ONCE AGAIN the party leaders left the National Council meeting last Friday, complaining that they were kept in the dark about what was happening, that their suggestions were ignored and that President Christofias would go to the tri-partite meeting in New York unprepared. This is all we hear after National Council gatherings in the last few years, but the president still feels obliged to call a meeting every so often and the party leaders feel obliged to attend it... Read on

Sic transit Muammar Gaddafi. When I was in school I used to wonder who Gloria Mundi was and how she had died, but it turned out to be my defective Latin. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi means: “Thus passes the glory of this world”. But still, it kind of fits, doesn’t it? Sic Transit Muammar Gaddafi.Being Muammar Gaddafi must have been a bit like being Mick Jagger. You’ve been playing the same role since you were very young, and everybody loves you for it, at least to your face. You have actually become the standard by which all others aspiring to the same role are judged. And after a while, you start to believe that you really are Mick Jagger, and not just that guy from Dartford who can sing pretty well... Read on

AS A GENERAL rule, most people do not like paying taxes and will avoid doing so if they feel they can get away with it. This is why in all developed states, Inland Revenue and other tax collection services have sweeping powers while courts impose severe punishments on individuals found guilty of cheating the tax authorities. ... 1 comment

WHO COULD have believed that one of the comrade’s fiercest and most outspoken critics, radio show presenter Lazarus Mavros would have ended up defending the man he loves to hate. It happened on his Monday show when his caller was one of the self-styled leaders of the ‘indignant-awakened citizens’ Costas Tsangarides.Tsangarides concluded a vitriolic attack on the comrade with the customary call for his resignation. Lazarus countered that Tof was the lawfully elected president, voted in by the majority of the Cypriot people, to which Tsangarides responed by saying “Hitler was also voted in by the majority of the Germans*... 2 comments

EVEN before the Mari blast, this column had been saying that President Christofias was not just incompetent but also dangerous. The same is true of the AKEL leadership. It is saddening, but unfortunately the behaviour of the party’s top people clearly shows that we can only expect more calamities from them. This was evident in the nonsensical arguments they used against the findings of the Polyviou report and in their irresponsible treatment of the economy.Their paranoid reaction to the stern warnings issued by the IMF about the very serious dangers faced by the Cyprus economy, which they dismissed as “neo-liberal views” and acted as if that was the end of the matter, was indicative of their general approach. This brazen irresponsibility is truly astonishing... 1 comment

AS FAR as I can recall, Greece and Cyprus have never been in the doldrums as much as they are today. The only exception was 1974, when both countries hung in the balance... 3 comments

The debate over a bi-zonal federation remains the same today as it did 37 years agoSOME 10 days ago, the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General in Cyprus, Alexander Downer, was invited to speak about the federal political system to a gathering in Larnaca. Among the audience were individuals that went there to utter their own views, rather than listen. From what was broadcast by the media, the event was not a discussion aimed at resolving queries about a federation, but an opportunity for some to have a go at Downer, whom they blamed because he was working for a federal settlement, which they considered unfair, undemocratic and racist. ... 5 comments

Resignation call a smoke screen for the real malaiseTHEY SAY politicians can get away with murder. Clichés in general contain a dose of reality. But in the BRC (Banana Republic of Cyprus), it’s not a cliché at all: it’s a statement of fact.So congrats to our politicos: for three months now they have managed to work up public opinion into a frenzy. Ever since Mari, every single day from dusk till dawn, these brazen opinion-setters - the parties - have bombarded us plebs with one question, and one question alone: should Christofias quit?That’s it. The sum-total of the disaster’s aftermath, distilled into this: whether a single man should resign... 1 comment

Down in the south of Italy, a quiet revolution is taking place. State school teachers, - not language teachers, but PE teachers, history teachers, IT specialists - are being funded by the CLIL EU project to become qualified in another EU language and deliver one class a week in that language; pay and promotion will depend on it. Almost all are choosing English. Under PON projects, also EU funded, Italian school pupils are spending up to three weeks, expenses paid, in UK language schools. Essential they believe to speak English.Whether the grandees of Europe like it or not, English is increasingly the global language of professionals and the young: much, of course, encouraged by the Internet, social media, the music and gaming industries. ... 1 comment

 FORMER Finance Minister Michalis Sarris was charged by the Turkish Cypriot ‘court’ and released yesterday afternoon, after being held for seven days in a police cell, without justification other than to give time to Turkish Cypriot police to come up with allegedly incriminating evidence against him. This included using youths, who had been beaten up while in police custody, as witnesses against him. Yesterday, the police said they had another witness who was being held in connection with a minor drug offence as a witness. Sarris was released on bail, with a trial set for November 16, facing charges of committing an unnatural act, conspiracy to commit a felony and indecent assault. ... 11 comments