Twitter Merz: man or machine?

The Chancellor's late-night football tweet exposed the fiction behind modern political communication — and Germany's curious double standard over ghost-written content.

Dear Reader,

Only Friedrich Merz could turn Germany’s World Cup exit into a communications crisis for the Chancellery.

Despite pre-tournament optimism (and attempts to summon the Lord to support Germany’s cause), the national team were knocked out of the World Cup by lowly Paraguay after limping through the group stage.

It was a slight improvement on the previous two tournaments, when the Nationalelf failed even to reach the knockout rounds. Even so, it confirmed that one of world football’s great powers has been reduced to the ranks of the also-rans, to be taken about as seriously as a mid-sized Caribbean island.

And yet, the real debacle came an hour or so later.

After a 10pm kick-off Central European time, the match went to extra time and then penalties. It was close to 2am on Tuesday by the time Germany’s fate was sealed. Most of us were long in bed. The Chancellor, however, appeared to be glued to the television, cheering on his team from across the Atlantic.

Shortly after the final wh…