Talking Point | All stories

Less than a month after the Czech Republic hosted a historic NATO summit - which invited seven former Eastern Bloc nations to join in a landmark expansion, the country took part in another important conference, this time in the Danish capital Copenhagen. The European Union extended invitations to ten mostly ex-communist candidate countries after completing tough negotiations which followed years of preparations on both parts.

I'm standing in front of the magnificent building of the Municipal House in the centre of Prague. It's a Sunday afternoon, it is bitterly cold outside but dozens of people are queuing outside a big tent here in the square. Inside, they can have their lung function tested if they suspect their breathing difficulties might be more than just that - more specifically, if they are worried about asthma.

We all know that Prague is a major international tourist destination, but have you ever wondered where the Czechs go on holiday? While Czech travel agencies advertise tickets and deals for far away places all over the world, the most popular destination for Czechs is a place not so far away. It's somewhere Slavic, and somewhere with a sea. It's Croatia. And every year around a million Czechs holiday there - or one-tenth of the Czech Republic's population.

In this week's Talking Point Jan Velinger looks at the Czech film industry, which has seen the rise of talented new directors over the last few years. Every year an average of fifteen to twenty films get produced, although with a lack of state support, financing is far from easy. Most producers here say the fact that the film industry is successful at all, borders on the miraculous. How do Czech films get made against the odds? Stay tuned and find out: you'll also hear about the Czechs' choice for the Oscars this year - a small but beautiful picture

Depending on where we live in the world, the term "middle class" may have a slightly different meaning but we'd probably agree on that it is something between the top and the bottom of the social ladder. After 40 years of living in a "classless" society, have Czechs succeeded in reviving their middle classes? Sociologist Petr Mateju, who has been studying the topic ever since 1990, looks at the plight of the middle class under communism and its fate later in the years of social and economic transformation.

Memorising. That's what Czech school children are very good at. Czech kids usually also do well in general knowledge tests but if they are asked to present and defend their opinions or prove they really understand a written text, they tend to lag behind their peers from Western Europe. Instead of encouraging creative thinking, the communist-era education system preferred to teach detailed knowledge and rote learning was a necessary academic skill. Jan Tupy is the deputy head of the Education Research Institute in Prague.

"The World Summit on Sustainable Development has concluded successfully", reads a headline on the summit's official website. The Johannesburg summit took place shortly after the devastating floods hit the Czech Republic in mid-August. While the conference received a lot of attention from news organisations around the world, with the Czech media still focused on the aftermath of the floods, the World Summit went largely unnoticed in the Czech Republic, to the great disappointment of the Czech delegation.

In three weeks' time, precisely between November 20 and 22, Prague will become perhaps the closest guarded city in the world. Forty-six heads of state and top officials from around the world will meet in the Czech capital, which is bracing itself for the first NATO summit to be held in a post-communist country. The Prague summit will bring together leading representatives from nineteen NATO member countries and 27 countries participating in the Partnership for Peace programme. The meeting is expected to make a decision on further enlargement of

Until Monday, all bookworms' eyes were on the German city of Frankfurt where the annual Book Fair, the world's largest trade fair for books and multimedia, took place. Newspapers reported that this year was somewhat more modest than previous years, reflecting an economic recession in Germany. Czech publishers and booksellers are facing tough times too, as many publishing houses and shops were flooded and those which were not have to fight for customers who have turned away from books.

When devastating floods hit the Czech Republic in August, many feared that infectious diseases would spread around the affected areas. Diseases not only from contaminated food and drinking water, but also from large areas of floodwater full of decomposing matter, an ideal breeding ground for various germs. High waters also destroyed a large number of waste water treatment facilities across the country and those will remain out of order for weeks or even months.