Berlin, where Marlene Dietrich kept a suitcase just in case the party really got going, should be one of the world's great cities. Instead it has been wasting its time in a world of make-believe. The city of Frederick the Great, Hegel and Humboldt, and Brecht and Weill has been living well beyond its means.

Too little economic activity and an overgrown state mean that today Berlin has debt of €60bn and tax revenues that cover barely half its €20bn budget. So, to paraphrase Ms Dietrich, thank heaven for German judges who last week threw out the city's bid for a federal bailout.