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The shooting dead last week of two young gay men in the Slovak capital Bratislava has also rocked the LGBT community in Czechia, with many drawing a link between negative portrayals of sexual minorities and acts of violence. I discussed that issue with Czech marriage equality campaigner Adéla Horáková – but first asked her about the mood among her community.

Anna Fodorova is the daughter of the well-known Prague Jewish author Lenka Reinerová – but is a successful novelist in her own right, as well as a practising psychotherapist and former animator. On a recent trip to the UK, I had the pleasure of interviewing Anna in her home in South London.

Prague is hosting the 10th edition of the annual Signal Festival of light art this week. Well over a dozen venues across the Czech capital have been transformed into light installations that are spread across two routes around the Vltava river and the nearby Vinohrady and Vršovice districts. Among the highlights is a powerful installation focusing on the ongoing war in Ukraine, as well as a unique AI project created by Turkish-American artist Refik Anadol.

The Lauder School of Prague, the only Jewish educational institution in Czechia, is marking 25 years since its foundation this year. The school, which opened its first class in 1997, celebrated the anniversary this Thursday, on the occasion of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

Recently a Czech crowdfunding campaign collected CZK 33 million for a tank for Ukraine named “Tomáš”, making international headlines. This was the brainchild of Gift for Putin ( Dárek pro Putina ), which uses colourful projects to raise cash to help Ukraine repel the Russians. Jan Polák is the group’s spokesperson.

The Czech government has responded to Russia’s intensified bombing of civilian targets in Ukraine by closing its doors to Russian tourists with Schengen visas. The cabinet also approved a plan for Czechia’s participation in the reconstruction effort of the war-torn country.

According to the findings of the Czech School Inspectorate, schools have a problem finding and identifying gifted children. Teachers tend to focus more on pupils with special educational needs as they lack experience and training in identifying and educating gifted children – although gifted and talented children have their own set of special needs, which also require attention.

In the wake of worrying reports regarding the quality of care for patients in Czech mental hospitals there is a push to expand the existing network of mental health centers, which help people to avert the onset of serious problems requiring hospitalization.

The Czech furniture brand TON is synonymous for its manually bent wood furniture, created with the help of a technology that has been in continuous use for more than 160 years. The company, widely considered to be the founders of modern furniture trade, became known worldwide for its iconic bentwood chair No. 14, which remains popular to this day.

Czechia is facing the “worst security threat” in its modern history and “Russia is the Third Reich in colour”. Strong words of warning could be heard on Monday from the various heads of Czech intelligence who gathered at a special conference organised by the head of the Committee on Security of the Chamber of Deputies.