Hello from London,

What is the greatest division between America and Europe? You might think it is over attitudes to food or sport, policy towards China or something about the guardrails needed for capitalism. Not a bit of it. The biggest split is over cars. Americans expect to drive huge ones, ideally something that has the heft and noise of an elephant. Europeans are far likelier to opt for smaller beasts. When an American friend once visited, renting a stylish but tiny Fiat 500 at the airport, his teenage daughter was mortified, announcing it was obviously a toy vehicle and not fit for the road.

Admittedly, Europeans are also driving bigger cars than they used to. But Americans increasingly prefer monsters, relishing the thrill of revving up a big truck and judging that, for drivers and their passengers, bigger vehicles bring more safety. Unfortunately, as we set out in  a new article published this weekend , this is becoming a fatal trend for others on or near the road. The monsters increasingly flatten pedestrians, cyclists and drivers of smaller cars. Last year one pollster noted that 41% of Americans thought SUVs and pickup trucks had grown too big. Too right.

Germany is on our minds today. State elections in the east of the country are usually not of huge interest to outsiders, but the two held today help to show how strong extremists are becoming in the political system. The hard-right Alternative for Germany, which stirs up support on the back of hostility to refugees and other migrants, looks to have come top in Thuringia and appears to have run the conservative Christian Democratic Union close in Saxony—though it won’t be in government in either state. On the hard left, the party of Sahra Wagenknecht, a pro-Russian opposition leader who is hostile to migrants, seems to have come third in both places. (Read our weekend profile of Ms Wagenknecht.)

Our latest Dateline history quiz is now live. Do you remember the year DVDs were launched? Or when Jack the Ripper prowled the streets of London? I certainly didn’t.

Finally, our caption competition has been drawing you in in ever greater numbers. Thank you all for voting and for your suggested captions. This week I’ve chosen an image that we used on our cover in 2017. Back then we asked whether social media posed a threat to democracy. What caption would you write for it, or Mark Zuckerberg, today? Write to me at economisttoday@economist.com.

Last week we asked you to vote on a shortlist of three suggestions for an image of an overstretched businessman. The winners, by a long stretch, were Keith Parr, David Paterson and Jim, who all proposed “Elon-gated”. Finally, we now want your votes on which of the following three ideas work best with the image, below, of Kamala Harris.

You can vote for your favourite entry by clicking the blue tick below your favourite entry. (When you click you’ll be taken to The Economist’s website, but don’t worry—your vote will be registered.)