Tocqueville Road Trip Episode 2: Against All Obstacles. Alexis de Tocqueville visited Sing Sing prison in the 1830s and in this episode John Prideaux, The Economist’s US Editor visits the prison in 2026. In spite of (or because of?) the American Dream that is supposedly available to everyone, Americans seem to be particularly censorious of those who choose the wrong path. Prideaux speaks with prisoners on the Sing Sing Prison College program which has reduced the 28% recidivism rate to only 2%. Tocqueville admired the spirit of voluntary organization in America in the 1830s, but nearly 200 years later this highly successful program remains in the hands of voluntary providers, and certainly does not extend to other states. I’m enjoying this series and this is the last free episode…will I splash out for digital access to the rest of it?
The Rest is History Continuing on with the series looking at the national anthems of teams likely to do well in the World Cup, now Dominic and Tom turn their attention to the German National Anthem with Episode 679 Germany: The Song Hitler Stole (Pt 3) . We tend to think of it as ‘Deutschland über alles’ but that is the first verse, that was sung during Nazi times, whereas the national anthem today uses the third verse. The tune was written by Haydn in 1797 based on a folk song and the words were originally God Save the Emperor (meaning the Austrian emperor) and it was known as the Austrian song. The tune was reused when German intellectual August Heinrich Hoffman wrote ‘The Song of the Germans’ in 1841- and note that ‘Germany’ didn’t exist at that time. The first verse ‘Deutschland über alles’ was an appeal for the separate German monarchs to combine to create one nation. Instead of being an incitement to domination as it was in Nazi Germany, it was a call for the ideal of Germany. Prussia had its own anthem- a direct rip-off of God Save the King and ‘The Watch on the Rhine’ was more popular. ‘The Song of the Germans’ just mouldered away until 1890s when it began to catch on, and it was taken up by WWI German soldiers. During the Weimar Republic there was debate over both the flag and the national song, and in a spirit of compromise, ‘The Song of the Germans’ and its first verse was adopted to appease the Right. The Horst Wessell song, which the Nazis sang alongside The Song of the Germans was an answer to the Internationale. After WW2 West Germany didn’t have an anthem at all, although Ode to Joy was used. In 1952 the third (not first) verse of the Song of the Germans was adopted. East Germany had a separate anthem but after the fall of the wall, it was decided to stick with the Third Verse version.
The History Bureau Putin and the Apartment Bombs: Hindsight (Episode 7) Twenty five years after the bombings and this final episode of the series (there is one additional spin-off episode) returns to the journalists they have interviewed over the previous six episodes to ask: who do you think bombed the apartments? Some journalists (one called David- couldn’t catch the surname) think that the bombs were the work of experts and the only people who had that expertise were FSB. Scott Anderson who wrote the article called ‘Vladimir Putin’s Dark Rise to Power’ can’t prove it but he thinks that Putin was behind the bombings. Yevgeny Kiselyov who was involved with the television program following the failed Ryazan bombing thinks that the FSB was involved, and that there were other suspicious deaths as well. However, journalist Steven Lee Myers from the NYT thinks that it’s a conspiracy theory. Putin didn’t need to order the bombings, and the Chechen war had already started. He thinks that it was Chechen terrorists, who also captured theatres and blew up schools and planes. BBC’s Gordon Corera thinks that it’s plausible that it was the FSB but just doesn’t know. Andrew Harding, also from the BBC is puzzled by the failed Ryazan bombing and says that there is no clear answer. He has spent time with Chechan leaders, and believes that if an opportunity presented itself, Chechnya would take it, so it’s not impossible. But what if it was BOTH an FSB and Chechen act? Steven Lee Myers thinks that the FSB was so corrupt that it could collaborate with terrorists if the price was right. Even if we had proof now, 25 years later, nothing would change. Jeremy Vine of the BBC reminds us that we need to remember the context- the West wanted to have a positive view of Russia’s future. But the bombings aren’t forgotten: at a 2024 Crocus City Hall attack, ‘Ryazan’ and ‘sugar’ surged as search terms again. So the story is still alive.
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 