When you spend time in both Britain and Germany, it is impossible not to notice how distant their stances on Europe have become. When Angela Merkel meets David Cameron at Downing Street today, to discuss the EU budget, they ought to have plenty of common ground. Berlin actually stands to lose more than London: under the current plans, its contribution would rise by about 30 billion euros over the seven years, whereas the UK’s would go up by 17 billion. Nor does Merkel need to be told that the budget is a nonsense: even her Europhile foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, says that the current set-up “leads to aberrations such as EU subsidies going to day-spas or romantic hotels”.