
An overcast and chilly Sunday didn’t deter me, my family and thousands of others from queueing around New York’s Union Square for the chance to handpick a bouquet of 10 colourful tulips.
The second annual organised by , a Dutch trade organisation, was free with registration, though tickets vanished as fast as they would for a Taylor Swift concert.
It was a surprisingly cheery experience, picking spring flowers at an event sponsored by the European Union, even as relations look increasingly fraught between the US and EU.
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Politics was also on my mind as I read Nazi Billionaires – a look into the history of brands like BMW and Porsche by journalist David de Jong. He details how industry bankrolled Hitler’s Nazi party, shrugging off the demise of democratic governance as they profited from crony capitalism and the use of forced and slave labour.
In other words, don’t expect billionaires to save democracy.