1.
Scholz's laws, Baerbock's calendar
An A4 sheet of paper hangs in the office of the former Hamburg Senate spokesman.
"Scholz's first law: We are never offended - we are never hysterical," it says.
The man worked for Olaf Scholz when he was still First Mayor and not yet the future Chancellor.
Scholz despised people who were artificially disgusted, says the former spokesman.
"Coolness has always been important to him." It was a leitmotif for the way Scholz ruled the city, as my colleagues Susanne Beyer and Christiane Hoffmann and my colleagues Ansgar Siemens and Christian Teevs reported a few weeks ago.
(Here is the full story.)
Scholz welcomed.
No debate here, but the Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein.
Photo: Christophe Gateau / dpa
Now, in the past few days, the impression has emerged that Scholz's endeavor to appear cool and just not hysterical has turned into a strange rigidity, an escape into the approximate. Two weeks ago there was the answer to the question whether he was in favor of compulsory vaccination for nurses: "I think it is right that we have now started a discussion about whether one should do that." There was the tweet from this weekend: " We are establishing a crisis team and developing a new, precise way of dealing with the current challenges relating to Corona and Omicron, «wrote Scholz. “We'll do whatever it takes. There is nothing that cannot be taken into account. "
My colleague Martin Knobbe thinks: "Ironically, in the worst phase of the pandemic, Scholz shows himself to be weak in leadership - and risks losing confidence." (Here is the whole comment).
I can only agree with Martin: Instead of welcoming the debate and taking it into consideration, we now need clear guidance.
The appointment of a future health minister would be a start.
But perhaps the knowledge about the drama of the corona situation in the future traffic light government will spread faster than feared.
Five days after Annalena Baerbock's announcement that she wanted to wait ten days, the news comes today: The future chancellor, the future former chancellor and the country leaders want to discuss the crisis tomorrow, on day six of Baerbock's calendar.
And here you can read how a lockdown might still be avoidable: A lockdown would be avoidable if ...
2.
Hope mutates last
Reading somewhere while scrolling past, Omikron leads to slight gradients.
Said the doctor who treated the first patients in South Africa who were infected with the variant.
Briefly breathed.
Then read more closely: Does not yet reveal anything about the general danger of the variant.
Too few cases, especially younger patients, little informative value.
My colleague Julia Merlot reports: "Experts also point out that the excess mortality data from South Africa suggest that almost all residents of the country were already infected with the coronavirus." Immunity from infection with earlier variants could prevent severe courses with Omikron as is the case with the previously known variants of the virus.
"Experts therefore call for vaccinations with this variant in mind," reports Julia.
"Vaccinations also generate a broad immune response and can therefore protect against new variants of a pathogen."
Enlarge image
Vaccines in the central warehouse of the state of Saxony-Anhalt
Photo: Ronny Hartmann / dpa
And even if Omikron were to break the vaccine protection, there is hope, as my colleague Claus Hecking reports: "The manufacturers are already working on new vaccines - and could soon produce them." According to this, Omikron does not come as a surprise to the Biontech founders. Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci would have always expected a possible escape variant - a mutation that could make their current vaccines significantly less effective or even ineffective. And they prepared for this emergency early on. "The mRNA technology makes it possible to bring vaccines to market much faster than before - even against a completely new variant," says Claus. "Even in the worst case scenario, we might have new counter-weapons after a few months."so that you can order on time.
Read more here: How Fast Can Omicron Vaccines Get To The Market?
3.
Immensely expensive?
Enlarge image
Genius directing by genius director Aaron Sorkin
Photo: NBC / Getty Images
"The West Wing" is the name of the favorite series of all serious political junkies.
And the favorite episode of many journalists is called »Celestial Navigation«.
In the episode, Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lymann steps in for government spokeswoman CJ Cregg, who just can't speak after a root canal treatment.
He spontaneously takes over the press briefing, full of self-confidence, completely unprepared to deal with the few reporters.
Within minutes, the press conference derailed and Josh must be accused of having forged a secret plan to combat inflation to the president, but not being able to explain it.
Live embarrassed in front of an audience of millions.
Enlarge image
The good old shopping cart, here in the form of a wine shopping cart (Freudian mistake).
Photo: Fabian Sommer / dpa
I thought of that when it became known today that the German inflation rate rose above the five percent mark in November for the first time since 1992.
The price of goods and services rose by an average of 5.2 percent compared to the same month last year, as the Federal Statistical Office announced in an initial estimate.
The last time it was higher was during the boom after reunification in June 1992, at 5.8 percent.
In October, inflation was 4.5 percent.
And as a consumer, you want it to exist, the “secret plan to fight inflation”.
Read more here: Inflation is back - what does that mean for my money?
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What else is important today
Twitter boss Jack Dorsey resigns:
The Twitter co-founder is withdrawing from the CEO post with immediate effect.
He also dresses in a second company, which investors criticized.
Dorsey's successor has already been chosen.
Gazprom reports record profit:
$ 20 billion surplus - and the financial year is not even over: Gazprom has presented splendid business figures.
The Russian group is benefiting from the gas crisis in Europe.
Andersson re-elected Sweden's head of government:
Magdalena Andersson will be Sweden's first female prime minister - and that for the second time: just days after the first election and the Social Democrat's lightning resignation, the parliament in Stockholm decided again.
Kohl's widow does not receive millions in compensation:
defeat for Maike Kohl-Richter before the Federal Court of Justice.
In the dispute with the memoir writer Heribert Schwan over book quotations, the widow of the former chancellor had no claim to payment.
My favorite story today
Yikes, not in Munich, but in my hometown Berlin, who buyers and house builders have to save for a particularly long time in order to be able to afford the real estate transfer tax?
This is what my colleague Henning Jauernig reports.
He has evaluated a study by the economists of the Institut der Deutschen Wirtschaft (IW) - and the result is clear.
"Real estate prices are by far the highest in Munich," says Henning.
“Still, it takes the longest in Berlin to save on real estate transfer tax.
There, for example, couples need ten years and seven months to collect the tax when they buy a single-family house. "This is due to the fact that the average income there is relatively low and the property transfer tax is very high.
You can find more about this and an interactive map here: Saving for ten years - and that was just the tax
What we recommend today at SPIEGEL +
Why is your country continuing to enrich uranium?
Iran continues to hoard nuclear material for an atomic bomb, but hopes that economic sanctions will be eased.
Tehran's chief negotiator explains what his country wants to achieve in the negotiations in Vienna.
Africa's first female gamekeepers take on rhinoceros hunters - without weapons:
In the South African Balule nature reserve, an all-female ranger group is fighting against rampant poaching - and is successful in doing so.
What do you do better than your male colleagues?
He designed millions of fashion - with the smartphone:
He was as restless as he was disrespectful.
Virgil Abloh was considered a genius, often changing existing creations only marginally.
Nevertheless, he became one of the most influential designers - and a role model for many black people.
Which is less important today
Before she reveals anything:
US actress
Lindsay Lohan, 35,
wants to get married.
She doesn't
say it openly
- but she has published several pictures that show how she
turtles
with a man named
Bader Shammas
, about whom, to the chagrin of her fans, damn little is known.
She tagged him - and garnished the post to her 9.7 million followers with an emoji that shows a diamond ring.
She wrote: “My love.
My life.
My family.
My future."
Typo of the day
, corrected in the meantime: "What a sentence, what an expression of will!"
Cartoon of the day:
worries in Saxony, Thuringia and Bavaria
And tonight?
You could, of course, start watching "The West Wing" all over again.
And to listen to the podcast "The West Wing Weekly" for each episode, which reviews each episode, all seven seasons.
What's next?
Have a nice evening.
Sincerely
yours, Oliver Trenkamp
Here you can order the "Lage am Abend" by email.
