My daughter who is on a student exchange in Paris called me crying last night “Dad, there are fires everywhere, people are smashing windows, police cannot control it anymore” I told her to calm down “Sweetheart, didn’t you read the official statistics? These are peaceful demonstrations by people who feel unheard” “But dad, the African guys in my building, they attacked me and my friend today and-” “Stop it. Don’t reduce a complex social movement to isolated incidents” I said “I just want to come home” she started crying harder I told her leaving now would be a terrible idea Europe has a long tradition of democratic protest and she should feel lucky to experience civic participation firsthand Hopefully one day she learns that democracy is not always quiet

My perfect Sunday in Germany: 1. Wake up alone at 6:31am to the sound of the call to prayer from a nearby mosque 2. Check my wife's location, she is at a random hotel 3. Make instant coffee (the machine uses too much electricity) 4. Spend 24 minutes separating yoghurt cups into four bins 5. Check local news, train station closed after another stabbing 6. Walk 11 kilometres to the farmers market 7. Buy three organic apples for €17 8. Come home, watch a German documentary about the dangers of racial stereotyping 9. Fall asleep to the sounds of men shouting in Turkish and a police helicopter circling the neighbourhood I love my life in Europe

An ideal Saturday in the UK: 09:00 - Wake up next to the insanely obese woman you met at a pub last night 10:00 - Check the weather app, it will rain for the next five months 11:00 - Visit a nearby mosque to pray 12:00 - Get your iPhone snatched by a Black teenager riding an e-bike 13:00 - Go to Tesco for lunch, pay £46 for a coffee and a hot dog 14:00 - Watch two Black men steal eleven boxes of frozen chicken nuggets 16:00 - Visit a friend in prison who is serving a 3-year sentence for posting wrong things on social media 20:00 - Watch BBC News report about the UK implementing a new 85% tax rate 22:00 - Call the police on my white neighbour for posting an offensive meme about Pakistani people Life in the UK is simply a paradise