Company owned by Bamford family benefits from strong US sales offsetting end of exports to Russia
JCB has reported an increase in profits last year as strong US sales made up for its exports to Russia ending and faltering demand in the UK and Germany.
The company, one of the largest manufacturers in Britain, said that pre-tax profits rose 44% to £806m last year, up from £558m in 2022, according to a summary of its accounts published on Monday.
Continue reading...Work of German-Jewish sculptor Fred Kormis, who fled Nazis in 1930s, is subject of exhibition in London
The work of an overlooked German-Jewish artist who created the UK’s first memorial to victims of Nazi persecution is to be the focus of an exhibition that shines light on the unreported aspects of his life.
Fred Kormis, who fled Germany in the 1930s and later became a British citizen, was described by the Wiener Holocaust Library in London as a forgotten émigré artist who played a unique role in Weimar culture and 20th-century British art.
Continue reading...AfD calls its performance in Brandenburg ‘huge success’ but Social Democratic party projected to take the lead
Voting has ended in Brandenburg. Here’s a first exit poll, from ARD:
Social Democratic party (SPD): 31%
Continue reading...Olaf Scholz’s SPD made a late comeback after trailing far-right party throughout Brandenburg campaign
The far-right Alternative für Deutschland party has narrowly missed out on victory in an election in the German state of Brandenburg, according to initial results, three weeks after making historic gains in two other regions.
In what had been widely interpreted as a referendum on the federal government of Olaf Scholz ahead of next autumn’s general election, his Social Democratic party (SPD) appeared at the 11th hour to have clawed back its lead over the anti-immigrant populists who had been on course for months to seize victory in the state for the first time.
Continue reading...Exclusive: £100bn-a-year cost of obesity to UK makes clear economic case for use of drugs such as Ozempic, says report
Spiralling healthcare costs and productivity losses from the global obesity crisis far outstrip the cost of new weight-loss drugs, according to a report, which also calls on governments to prioritise prevention by promoting a healthy diet and exercise.
In the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, there is a clear economic case for these medications, the report says, as the annual cost of the diabetes drug Ozempic is lower than the cost of additional healthcare needed by people with obesity. The cost of the weight-loss injection Wegovy is higher, but still dwarfed by the overall economic cost to society of obesity, according to the research by ING Bank, shared with the Guardian.
Continue reading...Attention is focused on regional vote this Sunday that could determine the fate of the national government
Björn Höcke shielded his eyes from the bright lights as he peered from the stage into the crowds gathered on a square in front of a gothic church in central Cottbus.
Flanked by the slogans “It’s time for real change” and “It’s time to save our country,” the leader of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Thuringia swept into Cottbus, the second largest city in the state of Brandenburg, for the party’s final rally before a regional election on Sunday that could determine the fate of Germany’s government.
Continue reading...Upmarket Kreuzberg club blames economic pressures, a pandemic hangover and Berlin’s dated image as factors leading to end of 22-year party
Berlin’s Watergate nightclub, one of the institutions of the German capital’s nightlife, is to close down after 22 years, with its owners saying the night-time economy still hasn’t recovered after the pandemic.
In a statement, the club’s management said it had made the “difficult decision” not to extend its lease and close its premises after a New Year’s Eve party at the end of the year.
Continue reading...Deadly Storm Boris has dumped up to five times average September rainfall in four days
As swollen rivers continued to rise, volunteers and emergency workers in towns and cities across a swathe of central Europe were reinforcing defences against floods that have killed at least 21 people in four countries.
Storm Boris has dumped up to five times the average September rainfall on parts of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia in four days, submerging entire neighbourhoods and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate.
Continue reading...Some see Sahra Wagenknecht’s brand of ‘left conservatism’ as a bulwark against AfD but others see reasons to be wary
Sahra Wagenknecht is not even on the ballot in the upcoming state election in Brandenburg. But her face is plastered on billboards across the sprawling, largely rural northern state that surrounds Berlin.
There she hopes her fledgling Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) will repeat the successes it enjoyed in polls in Thuringia and Saxony earlier this month, where it came third with vote shares in the double figures, performing so well that it is now a kingmaker for any possible coalition in either state.
Continue reading...Olaf Scholz’s government says ‘acute dangers’ led to decision but some EU criticise ‘unacceptable’ decision
Germany has reintroduced temporary checks at all nine of its land borders in a move that has drawn criticism from several of its European partners but praise from the far right.
The embattled coalition government in Berlin said last week that checks already being carried out on its borders with Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland would be extended to France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Continue reading...Polish PM calls for urgent consultations with European neighbours over controls he says will break European law
The Polish government is accusing Germany of acting unilaterally and unfairly over its “unacceptable” plans to introduce temporary controls into in the passport-free Schengen zone at all the country’s nine land borders, in what Warsaw says is a contravention of European law.
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, said Germany had introduced a “de facto suspension of the Schengen agreement on a large scale” after the interior minister, Nancy Faeser, announced Berlin’s decision to confront what she called “irregular migration” by introducing spot controls along Germany’s 2,300-mile (3,700km) frontier after a recent spate of suspected Islamist attacks.
Continue reading...Mini and Rolls-Royce models also affected by potential braking system fault likely to cost BMW almost €1bn
Shares in BMW tumbled as the carmaker revealed it will have to recall 1.5m vehicles over a braking problem, costing it almost €1bn (£0.84bn).
The German manufacturer said its annual earnings would be considerably lower than expected, with the fault in the braking system now discovered to be far more widespread than first thought.
Continue reading...The CDU chief has had a smooth lead but he must act to halt the march of far-right voters before the general election
• Everyone is terrified of a far-right return in Germany. Here’s why it won’t happen
Friedrich Merz, Germany’s mercurial conservative opposition chief and a passionate hobby pilot, should be flying high these days as the country’s hotly tipped next leader.
One year before the next general election, his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has enjoyed a comfortable lead for months with about 32% support, nearly double the score of its nearest competitors, as the fractious government led by Social Democrat Olaf Scholz plumbs new depths of disfavour.
Continue reading...‘Antisemitism and Islamism have no place here,’ Scholz says after incident also close to Nazi documentation centre
There is “no place” in Germany for antisemitism or Islamist extremism, the German chancellor has said after police in Munich shot dead a man carrying a “long-barrelled gun” following an exchange of fire near the Israeli consulate.
In a joint statement, the Bavarian state police and prosecutors said they believed the man had been planning a terrorist attack “involving the consulate general of the state of Israel”.
Continue reading...Plan to cut German factories is politically fraught but makes sense economically
When Bernd Pischetsrieder attempted to cut jobs at Volkswagen in the early 2000s, he was forced out. When Herbert Diess tried the same, he got the same result, leaving in 2022. Yet now Volkswagen appears to be deliberately grasping the nettle.
“This time it’s different,” says Matthias Schmidt, a Berlin-based automotive analyst. Chief executive Oliver Blume is “VW through and through”, and his actions likely reflect the desires of the controlling Porsche and Piëch dynasties, Schmidt said. The course is set for a historic clash over the future for Germany’s largest carmaker.
Continue reading...Carmaker defends plan to close German plants as Volvo ditches target to sell only electric cars by 2030
Volkswagen says it has “a year, maybe two” to adapt to a slump in European car sales, as it seeks to justify proposals to close factories in Germany for the first time in its history.
Separately, the Swedish automaker Volvo said it had ditched a target to sell only electric cars by 2030, opting instead to continue selling some petrol vehicles alongside battery models.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Alternative für Deutschland have deployed Nazi rhetoric throughout their rise – and they are pulling the mainstream further to the right
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Good morning. For the first time since the second world war, a far-right party has won a regional election in Germany. As well as finishing first in Thuringia, where it won nearly 33% of the vote, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) finished second in Saxony, with 31% – and it did so with none of the normalisation strategy that similar parties have deployed in France or Italy. Instead, the AfD uses Nazi slogans and calls the Berlin Holocaust memorial a “monument of shame”.
While the AfD demanded to be included in coalition negotiations in both states yesterday, a “firewall” designed to keep the party out of government is likely to hold for the foreseeable future. Even so, its success is undoubtedly a seismic moment in German politics. For today’s newsletter, I spoke to the Guardian’s Berlin correspondent Deborah Cole about how the AFD did it, and whether this is a regional phenomenon or a signpost to something larger. Here are the headlines.
Israel-Gaza war | The UK has broken with the Biden administration by announcing it is suspending some arms export licences to Israel because of a “clear risk” the materiel may be used in violation of international humanitarian law. It came as Benjamin Netanyahu defied protests at home and criticism from Biden by vowing that Israel would not relinquish control over the strategic Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egyptian border.
Grenfell inquiry | Companies found at fault over the Grenfell tower fire are facing calls to be banned from public contracts. Ahead of the final public inquiry report’s publication tomorrow, it emerged that about £250m in deals have been made in the past five years with firms involved in the high-rise’s refurbishment.
Politics | Jeremy Corbyn is to form an official parliamentary alliance with four independent MPs who were elected on pro-Gaza platforms, and has issued a call for more MPs to join. The group will have the same number of MPs as Reform UK and the Democratic Unionist party, who each have five MPs, and more than the Green party and Plaid Cymru, who each have four.
France | A husband who allegedly drugged his wife and invited more than 80 strangers to rape her at their home for almost a decade will go on trial on Monday in a case that has shocked France. Fifty men accused of taking part in the abuse of the woman are also on trial at the court in Avignon.
Society | Pride in Britain’s history has fallen sharply over the past decade as the country has become more reflective about its place in the modern world, according to a leading barometer of the British public mood. The proportion of people saying they were proud of Britain’s history fell from 86% to 64%.
Continue reading...The centre ‘may be holding’ but if the far right continues to win elections, the European project faces a rocky few years
Alternative für Deutschland’s stunning success in Germany’s regional elections was described as “bitter” and “worrying” by chancellor Olaf Scholz. It is also concerning for the EU, which is grappling with existential problems, from Russia’s grinding war on Ukraine to the climate crisis, while at the beginning of a new five-year cycle after the European elections earlier this summer.
“A dark day for Germany is a dark day for Europe,” said French centrist MEP leader Valérie Heyer. While the results in the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony were not a surprise after the AfD’s strong showing in June’s European parliamentary vote, they confirm the steady rise of parties once considered beyond the pale.
Continue reading...State election results for Sahra Wagenknecht Allianz mean Russia-leaning populists could play decisive role
It was, Sahra Wagenknecht declared on the social media platform X on Sunday, “a historic result” achieved from almost a standing start. Within eight months, her leftwing-conservative Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) has gone from an upstart party of breakaway populists to a decisive player with the potential to upend the German political scene.
The BSW party’s third place position in state elections in the eastern states of Thuringia (16%) and Saxony (12%), behind the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), now puts it in the position of kingmaker.
Continue reading...Plans underline European carmakers’ problems in switching from petrol and diesel vehicles to electric models
Volkswagen is considering shutting two German factories, in what would be the carmaker’s first closures ever in its home country, as it struggles with the transition away from fossil fuels.
The Wolfsburg-based manufacturer on Monday informed its works council, which represents employees, that it was looking at closing “at least one larger vehicle manufacturing plant and one component factory in Germany” in order to find cost savings worth billions of euros.
Continue reading...