First Snow in Moscow

Here is a fascinating article about the first snow in Moscow, which fell this week, and how the city is preparing to deal with it using 30,000 employees and 15,000 snowploughs. The issue helps to provide fascinating insights into the politics of the city and its rivalry with national government, which already appears to have begun the transition from outgoing President Medvedev (whose lasting legacy may well be the abolition of daylight saving time as it brought "unhappiness to the cows") to presumably President Putin again, once the small matter of an election has been addressed.

PS Photo of snowplough is courtesy of the China People's Daily - more photos here!

VE Day (Caption Competition!)

The coincidence of the 65th anniversary of VE Day during the weekend that the nation's politicians negotiated over how the next government should be formed was striking. Clegg, Brown and Cameron's obligation to attend the ceremony on Saturday presumably gave them something to think about, in particular the consequences of what happened when one country became dissatisfied with its politicians (during an economic crisis as well!) and turned to more extremist voices. The photo above is crying out for a caption, so please add your best ideas below!

The photo below is striking for other reasons, as it marks the first time that a British army regiment (The Welsh Guards) was allowed to take part in the VE Day parade in Red Square, although apparently Putin intervened personally to prevent Prince Charles (and Joe Biden) from attending...