Talking Point | All stories

In the last pre-election edition of Talking Point Pavla Horakova looks at communists in the Czech Republic - that is at the Communist Party itself and all those ex-communists featured on the ballots of other parties. What does the Czech public think of that? - Find out now in Talking Point.

In a recent edition of Central Europe Today, I looked at the German-speaking minority in the Czech Republic, but today I'm going to be turning things the other way round and travelling to Vienna. In the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire Vienna had a huge Czech community, amounting to many tens of thousands and to this day, you don't have to go far to find traces of a long Czech influence, whether it's in the cuisine or in the surnames of the city's inhabitants - Novotnys, Novaks and Prochazkas abound, just as you don't have to go far to find

A recent amendment to the Czech Criminal Law has coined a new legal term - false interpreting - which according to some experts is unique in international law. In this week's edition of Talking Point Pavla Horakova gets both sides of the story.

In this week's Talking Point Jan Velinger covers the First Nation-wide Cat Adoption Exhibition aimed at trying to find homes for almost 60 abandoned cats. Operating under one umbrella group, the recently-formed Association for Animals in Need, a group of shelters from across the country pooled their resources to put together the one-day exhibit, which took place at Prague's Lucerna Palace's Marble Hall (a space normally reserved for ball room dancing lessons!) on Sunday. Several exhibition sponsors were on site to give happy new owners the chance

On May 1st, a Czech couple will hit the road and start a three-year journey around the world - on their bikes. Michal Jon and Lucie Kovarikova plan to cover all seven continents, taking in 33 countries and peddling 70,000 kilometres. In this week's Talking Point Pavla Horakova talks to Michal about the conditions for cycling in the Czech Republic and to a few other people who are trying to improve them.

I'm standing in front of Stefanikova Observatory on Petrin Hill in Prague. On a clear night like this I should be able to see hundreds and hundreds of stars. As it is I can only count several dozen. The reason? Light pollution. Our modern civilisation simply produces too much light which outshines the stars. Experts say that too much light at night can disturb our natural rhythms. Improperly aimed and poorly shielded lamps can be dangerous for drivers and even pilots. Astronomers are badly affected as well as light pollution greatly diminishes the

In last week's Talking Point I examined some of the peculiarities of the rent system in the Czech Republic, a situation that is certainly not ideal. Listeners may recall that the partial continuation of rent control in the Czech Republic's housing market has created a paradoxical rift between tenants in the country. Tenants in search of new leases today are left with little choice but to pay much higher rents on an open market than long-term tenants who continue to enjoy similar, often identical apartments for as little as a third, even a quarter,

With just three months to go before the Czech Republic holds parliamentary elections one of the issues certain to resurface in pre-election debates is the question over regulated rent vs. deregulation. Although most of the parties in parliament are dedicated to pushing some form of further reforms in the housing market, there is still a marked difference in possible solutions that would, once and for all, create a level playing field for all involved, tenants and landlords alike. has a look at the continuing "saga" of rent regulation vs. deregulation

The statistics are alarming: 6 percent of the Czech population have diabetes, that's over six hundred thousand people. On top of that number, there are probably another two percent of diabetics who have never been diagnosed and registered. The number of diabetes patients is increasing all the time and experts estimate that in 2010, there will be over 1 million diabetes patients in the Czech Republic. In this week's Talking Point, Pavla Horakova looks at what is causing this trend and what can be done to make life easier for diabetics in the Czech Republic.

Wherever you live in the world, you probably will have at least heard of the British Council, the French Institute or the Goethe Institute which represent their respective countries abroad. But did you know that the Czech Republic has a similar network of offices around the world? In this week's Talking Point, tells you more about their history and current activities.