Merz starts with a bang

Dear Reader,

After Friedrich Merz’ embarrassing false start to life as chancellor at the beginning of the month, he shot out of the starting blocks at the second time of trying.

Germany’s 10th modern chancellor leapt into the role with a whirlwind of European diplomacy. On his first full day, he visited Paris in the morning to chat with Emmanuel Macron about using French bombs to enhance Germany’s nuclear deterrence before heading to Warsaw in the afternoon to try to persuade Prime Minister Donald Tusk to support his plans to stop migrants from crossing the Oder.

Three days later, Merz met up with his two new mates - plus the UK’s Keir Starmer - to act out the buddy movie of the year. The Hangover: Night Train to Kyiv was a film full of back slaps, banter about stumbling through each other’s toilets, tissues mistaken for cocaine, and, finally, an emotional reunion with Zach Galifianakis’ most outrageous character yet - a gravelly-throated comic who woke up to find himself the leader of a…