WE CAN always rely on the overweight, independent deputy from Limassol, Andreas Themistocleous, who likes to bully women, to provide some entertainment.
It was in fact something of a pleasure to see the bully being bullied during the session of the House on Thursday, by a small woman less than half his weight. Prezita Annita dealt with him like a teacher would have treated an attention-seeking schoolkid.
Bully-boy insisted he spoke about something off topic but the Prezita would not allow him. He condescendingly asked why she was “afraid of the truth and trembling” about what he had to say, and she asked that his mike was turned off.
He kept shouting with the mike switched off and the Prezita would not be intimidated telling him she had enough of his “smartness” and he could express himself after the meeting on the internet, as he usually did.
The macho deputy, who, as Zsa Zsa Gabor would have said, “is not very mucho”, had to get his own back so the next day he appeared on Alpha TV to talk about his humiliation at the hands of a woman half his size.
“Where did she find this audacious and unacceptable right to turn off my mike?” he asked before offering the schoolboy put-down. “She is not the president of hairdressers, she is the president of the House.”
COMMISSIONER for gender equality and all-purpose feminist do-gooder Josie Christodoulou issued a written statement reprimanding Themistocelous and revealing his comments “constitute clear expression of sexism and lack of respect.”
Nobody would have known if Josie had not helpfully pointed this out. After the reprimand came the moralising spiced with a little harmless virtue-signalling. “Political debate cannot be derailed to comments that reproduce conscious and unconscious views and prejudices based on gender,” she warned before patronising hairdressers.
“The reference to a specific profession in an ironic and condescending way is insulting to thousands of women who work with professionalism and dignity in the specific sector.” This moralising makes me almost feel sympathy for the bully boy.
IT WAS a busy week for Josie as on Thursday she signed a memorandum of understanding for the promotion of gender equality at work with the employers’ federation Oev. First lady PKC was also present.
The memorandum outlines six actions, including the creation of an ‘Equality Academy’ focused on ‘remote areas’ (polite way of referring to villagers) and the launch of a media campaign to encourage journalists to address gender equality issues.
The commissioner had a more fun day on Wednesday when she engaged in a little PR with my friend the transport minister Alexis Vafeades. They were in downtown Nicosia to inaugurate the installation of female silhouettes on pedestrian traffic lights – the person crossing wears a skirt.
“This was a symbolic action and breaks stereotypes,” said Josie. Isn’t depicting a female in a skirt, the epitome of stereotyping women? It was rather ironic that the four women in the official photo with the minister, including Josie, were wearing trousers.
A GOVERNMENT minister, having an informal chat with a customer of our establishment, revealed that all members of the cabinet have strict instructions from the presidential palace, to always credit the Prez when announcing a new policy.
I thought this was a bit far-fetched, until I heard Finance Minister Makis Keravnos referring to the Prez when discussing the six bills for tax reform that were approved by the cabinet on Wednesday. I realised that it was not the first time we had heard a minister crediting his boss about some new policy, especially those regarded crowd-pleasers.
Strangely, nobody gave any credit to our Prez for his personal initiative of introducing the voluntary enlistment of women in the National Guard. Was it because on Friday, the day the new recruits were dure to appear for military service, only one showed up? A week earlier we thought it would have been two, but one obviously changed her mind.
PHIL hack Andreas Bimbishis was very disappointed that no coverage was given to Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos’ speech at ICWA (India Council of World Affairs) think tank in New Delhi.
Having nothing better to do on Thursday night, Bimbishis found the 18-minute speech on You Tube, in which Kombos spoke about our country’s foreign policy. It was a show of “serious diplomacy” and Bimbishis was saddened that “very few would bother to watch even an excerpt of Kombos’ speech.”
When the hack was trying to watch this important speech, he said his phone was bombarded with messages about the Themistocleous-Annita row. In the contest of “serious diplomacy against clickbait politics” the latter always wins, lamented the hack who finds a speech about Kyproulla’s foreign policy something worth sacrificing 18 minutes of his life for.
The paper that employes him does not agree with him as the Philenews website gave big prominence to the clickbait Annita story and no mention to the serious diplomacy.
PREZNIKTWO has started milking Kyproulla’s presidency of the EU Council more than two months before it is scheduled to begin. For weeks now a government advert has been playing every day on radio stations with the message that Kyproulla will be leading the EU and we should all be very proud.
“Now the time has come to lead,” says the advert, adding: “at a time of critical developments and geopolitical challenges Cyprus will formulate proposals and solutions, will work collectively for a more powerful Europe…. “For you for every European citizen, for solidarity, stability, security.”
And the punchline, “At the centre of European decisions – equals, strong, proud. Europe in motion. Cyprus at the front.” And we are all so proud to be at the centre of European decisions.
THERE was also a professionally-produced film clip of the Prez meeting the Brussels-based ‘Team Cyprus 2026’. “Behind every EU presidency there’s a story. And it starts with the people,” said the intro to the 34-second clip which, thanks to the smart editing looked like a showbiz party for ugly people. Interestingly, in the 34 seconds of the film the Prez featured in 20 different screenshots, which is not bad considering this was meant to be about people in Team Cyprus.
EVEN THOUGH it will be leading the EU from January 1, our government remains fully committed to rusfeti. On Wednesday the appointment of four new permanent secretaries – the highest post in the parasite service – was announced by the state rusfetology agency, also known as the public service commission.
One of the rusfteti beneficiaries was the former director of the central prison Anna Aristotelous, who, as our establishment had reported last June, had abandoned the Odysseas camp and took an oath of allegiance to Prezniktwo, who has rewarded her with an undeserved promotion. Aristotelous should not even have been eligible for promotion, as she is suspended, pending a disciplinary investigation. Is the prez so certain that the investigation will find nothing against his protégé?
Another promotion that has rusfeti written all over it was that of the husband of the under-secretary to the president Irini Piki – the woman that calls all the shots at the presidential palace and whom everyone, including ministers, has to go through to speak to the Prez. With such power was she not going to arrange a top job for her hubby?
THE LEGISLATURE, according to Phil, was considering changing the date of next year’s parliamentary elections, scheduled to be held on May 24.
The reason is that on that weekend the Euro League Final Four was being held in Athens and many voters will be in Greece. Also, in Athens on May 23, Phil said, heavy metal band Iron Maiden will be giving a concert and many Cypriots have already booked flights to Athens to watch the headbangers at the Olympic Stadium.
Parties, the paper said, were so concerned about the high number of absences and possible loss of votes, they were considering changing the election day. The truth is that anyone who will travel to Athens to watch Iron Maiden should be deprived of the right to vote.
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