Final for Premier Embarrassing

1.

Government crisis in Great Britain

Groundhog day - and in the UK someone is calling for Boris Johnson's resignation.

So far, Great Britain's Prime Minister has embarrassingly repelled all votes of no confidence.

However, the events of the last 24 hours could have been "one stroke too many, even for the tightrope acrobat Boris Johnson," says my colleague Jörg Schindler, our correspondent in London.

Two key cabinet members, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and Health Minister Sajid Javid, resigned last night, partly because Johnson had made a Tory politician suspected of sexual harassment Deputy Secretary of Parliament, even though he had known about the allegations since 2019.

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson in early July

Photo: John Sibley / REUTERS

During the day, other members of the government announced their resignations:

• For example, Victoria Atkins, Secretary of State at the UK Ministry of Justice, said: "Values ​​such as integrity, honesty, respect and professionalism should be of concern to all of us." She had seen "with increasing concern" how these values ​​had cracked under Johnson's leadership.

• Robin Walker, Secretary of State for School Standards, says recent events have made it clear "our big party is being distracted from its core mission by a constant focus on leadership."

  He is looking forward to future politics as a Conservative MP as a backbencher for his Worcester constituency.

If party colleagues feel more comfortable in the back seat than at the cabinet table, then Johnson is definitely counted.

In a question and answer session in the British Parliament today, he tried to explain how he intends to continue governing without the support of his own people.

His job as prime minister is to keep going even in difficult times.

“And I will do that too.” Opposition leader Keir Starmer from the Labor Party was particularly nasty: he commented on the fact that various members of the government had resigned in the past few hours by turning a well-known proverb around and asking: “Isn’t that him case of sinking ships fleeing the rat?”

The days of saying hello to Johnson every day may soon be over.

• Read more here: The Super Glue

2.

The new Cancel culture

There is a lack of staff not only in Boris Johnson's government cabinet.

My colleagues Matthias Kaufmann and Michael Kröger write that the high number of corona infections is paralyzing large numbers of companies in this country.

Whether in clinics, in gastronomy or in the office - in many places it is said: "We lack the people - you know, Corona."  

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Employee in the open-plan office: There is a crunch in the factories

Photo:

Thomas M. Barwick/Getty Images

On Saturday, for example, the long-awaited graduation ball at a large school in the north of Hamburg had to be cancelled.

The high school graduates had booked a dance floor in the warehouse district, with food and a DJ, they wanted to let it rip.

An e-mail on Thursday then thwarted this plan, as my colleagues write.

Unfortunately, the celebration could not take place as planned, the organizer announced.

Too many staff were on sick leave because of Corona, and replacements could not be obtained.

"It was the first time in our company's history that we had to cancel a graduation party due to a lack of staff," says Hans-Christoph Klaiber.

He is the head of Nordevent, a large event agency in Hamburg with around 250 permanent employees and numerous rooms of its own.

He had to cancel two high school graduations.

In Munich there is now a fear that the Oktoberfest could be cancelled.

Not to protect visitors from infection.

Politicians seem to have given up this claim at the latest since the failure of compulsory vaccination.

The implementation of the largest folk festival in the world could simply fail because security cannot be guaranteed due to the lack of infected and thus missing security folders or admission controllers.

A central problem is the tense situation on the labor market.

On the one hand, the companies were looking for employees to work through the full order books, on the other hand, the number of those who retired was increasing.

"To close the gap, the economy needs 400,000 additional workers from abroad every year," says Alexander Kritikos from the German Institute for Economic Research.

At most, 100,000 skilled workers are currently coming, which is far too few.

In recent decades, these workers have regularly immigrated from EU countries.

But because the opportunities to find employment at home have increased, the influx has dried up.

»People prefer to stay at home.«

A small ray of hope: The federal government today passed the draft law on the so-called right of residence.

It opens up long-term prospects for many foreigners without a secure residence permit, and thus also prospects for work in Germany.

• You can read more about the summer wave here: Closed due to Corona 

3.

A present for Putin?

Investments in nuclear power and gas can be rated as climate-friendly.

That's what the European Parliament decided today - and thus approved a controversial proposal by the EU Commission.

A resolution to block the so-called taxonomy did not get the necessary majority in the Strasbourg parliament on Wednesday.

The planned classification system is relevant for companies because it influences the investment decisions of investors and could therefore have an impact on the financing costs of projects, for example.

As a first step, a decision was made last year to classify electricity production with solar panels, hydroelectric power or wind power as climate-friendly.

Of course nobody objected to that.

With atom and gas, however, things are different.

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Photo: iStockphoto / Getty Images

Not only climate protection organizations are outraged by the greenwashing decision in the EU Parliament.

My colleague from our science department, Viola Kiel, also considers the planned European “eco-seal” for green investments to be a “gift to Vladimir Putin”.

In addition, the decision “simply misjudges reality”.

Of course, one could consider natural gas to be a "necessary bridging technology," as some MEPs have argued, says Viola.

"But the climate damage caused by the use of natural gas is comparable to that of coal and oil," new studies have shown.

And to somehow meet the climate targets, there shouldn't be any new fossil energy projects at all.

"Of course, you can still decide politically that gas is necessary for the energy supply, but you just can't seriously label it as sustainable and climate-friendly."

• Read the comment here: Greenwashing is now allowed

(Would you like to receive the "Situation in the evening" conveniently by e-mail in your inbox? Here you can order the daily briefing as a newsletter.)

News and background to the war in Ukraine:

• Union faction demands 200 armored personnel carriers for Kiev:

  With a motion for a resolution, the CDU and CSU plan to put pressure on the federal government.

  More tanks are to be made available to Ukraine.

  However, the Inspector General of the German Armed Forces has concerns.

• From the beach to the war zone:

  a sabbatical in Thailand while Europe is at war?

  Nils Thal couldn't stand it.

  Now he is in Kharkiv as a firefighter.

• Russian ice hockey goalie appeals against military service:

  He wanted to go to the USA, then the Russian military police arrested Ivan Fedotov – and now the ice hockey star is said to have already arrived at his base.

  He doesn't want to accept that.

• Find all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine here: The News Update

What else is important today

• The trial against Frankfurt's Lord Mayor Feldmann begins in October:

  Frankfurt City Hall boss Peter Feldmann wants to give up his office, but not until January.

  Before that, he has to go to court: There, an indictment by the public prosecutor's office on suspicion of accepting an advantage is to be heard.

• Scholz calls the AfD “Party of Russia”:

  In the Bundestag, Chancellor Scholz has to explain his government work – and usually remains calm.

  A question from the AfD about rising energy costs changes that.

• Employees write a burning letter to Lufthansa:

  Not only customers, but also many employees are angry with Lufthansa.

  Cheap service at "premium prices" will not work in the long run, according to a letter to the supervisory board.

What we recommend at SPIEGEL+ today

• Where poverty begins – and where wealth begins:

  In the statistics, income limits decide who is poor or rich.

  But do they really reflect reality?

  Researchers have now verified this – by asking an obvious question.

• How investor professionals are now hedging their funds:

  Fund managers Jens Ehrhardt, Klaus Kaldemorgen and Bert Flossbach are forecasting stock market prices to continue to fall – and still bet on shares.

  What they pay attention to and how they want to save assets from inflation and crash.

• "At least half are slightly insane, but there are also serious cases":

  A large proportion of German managers are not suitable for having personnel responsibility, says the psychologist Jürgen Hesse.

  Here he tells how to deal with crazy bosses - and when only the escape helps.

• In the end there is only one loser:

  the renowned Humboldt University canceled a controversial biologist's lecture on gender because of "security concerns".

  Reconstruction of a scandal.

Which is less important today

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Photo:

LUKAS BARTH-TUTTAS/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

According to the beach: Christian Lindner

, 43, and his partner

, 33, will be married on Thursday by the mayor of the municipality of Sylt, Nikolas Häckel (independent): He will be the registrar himself, said the local politician to the dpa news agency.

According to him, not only do the islanders get married on the island, but also many guests: "Before Corona, we had about 800 weddings a year."

Typo of the day

, corrected in the meantime: »'In the past, the allegedly far too expensive staff ironed out all the shortcomings caused by the money madness and concealed them from the customer,' says the letter available to SPIEGEL.«

Cartoon of the Day:

Weather

And tonight?

Get out on the balcony!

Off to the Wannsee for sunset!

Or take a trip to the waste paper container of your choice.

You might find materials inside that you can use to make a Minecraft sword or a pair of sharp-toothed pincers!

My colleague Antonia Bauer has the instructions for it.

Photo:

Your mirror

Today was the last day of school in Berlin before the summer holidays.

So nice for the kids.

Experience has shown that some of the coming days can be quite long.

That's where »Dein SPIEGEL«, the news magazine for children, helps with the extra issue for the summer.

You can order it here and here.

It was not only handicrafts, but also baked, photographed and tried out.

The result: 33 great ideas and projects and free time tips that bring fun to children, from rainbow picnics to watermelon cake.

There is also a summer riddle and lots of reading material, for example about wingfoil surfing, where you fly over the water on a special board with a sail in your hand.

Have a nice evening,

Here you can order the »Situation in the Evening« by e-mail.