By:
On:
In: Opinion
Tagged: , ,

One of the most beautiful Prague gardens is opening again after the winter break – Valdstein garden on the Senate grounds. A unique collection of sculptures, statues of horses and the Sala terrena with a fountain are available to visitors. The Senate office also offers guide services to tourists. This might at first seem like very positive information. The guide, however, has to be booked in advance and is offered in Czech language only. A pity! Our country began to open up slowly during Czech EU presidency, we started to communicate more in foreign languages and so present our country more. And we have things to offer. It wasn’t only the sugar cube that our ancestors invented. They have alsoContinue Reading

By:
On:
In: National
Tagged: , ,

Seven years of Slušovice’s IT undergroundIt was the one time in Milan Frnka’s life that he “has worked for the party”. “A chair of a communist manufacturing centre came to me once and asked me to create a computer program that would generate records of party meetings. That way he wouldn’t have to call meetings but have the needed documents to send to the regional KSČ bureau,” the former head of the IT sector of JZD Slušovice, Frnka, recalls. It was the early ’80s, the communist regime controlled everything, but the IT experts of the exemplary agriculture coop in Beskydy mountains lived their lives independently. “Since the communists didn’t understand computers, they let us be.” Programmer Milan Frnka belongs toContinue Reading

By:
On:
In: Opinion
Tagged: , ,

Drivers in south Moravia should be able to drive with blood alcohol content of 0.3 permille (0.3 grams of alcohol for every 1,000 grams of blood; the current law is zero tolerance). This unusual proposal came in the run-up to October’s elections from KDU-ČSL candidate to the Chamber of Deputies Jiří Koliba, who says the residents of south Moravia are accustomed to alcohol. This is a very far-sighted step during the financial crisis. If these Moravians, unlike citizens elsewhere, were allowed to drink behind the wheel, then certainly some people would remember that they have a grandma or a great aunt living somewhere in wine country. They would start visiting their relatives more frequently, making their kinfolk very happy. SoonerContinue Reading

By:
On:
In: Opinion
Tagged: , ,

Is home birth a crime that warrants the violation of patient confidentiality? That is exactly what we witnessed several days ago at the renowned Prague maternity hospital in Podolí. A rescue squad brought to the hospital a baby in critical condition that failed to start breathing on its own after a home birth assisted by a midwife. What is one phone call to the editorial office of TV Nova worth? Undoubtedly a lot – for example turning a blind TV eye to a potential future problem at the Podolí hospital. Only time will show whether something like that happens. However, after dialling the number, the head physician will certainly become a hero that can be presented on television as theContinue Reading

By:
On:
In: Cinema
Tagged: , ,

Vsetín cinema Vatra’s golden times are long over. The last time it sold out was two years ago and the only guaranteed blockbuster is Harry Potter. When the film Modrý mauritius (Blue Mauritius) was screened at the end of June, though, the capacity of the cinema did not suffice and many viewers had to watch the film standing up. The film was made by local fourth-year secondary students. And even though none of the students knew anything about cinematography, they managed to fill the local cinema and made it into the pages of a national newspaper after 10 months of intensive work. Balanced budgetA British aristocrat is celebrating his birthday at his estate and he shows off his treasure –Continue Reading