While the number of Internet users in the Czech Republic continues to rise, the country still remains behind most of Europe in the total number of users, according to a study released by the Czech Statistical Office.

Just over 58 percent of Czechs used the World Wide Web in 2008, with the average in the European Union running at 65.5 percent.

A tight majority of Czechs say the split of Czechoslovakia into the Czech and Slovak republics as from January 1, 1993, was a correct step, according to a CVVM poll.

Thirty-six percent of the polled said the step was “rather correct, and another 16 percent said it was “definitely correct.” Thirty-three percent of the polled said it was a bad step.

Forty-three percent of Czechs said relations with Slovakia have not changed, 30 percent said they have improved and 15 percent said they are worse now, according to the poll.

No interest among teenagers

Forty-eight people told CVVM they were against the emergence of two independent states on the ground of Czechoslovakia. Twenty-six of the polled said they supported it then.

Young people were rather unable to answer the two questions, or said “it does not concern me.”

The assessment of the split of Czechoslovakia was more often evaluated negatively by elderly people. Citizens aged 45-59 said it was “rather bad,” people aged over 60 said it was “definitively bad.”

Over a half of Czechs wish an absolute ban on smoking in restaurants, according to a poll conducted by students of the Medical Faculty of Prague’s Charles University.

The students were also assessing the negative impact of passive smoking, especially on blood vessels, of the restaurant personnel, which was proved in 23 out of 25 cases. They had too high levels of carbon monoxide (CO) in the exhaled breath.

Two-thirds of no-smokers and one-third of smokers would like to ban smoking in restaurants, according to the poll conducted on 830 clients of Prague restaurants and bars.

Negative effects

The medical students’ poll also focused on public awareness of the smoking negative effects.

Most smokers were aware of the fact that smoking can cause lung cancer, erectile dysfunction and heart attack. However, some of them rejected the strict opinion that smoking was the only cause of these health troubles, and said it was one just of the factors, said Eva Janusova, one of the pollsters.

The students of medicine were also measuring the impact of passive smoking on the employees of restaurants where smoking is allowed. They measured the carbon monoxide level in the air they exhaled. Out of 25 employees only two, one smoker and the other no-smoker, had the CO-level within the standard limits.

The negative impact of passive smoking on human health has been clearly proved.

Passive smoking basically provokes the same illnesses as active smoking, but to a lower extent, with the exception of damage to blood vessels. Changes in vessels were detected after a mere one hour stay in a smoky room.

Consequently, it has been clearly proved that passive smoking causes illnesses and premature death.

New residential construction continued to decline in the third quarter of 2009, although at a slower pace, according to data released by the Czech Statistical Office (?SÚ).

In the third quarter, construction of new homes and apartments in the Czech Republic fell by 5.7 percent year on year to 11,234 dwellings, ?SÚ said. Although a decline, the result is an improvement compared to the second quarter year-on-year drop of 21.2 percent.

 Construction starts for new family houses, which represented 5,291 dwellings, registered a decline of nearly a fifth compared to the third quarter in 2008. Separately, 8,720 dwellings were completed in the third quarter, a year-on-year decline of 8.8 percent.

The total value of new construction orders was down by more than a quarter compared to Q3 2008, statisticians said. Banks continue in their careful approach towards lending money for new projects to builders, Václav Matyáš, president of the Czech Association of Building Entrepreneurs (SPS), told the Czech News Agency (?TK). There are no signs that access to loans will improve in the foreseeable future. “The decreases will certainly not stop and will continue,” Matyáš told ?TK.

New apartment construction has been on the decline for more than a year already. Experts had anticipated a drop in demand for new housing regardless of the economic downturn following years of sharp increase. Demand for new housing boomed ahead of the anticipated increase in value-added tax (VAT) rate on construction works as of 2008. Some industry representatives have pointed out that new home prices, which have declined over the past year, will start growing again as the 9 percent VAT rate is expected to increase to 10 percent as of 2010.

The planning and building control authorities granted 9.6 percent less building permits compared to Q3 2008, according to statisticians. Analysts said earlier this month that the construction sector is improving, though primarily driven by large civil engineering orders. Komer?ní banka analysts expect the construction sector to decrease by 5 percent in 2009.

Just a few days after the Czech film Protektor took a prize at a festival in Denver, another ambitious project is just entering the cinemas across the country. The film 3 sezóny v pekle or 3 Seasons in Heli is a debut by Tomáš Mašín. A Czech, Slovak and German co-production has already received praise by Czech reviewers.

Tomáš Mašín is a respected director of commercials and music videos. The screenplay for his feature film, 3 Seasons in Hell, was inspired by the youthful memoirs of Egon Bondy, one of the most important figures of the Czechoslovak literary scene.

Political background

The film takes place in Prague over three years, from 1947 to 1950 and it is about a young guy who likes to rebel and wants to find his own way in his life and love. Of course the politics which happen in the background of the story affect the life of the hero.

While the producer stresses that 3 Seasons in Hell is not a political film, critics say it is exactly the historical background that makes it more than just an ordinary love story. Thanks to his experience with commercials, Mašín recreated an unbelievably truthful picture of Prague of the late 1940s.

The filmmakers are now hoping that their love story based in Communist Czechoslovakia will appeal not only to domestic but also to international audiences.

The Czech Social Democrats (CSSD) would win elections to the Chamber of Deputies, if held in November, with 29.1 percent of the vote, according to an election model the Factum Invenio polling agency presented today.

The Civic Democrats (ODS) would finish second with 26.7 percent, followed by the Communists (KSCM) and TOP 09 with 12.9 and 11.6 percent of the vote, respectively.

The last party to enter parliament would be the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), who would receive 5.5 percent of the vote, Factum Invenio said.

As a result, the CSSD would gain 75 seats in the 200-seat Chamber of Deputies, the ODS 64 seats, the KSCM 30, TOP 09 23 and the KDU-CSL 8 seats.

A total of 63.8 percent of voters would take part in the elections, the poll showed. The turnout would thus be almost the same as in the latest elections in June 2006, 64.5 percent.

Factum Invenio conducted the poll on November 5-11 on 969 people over 18.

The situation of Czech Romanies has not much improved even 20 years since the Velvet Revolution, according to a study the Romany Dzeno organisation has released.

The study points to the support of Romany culture and language as positive phenomena but says that housing and working conditions of Romanies have worsened and in addition, extremism in the country has strengthened.

According to Ivan Vesely, chairman of the Association of Romany Civic Initiatives (AROIE) which was established by Romany groups from central Europe in Melnik, central Bohemia, this August, the state bears the largest responsibility for the situation of Romanies.

Anti-Gypsy sentiment 

The study says that skinhead movements, the appearance of Romany ghettos as well as anti-Romany statements made by government officials reflect expanding anti-Gypsy sentiment. It also pointed out that in the period from January 2008 to June 2009 arsonists attacked Romanies at least three times, there have been several anti-Romany marches and many physical assaults of Romanies.

Before the November 1989 revolution most Romanies lived in state-owned or company flats but after the fall of communism many poor Romanies faced difficulties with housing. That led to the appearance of ghettos where social exclusion of Romanies deepens further.

Support of Romany culture

However, support of Romany culture and language has grown over the past 20 years. A university department of Romany language has been established and the festival of Romany music and dance Khamoro has been held with success for ten years, the study says.

The audiobook is enjoying record popularity around Europe at the moment - sales are thought to be rising by 15% on average each year. The growth of the medium might be slightly slower in the Czech Republic, but both publishers and booksellers there are getting in on the action.

One famous name that you’ll find on an audiobook is that of actress Jaroslava Adamová, she reads from Karel Jaromír Erben’s classic poetry collection Kytice. Kytice is a best-selling book in this country, both in print and in audio.

Increase of interest

Head of one of the country’s biggest bookstores, Jan Kanzelsberger Jr. explains, the Czech Republic still has some way to go: “Definitely there is growth on this market. It isn’t, however, anything major. But, we see that customers are interested in this field, and so it is starting. Publishers are preparing more and more interesting titles, and so people are more and more interested.”

To create more interest, Mr Kanzelsberger’s bookshops hold an event called ‘Dny audioknih’ or ‘Audiobook Days’ each year. Listening stands, the sort you would find most often in a record shop, are set up in-store, and audiobooks are sold at reduced prices.

Švejk and Kytice on the top

The most popular titles in this country include Jaroslav Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk, and Erben’s Kytice, which was mentioned before. Another best-seller is Winnie the Pooh, read in Czech by the TV presenter Marek Eben.

One of the better-known saints of the Catholic church, St. Martin is honored on November 11th in the Czech Republic with the Feast of St. Martin, a meal of duck, dumplings and red cabbage. The feast is accompanied with St. Martin’s wine, a popular wine that arrives at wine stores on that day.

St Martin’s wine is only allowed to age for several weeks and produced each year from the newest harvest of certain grapes.

„Today there exists an established codex for what can be called St. Martin’s wine, and the grape varieties that wine makers are allowed to use are Mueller Thurgau and Malvasia grapes for the whites, and for the reds Modrý Portugal and Saint Laurent grapes,“ told CTK Vladimir Jachym from Cellarius wine store.

The short aging time leads to a light, slightly acidic wine that is perfectly easy to drink. St. Martin’s wine, much like Beaujolais, does not age well, and Jachym recommends consuming it by the following spring.

On the 91st anniversary of the establishment of an independent Czechoslovak state President Vaclav Klaus presented state decorations to 23 individuals. Among them was singer Karel Gott, who received a Medal for Merit, 1st degree.

Some media analysts  have questioned giving an award to Gott’s due to his past closeness with the communist regime.

Viliam Buchert wrote in daily Mla-dá fronta Dnes (MfD) that it is fitting to award Gott for his great achievements as a Czech musician. Buchert says that Gott’s siding with the Bolshevik regime for the sake of his career is something that can never be accepted even if it can be understood but maintains that his status as an exceptional singer is solid backing for the award, and that Gott’s actual history is riddled with paradoxes. “His life story perfectly mirrors the life of people in then-Czechoslovakia, with their series of successes combined with losses and narrow-mindedness,” Buchert wrote.