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The leaders of the newly established Czechoslovakia could and should have done far more to ensure its stability. So says historian Professor Igor Lukeš from Boston University, author of the recently published collection Dějiny a doba postfaktická (History and the Post-Factual Age). Our interview also touches on NATO enlargement, Václav Klaus and Ukraine, Putin – and much more besides.

The way children in the Czech Republic are marked is not always fair according to a newly published study conducted by the think-tank IDEA at the Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. There is a difference by one whole grade in how individual schools mark their students and this in turn can have a negative effect on the ambitions of pupils to advance further in their education, as one of the authors of the study, Daniel Münich, explains.

The biggest name on the opening weekend of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Liev Schreiber, used his appearance to draw attention to the plight of Ukraine. The Hollywood actor said the conflict had made him reflect on his Ukrainian roots – and explained why he believes Russia will lose.

The Czech Republic has taken up the rotating presidency of the EU Council at an exceptionally difficult time, when the war in Ukraine is re-writing the world order and states in close proximity of Russia are scrambling to join Western structures. In an interview for Radio Prague International, Czech Deputy Foreign Minister Martin Dvořák spoke about the need to maintain EU unity in the face of Russian aggression, prepare for a drop in living standards and the importance of keeping the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership states on track for EU admission.

A new exhibition, currently underway at the Moravian Museum in Brno, is mapping the development of Czech comics over the past one hundred years. The show presents original drawings by some of the country’s best-known comics authors, such as Kája Saudek or Jan Fisher, but also works by contemporary authors, including Lucie Lomová, Jaroslav Němeček and ToyBox. I discussed the show with one of its curators, Pavel Kořínek:

One of the big events on the opening weekend of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will be the world premiere of a restored version of Jaromil Jireš’s 1968 movie The Joke, based on the novel of the same name by Milan Kundera. On the eve of the screening, I spoke to Michal Bregant of the Czech National Film Archive, which carried out the restoration.

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering at Prague’s Czech Technical University recently acquired two new assistants – agile dog-like machines with robotic arms that can navigate terrain and capture data – and is using them to create a digital 3D map of Prague’s underground tunnel network.

On the occasion of assuming the presidency of the EU Council, the Czech Republic is organising a special charity run in Brussels this Saturday. The race is inspired by the friendship of the two great track rivals of 1950s long-distance running – Czechoslovakia’s Emil Zátopek and France’s Alain Mimoun.

“The Czech Republic Talks” is the name of a new project seeking to match up people with very different political views – and get them to speak face to face. But how successful has the project, run by the government’s Hate Free Culture agency, been so far? I asked organiser Bohdana Rambousková.

Český horský pes or the Bohemian Mountain Dog is the youngest and probably the least common of the Czech original dog breeds. It was bred in the late 1970s as a mountain dog and is an excellent companion for the outdoors. Despite its imposing look, it has a very friendly nature and is extremely devoted to its owners.