THE CAMPAIGN for the parliamentary elections has unofficially started, we are happy to report. The demagogues have already begun work – not that they ever stopped, but competition to come up with crazy vote-buying schemes has intensified.

It began a few weeks ago, when several Famagusta deputies renewed efforts to turn bird-trapping into a minor offence that could be punished with an on-the-spot fine like illegal parking. Taking offenders to court, making them sit through a trial and pay big fines was impractical and an inconvenience they argued.

CALLING in ‘foreign experts’ when something goes wrong in Cyprus is often viewed as double-speak for putting off much-needed change.

But after the latest bout of football hooliganism in Limassol last week left 11 police officers injured, the police announcement that British experts in football violence are coming over this month will inevitably fuel hopes that police will soon be equipped with vital strategies to control violent crowds.

With the wealth of hard-earned experience learned on the streets around Millwall and West Ham in the 1970s and 80s, when the riots and mayhem gave rise to hooliganism being dubbed ‘the English Disease’, British policemen really can offer expert advice.

A CYPRUS Airways flight bound home from the UK during the early hours of yesterday had to turn back and land at Heathrow after the pilot spotted a problem with one of the plane’s electronic systems.

The problem, which became apparent to the pilot over the English Channel Sea, forced the plane to remain grounded after an airport mechanic conducted preliminary inspections and did not give the aircraft the go ahead for take-off.

The CY-515 flight had taken off from Birmingham at 12.30am UK time and had been bound for Larnaca via Paphos. The plane was given permission to land at Heathrow at 1.40am despite the airport’s night-flight ban between 11pm and 6am.

A DUTCH voluntary animal welfare organisation will this week give shelter to two raccoons currently housed at the zoos of Limassol and Larnaca.

The animals will fly out from Larnaca airport onboard a Cyprus Airways direct flight to Amsterdam on Wednesday where they will be relocated just outside the city with an animal sanctuary called AAP.

According to reports all the necessary travel arrangements have already been made including who will take delivery of the two raccoons as well as their anaesthetisation so that they can be microchipped and transferred in special cages. A representative from Animal Responsibility Cyprus (Kivotos) will travel to Holland with the two animals.

For some families tomb raiding became a business, earning the equivalent of a year’s salary for one night’s digging.

An ancient tomb discovered last week in Protaras has led archaeologists to believe that the site may be part of an ancient cemetery.

The 2,400-year-old tomb was discovered after workers digging a new coastal path uncovered the find only a few feet below the surface and decided to call in state archaeologists.

The Antiquities Department believe the tomb, which lies directly under the surface of the path, dates to either the Roman or Hellenistic period.

“This is a valuable find; the importance is primarily that it is un-looted, unlike most tombs in the area,” Antiquities Department director Maria Hadjicosti told the Sunday Mail.