Friedrich Merz is a man with few choices and little popular support as he faces the end of Germany’s postwar settlement and the collapse of all the checks and balances to maintain democratic norms after the second world war and reunification. While Alternative für Deutschland’s success in state elections in Saxony-Anhalt saw the party win 44% of the vote, they are three seats short of a governing majority and, so far, no other party has said they are prepared to work with them, which means that for the moment, at least, the threat of Germany’s first rightwing extremist state government since the Nazi period has not yet come to pass.
As Berlin correspondent Deborah Cole explains, Merz is seen as the wrong man to present and sell a political counterpoint to the AfD’s populist policies. Seen as lacking in empathy and political dexterity, his demeanour is in sharp contrast to Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD’s lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt. But as Deborah’s Berlin colleague, Kate Connolly, reports, some of Siegmund’s prospective new MPs have questionable backgrounds, including criminal records, Stasi pasts and connections to far-right networks.
Clear messaging of simple slogans promising a quick solution to Germany’s economic and social problems are part of the explanation for the AfD’s popularity (there are further state elections coming this weekend) but regular Guardian Europe commentator Carolin Würfel, who grew up in Communist East Germany, suggests that while the politics of grievance may play a part in the electoral success, former West Germany also contributed to why divisions between the two halves of the country persist.
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Five essential reads in this week’s edition
Spotlight | Stop, slow down and swerve the apocalypse
Can the world heave a collective sigh of relief after fellow tech bosses heeded a proposal by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s to put the brakes on AI’s headlong rush to over take human intelligence? Nick Robins-Early weighs up our chances
Science | Can I borrow your coyote?
Guardian US reporter Lois Beckett visits a one-of-a-kind California lending library where you can check out taxidermied animals and fossilised dinosaur bones.
Feature | Slime is not as simple as it seems
Scientists are battling to determine whether supposedly simple organisms demonstrate a form of intelligence. If they do, what does it mean for our understanding of brain power, asks Samanth Subramanian
Opinion | Ethics make a return to UK foreign policy
The evidence is Ed Miliband’s bold decision to label settler violence in the West Bank as “ethnic cleansing” and institute a boycott, argues Steve Bloomfield
Culture | Shear fun
Catherine Shoard is rounded up for a trip down to Mossy Bottom farm to get a behind-the-scenes preview of the latest Shaun the Sheep film
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What else we’ve been reading
The long read has become a regular commute companion. The last one to grab me was about food influencers, their impact on London restaurants and the question of authenticity. The article gets into how that hype is made. Influencers need a steady stream of content to stay relevant, while relying on PR agencies for access. The result is that every meal is incredible and every burger “the best in London”, until none of it means much. Charles Minty, director of commercial strategy, publishing
Oasis have just announced yet more comeback gigs to “lift the spirits of the people”/top up their pensions, including a four-night run at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire, the site of two 1996 gigs regarded as era-defining. Richard Nelsson took a fascinating dive into the archive to find out how the Guardian covered those original shows. Clare Horton, deputy editor
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Other highlights from the Guardian website
• Audio | Why crypto-billionaires love Reform
• Video | Flamingo Revolution: The Albanians protesting to bring down the elites
• Picture essay | We Are Family: photography from Images Vevey 2026
• Interactive | How enslavement became state-backed operation supported by Conservative and Lib Dem forerunners
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