October is the cruellest month

Trying to get Slovaks to look on the bright side can be tough at the best of times. In October, their tempers shorten with the days.

(Source: Sme)

Slovakia is in a funk.

It’s not just the proliferating scandals, which somehow conspire to be bizarre and banal at the same time.

Or the shambles among the saner opposition parties, whose inability to work together threatens to gift the country to a nightmare ticket of fascists, nationalists, populists and oligarchs.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

Or even those over-the-hill rockers whose idea of a lark is to record a crass music video parodying the murder of a journalist.

It’s also the time of year.

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

From left to right: Culture Ministry Chief of Staff Lukáš Machala, Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová, SNS leader Andrej Danko.

MP Huliak's odd test, whooping cough on the rise, and a Slovak detained in Congo.


New projects will change the skyline of Bratislava.

Among the established names are some newcomers.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
SkryťClose ad