POLITICAL PARTIES, according to some press reports, have been engaged in secret discussions about increasing the number of seats in the House of Representatives, from 56 to 70, before next year’s parliamentary elections. It appears that the move is geared towards satisfying the needs of the bigger parties, which have too many people waiting in the wings for parliamentary seats, than the needs of our society... 6 comments

IT DEFIES belief that the Nicosia Central Prisons has been the main topic of public debate ever since it was claimed that convicted murderer and rapist Antonis Prokopiou Kitas had masterminded the theft of Tassos Papadopoulos’ remains. Overnight, politicians became experts on how a prison should be run, highlighting the weaknesses, questioning the laxness, slamming the prison authorities and lambasting the government’s failure to take decisive action... Read on

NINE DAYS ago, AEL hooligans from Limassol went on the rampage after a match at Nicosia’s GSP stadium. Two days ago, APOEL hooligans from Nicosia went on the rampage after a match at Limassol’s Tsirion stadium. In both instances, policemen were injured as they tried to control the thugs, damage was caused to property and several arrests were made.
In fact the latest outburst of football violence was worse than the previous weekend’s as the APOEL fans not only ransacked the stadium canteen and used its products as missiles, but they also set fire to seats while outside the ground they smashed a few shop windows and cars. The AEL supporters were almost well-behaved, by comparison, a week earlier... 4 comments

IN BRITAIN, Lord Adonis is proposing to tighten the drink drive law. One pint or glass of wine may be over the limit. So why not make drink driving totally illegal, as they have done in other countries? The answer is that drinking is part of our lifestyle and culture; a drink with mates at the end of working week is civilised, normal behaviour and it should not be penalised. But if you can’t drive there, how do you do it?
It’s fine if you are rich enough to take taxis everywhere, fine if you live a city like London with its excellent public transport system but hopeless if you are living in the countryside or the suburbs, where the only way to move is by motor... 9 comments

NOBODY could have guessed that Kyproulla’s best-known, murderous psycho would have masterminded the theft of the remains of the Ethnarch. I am jumping to conclusions here as nothing has been proved against the irrepressible Al Capone, who is just a suspect at present, but the risk of a libel suit is negligible.
The only danger would be for his lawyer to claim we were destroying his reputation as a notorious criminal by linking him with a relatively minor offence. Grave robbery would not look good on a CV that included convictions for murder and rape, even if it indicated that Capone was constantly diversifying and broadening his range of crimes... 3 comments

GREECE again ground to a halt this week as unions called a nationwide general strike to protest a €4.8 billion austerity package of spending cuts and tax increases put in place to trim the country’s rampant budget deficit.
While the photos that went around the world were of anarchist youths running street battles with riot police, the mainstay of the protests are not the radicalised young, the unemployed and hopeless with nothing to lose; rather, they are those with plenty to lose and beginning to feel the pinch, in particular public employees... 8 comments

“THE ISSUE of properties will be resolved at the negotiating table and not in the courts.”
This was how President Christofias reacted to the disastrous decision of the European Court of Human Rights. He also castigated those who had encouraged refugees to submit applications to the ECHR for now taking the political high ground.
The president was right – but who was he referring to? The people who had been deceiving refugees for 35 whole years, telling them to file recourses en masse to the ECHR – and the people who have now taken the political high ground – are specific politicians from specific parties. But why does the president not name them? Why did he resort to vague generalisation?... 4 comments

BUSINESSES must show an annual profit; admittedly, they can take out bank loans during bad years, but only when banks are prepared to lend. At the moment, banks are closed to most businesses, because they can hardly issue bonds to help them ride out the storm.
The EU finance honchos are making stringent demands of Greece to reduce government expenditure, infrastructure projects, healthcare, civil servant salaries, pensions, welfare in an effort to avoid the bankrupting of the Greek economy... Read on

THE CYPRIOT Diaspora will always have an impact on Cyprus wherever they live. Roots run deep, family is all important for Cypriots and many visit the island regularly from Britain, where the bulk live and work.
Britain is also a guarantor country, whose signature Cypriots will need to finalise a solution. Many Diaspora Cypriots who are voters in their adopted countries will always take an interest in Cyprus, as many were abruptly forced to leave their country before setting off to seek what they thought would be temporary sanctuary. In countries such as Britain, Australia and Canada, Cypriots have worked hard to rebuild their lives and integrate with their host community... 8 comments

THE PREMIERS of Greece, Germany, France and Luxembourg this week called for speedy action to limit or even ban naked credit default swap (CDS) contracts, whereby the buyer has no stake in the underlying asset being insured against default.
“We must prevent speculative actions from causing so much uncertainty on the market that prices no longer provide accurate information and state financing reaches a fundamentally unjustifiable high level,” the letter said.
“We therefore propose that the EU Commission initiates as quickly as possible at European level an inquiry into the role and impact of speculative practices in connection with CDS trading in the government bonds of European countries... Read on