the three question marks today:
Election campaign in Germany - where is the optimism?
Corona vaccination for children and adolescents - yes or no?
Olympia - why did gymnast Simone Biles still compete in the Olympics?
1.
Bundestag election - there can be no talk of a new departure
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Armin Laschet (CDU), Annalena Baerbock (Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen) and Olaf Scholz (SPD) at an ARD panel discussion at the end of June
Photo:
Christian Mang / dpa
There are still eight weeks until the general election. Angela Merkel (CDU) is no longer up for election, nobody wants the grand coalition anymore - this creates space for new things, new politics, new alliances. At least in theory. Because somehow there is no mood of optimism among the population. It is clear that the CDU candidate for Chancellor Armin Laschet, who loves harmony, will not make it because he does not want to distance himself from Merkel too openly. And the SPD candidate Olaf Scholz, Minister (for Labor) at federal level for the first time in 2007 - well, nothing is really new about Scholz. At the moment he can show the best values of the three candidates in some surveys. But his party does not benefit from it, it is still between 15 and 17 percent.But even the Greens with their candidate Annalena Baerbock let themselves be thrown off course by the small and small of the book plagiarism. According to the political scientist Wolfgang Schroder, one reason for this is rhetoric. It is "shaped more by a culture of avoiding mistakes than by a culture of opportunities."
Schroeder is Professor of Political Science at the University of Kassel and Fellow at the Science Center Berlin (WZB). My colleague Christian Teevs asked him: "Why is the election campaign so boring?" His answer: The candidates polarize too little. »For the citizens it is not clear what the alternatives are. Although the party programs make differentiated offers, this has so far not triggered any substantive debates. ”In addition, the major issues of the corona pandemic and the flood disaster would overlap a lot.
Schroeder believes that this election campaign will be "unique in historical terms".
Due to the pandemic, around a third of voters could have cast their votes by postal vote by the first week of September.
The impact of voting at home on the outcome has not yet been explored.
But what is already clear: marketplace appearances will play almost no role.
"Emotionality is lost through the digital election campaign, there are fewer unforeseen developments," said Schroeder.
Read the full story here: Why is Olaf Scholz not bringing anything to the SPD?
2. Corona vaccination: What about the children?
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Stiko boss Thomas Mertens
Photo:
Stefan Boness / IPON / SZ Photo
The holidays have only just started in Bavaria, but the new school year will soon start again in Hamburg. As a person without school-age children, this affects me especially when I can't get a train ticket from southern to northern Germany at short notice on the weekend because all trains to the coast are overbooked (thanks, Deutsche Bahn). How many questions and uncertainties the start of school is associated with can be seen every morning in our editorial conference. Sooner or later someone is guaranteed to get in touch and say something like: "Why are there still no air filters in all classes?", "What about the vaccinations for children from 12?" Or "When will the Stiko finally show up? «
Well, at least I can answer this last question: in about ten days. Stiko boss Thomas Mertens revealed this to my colleague Nina Weber in an interview. Whether or not Stiko will recommend a corona vaccination for all 12 to 17-year-olds - as demanded by parts of the politicians - Mertens kept a low profile. »We will review the arguments of the previous vaccination recommendation and consider the approval of Moderna from the age of twelve. I cannot promise now that there will be a fundamental change in the recommendation, ”he said.
I was particularly interested in how he assesses the situation in the USA.
Vaccination is recommended there for children and adolescents.
Mertens says that the so-called disease burden is much greater there than in Germany.
“That is probably because more children there have a metabolic syndrome - obesity, high blood pressure, impaired lipid metabolism and high blood sugar.
In addition, the medical care of many children in the USA is a little worse than here. "
Read the whole story here: "Those who want to be vaccinated can do it - we made it possible"
3.
Simone Biles competed in the Olympic Games after all
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Simone Biles on the balance beam
Photo:
Jamie Squire / Getty Images
She did it after all. Simone Biles, 24, did gymnastics on the balance beam and won bronze at the Olympics, behind Chenchen Guan and Xijing Tang from China. She also won a silver medal with her team. Two years ago that would have been sobering news, the expectations of the absolute exceptional athlete were high, six gold medals were expected. But then, last week, she suddenly announced that she did not want to compete in most of the competitions due to mental problems. She had received a lot of malice and encouragement around the world for her decision.
The fact that she started again at the end had nothing to do with trying to prove it to anyone, she said after the competition. After several examinations with the sports psychologist, she simply felt ready: "I just wanted to go out and do it for myself, and I did." She didn't expect the medal at all.
My colleague Jan Göbel observed them in Tokyo.
He says, “Maybe Simone Biles wasn't the most glorious athlete at the Olympics, but she was certainly the most level-headed.
And in the end she rewarded herself with a competition that she loves so much. «How things will go on for Biles is still completely unclear.
In gymnastics, at the age of 24 you can think of the end of your career.
Jan thinks it is unlikely that she will compete in the Olympic Games in Paris again in three years.
"But she will decide it for herself, and that she is the one who can make smart decisions, she showed that at these games in Tokyo," he says.
Read the full story here: She did it for herself.
For yourself alone
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What else is important today
Ministry proposes the end of free tests for October:
The federal government is planning an end to the free corona rapid
tests
.
Now the Ministry of Health has announced a possible date for the first time.
Lambda variant shows possible resistance to vaccines:
The lambda variant is spreading further in South America.
Studies in Japan show: the mutant could be resistant to antibodies.
Researchers are calling for lambda to be classified as a variant that gives cause for concern.
Lithuania wants to prevent migrants from crossing the border - if necessary with force:
Belarus is allowing more and more refugees to cross the EU border into Lithuania.
The Interior Ministry of the Baltic state speaks of an act of retaliation by the ruler Lukashenko - and now wants to put an end to the process.
Provincial expects the greatest damage in the company's history:
The insurance companies are assuming record sums after the flood disaster in West Germany.
The Provincial alone reported damage amounting to more than 750 million euros.
»Mr Laschet has a problem after all«
More than just a source: In Armin Laschet's book from 2009, further passages have appeared that are suspected of plagiarism.
A spokesman for the CDU candidate for chancellor said the investigations were ongoing.
My favorite story today:
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Footballer Kruse proposing marriage at the Olympic Games: Everything that is made public becomes publicly vulnerable
Photo:
ARD / sports show / dpa
... is Margarete Stokowski's column. Because it is about marriage proposals in public. Footballer Max Kruse asked for his girlfriend's hand in front of the camera at the Olympic Games. Regardless of whether it's on TV, in a restaurant or in the stadium, things are always the same: a man surprises a woman and all she can say is "yes". It was the same with Kruse and his girlfriend. Because what would be going on if she said no? A public humiliation for the beloved. Sometimes there are good reasons to say “No” or “First of all no” or just “Yes, but”. But there is no room for so much differentiation when tens of pairs of eyes are waiting for the answer. Margarete rightly asks in her column: »What is better about a marriage proposal if it takes place in public? Is it,that the narcissism of the questioning person is satisfied, who can still get a few likes? "
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +
Which vaccination incentives really work:
Should corona vaccination grouches be baited with money, as US President Biden demands?
Or is a bratwurst enough at the end - as has just been tried out in Thuringia?
Heike Klüver has researched various incentives.
Whoever laughs last ...
Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke have been sailing together for 14 years and have had to deal with setbacks: a legal dispute with their own association, a corona infection, financial problems.
Now they have won silver.
Billionaires in the midlife crisis:
They hoard real estate, are
getting a
divorce - and are now also flying into space: the older the super-rich get, the more they compensate.
What is left to one like us?
Which is less important today
Witherspoon (from right) with Shailene Woodley and Nicole Kidman in "Big Little Lies"
Photo: Sky / HBO
Reese Witherspoon, 45, has closed a million dollar deal with her company Hello Sunshine.
Industry insiders put the volume of the deal at around $ 900 million.
Witherspoon, known from films like "Walk the Line", founded her company in 2016 and produced films and TV series such as "Big Little Lies" and "Little Fires Everywhere".
Everything done right, the woman.
Typo of the day
, now corrected: A Lithuanian border guard patrols the border with Belarus.
Cartoon of the day:
Corona Pets
And tonight?
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Comedian Bastian Pastewka in top form
Photo:
Max Beutler / ProSieben
Runs on ProSieben "Who steals the show from me".
Three celebrities are guessing;
the actual goal is to steal the show from the regular show master Joko Winterscheidt - and to moderate it himself.
At the moment the advice team consists of the comedians Bastian Pastewka and Teddy Teclebrhan as well as the rapper Shirin David - "the most amusing show trio that is currently on German television", as my colleague Anja Rützel thinks.
She is already looking forward to tonight, because Pastewka won last week: “You could see all along how it was particularly appealing to Pastewka to have the show put in your lap for an evening.
Today he can answer and model the show according to his style preferences.
And I think a lot has built up there. "
A lovely evening.
Heartfelt
Your Laura Backes
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