The second coming of Valentina Matvienko to St. Petersburg seems to have acquired a certain mystical overtones. Already in the first days of her stay in the city, Valentina Ivanovna remembered almost all the St. Petersburg myths of modern times: the transfer of part of the capital’s functions to the city on the Neva, and the prospects for the unification of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, and her possible claims to the governor’s post.

World Meteorological Day, which is celebrated annually on March 23, has every chance of turning from a narrow industry event into a socially significant event. After all, the theme of this day is “Our future climate”. Is there really a person to whom the temperature and wind speed outside the window would be indifferent? Moreover, according to the World Meteorological Organization, there is serious cause for concern. We are talking about the consequences of global warming on the planet.

Last Friday, the Charter Court completed its consideration of the case at the request of thirteen deputies of the Legislative Assembly regarding the compliance of one of the articles of the law “On the Budget for 2003” with the Charter of St. Petersburg. We are talking about the right of the Finance Committee of the city administration to move budget funds, that is, in fact, to independently make adjustments to the budget adopted by legislators.

“According to our information, citizen Ramadan Raad Mazgar filed a complaint with the court against the refusal to provide temporary asylum in accordance with Art. 10 of the Law “On Refugees”. His hearing is scheduled for the end of March 2003. Currently, this citizen is under threat of deportation, which may be a violation of Art. 10 of the Federal Law “On Refugees”, as well as Art. 33 of the Convention “On the Status of Refugees”...

The war is far away, but it is near. It seems that life goes on as before: people are still rushing about their business, street musicians are playing, cars are honking nervously in traffic jams. But something has changed. A strange flock of guys in white T-shirts pulled over winter jackets rolled out from around the corner. Everyone has a big red letter on their chest.

Recently, St. Petersburg has been begging Moscow for at least some kind of capital status in a painfully humiliating way. No longer satisfied with the poetic titles of Northern Palmyra, Northern Venice, pearl, etc., the city administration and the St. Petersburg troops in the capital of the Mother See are looking for some option for officially consolidating the St. Petersburg capital. For example, at the Duma level the project of making St. Petersburg the capital of culture was to be discussed.