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The former president Václav Havel has said he is disturbed at what he called the increasingly coarse nature of Czech politics, something he believes will only widen the gap between people and their politicians. Just as Mr Havel was speaking another rowdy election meeting got underway in Brno, with punches thrown at young protestors trying to disrupt a Social Democrat rally.

A small piece of history was made on Monday morning as the U.S. broadcaster Radio Free Europe formally handed over the keys to their former headquarters to a new tenant: the National Museum. The iconic steel and glass building a few metres from the top of Wenceslas Square has gone through several incarnations over the decades, but the latest will see its doors finally thrown open to the public.

The traditional kingmakers of Czech politics – the Christian Democrats – held a closely observed national congress at the weekend. The main event was the election of a new leader, with former foreign minister Cyril Svoboda replacing the scandal besmirched Jiří Čunek. The change has sparked analysis of what Svoboda can do for the troubled party.

One of the most memorable voices of 20th century Czech pop music has fallen silent. The singer and actor Waldemar Matuška, aged 76, died in his Florida home on Saturday. In a career spanning over four decades, he recorded some 30 albums and starred in more than 20 films.

With the elections to the European Parliament coming up, political parties in the Czech Republic are trying to get their issues to the fore. Out of the sidelines of that effort however another issue has commanded attention over the last month and that is the problem of extremist political organisations and their presence in the media.

It’s a party drifting in the political doldrums, and this weekend it will decide whether to stay with the current captain or toss him overboard. The Christian Democrats are the Czech Republic’s second oldest political party and have served in governments both right and left since 1989. But the party appears to be splintering under controversial chairman Jiří Čunek; this weekend the Christian Democrats will decide whether he should stay or go.

A new English-language magazine has hit Czech news stands. The Prague Monitor is already something of an oddity in that the team behind it have a background in Internet printing and are now moving into print. Most of the industry is moving in the opposite direction.

A team of Czech scientists has come up with startling findings that a certain segment of the population could be as much as six times more likely to have car accidents. The findings follow research into the links between blood groups and a common human parasite that was previously thought to be relatively harmless.

Campaigning in the European elections has taken a dramatic turn, unseen since the fall of communism in 1989. Social Democrat rallies held around the country have been repeatedly disrupted by people pelting the party leadership with eggs. The egg war culminated at a rally in Prague attended by hundreds of protesters.

The Czech band Airfare, headed by Czech-American frontman Tomas Lichtag, first broke onto the Czech music scene some two years ago: now they’re back. The group recently released the follow up to their successful Hotel Moscow, a new album provocatively called Do You like My Shit?