She doesn’t do it the Anglo-American way. Not for her the well rehearsed impression ofspeaking off the cuff. No prolonged playacting – being seen on camera repeatedly reaching outwards; inviting, grooming the far-flung viewer to come sit on the sofa.

Instead, reading a prepared statement on the Ukrainian ‘peace deal’, is as it says – reading, eyes on the script, lips synched to the page. Compared to Barack-Blair (rhymes with thin air) and their juniors, her performance – but that’s it, ‘performance’ is what it’s not – is as foreign as the preferred pronunciation of her first name: Angeeela; long ‘e’; short on rhetoric.

Mutti (Mother) Merkel, childless herself, is said to treat the German people like children – cutting up policy into bite sized pieces lest they find it indigestible. Let the German people decide whether to accept her domestic regime. But internationally this criticism is hard to swallow, especially as issued in those areas of the world stage – UK, USA, where the recent staging of politics (sofas and soundbites galore) has also been its babyfication.

Those who live in doll’s houses – grow up!