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In the first half of the 20th century, the Czech entrepreneur Jindřich Waldes was known as the “king of snap buttons”, and nearly as famous as the founder of the Baťa shoe dynasty, a major client. In fact, he was fond of saying “If Baťa can’t make something cheaper, then it’s a Waldes product.” The outspoken, gregarious Czech patriot was also a celebrated patron of the arts – especially of painter František Kupka, who helped create the company’s iconic symbol, the Koh-i-noor girl. Waldes and his partner Hynek Puc brought to market machine-pressed snaps on a scale never seen before.

After the Social Democrats’ initial candidate for foreign minister rejected the opportunity to succeed Tomáš Petříček, the party announced a new nominee on Tuesday night: hitherto deputy interior minister Jakub Kulhánek. However, critics question the 37-year-old’s past engagement at a Chinese firm.

After more than a decade spent abroad, mainly in Bristol and Stockholm, Czech researcher Anežka Kuzmičová is now conducting research into children’s reading at the Institute of Czech Language and Theory of Communication at Charles University. One of her team’s aims is to invite children to perceive reading as a holistic experience.

For several years now, the Czech Republic has had one of the highest incidence of tick-borne diseases in Europe, including tick-borne encephalitis. Now, a Czech-American team of scientists has come up with effective antibodies against the potentially fatal disease, which could work both as immediate prevention and a cure.

One of the tight restrictions that remain in place following an easing of Covid measures on Monday, is that no more than two people can gather indoors and out. However under pressure from sports associations, which are eager to get young people back onto sports fields, the government has agreed to allow limited training of up to 12 persons in groups of two, on condition the groups keep a safe distance of 10 metres from each other.

Tomáš Petříček, the man who has been in charge of Czech diplomacy for over two years, will no longer be minister of foreign affairs, both Mr. Petříček and Social Democratic Party leader Jan Hamáček announced on Monday. He will likely be replaced by Culture Minister Lubomír Zaorálek. The announcement comes shortly after Mr. Petříček’s failed bid for the leadership of the Social Democrats.

A state of emergency imposed to combat alarming Covid numbers in the Czech Republic has ended after more than six months, replaced by a law on pandemics. In addition, children have returned to schools and pre-schools, a ban on travel between districts no longer applies and some other restrictions have also been lifted.

Bruce Berglund’s fascinating Castle and Cathedral in Modern Prague, published in Czech in January, focuses on the early years of Czechoslovakia, when President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was forging the new state. This included making Prague Castle the symbolic heart of the new democracy and, Berglund writes, an ambitious plan for a new religion for the country that TGM founded in 1918. I spoke to the historian from his home in Minnesota.

Over the past two years, construction permit applications in the Czech Republic have soared in anticipation of an EU directive setting stricter environmental rules that would increase costs significantly. The family-owned construction firm LIKO-S in Moravia has embraced the measures, by carving out a niche selling “green” façades and roofs.

POZOR TRAMVAJ! is a new app developed by the company Safe Public Transport. Its Bluetooth-based system sends out warning signals about approaching trams to users of mobile devices and could help prevent the frequent accidents involving pedestrians and public transport in cities. The company also believes that the system can be applied to other vehicles such as trains, buses and ambulances.