Today the German regions of Rheinland-Pfalz (my home Bundesland) and Baden-Wuerttemberg (my grandmother’s home Bundesland, a place where I spent a great deal of time in my youth) had regional elections. For the uninitiated, the upper house of Germany’s parliament is composed of members appointed by regional parliaments in proportion to the population of the regions so this has national ramifications. Rheinland-Pfalz tends to be fairly centrist and independent. It has produced a number of centre-right Minister Presidents as well as centre-left, even when national politics were in favour of Merkel’s centre-right coalition. That in today’s climate it chose to retain its Social Democrat/Green coalition is no surprise. The shock came from Baden-Wuerttemberg where, for the first time, the Greens will have a Minister President and form a coalition with the Social Democrats. For those in the UK think of the Greens becoming the dominant party in Oxfordshire and forming a government with Labour. For those in the USA think of the Greens governing with Democrat allies in Utah.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Um yes, I can understand your consternation, Christopher. The above is inconceivable but anything is possible.
Things change, I agree.
In Australia, three notionally right-wing independents joined forces with Labor, effectively giving the Leader of the Greens control of policy. Work that out!! 😦
Bearsy.
I don’t even care to consider the idea. 😦
Or “First past the post” rarely makes consideration of the idea necessary. I’m not about to vote for a change.
Araminta: since 1948 the CDU, Merkel’s party, has always dominated Baden-Wuerttemberg politics. During the Weimar era the centre-right dominated politics in that basic region as well. (Current Bundesland lines were drawn after the war) Germany also has a sort of first-past-the-post system, the problem is that there are 6 major parties in Germany so a single party rarely gets to the post. That post, however, is somewhat higher than in the UK.
Bearsy: at least in Germany the Greens are openly in charge of the government!
Is Green non-PC then? People seem to like it.
Hugh,
We all know that the ecomentalists are as nutty as squirrel shite.
They are tolerated because everyone likes to think they are saving the planet with their recycling regime and you would be better off admitting to kiddy fiddling than allowing it to be known you don’t boil wash your tin cans before putting them out for the ‘recycling’ wagon.
Screaming Lord Such would be a safer vote than a green FFS. Hell vote Cameron if you must.
So AV is a good idea then? Get MPs from the Greens, BNP and Communists to hold the balance of power in the event of a hung parliament. Great! 😦
OZ
I got talking to a German lady at the weekend who was on her way to an environmental conference in Cambridge. She had a Green magazine with her whose editorial was very complimentary about Merkel’s stance on the German nuclear power stations and also pointed out that Schröder and his socialist party had been intending to construct even more of them when they lost power.
Sheona,
“When they lost power”
Was that an intentional pun? 😀
Didn’t even realise the totally unintentional pun, Ferret.
Janus: the ecomentalists in Germany have a long history of wielding an unfortunate amount of credibility and respectability. Germany was the first country in which the Greens became a respectable party and Germans can, when environmental concerns are factored in, become even more stupid than Americans.