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Possibly inspired by the oil slick on the Vltava river or the fact that Prague has been shrouded in smog these past few days, Marek Svehla of the weekly RESPEKT takes a closer look at the environment ministry's annual report on the state of the environment. His article headlined " The Road to Hell" says minister Skalicky's report evokes optimism ....until you read between the lines. The 100 page report was drafted by people who are paid to improve the environment - and it shows, Svehla says. The individual chapters are a list of achievements, critical passages are scarce. As usual the document emphasizes the concept of "gradual improvement" stressing the need for patience.

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" Progress in desulphurization of electric power plants , decreased pollution of rivers and lowered acidity of the soil is indisputable. We are no more than half way - but we are heading in the right direction" the author of the report says. But Svehla adds, that is only half of the story. Czech industries are still using up twice the amount of energy their Western counterparts use up. The ministry has every right to be proud of the fact that thanks to desulphurisation and the introduction of gas heating into many households the air we breathe contains 13% less sulphur than it did in 1995 and a full 50% less than in 1990. But, we are still 3 times worse off than any OECD country -and due to the ever increasing number of vehicles on our roads we are breathing in 5% more carbon monoxide.

The report says where cleaning stations have been put up - but it doesn't add where they are badly needed and missing, Svehla continues. And the most notable discrepancy we come across concerns the state of our forests. According to the environment ministry " our forests have taken a turn for the better and healing process is underway as a result of which there is reportedly 2% less damage. Contrary to this, European Union statistics and an independent survey commissioned by the agriculture ministry suggest that the state of our forests is in fact deteriorating, a full three quarters of the nation's coniferous trees having suffered some degree of damage. This puts the Czech Republic at the top of the Europe's list as far as damage to forests goes, Svehla notes. In this light the ministry's study is not so optimistic. And not greatly enlightening. It won't be - until the ministry learns to focus on the whole picture and think not only about undoing past damage but preventing future damage from being done as well, Svehla concludes.

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Meanwhile, on this week's Opinion page of the Prague Post Jeremy Druker presents his explanation of why Czechs are "in a foul mood", why, only 8 years after the Revolution they seem to have lost all trust in politicians and why much of the population remains unconvinced that the present system works. The explanation he says is to be found in American journalist James Fallowes controversial book "Breaking the News" which, though it focuses on America, might just as well have been written about the Czech republic.

"Pettiness among the political elite is surely to blame, but so is the media, Druker says. Top party officials spend a good part of their day just making threats and responding to the accusations of their rivals and the press is there to play them up - believing that confrontation sells better than conciliation. This focus on turmoil often obscures the deeper meaning of an action, Druker points out. He claims that this political style has resulted in a failure to lead , especially in the economic sphere, which accounts for why the CR has fallen behind Hungary and Poland economically . And that the amount of alleged and real corruption which appears in the press and on TV screens every day, combined with pointless political bickering , is directly responsible for the growing lack of trust in politicians and the system itself. For years President Havel played the country's ethical foil to the technocratic Klaus - Druker says - but under the circumstances even the President's moral credit cannot outweigh the negative effects of the present style of leadership.

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And finally, the cultural section of this week's Respekt reports on an ongoing battle between the city magistrate and a number of agencies which organize concerts in Prague. The article entitled " How to Successfully Ban Rock Concerts in Prague" slams the Prague magistrate for levelling a special 20% tax on the organizers of concerts with an audience over 3,000 people. Moreover, claim the agencies concerned - the magistrate is not above handing out special privileges - exempting one of the major agencies-Interconcert- from paying the tax.

The whole idea -the author of the article claims is to milk those agencies which bring the likes of The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson to Prague and to add insult to injury the magistrate makes no secret of the fact that the extra funds would not even be channelled back into the cultural sphere. 10.15 and PropagArt, two agencies which specialize in mega concerts claim this is out and out thievery in view of the fact that Western managers are no longer willing to negotiate discounts as they did after the fall of the Iron Curtain and want 85% of the price of every ticket sold. The agencies concerned are threatening to take their concerts out of Prague -but who would agree to perform out of Prague -the author of the article says. And if these concerts remain in Prague their price will be way over anything young people here can afford. For many international stars Prague has become a regular stop on their European tour- but that could change overnight and Prague could once again slump into isolation, the article concludes.