Chancellor Angela Merkel was the nation’s leader for 16 years, and her successor Olaf Scholz was sworn in to replace her overnight. He’s not new to the front line of politics having been leader of one of the major coalition parties, and deputy Chancellor under Merkel. As for the woman they called ‘Mutti’ (aka mother), she is one of those rare politicians to leave office without being defeated, disgraced or having died. She has now retired. But her former party, the Christian Democrats, is struggling with the man who replaced her as leader, Armin Laschet, unable to get them over the line in September’s election or into government during the long cross-party negotiations that followed. The guy was even criticised for the way he folded his ballot paper on polling day… But onwards and upwards, and Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats will govern with the Greens and the business-aligned Free Democrats. Their coalition deal was signed yesterday and the team has been sworn in. Giddy-up…