A reporter with too much time on his hands

This is the result, amusing as it is enlightening. Well….at least amusing.

The alphabet of the international G8 Summit, according to someone who figured out a creative new way to cover this thing (the photo at top kind of gives away the tenor):

A is for Angela Merkel

Merkel, the German Chancellor, will be hosting her first G8 summit, in Heiligendamm, Germany. A Christian Democrat, and formerly known as competent, if rather drab, she reinvented herself to become Germany’s first female Chancellor in 2005 by getting some highlights done and playing Angieby the Rolling Stones at her political rallies. Although she only narrowly beat Gerhard Schroeder, the incumbent, in that election, her popularity has subsequently grown. The G8 will be her biggest moment so far on the international stage, and her motto for the summit is “Wachstum und Verantworting!”. This may sound like an expensive brand of stereo, but translates as “Growth and Sustainability!”

B is for Bush George W. Bush. That one. What with climate change almost guaranteed to be a major theme of the G8 summit, the US President last week infuriated the Germans and pretty much everybody else (except for loyal Tony Blair) with a surprise announcement of his own rather vague climate change proposals. Her thunder now somewhat stolen, Merkel is still hoping for a more concrete commitment from G8 members, which would ideally see them cutting their greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050.

C is for Countries The members of the G8 are the UK, the US, Germany, France, Japan, Russia, Canada and Italy. People tend to forget about the last two in pub quizzes.

Ah….so that’s where he’s doing his reporting. Makes things clearer, so to speak.

However, this is an anonymous report, so it could be a ‘she’….or a group of Times reporters brainstorming…or whatever. At least it gets attention on some of the issues around the world.