A large see-saw over Prague Castle depicts Milos Zeman ready to swing to power in the Czech Republic while the figure perched above hangs on tightly for dear life. "Zeman's party is gathering strength for a take-over" but how well prepared are the social democrats in reality to govern and fulfil their many promises? Tyden magazine asks.

Milos Zeman has thundered abuse and promised to do everything in his power to unseat the Klaus Cabinet - but it's in no hurry to do so and Zeman knows why. For despite its muscle flexing the leading opposition party lacks stability as well as a viable shadow cabinet. "There is an all out war going on for ministerial seats and power" an unnamed party member told Tyden. Two camps have emerged within the party which are now engaging in a bitter power struggle. Basically the social democrats have the same internal problems which are now paralysing the governing OAS and the junior ODD - only in opposition ranks these problems are far less visible, Tyden notes.

Now that the Klaus administration's credibility is almost nil the Social Democrats need to get their act together and do so fast. For Zeman's extreme tactics in calling this a government of " thieves and fraudsters" is likely to win over a fair number of extreme communist and republican supporters - and with these extra votes Zeman is well on the way to his coveted victory. For this country's sake his party should be well prepared, for if the leading opposition party fails - then Czechs will have no one left to pin their hopes on, the weekly concludes.

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Premier Klaus has taken a lot of punches lately -and one of the more painful must have come from a former close friend, the Prague Post reports in an article entitled "Jezek chimes in on Klaus-bashing chorus" . In a new book of surprisingly candid interviews Tomas Jezek, the chairman of the Prague Stock exchange and a close friend dating back to the premier's childhood, slammed Vaclav Klaus for ideological hypocrisy and self-aggrandizement.

In the book Jezek says the Premier is not the liberal economist he claims to be, that he is "killing economic reform in the Czech lands" and is not adverse to killing a good project simply because it is not his own. An inside look at Klaus among friends portrays him as self- centred, arrogant and competition crazy. The premier's former friend insists he never intended the book to come out during his lifetime but claims every word in it to be true. "The truth is sometimes cruel" he said of the collection of interviews entitled "Building Capitalism in Bohemia". For his part the premier has not reacted to the insults. A spokesman for the Civic Democratic Party said Klaus had seen the book and that it "had made him laugh". Whichever way the truth lies, the Czech economic reform has ruined very many friendships of those who once met secretly and dreamed of making it come true.

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There may be no love lost between politicians in the hot seat but once their day in the limelight is over things are different . Daggers may be out at current seat of government but the dissident members of the former federal government which led the country into a new era after the fall of communism enjoy bi-annual get togethers remembering the good times and claiming they had been good friends all along. Most are now thriving in private businesses and not averse to nattering about what could be handled better by their successors. Mlady Svet which has mischievously headlined its report " We'd be doing things differently" had two questions for the participants of last week's get-together. Why would 18 -24% Czechs today prefer living under socialism? and Are you thinking of returning to politics? Not everyone was willing to answer the latter question - but all were ready and willing to explain the former. The premier of the federal post-communist government 51 year old Marian Calfa -today a successful lawyer standing at the head of his own agency - had this to say: I understand what is behind these statistics. Politicians today are so embroiled in their own problems that they have completely lost sight of people's welfare and interests. And people are very sensitive to that kind of thing. They are sick and tired of hearing about parties' problems - they want solutions to their own everyday concerns. That's where the nostalgia's coming from. The pre-revolution communist party set-up may not have given a damn but even they paid lip service to the issue on a daily basis. I don't honestly think that those respondents who answered the question as they did really want "the whole package" so to speak. They want to retain that which is positive - but they also want a government more aware of their concerns. I think it is an important warning signal for the current administration" , Calfa told the weekly.

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While most members of the dissident government are now watching political developments from the side benches - one is on his way to join the Klaus Cabinet . Designate foreign minister Jaroslav Sedivy , a former dissident and historian, was a window cleaner for 16 years, before becoming the country's ambassador to France after the Revolution, the Prague Post notes. It also enlightens readers that Jaroslav Sedivy did not serve as the inspiration for the main hero of Kundera's novel "The unbearable lightness of being". While Milan Kundera himself quashed that particular rumour about his long-time friend, he heaped praise on Sedivy's tenure as Czech ambassador to Paris. " I can testify to the way he impressed the French with his brilliant knowledge of modern history and his supreme competence as a diplomat. I can't imagine a better foreign minister and I rejoice with all my heart at his appointment" said the Czech born writer, who has lived in Paris since the 1970's. Although Sedivy himself has joked about feeling a close resemblance to the main character of the mentioned novel, Kundera said Tomas was " a whole generation of my countrymen thrown to the edge of society by the Russian occupation". The choice of the country's new foreign minister has evoked an all round applause . And among those who are delighted by it are the Prague magistrate and the French embassy in Prague which are engaged in a joint effort aimed at promoting closer bilateral ties . An arts and culture exchange -is at the centre of the effort but Mlady Svet, which reports on the joint endeavour, carries a series of photographs showing that French food and wine also had a lot to do with it on the opening night of the Paris-Prague exhibition. It's to be found at Obecny Dum in Prague and will last until November 28th.