‘The British virus’? Angela Merkel PhD should know better 

Words matter. Words have consequences. How many times have we been reminded of this over the past four years à propos Donald Trump? His era is now ending with a second presidential impeachment, the first in American history. We shall not miss Trump’s cavalier use of language, which has contributed mightily to the ignominious denouement of his presidency. 

On this side of the Atlantic, however, most people are more concerned with the Covid pandemic, the second wave of which is being driven by new variants of the coronavirus. It matters that politicians distinguish between the virus and its mutations. And it also matters that they choose their words carefully when identifying these variants with the countries in which they were first detected.

It was in Kent that a more contagious variant was first identified by British genome scientists who have been identifying all the mutations of Covid-19 from the start — the only research team in the world to do so. The announcement of this new threat by Boris Johnson when he imposed new restrictions just before Christmas triggered alarm abroad, with the UK in effect being put in quarantine. These measures have not prevented the new strain from gradually spreading across the Continent, which suggests that it must have been there already. Scientists believe it may indeed have originated in Kent but are keeping their minds open to other possibilities.

Not so our European neighbours, some of whom have not hesitated to use provocative language. In Germany, Chancellor Merkel was quoted this week issuing the following warning at a gathering of political colleagues: “If we don’t manage to stop this British virus, then we will have 10 times the number of cases by Easter.” To be fair, she was speaking at a private meeting, but her words were leaked — perhaps deliberately — to the usually sympathetic centre-right tabloid Bild.  

Unlike others in public life who make much of their doctoral titles, Angela Merkel never uses hers, but she does like to remind people of her training as a physicist. Her expertise does not extend to the biological sciences, but she attaches great importance to listening to her scientific advisers and particularly to using precise terminology. She was doubtless as appalled as everyone else by President Trump’s habit of referring to Covid-19 as “the Chinese virus” and sundry other Sinophobic jibes, such as “Kung Flu”.

So it is disappointing, to say the least, that Dr Merkel has apparently resorted to the inaccurate and inflammatory phrase “the British virus”. It is inaccurate because she is referring to a new variant, not a new virus; and it is  inflammatory for the same reason that “Chinese virus” was so, though perhaps without racist connotations. By lending her authority to a disreputable usage, the German Chancellor risks hindering the urgent task of rebuilding bilateral relations between the Federal Republic and the United Kingdom. Here in Britain, those of us who are engaged in that effort can only hope that this was a rare slip of the tongue that will never be repeated. However, it might be wise for my fellow Germanophiles to desist from making tiresomely unfavourable comparisons between Angela Merkel’s scientific background and Boris Johnson’s classical education. As dramatists such as Friedrich Dürrenmatt (The Physicists), Michael Frayn (Copenhagen) and Tom Stoppard (The Hard Problem) remind us, scientists are as human and as fallible as anyone else.

In France, by contrast, President Macron’s chief scientific adviser Jean-François Delfraissy has been careful to refer to “the English variant”. In a television interview yesterday, he called for action to slow down the progress of the mutant strain across France: “What we can do is to limit the speed of the spread of the English variant. We won’t stop it, but we can limit it.”

Here in the UK, the focus has shifted to limiting the spread of other new mutations identified in South Africa and Brazil. Globalisation means that it may be only a matter of time before these variants, too, become ubiquitous. Mutations arise spontaneously and are outside human control. Rather than point the finger at particular nations, surely it makes sense for scientific and political leaders to make common cause against this shape-shifting enemy. We need to be less reactive and more prophylactic, but prophylaxis requires mutual trust. 

We Europeans should be setting a collaborative example to the world. After the trials and tribulations of Brexit, it is unsurprising that the British are viewed with a jaundiced eye by some on the Continent. But it would be disastrous for the pandemic to become an excuse for nationalistic point-scoring on either side of the Channel. Words matter. Words have consequences. Yes, indeed they do, whether they are uttered by the oafish incumbent of the White House, or emerge from the chancelleries of Europe.

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