What Happened In Moscow Today?
I woke up this morning and deliberately stayed at home to watch Navalny’s funeral, as logic told me something serious would happen.
The day started how I would have expected, with hundreds of police lined up ready to arrest those who showed the wrong attitude or laid flowers.
Putin’s parents lost both their first two sons because of illness and WW2. A friend of mine also lost two older brothers and his mother was so overprotective, that it seriously affected his mental health. Later in life, he retrained as a psychotherapist to excise his personal demons.
Putin also has the problem, that his father was a member of an NKVD destruction battalion (think Katyn!), so I suspect he had a good line in bedtime stories for his son.
I wonder if something unexpected happened today.
- Did the sight of Navalny’s mother and her grief, awaken Putin’s memories of his own mother and he backed off?
- Or did the police on the ground, take a words will never hurt us attitude to the crowd? It might have helped, that a proportion of the police probably held some of the same views as Navalny.
I have some further thoughts.
The Grosvenor Square Protests Against the Vietnam War
I can find two references to these in this Wikipedia entry, which is entitled List Of Protests Against The Vietnam War.
- July 3, 1966. A crowd of over 4,000 demonstrate outside of the U.S. Embassy in London. Scuffles break out between the protesters and police, and at least 31 people are arrested.
- March 17, 1968. In London, a violent protest not supported by the Old Left leads to over 300 arrests.
A policeman friend of mine, who was on duty, told me that trouble is defused, if the police have common ground with the demonstrators.
The Number Arrested Today In Moscow
This was given as six, which is consistent with the number arrested at non-violent protests in London against the war in Gaza.
My Experience Of Moscow Police
In September 2001, I went to Moscow to see Ipswich beat Torpedo 2-1. See More…
After the match, the police were looking at the Ipswich supporters, as if they wanted a fight. So I broke ranks and offered both hands to the guy, who looked to be in charge. He shook my hands, gave me a hug and a smile and everybody walked to the coaches.
Nobody wanted a fight, so one didn’t happen.
My Experience Of Minsk Police
In October 2008, I went to Minsk to see England beat Belarus 3-1. See More…
A lot of the England fans were worried after being badly treated by Moscow police, the year before.
But there was no need to worry, as the Belarus Police were dressed to be friends and there was no trouble.
Conclusion
Whatever happened today could be significant!
Marble Arch To Lambeth Palace – 16th September 2022
I took these pictures as I travelled from Marble Arch to Lambeth Palace on the top deck of a 148 bus.
Note.
- This sequence starts at the London Hilton Park Lane Hotel, just to the North of Marble Arch.
- Constitution Hill was busy with visitors to Buckingham Palace
- The route goes past the long wall, that encircles the palace.
- The route meanders its way through Victoria to approach the river along Horseferry Road.
- The sequence ends after the bus has crossed Lambeth Bridge by Lambeth Palace.
To take these pictures, I had boarded the 148 bus at Lancaster Gate station and I got off at Lambeth North station.
Will The Queen Enable One Last Important Result?
Would it be too much to hope, that the world leaders coming to the Queen’s funeral, might find that swapping their uplifting memories creates goodwill that helps to solve at least one of the pressing problems of the world?
Thoughts On The Duke’s Land Rover Hearse
This article on The Times is entitled The Land Rover hearse: a vehicle fit for the Duke of Edinburgh’s final journey.
I made this comment.
There’s a church near me in Hackney, where in less restricting times, you regularly saw a horse-drawn funeral. These must cost a fortune to maintain and provide.
I remember seeing a report on the BBC about an undertaker, who has created a motorcycle and sidecar hearse for the funerals of those of a certain persuasion.
I can imagine some of my farming and off-road enthusiast friends liking the idea of being taken to their funeral in a hearse made from a Land-Rover. As you say, it would have a certain style.
There are even conversions, so that old Defenders can be converted to run on battery power, so the hearse could be zero-carbon too!
I have just heard Giles Brandreth on the BBC, who as the biography of the Duke, was at the funeral, as a reporter. He said that he had talked to the Commander of the Guards, who had walked alongside the hearse in the procession. He related how the driver had difficulty keeping the speed down with a lot of slipping of the clutch and noise from the diesel engine.
As I said in my comment to The Times article, perhaps the hearse should have been battery-powered. But then surely, this should apply to a fair proportion of all hearses.
Covid-19: Two £10,000 Fines For ‘150-Person’ Funeral
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the introductory paragraph.
A funeral director has been fined £10,000 after police were called to a funeral with close to 150 people in attendance.
This time, it appears that the covidiots were Roman Catholics.
The Anonymous Widower 