Profile: Angela Merkel

Factfile

Name: Angela Merkel

Age:62

Appearance: determined

Newsworthiness: the liberal West’s last defender after a turbulent 2016

‘People like to turn inwards,” Angela Merkel told Trinity College students in Dublin nearly three years ago. “The only thing you can do in politics is try to argue with people . . . try to convince them, that’s what democracy is all about.”

In 2016, Merkel’s arguments have fallen flat. Her principles were indirectly rejected ...