It is the beginning: the Berlin media is telling us that Berlin’s schools are descending to an American level of chaos. The latest thing is that the CDU is demanding metal detectors in schools, “like in airports.” What they mean of course is “like in those films.” But these are ridiculous, empty, spectacular gestures. It is a suggestion born of a mad desperation. No-one has any effective ideas for stopping violence in schools, because schools are the worst places in the world.

They’re where everything bad happens. I hated school. Being a child brings out the worst in a human being. Obviously this is one side of an endless debate, but hell, I have to hang my hat somewhere. Children are prone to all the lowest herding instincts that the human mind is capable of. The Rütli kids took pride in the show they performed for the reporters that appeared after their teachers sent out that letter. The scars you see in their faces are gang badges, not evidence of violence.