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From a Swiss point of view, it must be hard to imagine how fascinating, thrilling and attractive the small-scale political structure of the country appears from the outside – and that foreigners looking at Switzerland may find the workings of Swiss cantons and councils interesting or even inspiring.

Während Australien sich auf seinen Reform-Lorbeeren ausruhte, haben die Neuseeländer erfolgreich einen neuen Modernisierungspfad beschritten. Die Australier müssen es ihnen nun nachtun, wenn sie eine erfolgreiche Nation in der vom Pazifik geprägten Weltwirtschaft des 21. Jahrhunderts bleiben möchten.

Migrants who bring their skills to this country, who are willing to make a contribution and ready to become a part of the community, are an asset. They will add strength and diversity to the country, and make it a better place – as generations of migrants have done before them.

It is hard to follow the Cameron chameleon and make sense of his latest mimesis. Suddenly he believes in tax cuts, reducing benefits, cutting the budget and fighting the EU . He now actually sounds like a, well, Tory.

If Australia wanted to draw any conclusions from the German turnaround of the past decade, there are a few. To trigger a wave of economic modernisation, it either takes a conviction politician such as Margaret Thatcher or it takes an economic crisis to force it onto the agenda, as happened to Gerhard Schröder.

Die Wirtschaftsgeschichte lehrt, dass für eine solche Politik des billigen Geldes langfristig stets ein hoher Preis zu zahlen ist. Zu den Schulden, dem hohem Alter der Japaner und der Dauer-Depression dürfte sich eine Währungskrise hinzugesellen. Das Land der aufgehenden Sonne geht seinem Untergang entgegen.

In most markets, we are used to products becoming cheaper and better over time. Why should housing be any different? Perhaps we should think more about houses as homes, not primarily as a financial investment. Now that’s a radical thought.

As I was watching Wellington Phoenix beat Sydney FC 2-0, I wasn’t sure which was stranger: seeing legendary Italian striker Alessandro Del Piero play football in New Zealand, or supporting a team dressed in black and yellow? I grew up supporting my local team, FC Schalke 04, the legendary “Royal Blues” from the West German mining town of Gelsenkirchen. To us Schalkers, the yellow-black colours of arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund are a worse provocation than a red rag to a bull.