Boris Johnson and other world leaders have called for a global treaty in response to Covid – similar to that agreed after the Second World War. In the face of vaccine nationalism and clashes between countries, the Prime Minister, French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel – among others – warned against isolationism. … Read more
Angela Merkel has blamed German ‘perfectionism’ for the country’s current coronavirus chaos with vaccine doses going unused and patchy lockdown rules failing to rein in the third wave. The long-serving chancellor called for more ‘flexibility’ as she acknowledged flaws in a bureaucratic vaccine roll-out which has seen only 10 per cent of the population get … Read more
The vaccine roll-out in Germany has descended into chaos as it emerged that 80-year-olds have to fill in ten forms just to get the jab. Angela Merkel‘s coalition government is facing increasing criticism over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic with its vaccination programme now faltering. Europe’s largest economy appears to be lagging behind with … Read more
Dismay at Angela Merkel‘s handling of Covid-19 has prompted calls for a limit on how long German chancellors can stay in power. Merkel has served four terms in office since 2005, working with five different UK prime ministers from Blair to Johnson and four US presidents from Bush to Biden. But Germany‘s chaotic handling of … Read more
Germany warns its coronavirus third wave could be the worst yet with 100,000 daily infections Health official Lothar Wieler warned ‘this wave will be worse than the first two’ German health minister Jens Spahn warned hospitals could reach limit in April Angela Merkel this week had to scrap plans for an ultra-strict lockdown at Easter … Read more
Angela Merkel is ‘definitively a lame duck’ after she was forced to make a humiliating U-turn by scrapping plans for a strict Easter lockdown, a former German government spokesman has said. Bela Anda, a press secretary under Merkel’s predecessor Gerhard Schroeder, said Merkel had seen her power ‘eroded’ by the fiasco – with her party’s … Read more
A quirky letter by British nursing heroine Florence Nightingale about her little-mentioned love of cats has emerged for sale 144 years later. Nightingale, who became known as ‘Lady with the Lamp’ following her service as a nurse during the Crimean War, owned 60 felines throughout her life. At one point, she owned as many as … Read more
Angela Merkel made an astonishing plea for forgiveness today as she scrapped plans for a strict Easter lockdown in Germany which she said were ‘my mistake, and my mistake alone’. The planned five-day shutdown – in which even grocery stores would have shut on all but a single day – was agreed between Merkel and … Read more
For a man who has set so much store throughout his political career on boosterism, Boris Johnson has been notably pessimistic about our emergence from the shadow of Covid. On Monday, he dramatically warned that a third wave of coronavirus will ‘wash up on our shores’ from Europe. It is certainly true that the news … Read more
Colleague of Angela Merkel, 53, collapses and dies next to her husband on a flight from Cuba to Germany Karin Strenz, 53, was pronounced dead at hospital after collapsing on a flight The plane made an emergency landing at Shannon Airport, Ireland, at 7:30am Strenz was under investigation over alleged money transfers from Azerbaijan By … Read more