Resolute on New Year’s Eve

Resolute on New Year’s Eve

How can we stay positive as we anxiously enter an uncertain 2023? NEW YEAR’S EVE this year – or rather, last year, or yesterday – was spent in the company of friends in the village in southwest France. It was a convivial occasion during which I drank far too...
Discovering BB’s mysteries

Discovering BB’s mysteries

You are now entering Bussière-Badil in southwestern France. Not everything is what it seems, or what you expect, in Bussière-Badil, well off the beaten track in France. But what can you expect from a village that has been on the maps since 768 CE? When I open the...

Can we still give peace a chance?

In the face of the rapid escalation of the war in the Ukraine, tens of thousands come together in Berlin to protest for peace People at the anti-war demonstration near Berlin’s Brandenburger Tor express their opinion of Putin’s aggression. Photograph:...

No future for Zukunft am Ostkreuz?

Zukunft am Ostkreuz, a much loved arthouse cinema and cultural venue, has not been able to renew its lease. Its demise would represent a huge loss to the local community as well as the city of Berlin Entrance (before opening hours) to Zukunft am Ostkreuz, mid-January,...

Rebels with a cause

January stage roundup in ExBerliner magazine Matthias Brandt in ‘Mein Name sei Gantenbein’ at the Berliner Ensemble. Photograph: Andi Weiland Alienation and raging against the machine has been a virulent reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic. A number of shows...