The first scholars should fly across the Atlantic this fall. Maybe it's a paradox that the temporary deputy education minister of a temporary government brought this long-discussed thing to life. Petr Matějů shows how a single person can change history.

Frankly, to pay the expenses for the future elite is one of the best ideas to spend state money on. Let's admit that it has more advantages than supporting the film industry, providing foreign investors with all kinds of benefits or giving 1,000 Kč ($47) to parents of first-graders.

But should the studies really be free? The state wants to pay for living expenses, and money from Czech expatriates abroad and grants should cover the tuition fees. Just the residence of 50 gifted students at Columbia, Harvard or Yale would cost about 10 million Kč, and the tuition fees could be five times higher. Common sense dictates the students should carry at least part of their expenses.

How many students will actually return home and spread their knowledge? Not all, that's for sure. When you are a chemist, economist or astronaut, there is nothing you can do for your career but work in the States. Who cares about all the taxpayers who paid for your studies at one of the best universities in the world? The system should be based on the experience of private companies that pay for the education of their employees: We will give you the money for your studies, but, if you hand in your notice, you will have to pay the money back, Němeček writes.

Some people are endowed with the talent for unrepeatable deeds, Pavel Verner writes in Právo Jan.12. Since Alfred Hitchcock, no other director has made a horror film that is a similar celebration of cinematic expression (except, perhaps, for Stanley Kubrick). And one suspects that it will take a long time before any another politician is so willing to stomp on an opportunity he was given by fate.

Mirek Topolánek entered the highest sphere of politics because of schemes inside his own Civic Democratic Party (ODS). With a physical appearance impossible to overlook, the unusual reputation of a jovial Moravian bloke — which makes him a total opposite of unoriginal politicians — a beautiful wife by his side and voters longing for any kind of change, Topolánek could have excelled in spite of elections that ended in a draw.

Topolánek could have forced his loyalty upon Václav Klaus. Strategic-ally, he could have hidden his extramarital relationship until after he had won in the political arena. He could have swallowed his distaste for the Prague section of the ODS and given those members some posts in the Cabinet. When his first attempt to form a government failed, he could have expressed firmly that the ČSSD should have the second attempt. Thus, he could have ensured the third attempt for himself.

He did none of it and "saved" face as a simple country boy. Whether he wins the vote of confidence or not, it will be a defeat. At best, Topolánek will be in charge of a Cabinet unable to push anything important through the Chamber. Worse still, he will be in charge of a party swarming with a dangerously high number of members feeling hurt, Verner writes.