the new German word: Willkommenskultur. And yes, there are a lot of problems ahead. Watch this space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD4hoVHck2Y

But hey, Cologne and Frau Reker. You're a class act. Kölle Alaaf!

Fascinating, Dmitri.