I'm glad Angela Merkel...

She seems to have got over her nasty skiing accident but I bet she is still in a lot of discomfort.

She always comes across as calm, approachable and dignified. Unlike some politicians!

She certainly comes over as a woman with a good political head on her shoulders.

I thought her speech today was a good move, didn't agree nor disagree, didn't feed nor starve those she has close contact with now or in the possible future.

A good politician all round but having said that I am of the opinion sitting on a fence only put's off the inevitable and at some stage she might have to upset somebody, nature of the political beast I'm sorry to say. I bet she has her own troubles brewing in Germany and the European Elections will be very interesting in May as to how far the Nationalist Parties either progress or suffer losses.

We only think of UKIP but there are far more extreme views gaining weight in France, Netherlands, Greece etc.

She is to be admired. I think also she gave us the vague idea that we weren't likely to get any new arrangements or concessions within the EU. I think David Cameron is naive in thinking that the electorate will think he can do this to help him win the next election.

Said on the telly she is inclined to treat our David as a favourite nephew!

In the clip I saw the reporter asked if she thought of him as her naughty nephew ..... Cameron laughed, Merkel rightly scowled!

She really is very powerful and influential.

I admire this lady. She's extremely bright. She has poise. I cannot imagine her ever being intimidated.

and she is well groomed!

Yes! She is.

David Cameron is well groomed too but it doesn't make me like him or admire his politics.

We do see quite a lot of Angela Merkel on our screens and hear what she has to say. As well as the fact that she generally comes across well. It's not just about her grooming.

Someone said on the today programme that he would like to see her go to Russia in person to talk about with Ukraine with Putin. Said she understands the Russian way of thinking.

Presumably that's because she was brought up in the old East Germany.

Oh yes. Hand' t thought of that!

It is true that Angela Merkel is a shrewd politician but she does have the common touch. She behaves quite naturally when watching football or having lunch with the troops.
She has been married twice and her present husband is a Professor of Quantum Physics in Berlin and he has two sons and grandchildren. She is a Doctor of Physics and it relaxes her to talk physics with her husband in the evenings .- so she said.
She grew up in the East and speaks Russian, and converses with Putin in that language. She has learned English since she became Kanzlerin and that is no mean feat with her daily work load.
We all feel safe with her in charge and I hope it can continue but that would be unrealistic.

I'm also a bit of an Angela Merkel fan, she is obviously very bright, shrewd yet she's got the ability to seem like one of us. I don't know enough about her to know how good her integrity is, but my impression is she's that rare individual, a (fairly) honest politician, with a real ability to negotiate with others. It'd be wonderful if she could work positively with Putin. I confess, he scares me!

She strikes me as pragmatic rather than dogmatic which is the kind of politician I like.