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- unemployment : Our View: All roads lead back to public service payroll
NewsOpinions
Our View: All roads lead back to public service payroll
UNEMPLOYMENT reached a record high in December, the rate climbing to 9.3 per cent which was one of the highest increases, over a year, in the EU. This gave rise to a collective lament by our politicians, all of whom called for development projects that would create jobs and kick-start the stalled economy. ‘Development’ has now become the main slogan and the answer to all our problems, a bit like the demand for a ‘fair, just and lasting settlement to the Cyprus problem’. But as with all nice-sounding slogans they serve to the public the politicians offer no practical ideas as to how the objective would be realised. Who would initiate the desired development? ... 9 comments
Tales from the Coffeeshop: the life and times of Don Christofias
THE MAN who appeared in Nicosia district court on Wednesday charged with being a public nuisance because he called the president a ‘vlakas’ last August, pleaded ‘not guilty’ and faces trial in June.The 35-year-old, while driving his car had spotted the presidential limo on the road, poked his head out of the window and shouted ‘Fool, president resign’. He was heard by two presidential cops who, after an exchange of words, arrested him and took him to a police station where he had to give a statement. ... 19 comments
In his presidential bid, Anastassiades loses the high ground
UNTIL 2004, the DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades was arguably the most hated politician in Cyprus. It may have been unfair, but this was the reality.In April 2004 his standing, at least among the more sensible members of our society, improved dramatically. And it was not just among those who followed the difficult ‘yes’ path in the referendum. There was a large number of people from all political backgrounds, who respected his courage and political consistency in going against the flow, aware of the big political cost for him... 6 comments
A dimension of special interest
The visit of the President of the Democratic Rally, Nicos Anastassiades to Israel (January 8-12, 2012) was not a simple visit. It took place at the invitation of the Israeli government and had all the characteristics of an official visit by a high dignitary of the state, if we judge from the meetings he had with the Speaker of the Knesset, the Foreign Minister, the President Shimon Peres and the leader of the opposition. ... Read on
Adding fuel to the inferno
THE WORLD is big enough to supply the needs of us all but not the greed of a few. In just one hundred years we have learnt to consume with abandon and discard with impunity. The planet is fast becoming a rubbish tip of recyclables, left in pits to poison the atmosphere. Yet we seem indifferent to our decaying environment and depletion of natural resources. ... Read on
An Iraqi film hero in America
ONE of Iraq’s only working filmmakers, Oday Rasheed - whose brilliant film 2005 Underexposure followed a group of characters in Baghdad after the United States-led invasion in 2003, and whose new film Qarantina is now premiering - is in Manhattan. The glamorous settings in which he is now showing Qarantina - a screening at the Museum of Modern Art, for example, and in the private homes of American directors and stars - could not be further removed from the violence-riddled context of his daily life... Read on
Our View: Big fuss over Downer comments came to nothing
IN THE END, the wiser heads prevailed and the legislature did not declare the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advisor Alexander Downer persona non grata. Instead a lukewarm resolution censuring Downer for his “lop-sided and damaging statements,” which “diverge from the UN Charter and UN resolutions on Cyprus” was passed. It also called for the “restoration of the Special Advisor’s objectivity and trustworthiness,” while observing that his comments and actions “constitute an undermining of the Republic of Cyprus as a state... 12 comments
The Syrian tragedy
THE SECURITY Council “cannot go about imposing solutions in crisis situations in various countries of the world,” said Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, as the UN began discussing what to do about the Syrian crisis last Friday. He needn’t worry. Even as Syria drifts inexorably towards a catastrophic civil war, nobody else is willing to put troops into the country, so how are they going to impose anything?... 1 comment
David Hockney: it took a while to understand what he meant
A LONG time ago in a Bradford pub I met David Hockney. Unpretentious, friendly, fag in hand he told me something. I wasn’t an art student but his words stayed with me. When I told him I liked drawing, a sentence he must have heard a million times from every eighteen year old he met, he didn’t dismiss me. Quite the opposite he smiled encouragingly and leaning toward me said the secret was to look at lines and keep my pencil pressed to the page. It took a while to understand exactly what he meant, but the advice led to years of pleasure. I carry a sketchbook with me wherever I go... 2 comments
Our View: Costly mess of a bus service was not thought through
NOBODY should be surprised about the dispute between the government and bus companies over the level of the state assistance the latter should receive. Like so many projects undertaken by the government, the bus project was pursued without adequate study and planning and less than two years after its introduction the two sides are at loggerheads. Bus drivers were on strike Wednesday, because they had not been paid for January, the companies blaming the government, because it had not transferred adequate sums... 1 comment
