The Kaiser Edition

Image take from the film “Surreality” by Carleton Torpin

Wild, chaotic scenes in the Ultimate Beverage voting booth have led to dramatic events and some ghastly behaviour all round. Hot Chocolate (Raymond) was beaten in the vote by Coffee although Coffee (Seb) didn’t post anything at all.

Now Raymond is sulking – and Seb is being all grown up (“I don’t want to win this way”) and frankly it’s all rather sickening and I was considering disqualifying both of them. But as this whole thing is controlled by the readers of The Kaiser Edition and not by me it’s up to you lot to decide.

Here are the facts:

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As many of you know I love living and working in Germany. I adore it. But there are days when I do ask myself just what on earth I’m doing here. Yesterday was such a day. One of the comments from yesterdays little debate reminded me of why Germany has fallen behind a little in terms of international innovation; the Germans love their certificates. Once a certificate has been gained - through diligence, rigour and perseverance (not to mention a considerable tuition fee), the certificate becomes a license to announce a tangible qualification - regardless of soft skills like passion, insight and talent. This is not true of everyone here - but it is of the majority.

Let me show you what I mean. I’d like to introduce you to Mario and the parable of the certificate.

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