This year was the first time London has had a parade, Mrs Duck, courtesy of a grant from Ken Livingstone. I know nothing about the Birmingham parade.

The Moscow parade, incidentally, was started about 10 years ago by Irish people working there. The first parade included drag nuns and priests simulating er... exagerrated intimacy, on the back of a truck. According to a friend in the Irish embassy at the time, this incident caused great offence to the locals.