It's the morning after in Germany. All through the campaign, the chattering and writing classes were moaning that the election thing was a bore – we were going to get Angie as chancellor no matter how the election turned out. Well, Angie we got. But the country has woken up to the fact that Merkel II is going to lead a very different coalition to that led by Merkel I. And given her chameleon-like capacity for adapting, Angela Merkel could yet turn out to be Germany's Maggie Thatcher.
Goodness knows, the country needs a shake-up. The economic crisis has exposed Germany's vulnerability to international markets. The social safety net may have cushioned the impact of the industrial downturn, but the costs are horrific, and the Opel fiasco illustrates the dangers of relying too much on engineering skills and industrial prowess. Anything we can do, the Chinese can do better. And cheaper. But the whole system, from education via immigration to taxation, is geared to producing, protecting and pampering the famed Facharbeiter, the skilled industrial worker, and the mammoth companies that employ him (it's still mostly him, as it is in the German boardroom).
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