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It is an apparent irony of European politics that in the middle of a crisis in capitalism, free-market, right of centre politics seems to be enjoying a resurgence. Nicolas Sarkozy is popular in France, David Cameron looks certain to be our next prime minister, and in Germany, Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats have won a hugely significant election victory this weekend over their Social Democrat rivals, the SPD.

At last she can come out and call them rivals! That must be the biggest relief this morning for Bundeskanzlerin Merkel. For the last four years she has had to pussyfoot around, pretending that the so-called grand-coalition between CDU and SPD was useful, friendly even. In reality it was a stultifying political stodge.

Neither...