It is not going to shed its new-found self-confidence and assertiveness just because of a few speeches.

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It may also be the result of assertiveness courses, and perhaps of the bombastic self-confidence shown on programmes like The Apprentice, but it does young people a disservice.

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To justify its new assertiveness, the post office comes up with heart-rending self-justifications.

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Germany lacks the republican assertiveness of France, which bars schoolgirls from wearing headscarves, and the populist self-confidence of Switzerland, which voted to ban minarets in a referendum last November.

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