The Dull Man theory of history

EVEN THEEUEUEUEUEUEU hardiest of veterans find the gatherings of its finance ministers tough-going. “Soul-crushing” is the verdict of one regular attendee. The ’s bean-counters are not given their roles for their personalities. When leaders meet, there is a sense of history being made; when finance ministers gather, there is a sense of life ebbing away.Yet it is the dull men and women of Europe’s finance ministries who hold the continent’s fate in their hands. A debate on reforms to the Stability and Growth Pact, which regulates government finances in the bloc, will set the path of the club for decades. It will reveal where power in the truly lies, how it will cope with the climate crisis and even whether the can retain any global clout. “The history of the world is but the biography of great men,” wrote Thomas Carlyle, a 19th-century historian. The future of the will be the biography of dull ones. Call it the Dull Man theory.