This weekend's essays: Putin at Valdai, entertainment in St Petersburg and the personal banking revolution in Russia

As subscribers to this internet platform are aware, in the past several weeks international developments like the BRICS Summit in Kazan, the election of Donald Trump on 5 November and speculation which immediately followed over his likely cabinet appointments, the collapse of Chancellor Scholz's coalition government in Germany and dates being advanced for 'snap elections' have all begged for commentary. Add to that the speech and Q&A of President Vladimir Putin at the Valdai Discussion Club annual gathering in Sochi in mid-week about which Western media had almost nothing to say despite its being very consequential. At the personal level, there is a backlog of impressions from my ongoing visit to Petersburg that I wish to share in further installments of Travel Notes.