The Guardian is reporting that Angela Merkel's centre-right coalition government looks to be close to collapse, weakened by a string of disagreements and intense infighting over austerity cuts, policy reform and the departure of senior conservatives.
Merkel called at the weekend for the government partners to bury the hatchet over their disagreements after a week when relations reached such a low that members of her government had variously referred to each other as "wild pigs" and "gherkin troops" (rank amateurs).
But much of the mistrust and anger is being directed at Merkel herself. This week's Spiegel magazine called her the Trummerfrau, a reference to German women who cleared away the rubble after second world war bombings. It painted a picture of a woman presiding over a government in ruins and used its title page to request the government in one word to "Aufhören!", or stop.
It just couldn't happen to a nicer government ... and sets a wonderful precedent for The Boy.
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