this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2026
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98
Berlin mayor faces calls to resign after playing tennis during city blackout (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 week ago by throws_lemy@reddthat.com to c/world@lemmy.world
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[–] Burnoutdv@feddit.org 56 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Okay, not a fan of the Guy itself..but realistically speaking..what exactly was he, a representative supposed to do? Pray for the service technician to repair swiftly? Stand vigil in armor like a knight protecting the very populace that entrusted their vote in him? Surely, going on vacation on the day of crisis is a thing..but the press conference is usually the day after when some facts are gathered, he as politician can do like nothing, power loss of that scale is already priority 1 for all people involved, there is literally nothing he can do to speed up the process. Might as well relax before the coming storm of questions.

[–] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 days ago

I think the real issue here is that he publicly lied about working continuously and tirelessly to remedy the situation, to the point of locking himself in in his office, while in fact, he was just playing tennis.

On the other hand, a politician at this level not being a blatant and unashamed liar would be more surprising than him actually being one.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago (2 children)

That was my first thought, too. Like, they expect him to be up in a basket truck reconnecting transformers?

But then I read more about the guy, and it sounds like he's a standard issue douchecanoe politician who doesn't actually give a shit about Berlin. This is more about optics crystallizing the public perception, like Nero playing the fiddle, or Ted Cruz taking a vacation. The act itself isn't the problem, it's the message you're sending to constituents about how little they matter.

[–] Schmuppes@lemmy.today 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Right. It's the same as the chancellor slipping into his Wellington boots when there is a flood event. He looks around, listens to people telling him that there is water everywhere, then he says the government will do what they can to help.

He does not (and cannot) do anything to help anyone at that moment, at least more than is already happening, but pretending exactly that is part of the job. If the mayor does not want that part of the job, he's not fit for it and should be doing something else. Like, coaching tennis or something.

[–] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

He does not (and cannot) do anything to help anyone, but pretending is part of the job. If the mayor does not want that part of the job, he’s not fit for it and should be doing something else. Like, coaching tennis or something.

Actually, those PR visits are even counter productive, as those big wigs and their entourage require space and protection, so they're tying up resources that would be more urgently needed elsewhere. In Spain the residents had the right idea when they chased away visiting political big wigs by pelting them with mud after that fatal flash flood last year.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Leaving the country is a little different from playing tennis.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Oh I agree, and Ted Cruz is a piece of shit for a variety of reasons. I'm saying the events are analogous.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

If they're so different, they're not quite analogous.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Are you sure you understand what an analogy is?

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world -1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Not apples and oranges.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 0 points 6 days ago

There are many ways in which apples and oranges can be compared in an analogy, even though they are very different.

[–] adhd_traco@piefed.social 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Wegner, from the conservative Christian Democratic Union party of the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, had told reporters on Sunday that he had been working round the clock to mitigate the impact of the blackout and get the power back on.

“I was neither bored nor putting my feet up, but was on the phone all day trying to coordinate and get as much information as possible,” he said,and had “ literally locked myself in my office at home ”.

Yeah, sorry. That's enough for me. He's a lying ass.

Also the F*ng disconnect.
Mamdani goes to the poorest folks and grassroots organisers etc. in person, and this guy thinks he can represent the people of the city when he never set foot in the reality most people live? He probably despises the poor anyway.

[–] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Better keep high level politicians away from disasters, they are only there for the PR, anyway. I don't have an exact grasp of what Berlin's disaster response law is like, but I assume that the responsibility for setting up and running a crisis staff would be with the affected district mayor, and on state level (Berlin is a city state after all), the immediate responsibility would be with the senator of the interior.

I'm wondering what a politician would bring to a PR visit at a power outage, the rubber boots customary for floods certainly aren't going to work, maybe an extension cord?

[–] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

The Mayor playing tennis is only the snowflake on the tip of the iceberg of Berlin just doing Berlin things for decades.

Prolonged large scale power outages have been a hot topic in Germany since 2005, when particularly heavy snowfall during a harsh winter storm brought down a bunch of pylons carrying medium and high voltage transmission lines and plunged 25 municipalities housing 250.000 people in the Münsterland region into darkness. (some of them for weeks) The problem was exacerbated by the large size of the affected region, impassable roads due to downed trees, and the heavy snow load also overwhelming the roof on quite a number of buildings. (German Wikipedia article on the event, section about the power outage)

Since then, all over Germany, plans and more or less thorough preparations for responding to such an event have been made. For example public buildings suitable as emergency shelters were equipped with emergency power supplies, mobile heaters and generators have been procured, response plans for power outages were created, or updated.

The outage in Berlin was/is of a comparatively limited scale (both area and affected number of people wise, also there were practically no exacerbating circumstances), yet Berlin was caught rather unprepared and the response was chaotic. So, as typical for Berlin, its administration must have been playing games (maybe even Tennis) instead of doing their homework for the last 20 years.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (2 children)

So what you're saying is that we require additional pylons.

[–] MrQuallzin@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS

[–] trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

In that particular case, different pylons were required, as they had been made out of a type of outdated steel that turns very brittle when cold.