John Downing: Paper supply mess is a metaphor for German political woes

Incredible though it may seem, fears of a shortage of paper to print ballot forms was a factor in the debate on the timing of Germany’s election after its coalition government collapsed. If you were told that was happening in Ireland, the more fatalistic among you would wallow in playing up the national inferiority complex. But this is Germany, for long seen as the home of clinical efficiency, and also curiously Europe’s largest producer of paper.

The poten­tial paper shortage was raised by none other than the head of the German electoral commission, Ruth Brand, who cited it among a number of concerns about rushing into an early general election with all the logistical challen­ges of catering for 60 million voters..