Well that’s over. The coup in Russia. Possibly a ‘putsch’, maybe a shove. Almost a civil war. Its done with. You see, Mr Putin is such a nice, forgiving and tolerant world leader that he’s completely accepted the actions of the lovely Mr Prigozhin as ‘just a bit of an error, an over-excitement’, really nothing to worry about. And they all hugged and smiled and went out for an ice cream together. Holding hands. No foul, no penalty.

And Mr Putin even apologised for earlier, in an uncharacteristic show of aggressiveness, most out of character, for accusing the Wagner leader of treason. Prigozhin in turn smiled, in that way that people who earn their living murdering, raping and torturing people smile, and said he wouldn’t be naughty any more and upset his friend Vladimir.

Awwww.

However, just to complete the picture, just… ya-know, for ‘closure’, its perhaps worth noting that Putin’s stock on the international stage, as well as most definitely his ‘iron man’ image in Russia, has been severely damaged (the former) and dented (the latter). He has, for the first time in 20 years, shown weakness. Backed off. Gave ground. Did a u-turn. To allow anyone who opposed him in any way to simply walk away is absolutely unheard of. There is no precedent. Opponents just die, wherever they’re hiding, or they languish in a Siberian jail for 35 years.

Never mind, its hotter than hell over here and Wimbledon starts in one week’s time. The only tennis tournament in the world that actually means something. Not wishing to be parochial about this but other Grand Slams simply pale into the insignificance of Eurosport 3 and BT4, whereas Wimbledon belongs to the BBC. And we’ll need to see how the Russians ‘identify’ so we can decide whether to let them play.

Happy Sunday,

A xxxx