Health Minister TomᚠJulínek wants to create affordable and friendly health care. Even an ordinary citizen understands how different (and better) this idea is to socialist ideas of the past.

Interior Minister Ivan Langer wants to have more police at schools. And he wants to get rid of former secret intelligence agents in the police — a modest requirement, but understandable.

Foreign Affairs Alexandr Vondra is reviving cooperation within Central Europe and is boldly criticizing the European Union.

Finance Minister Vlastimil Tlustý wants cheaper travel in Prague and reduced cigarette prices.

It's all about marketing games, but still better than Stanislav Gross' "I mean it honestly" billboards.

Ministers from the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) are able to offer pragmatic and small improvements — and not only on billboards.

It's understandable why Jiří Paroubek didn't want to leave the prime minster's chair. He predicted the ODS would use its five minutes of fame to show what it can do.

It's all a promotion, but the aim of the ODS is to show that our country needs a change of style and people after eight years. Topolánek's ministers are doing well so far, better than Topolánek himself, Komárek writes.

The way new Culture Minister Martin Štěpánek dismissed National Theater Director Daniel Dvořák shifts artists' hopes that under new management cultural behavior would return to the Culture Ministry to disappointment, Petr Fischer writes in Hospodářské noviny Sept.14.

It is a custom in a cultural environment that a person is told face to face about his dismissal and gets an explanation, especially when we are speaking about a person holding the prominent position of National Theater director. It goes without saying that the minister doesn't have to dismiss every plumber personally, but he could find a few minutes to discuss the issue with a director. Štěpánek claims that the errors at the National Theater revealed months ago by an inspection were serious and that there was no time for any rituals.

What did the inspection find? Incorrect accounting of some construction and advisory contracts. However, the major objection was to the fact that Dvořák was not only paid as director but also charged the National Theater for working as its set designer. This way he made nearly 700,000 Kč [$31,200] in two years. A clear conflict of interests! The catch is: It was a well-known fact from the day he was appointed director that Dvořák would continue working as set designer in cooperation with opera head Jiří Nekvasil.

Dvořák is an experienced set designer of international reputation, and there were no objections against this. So why, all of a sudden, such amazement and irritation?

Štěpánek didn't feel like dealing with the problem. Instead, he rid himself of both the director and the problem. The minister wants to start with a clean slate. Štěpánek's message is that he demands the most from his top managers. Dvořák simply came across stricter rules. Sadly, nobody had the courage to tell him in person. In a word, it was an uncultured dismissal, Fischer writes.