WANTED: AMBITIOUS politicians to fill vacancies at the top of what was until recently Germany's biggest party. Apply in writing to Christian Democrat (CDU) headquarters in Bonn.

If Germany is to remain competitive and to create new jobs, it needs... Thatcherism with a human face

GERMANY BRACED itself yesterday for the biggest political realignment in its post-war history, as Gerhard Schroder's Social Democrats set about forming a government with the help of the Greens.

THE BALANCE of power in Europe tilted to the left last night as Helmut Kohl, the world's longest-serving democratic leader, suffered a crushing defeat in Germany's general elections. His departure opens the way to a government led by the Social Democrats' Gerhard Schroder.

Kohl has been written off before, but my hunch is that this time the old warhorse won't make it

ALMOST INSEPARABLE in the polls, the visible distinctions between Chancellor Helmut Kohl and his challenger faded further yesterday as Germans were confronted with the prospect of a "grand coalition" after this Sunday's vote.

"IT'S GOOD to be home," the Chancellor sighed, wiping the sweat off his forehead as he gazed at the faces of the 5,000 people who had come to welcome him on this balmy night. "Helmut, Helmut," the crowd thundered. "Our Helmut".

Despite trailing badly in the polls, Germany's veteran chancellor can't be written off yet, writes Imre Karacs

Tories are a tribe. They need the feeling of belonging, a hierarchy, a Fuhrer. They've lost that

THE PHONEY war is over. Germany's election campaign enters the "hot phase" today with a Woodstock-style happening organised by the Social Democrats in Bonn, followed by a Christian Democrat rally at a Dortmund arena tomorrow.

IN THE "German autumn" of 1973, a young revolutionary named Joschka Fischer lent his Volkswagen to a terrorist working for Carlos The Jackal. The car, as he was to learn much later, was used to transport weapons stolen from American barracks in Frankfurt, including the gun that snuffed out the life of a senior politician in 1981.

FROM 1959 on, Swiss governments have been constructed on a complicated formula under which the Christian Democrats, Radical Democrats and Social Democrats each get two ministers, and the Swiss People's Party gets one. Nominations for the seven-member government must also consider Switzerland's language groups. Ernst Brugger was elected to the government at this time and awarded the Department of Public Economy. He was regarded as a model patriot, in touch with ordinary people, but one whose education had made him outward-looking.

CZECH VOTERS moved to the left and gave the Social Democratics a victory in elections held over the weekend. However, the margin may have been too narrow for the party to form a viable government or resolve the political instability that has plagued the country since the collapse of the centre-right coalition led by former prime minister Vaclav Klaus.

THE CHALLENGER was so looking forward to this meeting. The choreography of the handshake with Russia's President had been refined to the tiniest detail, the arc lights carefully targeted on those famous white teeth, and the trademark smile practised a hundred times. Only one thing was wrong: the cameras were missing.