Try as they may, politicians can't always do good. SPD chief Kurt Beck wanted to do a good deed. He wanted to shave off his beard, much to the delight of all those who have questioned whether the plumage on his face is actually pretty. To spread even more cheer, he was intent on auctioning off his whiskers "for a million euros for a good cause." There were no takers.

The moral of this story? Just because you're on TV every day, doesn't mean you're a star.

In Germany these days, you don't mess with "the little guy." While the upper crust rakes it in, the masses try to keep what they have left, as they see it. And their elected representatives in parliament, what are they up to? Guess what, both governing parties wanted to hike lawmakers' compensation by ?490 to ?8,159 a month. As a result, opposition parties, the media and the public hit the roof, the big parties turned tail. They postponed the decision until after the 2009 elections. That prompted Chancellor Merkel to delay pay raises for her cabinet, too.

Sometimes the little guy wins after all.

If "the little guy" were a politician himself, he might just have approved the higher pay. It's all a question of where you stand. Margareta Wolf must think the same. As a Bundestag deputy and a senior official in the Environment Ministry, she staunchly campaigned for phasing out nuclear power. Late last year, she took a job at a PR agency. Its clients include the nuclear lobby, which is pushing for longer operating times for reactors.

I eat your bread, I sing your song, the German proverb goes.  

Yet not only politicians are prone to missteps. Just before the European Football Championships kicked off, some German teachers had the kids calling foul. In Hamburg and Baden-Württemberg, they banned trading of player stickers on school grounds. Fights had broken out, it was claimed.

You can make plenty of mistakes raising children - even when you're a teacher.

Apparently, pictures also bothered Gianni Alemanno. Until a few weeks ago, though, the far-right mayor of Rome was powerless to stop the endless photos of Hollywood stars preening on the Spanish Steps during the Rome Film Festival. Alemanno's predecessor Walter Veltroni had launched the festival, turning Rome into a "capital of cinema," according to Milos Forman, in the process. Now it's Alemanno's turn and he wants Rome to once again belong to Italian stars. The "Times" even says he's compiled a blacklist of Hollywood personalities he wants off the guest lists. These reportedly include George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio.

From a German standpoint, we say: Dear Hollywood stars, just come to the Berlinale instead!

- Peter H. Koepf