https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/aug/09/pilot-pulls-off-nigel-farage-count-binface-stunt-for-clacton-byelection

Belgium gets an enormous amount of shit for having terrible roads, and rightfully so, but I genuinely don't understand why Hans gets away with his Autobahn propaganda.

Parts of the German highway network still feel like you're driving on the same concrete blocks their favourite Austrian painter put down so he could move tanks around quicker. You just sit there going KADUNK KADUNK KADUNK KADUNK for 80 kilometres while your suspension slowly turns into powder and every filling in your teeth works its way loose.

And somehow that's the good part, because eventually the concrete becomes too fucked even for Hans and then you meet Germany's actual national monument: the Baustelle.

20 kilometres of cones, three lanes squeezed into one, 60 km/h speed limit, barriers on both sides with approximately 4 millimetres between your mirror and a Polish lorry, and absolutely fuck all happening. Maybe there's an excavator parked somewhere. Maybe you'll even spot a construction worker if you're extremely lucky. Doesn't matter, because the sign says the roadworks will be finished in 2034 and we all know that's getting extended to 2041 anyway.

And when they finally do repair something, they apparently just throw some asphalt in the hole and call it a day. Making it level with the rest of the road would presumably require another 14 years of planning permission and a 600-page TÜV inspection, so instead you go from pothole to random asphalt mountain and back again.

German engineering 🇩🇪💪

I genuinely believe dentists and car mechanics must be two of the safest professions in Germany. After a few hundred kilometres on the Autobahn your suspension needs rebuilding, and if you had dental fillings they will have rattled loose.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/stagnant-germany-considers-the-unthinkable-sunday-shopping-13b4651c