CONGRATS to Disy boss, Annita Demetriou for securing a second stint as House Prezita and showing all the men, who privately dismissed her as ‘Barbie’ and another ‘clueless blonde’, that she is a lot smarter than them and also pretty Machiavellian when required.

Everyone had written her off before the elections as she was leader of a deeply divided party, undermined both from inside and outside the party, with several hopefuls waiting in the wings for a poor election result so they could make a play for the leadership.

This never happened. The party did much better than the pollsters forecasted, keeping its 17 seats, not only strengthening the Troulli Barbie’s hold on the leadership but also boosting her confidence in the pursuit of the House presidency, which she regained with clinical efficiency.

After telling Junior, who asked for Disy’s support for the presidency, to take a walk, she sweet-talked Fidias, the boy she was claiming was a threat to the stability of the political system during the campaign, to give her his party Direct Democracy’s four votes.

In the end, the ignorant kid, who was supposedly going to turn the system upside down backed the guardian of stability.

TO JUSTIFY his decision, Fidias – whom all our wise and self-regarding TV presenters, newspaper columnists and politicians treat like a village idiot – reached a deal with Annita, from which neither he nor his party had anything to gain.

In the video that was released after the vote and showed how the deal was reached, Fidias asked Annita to work with Direct Democracy to raise the minimum state pension to €1088 – make it equal to the minimum wage – to build 10,000 residences for low-income families and increase child benefit to tackle the low birth-rate.

She agreed, while explaining to Fidias that the legislature did not have the power to do this, but that she would campaign to persuade the government to pursue these projects. She avoided telling him that these measures, if implemented, would bankrupt the state.

Fidias who was supposedly going to turn the system upside down backed the guardian of stability – Disy

Yet the fact remains that the Meniko ignoramus sold his party’s votes to Annita not for any personal gain, as so many of the university-educated politicians would have done, but to secure her support for his campaign to help the under-privileged members of our society.

Diko never made such demands for backing a presidential candidate in elections being content, instead, with three or four ministries to distribute among underprivileged Diko loyalists.

OUR UPSTANDING political intelligentsia, led by Phil’s self-righteous columnists, were outraged by what happened, acting as if no such deal had ever taken place before.

They forgot how Diko backed Comrade Tof for the presidency of the House in 2001in exchange for the commies backing his candidacy for president. Nobody was outraged at the time seeing this as legitimate political horse-trading.

One prim and proper Disy big-wig said he felt shame after seeing the video of the deal. Others argued that the deal was done in secret, well before the vote, as if this were a crime. “The mockery has no limits,” lamented one of the many disconsolate columnists at Phil, who could not hide their gloom.

The permanently, uncontrollably angry Phil writer, Giorgos Kallinikou, could not restrain himself in his latest column. He wrote: “The twice elected president of the House and potentially president of the republic, came down from her perch. Alas. What sorrow. She joined the circus. She gave her own show. With cheap videos… she made commitments to the man appearing as a clown. Regarding measures that are the epitome of populism.” 

Phil’s full-scale offensive against the strengthened Prezita could stem from fears that she now poses a real threat to Prezniktwo’s re-election prospects.

ONLY last Sunday, Preznikone’s errand boy, ex-minister Ionas Nicolaou, wrote a full-page article arguing for the unification of the centre-right political forces.

He wanted Disy, which he had represented as a deputy in the past, to participate in the Prezniktwo’s government, without mentioning names, because this would “convey, mainly, a message of responsibility, stability and readiness for jointly formulating policies”.

Was this the view of Ionas, who has been out of politics for years, or was he doing a favour to Nik I, who could not put his name to an opinion urging Disy to surrender to his protégé, Nik II? 

WHEN union bosses demand the increase of all state pensions to the level of the minimum wage (they did this on Thursday), Phil’s columnists say nothing because they cannot go against the representatives of the working people.

When the clown supports the exact same thing in his video nasty with his fellow circus performer, Annita, it is the epitome of populism. Has Phil’s hero in the presidential palace not also promised to build houses for the poor and increase child benefits?

The minimum state pension cannot be increased by 125 per cent under current conditions. But it could be increased by this amount if the obscenely high state pensions paid to politicians, teachers and all other public parasites were cut by 10 or 15 per cent.

Union bosses would never dare make such a proposal – they would rather bankrupt the state – but Fidias certainly could. And he could make some funky videos to promote the idea.

THE TRIUMPHANT visit by the Prez to India, last month, was followed a few days ago by an equally “historic” visit to Kazakhstan. Kyproulla, thanks to our far-sighted prez, is steadily spreading its influence all over the world, making important agreements wherever he goes.

The visit was considered particularly important, because it reportedly pissed off Turkey, which is the ultimate test of diplomatic success. The platitudes flowed in Astana, where MoUs in higher education, scientific research, culture, sports, innovation, digital governance and IT were signed.

We will need another 5,000 civil servants to administer all the agreements of cooperation and MoUs that our Prez signs in every country he pays a historical visit to. Relations with Kazakhstan “continue to grow stronger, politically, economically and strategically”, said the prez at his “landmark” meeting with President Kassym-Jomart Tokaeyv.

AN HISTORIC visit was bound to produce at least one “landmark” meeting. Every visit our Prez pays, he describes as “historic” as if he wants advertise his power of exaggeration.

Was the visit to Kazkhstan historic because it was the first visit paid by a Kyproulla Prez? But it was not historic in the sense that it changed the course of history, rewrote diplomatic relations or changed the balance of power in the world. It will not be recorded in any authoritative history book.

A historic visit was President Nixon’s to China in 1972, two years after the US recognised the People’s Republic. There was even an opera written to mark the occasion. If an opera is written to mark our Prez’s visit to Kazakhstan then it would qualify as historic. It could feature an aria on the growth of our strategic relations.

THE EXPANSION of Kyproulla’s diplomatic footprint was not restricted to Kazakhstan. Foreign minister Constantinos Kombos is currently working on upgrading relations and spreading our influence in the countries of Central Asia.

On Thursday he visited Tajikistan, on Saturday he went to Uzbekistan while on Monday he is due in Kyrgyzstan. The objective of the visits to the ‘stan’ countries, according to a foreign ministry statement, is to “upgrade relations”.

In the case of Uzbekistan we want to “maintain the positive dynamic in bilateral relations and expand prospects for further cooperation”. A historic visit could follow.

With Kyrgyzstan, we just want to “increase the frequency of contacts between the two countries at political and diplomatic level”. A historic visit is unlikely any time soon.

THE POLICE did exactly what was widely expected of them in the Sandy case. The chief, Themistos Arnaoutis, called a news conference to inform the public that a police investigation that the claims made in text messages were unsupported by testimony, forensic tests and objective evidence.

It was amazing how quickly the police completed what must have been a rather complex investigation. It took about two months. Meanwhile the investigation into ‘videogate’, which featured claims of under the table payments to the Prez’s election campaign, has still not been completed after four months.

Why is it taking so long considering it is much more straightforward than Sandy’s and the company which made the video has already claimed responsibility for the set-up. What is being investigated now?