UK ‘glasses for passes’ affair makes for bad optics
There is a scandal in the making in UK in the ‘glasses for passes’ affair now in its second week which does not look as though it will go away ...
Tales from the Coffeeshop: Rejected judges and an escaping murderer – it’s been a tough week
THE PEOPLE-PLEASER Prez has lost his touch. He appears to be pissing off rather than pleasing most people while the media have also turned on him.
Before the public uproar ...
Our View: Doctors more than the patients are abusing Gesy
The Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) started a new campaign on Thursday aimed at tackling abuses of Gesy, which “constitute one of the major problems threatening the viability of the system”. ...
Post-election violence is possible in US
By Alexander Cohen
Should Americans be bracing for bloodshed if Donald Trump loses the 2024 presidential election?
As a political scientist who studies American politics, I can easily imagine a repeat ...
Rethinking Cyprus’ economic performance metrics
By Ioannis Tirkides
We use summary indicators to conveniently measure the performance and health of the economy. But while these can be useful in some respects, they have their drawbacks ...
Our View: Cyprus problem at the UN: A 50-year speech no one’s listening to
For the last 50 years, every September, the president of the Cyprus Republic addresses the UN General Assembly. In the years immediately after the 1974 Turkish invasion, some delegations stayed in the ...
Our View: VAT relief was a temporary measure that ran its course
It was inevitable that Akel would start protesting as soon as it became known that that government would not extend the duration of the measures that were implemented to help ...
The internet is worse than it used to be
By Marc Cheong and Wonsun Shin
When it comes to our experience of the internet, “the times, they are a-changin’”, as Bob Dylan would say. You can’t quite recall ...
Our View: Mobile phone ban in schools is a no-brainer
Congratulations to Education Minister Athena Michaelidou for pursuing her decision to ban mobile phones from all public secondary schools. She had banned phones from primary schools and has now tabled ...
Are animals conscious?
A bit behind the curve (it was first posted last April), I have stumbled across ‘The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness’. It is a brave attempt by a coalition ...
Goldblum, Kaos, telling stories
An Irish poet once told me ‘We’re storytellers by nature and that includes gossip. What begins as a short story one end of town is a full length novel ...
Our View: Banning away fans will destroy football
The Cyprus Football Association (CFA) on Tuesday bowed to police pressure and banned away fans from a match scheduled for Sunday between Omonia 29 May and Apoel. Police chief Stelios Papatheodorou ...
Our View: Koulias’ childish antics nearly embarrassed the presidency
Diko deputy Zacharias Koulias has never been a politician that could be taken seriously. His mouth has always worked faster than his brain, something that made him eminently quotable and ...
Natural resource blessing or curse? The case of Cyprus
The discovery of the highly promising Aphrodite gas field in 2011 presented Cyprus with economic and political opportunities, while at the same time it risked a worsening of its already tense ...
Labour is meeting for first conference in govt for over a decade – but will faithful still be in mood for a party?
The Labour party is gathering in Liverpool for its first annual conference in government for 15 years.
The party faithful ought to make the most of the occasion. This will be ...
Scientists reviewed 7,000 studies on microplastics. Their alarming conclusion puts humanity on notice
By Karen Raubenheimer
It’s been 20 years since a paper in the journal Science showed the environmental accumulation of tiny plastic fragments and fibres. It named the particles “microplastics”.
The ...
A very royal scandal
By Julie Kissick
The British royals have long been a fascination. The wealth, pomp and ceremony surrounding them have placed them apart from the majority. It is hard to imagine ...
Big opportunities ahead for Serbia economy, but also obstacles
Although Serbs have existed as a distinct ethnicity for centuries, contemporary Serbia is the result of the breakup of socialist Yugoslavia and subsequent wars.
Yugoslavia was formed after the end ...
The EU’s latest proposal to save its economy aims to avoid a ‘slow agony’ – but it lacks bold ideas
In Brussels, the talk of the town is a report on the future of European competitiveness, calling for fundamental economic reforms to avoid a “slow agony” for the European economy. ...
Was disrespect of AG overzealousness or hubris?
In a unanimous and trenchant judgment, the Supreme Constitutional Court of Cyprus sitting as a discrete Council in an application to dismiss the auditor-general for misconduct decided on Wednesday that ...
Tales from the Coffeeshop
Tales from the Coffeeshop: Tragic hero silenced in ‘black day for Cyprus’
THE SLAUGHTER of the sacred cow by the Supreme Constitutional Court was bloodless, but it still left such a mess that it could take a long time to clear up.
...
Our View: Why can’t we accept there is a rule of law in Cyprus?
We have always had a rather ambiguous approach to the rule of law, which was evident once again after the Supreme Constitutional Court’s decision to remove Odysseas Michaelides from ...
UN pact to protect future generations will be undermined by Security Council
By Mike Brand, University of Connecticut
World leaders will gather at the United Nations on September 22-23, 2024, where they are set to adopt the Pact for the Future – an ambitious ...
Our View: Affordable housing is not university students’ inherent right
The University of Cyprus is looking for €91m to build new student housing that will provide rooms for 870 students. This surprised deputies who discussed the matter because there had been ...