Angela Merkel

And even if she wasn’t, could she have been any worse than she was? “Barbarossa Red” sounds like a fiery cocktail for hardcore barflies. In fact, it was an unremarkable, but very entertaining late Cold War thriller I read many years ago: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/j/dennis-jones/barbarossa-red.htm [SPOILER ALERT] The central twist has a…

As she beamed to her fullest smile looking at the fresh-faced students during her 2019 commencement address at Harvard University. The World’s most powerful woman urged the graduates to break down the walls of ignorance for nothing is here to stay. …

From surprising musical choices to contrasting opinions to fictional characters to a retiring doppelganger the former German Chancellor’s farewell saga was as varied as her tenure — The above photograph is an advert from the German job site StepStone, in the run up to the 2021 German elections. The same expresses gratitude to outgoing Chenacellor Angela Merkel in a very succinct manner. Danke fur 16 jahre harte arbeit (Thank you for 16 years of hard work), it…

Many in the world believe that Angela Merkel is one of the greatest leaders of the modern era. Unfortunately, this is not the case in her home country, Germany. We have recently gone through a national election in Germany which, according to many, is a final verdict on the 16…

Her party, the Christian Democratic Union, used to get around 40% of the vote. After 16 years of a Merkel administration the CDU got 24% last month. It won’t even be part of the next coalition government. (Germans get a real ideological choice in their elections . . . they get to choose between socialist, liberal, conservative, centrist, green, and nationalist parties, all of which get enough votes to send representatives to parliament)

Five years ago, as more and more refugees crossed into Europe, Germany’s chancellor proclaimed, ‘We’ll manage this.’ Critics said it was her great mistake — but she has been proved right. Germany is a strong country but concerns about the steeply rising number of people — mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan — applying for asylum in Germany that summer. The German phrase Merkel used, Wir schaffen das, became so memorable mainly because it would in the weeks and months that followed be endlessly quoted back at her by those who believed that the German chancellor’s optimistic message had encouraged millions more migrants to embark on a dangerous odyssey across the Med. “Merkel’s actions, now, will be hard to correct: her words cannot be unsaid,” wrote the Spectator. “She has exacerbated a problem that will be with us for years, perhaps decades.”

Mammoth Steppe Blessed day. Gavin Williamson may get a knighthood. In a Cabinet re-shuffle, Raab was relieved of the Foreign Sec post (gone fishing during Afghanistan withdrawal chaos, on top of whatever else), was then placated with the titles of Lord Chancellor and Deputy PM, meaning he must defend the…