From left: German chancellor Olaf Scholz, who brought down his own government in December; US president elect Donald Trump; French president Emmanuel Macron; (at back) Herbert Kickl, leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ); (at front) outgoing Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau; outgoing US president Joe Biden and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni. Photographs: Getty Images Austrian composer Gustav Mahler reportedly joked once that “if the world were about to end I would move back to Vienna: things happen there 50 years later”. Anyone planning a Mahler-inspired move to the Austrian capital these days, however, is in for a...