A chance event led me to visit the memorial site in the Bendlerblock. Situated near Tiergarten, the building is famous as the centre of resistance among the military of the Third Reich. The most famous of them was Colonel von Stauffenberg, who planted a bomb to a meeting Hitler was attending.

Director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) is currently shooting a film about the conspiracy – with Tom Cruise starring as Stauffenberg. The city officials have denied Cruise's request to shoot in Bendlerblock and at some other locations. They are at odds with The Church of Scientology figureheaded by Cruise. Berliner Zeitung reported, that the cult leaders regard Germany as the most critical beach-head to Europe. The other front being the Beckhams?

I also ran into the Fuckparade (hence the video above). The beaty street party started in 1997 as an underground alternative to the Love Parade, but is also associated with political activism against state control.

In the wake of G8 summit earlier this summer, the anti-terror enforcement has now invoked Section 129a – a paragraph in the German Criminal Code law dating back to the days of RAF. The paragraph was used to arrest a non-conforming sociologist Andrej H. and three others suspected of "supporting" a left-wing extremist group Militante Gruppe (MG).

Let's see how this mess sorts out. It's been in the regional news, at least. In any case, if accusations are based on such conspirational behaviour like – 'not taking his mobile phone with him to a meeting' or 'having access to libraries which he can use inconspicuously in order to do the research necessary to the drafting of texts of the MG' – it's needless to say, that something profound is in danger here.

I was at the embassy following the election results TV coverage. Very cosy and informal event. Some of the diplomatic service were there and a couple of reporters.

Voter turnout abroad is understandably low, only 13%. In Germany, voting was possible in seven cities. For comparison, in Spain, there were eleven polling stations, including five extra-consular ones put up in Fuengirola, Playa del Ingles, Tenerife, Torremolinos and Torrevieja.

I was told that there are 1500 Finnish citizens in Berlin. Considering the magnetic power the city has among arty and bohemian types, who flat around off the books, there are probably more Finns in Berlin than in Lehtimäki.

It would be very interesting to know, for example, how Berlin voted compared to the other foreign cities. Or regions like Costa del Sol. Such statistics however don't exist, because none of foreign locations are actual voting districts.

Production of legendary HP sauce has been wrapped up in Birmingham and is being moved to The Netherlands, the news says. The current brand owners Heinz had deemed the 100-year old factory no longer economically viable.

Because the letters HP stand for Houses of Parliament, some patriotic British MPs tried to get the offshored HP sauce banned from the parliamentary canteen. Wrong, they shouldn't ban it, just rename it Market Freedom Sauce instead.

Photo by tim ellis.