Is Merkel to blame for Germany's Eurovision loss?

German commentators were wringing their hands on Sunday over the country’s disappointing finish at the Eurovision final Saturday night. The country came 21^st out of the 26 countries performing, despite fielding well-known dance act Cascada with a radio-friendly song which the German media had predicted could possibly win.

Others in Germany had, before the final, predicted the opposite – that the high level of anti-German feeling in Europe today over the austerity regimes imposed by Angela Merkel would make it impossible for Germany to win even if they fielded the greatest song eversung by mankind.

Out of the 39 countries voting, 34 refused to give Germany any points at all. Austria, Switzerland, Israel and Albania were the only ones to award the country points, along with bailed-out Spain - which came as a surprise (but could be accounted for by the large amount of German pensioners living in Spain for retirement). Germany received a humiliating score of just 18 points, compared to 281 points for Denmark's winning entry.

The coordinator for Germany’s ARD TV network told German media on Sunday, "There's obviously a political situation to keep in mind - I don't want to say 'this was 18 points for Angela Merkel', but we all have to be aware that it wasn't just Cascada up there on stage, but all of Germany."

Thatcher's rose-tinted American legacy

The American media’s reverential depiction of Margaret Thatcher this week says much about how the US and UK differ when looking at history.

As I’ve watched the international media coverage of the death of Margaret Thatcher over the past few days, I’ve almost felt like we're talking about different women.

In America, the wall-to-wall coverage – quite unusual for a foreign leader – has been downright worshipful. This tone has been matched by politicians on both sides of the aisle. "The world has lost one of the great champions of freedom and liberty, and America has lost a true friend,” declared Barack Obama on Monday. “She helped restore the confidence and pride that has always been the hallmark of Britain at its best."

Here in continental Western Europe, where Thatcher was far less popular, the coverage couldn’t be more different. One French politician remarked that Thatcher will see the miners she put out of work in hell, while German MP Michael Roth declared "her radical market policies and her Europe-sceptical politics will certainly not be missed.”

In the UK the coverage has been more nuanced. As people say, she was a bit like Marmite – you either loved her or you hated her. The political persuasions of British papers has determined which side they’ve chosen to emphasise. But no media outlet has ignored the fact that she split opinions. Even Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron’s statement to the Parliament on Monday acknowledged this.

Violence erupts at French anti-gay-marriage protests

Across Europe and the Americas, gay marriage has been enacted peacefully and with minimal protest. Meanwhile, in France...

Yesterday, an estimated one million people flooded the streets of Paris to protest plans to enact same-sex marriage in France. It was the second such massive demonstration, following one held in January against French President Francois Hollande’s effort to enact gay marriage - a fulfilment of a promise made during last year’s presidential campaign.

This time, the demonstration took a nasty turn. The protestors became violent. The police resorted to using tear gas, which allegedly injured some of the many children being used in the protest. The police counter that the anti-gay-marriage protestors were using children as human shields. The president of France's Christian Democrat party says she was injured by police during the protest. Today, the opposition UMP party of Nicolas Sarkozy is calling for the resignation of the Paris chief of police and French interior minister Manuel Valls in response to the tear gas 'used against children'.

A Cyprus whodunit

Brussels is in full blame-game mode today following last night’s rejection by the Cypriot parliament of the bailout package offered to the country by the EU. It’s a veritable whodunit mystery, with the answer depending on whether you’re inclined to believe the President of Cyprus, or the rest of Europe.

All sides agree on one thing – the decision taken by European finance ministers in the early hours of Saturday morning to require a one-time levy on all Cypriot bank accounts in exchange for the bail-out was colossally stupid, plunging the Eurozone into a new crisis and risking a bank run in the country. What cannot be agreed upon is whose idea it was.

Raiding people’s savings accounts is an unprecedented move. Such conditions were not imposed on any other country receiving bailout money, and indeed no such idea was ever even discussed. But Cyprus is a special case. As the likelihood of an EU bailout for the small Mediterranean island increased, worry began growing that the move would actually be a bail-out for wealthy Russian oligarchs who use the island for money-laundering or tax-evading.

Frigide Barjot - a very French protest

On Tuesday of this week, I was sitting in the press room of the European Parliament in Strasbourg - waiting for a press conference on the 2014 EU elections - when suddenly a woman clad in hot pink burst into the room. Her leathery brown skin and wild hair stood in stark contrast to the suited conservative members of parliament who were ushering her in. By her side was a young man with bleach-blond hair, also clad in pink.

This, the journalists learned, was Frigide Barjot - the leader of France’s anti-gay-marriage movement. The Conservative MEPs had invited her to the European Parliament to speak about her desire to extend her anti-gay-marriage movement to all of Europe. While notorious in France, Ms Barjot is unknown outside the country, and the journalists were perplexed as to why she was there. But I knew of her already, if only from the many Facebook posts I see from my French friends decrying her antics.

A week of turmoil for Europe

Yesterday was a big news day for EU politics, with a series of high-profile speeches in reaction to the disastrous election result in Italy on Monday. But despite the many speeches, the message has been singular: there is “no alternative” to austerity, and hostility toward the EU in domestic politics is exascerbating the euro crisis.

The day started with a speech by humiliated ‘technocrat’ prime minister Mario Monti at the European Commission. Having been rejected by his home country, it is perhaps unsurprising that the former European Commissioner wanted to come to Brussels, where people understand him. It was Brussels after all, at the behest of Berlin, who installed Monti on the Italian throne after forcing out Silvio Berlusconi at the height of the Italian crisis in 2011.

And it is no coincidence that it was the ‘Italians abroad inEurope’ voting region in which Monti received his highest share of the vote – 30%. This compares to the 9% of the vote he received at home – less than half the vote chare received by anti-establishment comedian Beppe Grillo.