Jim Callaghan snuggled up to the chancellor Helmut Schmidt in the 1970s, and ever since there has been a sense among the social democratic left in the UK that there is much to be learned from Europe's biggest economy.
The Germans, it has been said repeatedly down the decades, have a superior model of capitalism: based on good design and skilled workmanship; stable, long-term funding arrangements between businesses and the banks; a more consensual system of industrial relations; a network of mediumsized companies, many of them family-owned; a top-notch system of vocational and technical training that ensures a steady supply of skilled, productive workers. There is a reason Germans work fewer hours and enjoy higher living standards than the Brits: they have rejected Anglo-Saxon capitalism in favour of something better. They run a big trade surplus, have sound public finances and keep inflation under control. What's not to like?
There was a time when that thesis might have been right on the money. Some of it may still hold true. Germany has been able to spend €2tn (£1.7tn) over 30 years levelling up east Germany - a sustained commitment that puts the UK's effort in the shade.
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