Funerals can be difficult occasions at the best of times but who can doubt that there was a bit of added tension at St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne for the ceremony for Kimberley Kitching.
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The Labor hierarchy was there to pay tribute to the former senator who died of a suspected heart attack on March 10.
Former Labor leader Bill Shorten, Ms Kitching's husband Andrew Landeryou and the Dalai Lama led the tributes to the 52-year-old.
"Politics can be, maybe it even has to be, fickle," Mr Landeryou said.
"Kimberley was not."
He didn't name Kristina Keneally, Penny Wong and Katy Gallagher who were there and who have denied ostracising Senator Kitching. "The allegations of bullying are untrue," the three senators had previously said in a joint statement.
The bereaved husband said in his eulogy: "There's a lot I could say about the unpleasantness of a cantankerous cabal - not all of them in Parliament."
The talk among the mourners after the funeral would have been interesting.
As ever, the pandemic continues to surprise. Will we ever see normality again?
As we imagine we may be emerging from it, along comes a jolt: the virus has claimed the life of a healthy two-year-old Sydney child.
The NSW Deputy Chief Health Officer Marianne Gale said the child had no underlying health concerns.
The ever-repeated lesson from the medical official was: parents should have their children vaccinated.
The news from Ukraine continues to be grim beyond belief.
There is still talk of talks - but no apparent progress on actually ending the war.
President Putin wants victory even though the cost will be high in terms of blood and grief. And Ukraine said there was no question of surrendering the city of Mariupol after Russia called on Ukrainian forces to lay down arms in the besieged port city.
Russia said a "terrible humanitarian catastrophe" was unfolding in Mariupol.
In more hopeful developments (or less unhopeful to give them a more accurate slant), Russia and Ukraine have agreed to open seven "corridors" for civilians to escape from what may well become hellish infernos as - and if - Russian troops get closer to the centres of cities.
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
