They came, they jawed, they failed to conquer

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: As diligent hosts, the Japanese made sure this year’s G8 summit, grouping the leaders of the biggest industrial economies plus Russia, saw little of the angry protest that has marred so many similar gatherings. It all happened at a remote highland resort at Toyako on Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. Many foreign activists were turned away at the border, and such demonstrations as did take place were kept to distant cities where riot police outnumbered malcontents. Even the media horde and those non-government organisations (NGOs) deemed semi-respectable were interned in a holiday camp about 20 miles from the eight great leaders.

To Yasuo Fukuda, Japan’s prime minister, whose domestic standing is extremely shaky, the summit’s smooth passage was a huge relief. He even showed a flash of statesmanship. In answer to perennial criticism that the G8, a self-appointed steering group for global problems, was hardly representative of the world, he invited seven national leaders from Africa to join Japan, the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia to discuss the continent’s development.

At another point, Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev found himself hobnobbing not only with the old-time capitalist club but also with fellow leaders (see picture) of the BRIC gang of fast-growing giants—in other words, his counterparts from Brazil, India and China. By inviting that lot, plus Mexico, South Africa, Indonesia, South Korea and Australia, the Japanese were able to bring together the bulk of the world’s greenhouse-gas emitters. This was easily the G8’s biggest “outreach” to date, and

Mr Fukuda skilfully ensured that disagreements among that disparate bunch did not break out angrily into the open. Carry on like that, people at the summit quipped, and the 71-year-old leader might one day make a competent foreign minister.

On substance, however, the summit was a let-down. A year ago, when the Heiligendamm summit took place in Germany, oil and food staples were at half their prices today, while Northern Rock was an unknown little bank. At the

Toyako summit the G8 leaders rose to the challenges posed by the “three Fs”—food, fuel and the financial credit crunch—with platitudes, and little effort was made to resolve the contradiction between calls for larger oil supplies and the promise of a low-carbon future.