How dull are they, you ask? Sure, we’re in the middle of a giant Sommerloch (the “summer hole”, that boring, no-news summer season when most media drones appear to be on vacation), or just crawling back out of it again. But opposition politicians trying to turn a dinner party hosted by Angela Merkel (16 months back) “that included the chief executive of Deutsche Bank, Josef Ackermann, and 30 other guests, contending that she used taxpayers’ money to celebrate Mr. Ackermann’s 60th birthday” into a campaign issue?

Now that’s dull. And the election is just a few weeks out too, in case you were wondering, which you weren’t, especially now after having read this.

No matter. I’m sure that once everyone has climbed back out of this year’s summer hole the campaigning will get a whole lot more interesting. No I’m not. That was just like a figure of speech or something.

“The dinner was not a birthday party, but a dinner of schnitzel and cold asparagus for people prominent in business, culture, science and education, including Mr. Ackermann.”