Chancellor Olaf Scholz takes taciturnity to new levels

The voice of Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, seldom rises above a murmur. His pinched expression suggests a doctor with bad news, not a politician. When a journalist recently asked if Mr Scholz could add some detail on a burning foreign-policy matter, the reply was a cryptic, “Yes, I could,” and that was all. Germans chuckled, but few were surprised when Markus Söder, the minister-president of Bavaria, tweeted an image of the g7 meeting in his state that showed just six of the leaders’ portraits against an Alpine backdrop. The ever-grey face of Mr Scholz, the host, was somehow forgotten.