Potato Soup

He is a historian, a teacher, a scholar, a consummate communicator, a thoroughly entertaining and infectious guide and, quite possibly, the bravest man in Britain. Because Neil MacGregor wants us to love Germany. [..] “The point of the series is not so much to put the history of the 20th century in a bigger context, but it’s also saying, ‘What has Germany done since 1990?’ This is a new country, and a new country needs a new history.” [..]

MacGregor [thinks the British] are the deluded [..] Because the Germans want to be our friends. “Germany wants allies. One of the things they’ve learnt from the past is not only that power is dangerous, but acting alone is also dangerous. So they want counsel and friends and they would be very happy for Britain to play that role. Whether Britain wants to play that role, and whether Britain sees itself as wanting to be Germany’s friend, I don’t know. Historically we are in a far better position to be Germany’s friend than France [..] ”