Joschka Fischer has now announced his withdrawal from a formal role in the Green Party, signalling he will not play a role in front line politics unless the Greens stay in government as part of a traffic light or Jamaica coalition. Seems a strange decision from Fischer, but I suppose that going from foreign minister to some minor opposition spokesperson would not be a role he would want. More from the F.A.Z. here.

While the negotiations continue in Germany, and lots of social democrats (and others for that matter) look on in fascination or confusion, the matter seems to largely have passed by the UK Labour Party. Scouring the website Bloggers4Labour Latest Posts reveals no comments at all about the German election, and even on the day of the vote, there were only a couple of posts. OK, we might have moved on from the heady days of The Third Way / Die Neue Mitte, but the German election is vital for the future of Social Democracy in Europe. So why are the British Labour bloggers so insular?