Many a Merkel maks a muckle

'Sheer horror' greets Merkel's grand coalition from Guardian Unlimited: Newsblog: "Other SPD activists said they would vote against the deal when it is put to the party at a conference to be held in Karlsruhe in mid-November. If the deal is approved, but only narrowly, there seems little prospect of Germany's new left-right government lasting a full four-year term. Indeed, the real winner from today’s announcement is probably Germany’s new Left party (German).

With the SPD occupying crucial ministries such as finance and labour, the Left party is likely to profit in the long run when disillusionment with the 'grand coalition' sets in, as it inevitably will. This is, after all, what happened last time there was a grand coalition in Germany in the late 1960s. The period yielded the Red Army Faction, a terrorist group, and the best ever result for the neo-Nazi NPD (German) in 1969, with voters drifting off to the radical left and radical right."