Stop press!

A good seven months after the general election our illustrious elected representatives have, miraculously, taken the momentous step of forming a government. Not a particularly strong government, relying as it does on a mere two opposition MPs breaking with the party whip for the greater good of national stability (or for bribes, as they have been accused of taking), but a government all the same. As could be expected, opposition leader, power-crazed thug and former PM Jiří Paroubek, to whom all notions of sportsmanship or innocent until proven guilty are clearly alien, refused to congratulate PM Mirek Topolánek on gaining the vote of confidence.

The new government has overcome considerable obstacles, succeeding despite the fact that Topolánek’s wife has attempted to sabotage him by holding a press conference stating that she hoped his lame-duck government would fail the test in parliament. She also took the opportunity to claim that the press conference was her only viable means of communicating with him, since he has now moved in with his mistress, who despite the PM’s pressing schedule he has managed to get pregnant. In between all this he has also taken time out to lash out at a stalking journalist, booting the journalist’s car and screaming insults. Get in there lad!

The new government’s days are however clearly numbered, with early elections likely to be held within a year or so, with Topolánek hoping to gain a more secure majority, which would indeed be the case if elections were held now. His standing remains refreshingly unaffected with an electorate which evidently has little problem separating the public and private spheres – something which would be unthinkable in the moralistic USA (yes, it’s back to Yank bashing here in Spleensville). In fact his credit has probably been boosted, after all now he seems all the more human. Makes me think that perhaps this is a relatively civilised country after all.