#Tales from the coffeeshop

WHEN he was foreign minister, our current prez loved to use the economic term “added value” to describe his foreign policy initiatives and agreements he forged. They invariably “added value” ...

PREZNIKONE made a rare public appearance on Wednesday, attending the inauguration ceremony for the Paphos campus of the American University of Beirut (AUB Mediterraneo), although the guest of honour was ...

IT STARTED out as a soundbite a few months ago, but our prez fell so in love with it that he has turned it into a national slogan, which he ...

IT TOOK seven years for former negotiator, presidential candidate and top diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis to muster the courage to break free from the hold Preznikone had on him and expose ...

THE SHOCK caused to the political and media establishment by Fidias Panayiotou in last Sunday’s elections for the European parliament was a joy to behold. The self-satisfied, self-regarding, self-aggrandising ...

RETIREMENT has not been as easy as Preznikone had dreamed of. He seems to be spending most of his retirement time in non-stop efforts to prove that he was not ...

ONLY our political parties, in their infinite wisdom, could have engaged in a cost-cutting reform that will increase the cost to the taxpayer. The reform of local government, on which ...

THE DISCIPLES of Odysseas, the first ever auditor-general in the world with a big cult following, were devastated by the news that the attorney-general filed a case at the supreme ...

AFTER a year in office, Prezniktwo has successfully established the communications model of government, with a big emphasis on presentation, positive messaging and minimal action. Even the police force is ...

WHEN the story about the entrepreneurial archimandrites, who set up the start-up monastery Osiou Avakoum in Fterikoudi, broke and there was talk of film of them having sex with each ...

COMING up to his first anniversary in office and opinion polls indicating that his popularity has nosedived, Prezniktwo has launched yet another charm offensive, this time targeting the new voters – ...

WEDNESDAY’S trouble at a Limassol football match came as a Godsend to the government, offering it an easy way to show some toughness and decisiveness that have been lacking ...

Covid craze makes its comeback COVID craze has made its comeback, in a lite version, for now, but the possibility of it eventually returning to its former glory cannot be ...

THE MEMBERS of the cabinet always seemed like a bunch of schoolkids given too much freedom by the head boy, who is more interested in showing off to the adults ...

ARRIVING at the Ledra Palace hotel for the end of year reception given by the UNSG’s Special Representative Colin Stewart, at the same time as the Turkish Cypriot leader, ...

IF THE JOB of President of the Republic was ever advertised as a vacancy, one of the perks of the job listed, apart from having dictatorial powers and being worshipped ...

WISDOM does not always feature prominently in the decisions taken by our judges. In fact, there are times when decisions could be described as completely lacking in wisdom – this is ...

THE PRESIDENTIAL enthusiasm for the presidential initiative for creating a sea corridor through which to take humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip appears to have been dampened in the last ...

NOW WE know why our bearded Prez never turns down an invitation to be the guest of honour at an event. It is not because he hates office work, like ...

WHAT is our world coming to when the party that has based its steady growth on xenophobia and racist rhetoric expels one of its municipal councilors for being racist? It ...

THE VIOLENT scrap between the Turks and a dozen Brit and Slovak men from Unficyp was a great way to wake us up from our August slumber. Something exciting happened, ...

KYPROULLA’S crème de la crème attended the glitzy, grand opening of City of Dreams Mediterranean on Tuesday evening, at which they were entertained by the Cyprus Symphony ...

IT IS STILL unclear whether the report about customs officials checking how much petrol is in a car crossing north actually happened or was a fabrication aimed at frightening people ...

THE POLITICAL renewal that Prez Nik II promised in the election campaign was put into practice, not for the first time, with the return to action of retired ambassador and ...