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Musician, composer and producer Sára Vondrášková has been one of most distinctive voices on the Czech music scene for the best part of a decade. Recording and performing as Never Sol, she has to date released two powerful albums of atmospheric, synthesiser-based music and recently returned with the single Leon. In addition Vondrášková, who is 31, works regularly with other artists in fields such as fashion and dance and hosts a show on the radio station Vltava.

Czech scientists from the initiative Sníh or Snow say thousands of people in the Czech Republic died unnecessarily during the Covid-19 pandemic. They also estimate that the country’s inhabitants have lost in total 90,000 years of life. The Czech initiative is part of the global John Snow Memorandum, which calls for a science-based approach to the pandemic.

The hectic run-up to Christmas is now linked to an anniversary that makes Czechs slow down and reflect on the important values in life – the death of playwright, dissident and president Václav Havel nine years ago, on December 18, 2011. Václav Havel was a moral authority for Czechs as he re-moulded the role of president and led the country in the transition from a totalitarian regime to a Western-style democracy. Increasingly people are now looking to the philosophical legacy he left behind.

The Czech government has decided to raise the country’s PES coronavirus emergency level up to four starting Friday. This means that restaurants, cafes and hotels will have to close again and the night curfew from 11pm to 5am will return. However, unlike previously, shops and some services will be allowed to remain open.

As of Wednesday, December 16, members of the public will be able to get an antigen test for Covid-19 for free at one of the 2,000 testing sites around the country. The decision, approved by the government on Monday, is aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus which may be further fuelled by increased socializing over the Christmas holidays. Interest in the offer is overwhelming.

For 30 years now, the Czech Scouts have been distributing the Peace Light of Bethlehem across the Czech Republic. The fire, which was lit in the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ, has been carried across Europe ahead of every Christmas period since the 1980s. This year the handover had to take place on the border with Austria due to the coronavirus epidemic.

Archaeologists working to unearth a 13th century tower at Kost Castle are baffled how a structure of such size has remained so well preserved all these centuries. Another mystery is who built this particular mediaeval fortification in the first place.

The Czech-Slovak-French co-production SH_T HAPPENS, directed by FAMU students Michaela Mihályi and Dávid Štumpf, has qualified for the 2021 Oscar nominations. If it succeeds, it will be the second year running that a Czech animated film receives an Oscar nomination after Daria Kashcheeva’s Daughter made the list in 2020. I asked the producer of SH_T HAPPENS, Peter Badač, how he feels about being considered for the Oscars.

The Czech Republic, like other EU member states, is awaiting approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to begin vaccinating against Covid-19. Minister of Health Jan Blatný says that should come in a matter of weeks, and the first shots could be administered here in late January. But are people willing to get the shots? And is the country ready to handle the logistics?

A wonderful book written in 1938 by the Jewish brothers Martin and Tomáš Wels as a Christmas present for their family has just been released by the Prague-based publisher Triáda. The book is called Sancta Familia and on a space of just a few dozen pages, it paints an incredibly vivid portrait of a middle class Jewish family living in Prague on the brink of the Second World War. It was published in a trilingual edition, which was edited by Czech Radio’s David Vaughan.