HE MAY HAVE made a monumental mess of the economy, he may have satisfied all the Denktator’s demands at the negotiations, as Junior claims, and he may have alienated our EU partners with his anti-West bigotry, but on one count, our caring, people-friendly president’s record has been impeccable.

When it comes to rusfeti, not only has he maintained the proud tradition cultivated by his predecessors, but he has broken new ground. Comrade Tof has pushed the boundaries so far that he has made the Olympian rusfetologist of the early ‘80s, the late Spy Kyp, look like a clumsy apprentice by comparison.

THE MAJORITY of Cypriots believe discrimination over ethnic origin is widespread on the island, according to a European poll.

The Eurobarometer poll found 70 per cent of Cypriots believe that discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin is widespread, exceeding the European average of 61 per cent.

Although 70 per cent of Cypriot citizens say they know or are friends with people from a different ethnic background, they are less likely than most other Europeans to mix with homosexuals or Roma.

According to the poll, 66 per cent of Cypriots believe discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is also widespread, compared to EU average of 47 per cent.

LOCAL media must take greater care to depict women in a fairer and more accurate way was the message of a workshop for journalists held on Friday by the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS).

Co-presenter Garjan Sterk said that “as far as we can see”, women are presented in the Cypriot media mostly in their role as mothers.

WHEN RAF pilot Ronnie Bencke took his stunning collection of photos of Yialousa in the early 1970s, he was recording far, far more than happy family holidays in a rural idyll.

Little did he know then that his shots of the deaf and dumb village barber cutting Ronnie’s young son’s hair, or those of the many leisurely meals at the Shiambellos hotel, whose owners became such close friends, were all glimpses of a way of life about to be destroyed forever.

For, after spending the best part of three years regularly staying in the village, learning its ways, making friends and taking photos of all that they saw, the Bencke family left Cyprus in 1973, just months before the Turkish invasion left Yialousa in the occupied areas.

THE ISLAND’S English-speaking Greek Orthodox community are set to get their very own church in Lakatamia.

The English-speaking Greek Orthodox community is currently raising money to participate in the building process, said Father Joseph Coleman, a Greek Orthodox priest originally from Texas who currently provides services in English from the old small church of St Nicholas in Pano Lakatamia. The majority of the money for the construction is being donated by a man who lost his son in 1974.

Pre-existing plans for churches are currently being reviewed to choose the most suitable one for the needs of the parish. In total there are approximately 150 members of the English-speaking Greek Orthodox community on the island.

CHILD LUNG charity, the Breathing Life Trust, this week launched an awareness raising competition called Art for Life.

The competition aims to let children express how much they care about other children who are suffering by creating works of art and writing poetry.

The theme of this year’s competition is love and how it can comfort and heal those in need.

“Children’s creativity reminds us of the enormity of love, compassion and friendship which exists between children.

“Art for Life is their voice and their means to help other children who have to face struggles in their lives,” said John Mouskos, chairman of the Breathing Life Trust.

THE THIRD annual European Charlemagne Youth Prize has been launched, offering €10,000 worth of prizes for young role models. The competition targets young people, aged between 16 and 30, who have been involved with projects helping to promote understanding between peoples from different European countries. The deadline for submitting projects is January 22, 2010.

The Youth Prize is jointly organised by the European Parliament and the Foundation of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen. The winning projects should serve as role models for young people living in Europe and offer practical examples of Europeans living together as one community.