Sunday Mail newspaper

INSIGHT

POPULISM’S TEARS

INSIDE

The IMF’s internal views on Cyprus’ bailout

From surplus to crisis through the eyes of the CBC’s former governor

TV and lifestyle supplements to see you through the week

Pages 4-5

Pages 20-21

www.cyprus-mail.com

May 26, 2013

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COFFEESHOP: DODGY DINNERS AND TURKISH FISH... IT’S A GAS PAGE 17 INSIDE Cyprus Dog shelters swamped with dumped pets 6

World ‘Toughest’ US sheriff reined in by judges 9

Lifestyle Footballers tackle intellectual pursuits centre

Property Aussie garden bags best in show at Chelsea 24

Sport All eyes are back on Nadal ahead of Paris Open back

Bank customers must be vigilant BoC admits mistakes have been made after toddler and baby group given deposit haircut

By Peter Stevenson

T

HE BANK of Cyprus (BoC) is urging people to be vigilant when it comes to checking bank statements after it was discovered that due to a systems error, a number of customers, including a babies and toddlers group, had been wrongly subjected to a haircut on their deposits.

According to a BoC spokesman, the bank is aware that mistakes have been made and are attempting to fix them.

“Certain companies were listed wrongly within our system and when the order was given to cut deposits they were unfortunately included,” he said. “We are aware of the problem and we are working to rectify it,” he added.

The spokesman said that if a customer notices their account has been erroneously debited then they should contact their local branch manager who should be able to fix the problem.

“Our customers should feel at ease that mistakes can be rectified, as long as they are actual mistakes,” he concluded.

Currently, 60 per cent of the uninsured part of BoC deposits - the 37.5 per cent already subjected to a haircut, plus another 22.5 per cent - is susceptible to a conversion into equity.

The remaining 40 per cent

of uninsured BoC deposits is for the time being not subject to such conversion but 30 per cent of it remains frozen.

Mother of two, 36-yearold, Angie Eliades who runs St. Paul’s Babies and Toddlers playgroup was shocked when she was informed that the group’s account, which contained a grand total of €960 had been given a haircut.

“I handed over a cheque of €252 at the end of April to pay for rent and was told on Monday that it had bounced,” she said.

Eliades visited her BoC branch to find out why the cheque had bounced even though there should have been sufficient funds in the account.

“The assistant manger, whose English wasn’t great, told me that we were liable to receive a haircut and that there was nothing we could do about it as it was happening across the island,” she said.

Eliades explained that the group charges €4 per every two-hour session so they can cover rent, food and drinks for the children, new toys and a cleaner.

“The group is run by volunteer mums who dedicate their time to keep the playgroup running,” she added.

“The group which has been running for more than 20 years is open to everyone but would have

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Dutch basejumper Ronald Overdijk jumps from the Trianon skyscraper in Frankfurt am Main, Germany yesterday during the Frankfurt Skyscraper festival. The event, which runs from May 25 to 26 includes fireworks, bungee jumping, wall walking, SWAT teams landing by helicopter on the Deutsche Bank building and rappelling down the sides, dinner hanging from a crane, and hot air balloons (EPA)

2 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Home Weather

Nicosia Troodos

31

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LLarnaca

31 3

7 27

TODAY: Generally fine. Temperatures will reach 31C inland and to the south and east, 27C in the west and 22C over higher ground.

OUTLOOK: Remaining sunny and warm over Monday to Wednesday.

YESTERDAY

Nicosia Larnaca Limassol Paphos Paralimni Prodromos

max/min temp 29 - 19 31 - 21 27 - 20 25 - 20 32 - 20 26 - 16

Humidity 43% 28% 58% 67% 25% 23%

SUNSET: 19.41 pm

SUNRISE: 05.45 am

Sunday Mail Established 1945. Number 21,541 NICOSIA 24 Vass. Voulgaroctonou, P.O. B ox 21144, 1502 Nicosia Tel: 22-818585, Fax: 22-676385 email: mail@cyprus-mail.com

UK’s Royal Mail due in Cyprus to discuss delays in the post Often erratic services put down to a number of factors

By Poly Pantelides OFFICIALS from the UK’s postal services, Royal Mail, are due to visit the island at the end of the month to discuss how they can improve services to and from the island in tandem with their Cypriot counterparts.

Pavlos Pavlides, deputy director of postal services, said that outgoing mail from the UK to Cyprus falls under the responsibility of the Royal Mail and its own agreements with airline carriers.

The majority of post reaching Cyprus is airmail and though Pavlides conceded that there was an issue with fewer carriers arriving to Cyprus, he added that most

mail still arrived on direct rather than indirect flights.

He was responding to a question by the Cyprus Mail on a report from a 50-yearold businessman who has not received any letters from the UK in six weeks. Though Pavlides could not comment on the particular case because he had not dealt with it, the Cyprus Mail asked him to comment on a claim by a senior postal worker in Nicosia that mail from the UK and Germany was being routed via Greece, Romania and Bulgaria.

Pavlides said that although the bulk of mail came directly, the Royal Mail also sent mail via Greece and to a much lesser extent via other countries.

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A postal official sorts through the mail The businessman who did not want to be named said that up until two months ago he would regularly receive letters from the UK, including bank statements, circulars and magazines.

He visited a post office this week to enquire about the delays and a person in charge “reluctantly volunteered that there was indeed a problem,” claiming that all mail from the UK and Germany was no longer coming directly, which Pavlides said was not the case.

The businessman was not aware of anyone else the knew experiencing delays.

Pavlides said the postal services do take up the issue of unreasonable delays with other countries’ services, including the Royal Mail, but cannot force any service to change their policy.

Cyprus and UK postal services’ delegates are however meeting to discuss how they

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can improve their services to the public, he said.

The Cyprus Mail has regularly received complaints from people waiting for mail, particularly around Christmas time with the Royal Mail and Cyprus’ services sometimes giving contradictory information that cannot be verified because the bulk of the mail is not tracked.

Some 50 per cent of letter traffic, which tends to be untracked items weighing less than two kilos, hails from the UK followed by Greece from where 10 per cent of letters coming to Cyprus arrive, Pavlides said.

The majority of parcels come from Germany (35 per cent), Greece (10 per cent) and only then the UK that trails behind with 4.0 per cent. On average, 200 postal sacks arrive every day, with traffic going up during the busier times of Christmas and Easter when delays are more likely to occur.

New beach volley courts for Napa THE FIRST two beach volley courts in Ayia Napa Municipality’s are ready for use by the public and are near Landa beach. The works on the two courts have just been completed.

The creation of the court is part of the municipality’s policy for enrichment of the sport and the tourism product, it said.

For their construction, 80 tonnes of sand was used.

Locker rooms and showers are located near the courts.

Plans are underway to build a third beach volley court at Pantachou beach, said the statement.

3 SUNDAY MAIL • May 26, 2013

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BoC must shed 20 per cent of its staff THE new Bank of Cyprus (BoC) must shed at least 20 per cent of its staff to survive, the leader of the bank employee union ETYK said yesterday, also suggesting that certain interests were behind delays in appointing a CEO to the stricken lender.

“To have hopes of survival, the new BoC must go ahead with a substantive reduction in personnel of – at least according to our estimates – 20 per cent initially,” Loizos Hadjicostis told the union conference.

The union chief said other measures would also be necessary as he voiced the workers’ readiness to accept pay cuts.

ETYK had asked for a voluntary retirement plan but the absence of a CEO made it impossible to proceed, Hadjicostis said.

“It appears that the Pope in Rome was elected with greater ease.” Hadjicostis said, adding that the interests there were not so deep or multidimensional.

The lack of leadership is weakening the bank and leading it to catastrophe, he said.

BoC is currently being run by an administrator who is overseeing the enforcement of a Eurogroup decision to resolve Laiki Bank, and transfer certain assets to Cyprus’ biggest lender.

The decision also included taking a chunk of uninsured deposits at BoC and using them to recapitalise the lender as per the Eurogroup decision.

Depositors who lost money will receive equity in return.

After the procedure was completed, the new shareholders will vote to elect a leadership to replace the interim board currently in place.

Efforts to find a new CEO have failed so far.

A prime candidate withdrew his interest this week over the duration of the contract, which could not be longer than September – the period expected to complete the forced cash for equity swap.

Reports however, did suggest that the candidate had been forced to withdraw by Central Bank Governor Panicos Demetriades who allegedly favoured the runner up.

Bank customers must be vigilant ‘We are continuing to run checks on where the money was taken from’

Account holders should carefully check their statements

(continued from front page) been forced to close its doors if the bank’s mistake had not been rectified.

“I decided that I would send my Cypriot husband to the bank to try and clarify the situation or at least receive the details in writing to find out why and how much they had taken as we were under the impression that only accounts over €100,000 were going to be cut,” Eliades said.

“He went down and was told they had discovered the mistake and the money was thankfully going be returned,” she added.

The event served as a lesson to Eliades who told the Mail that she hoped people would be more aware in the future and demand their rights.

“I hope people take note and realise they need to be more aware to put up

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a fight because if I had walked away we could have lost our money,” she concluded.

Eliades’ BoC branch manager confirmed to the Sunday Mail that the babies and toddlers group had wrongly been given a haircut and that the money was due to be returned.

“They were wrongly listed as a pension fund in our system, instead of a charity and that is why they were given a haircut but we are fully aware of the case and the money which was taken will be returned,” he said. He explained that under the current regula-

tions certain provident, insurance, investment and pension funds are not protected under the insured deposits guarantee of €100,000 and under.

“The bank is aware that a problem exists within the system and is working to fix it and return any money which was taken erroneously,” the manager said.

“The public can rest assured that we are continuing to run checks on where money was taken from and if it is discovered that a cut was performed mistakenly on any account then the mistake will be rectified,” he concluded.

5 SUNDAY MAIL • May 26, 2013

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bailout reveals doubts and concerns over the programme a far better option, with much higher chances of success.

It would have not deprived Cypriot businesses from their working capital and mediumincome households from their life-savings.

Alas, this option was, as staff put it, ‘not available’ (i.e. not acceptable for Cyprus’ euroarea partners).”

The board also noted that the Cypriot authorities’ measures to resolve the two banks without using taxpayers’ money came before the EU has even agreed on its own EU-level resolution mechanism, proposed in 2012 and still under consideration.

Directors said it was still unknown how the Cypriot restructuring process will differ from a possible EU resolution mechanism, and voiced concern at Europe’s slow pace of reform in terms of greater fiscal integration and setting up a single supervisory mechanism.

A number of directors voiced concern about the exemptions in the haircut on the two banks, warning of the “legal consequences of giving unequal treatment to uninsured depositors”.

They also raised the discrepancy between using depositors’ money for Laiki and Bank of Cyprus, and, in the future, public money for recapitalising other “solvent but undercapitalised” institutions like the cooperative banks.

They further questioned the solvency of the coopera-

tive sector, given that its nonperforming loans (NPL) averaged 38 per cent of total loans at the end of 2012, with NPLs in some cooperatives reaching as high as 80 per cent.

The Russian board representative questioned why Cyprus’ business model with its over-extended financial sector was deemed “unsustainable and doomed to fail” since other small economies, including in Europe, have comparably

‘Some board members charged IMF staff with an overdose of optimism’ sized banking sectors and still operate.

Cyprus’ downfall was its large exposure to Greece despite the latter being in acute crisis for the last three years, he argued.

“Questions about the effectiveness of Fund surveillance in this case could be raised.

Also, we wonder to what extent the obvious complacency of the Cypriot bankers stemmed from the fact that in

2010-2011 the Fund had been actively supporting an illusion that Greek public debt was sustainable.” Regarding the restructuring of the Russian loan, he said the details outlined are “nothing more than preliminary assumptions at this stage” since the bilateral negotiations have yet to commence.

A majority of directors seriously questioned the IMF’s medium-term growth forecasts for Cyprus, given the extent of the fiscal and financial adjustment and lack of clarity as to what Cyprus’ new business model would be.

Some directors charged IMF staff with an “over-dose of optimism”, given its projected cumulative drop in output of 13 per cent for 2013-14, a return to growth in 2015, and a primary fiscal surplus of 4 per cent of GDP by 2018.

“This huge fiscal effort would be quite difficult to materialise in any country, but even more in Cyprus that needs to find a new business model in the midst of the deepest crisis it has ever had, in an unfavourable international environment and while its eurozone partners are themselves striving for more fiscal adjustment.

“Every programme needs a pinch of optimism but in this one the required dose of goodwill – or suspension of disbelief, if you will –goes way beyond the average,” they said.

Another director said: “Even with consistent programme implementation, Cyprus fac-

es a difficult economic path.

In particular, the drivers of growth on the island will need to shift dramatically.”

A number of board members questioned what Cyprus’ future growth model will be exactly, and which sectors will lead the recovery, given the beating taken by the financial sector and burst property bubble. One director said the potential offshore gas exploitation, which IMF staff did not include in its forecasts, was the only source of growth he could see Cyprus relying on.

Board members agreed with staff that, down the line, the Cypriot government will have to focus on public expenditure rather than revenue, with further cuts in the public sector payroll and social benefits expected.

The British representative said the projected fiscal adjustment was “ambitious” and highlighted the need for structural reforms to underpin the consolidation effort in the medium-term.

“Nonetheless, given the uncertainty surrounding the programme, we note the possibility that headline fiscal targets might prove difficult to achieve for reasons beyond the control of the (Cypriot) authorities,” he added.

The board welcomed the inclusion of a significant 10 per cent buffer in staff’s debt sustainability analysis “to provide financial flexibility in the event the recession is deeper than anticipated”.

The preliminary observations mainly respond to the projections prepared by IMF staff, headed by Cyprus mission chief Delia Velculescu (above)

6 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

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Dog shelters swamped with unwanted pets More dogs than ever are being put to sleep

By Bejay Browne THOUSANDS of healthy dogs are being put to sleep as charities struggle to cope with the increasing numbers of abandoned and stray animals being picked up on the streets, according to a number of animal organisations and volunteers.

They say that many of the island’s animal charities are now desperate as pounds are overflowing and more animals than ever are having to be euthanised.

Niki Proctor, 35, is a British expat living in Oroklini. The businesswoman and animal charity volunteer contacted the Sunday Mail with the aim of highlighting a situation which she says is burgeoning ‘out of control’.

“Hundreds of dogs are being abandoned and then from overflowing pounds they are sent on to be euthanised. It’s tragic,” she said.

Proctor said that more needs to be done by the authorities to educate people as well as starting a spaying and neutering plan.

Proctor is a volunteer with Pets2Adopt, an island wide registered animal welfare charity with a website (and now Facebook page) which advertises animals in desperate need of new homes.

Christiana Mandriotou of the charity said the economic crisis is being used as an excuse by some pet owners. “If you have a family, surely there are leftovers for the dog to eat?” she said, adding that abandoned dogs are put into pounds and are often put to sleep after two weeks if they have not been re-homed.

“The shelters and the pounds are full and overflowing. Everyone knows that the Argos shelter, for example, is on its knees. The donations have dried up, they have 500 dogs and they are full up.

They have no chance,” said Proctor.

The volunteer was referring to the Argos animal sanctuary in Larnaca, which has launched an urgent Facebook appeal to help them save the shelter.

Volunteers from Pets2Adopt regularly go around the pounds and take pictures

of the dogs to try to reunite them with their owners or to find them new homes.

According to Mandriotou, unwanted family pets, hunting dogs and litters of puppies are being left abandoned.

“Last month alone, we found more than 50 puppies abandoned in boxes and refuse bins. We have managed to rehome or reunite more than 150 dogs from the beginning of the year until now,” she said. “It may not seem like a large number in comparison to those being euthanised but at least these dogs have a second chance at life.”

She says another 20,000 dogs are getting poisoned, killed, or abused each year.

She noted that a survey carried out seven years ago by a number of concerned associations found that 60,000 animals are put to sleep annually in Cyprus.

“This number decreased slightly five years ago, but I believe we have now exceeded this horrifying figure.”

But not all of the animal charities agree that numbers are growing or that more dogs are being put to sleep.

Suzanne Ashmoore of Paphos-based Paphiakos and CCP animal welfare says they have yet to notice a marked increase in the numbers of abandoned animals being brought in, nor are they putting more animals to sleep than usual.

“Obviously because of the current situation, people are doing more to support the human charities, but the donations haven’t dried up altogether,” she said. “We are not seeing an increase in numbers as I don’t believe the crisis has hit us yet.”

Ashmoore elaborated on the charity’s euthanasia practice. ”By law we have to keep a dog for 15 days in case a home can be found or an owner changes their mind. After that the animal becomes our ‘property’.

We don’t just put an animal to sleep because they have been with us for that time. Every dog has its own story. We have some dogs which have been with us for 7 to 11 years.”

Mary Anastasi, president of the Voice of the Animals organisation, recently told the House Environment Committee that around 170,000 dogs

Dogs are often kept in a pound for two weeks and if a home is not found for them, they can be put down are abandoned in Cyprus every year.

“Animal shelters cannot cope with this huge burden, which has unfortunately worsened with the economic crisis,” she said.

Anastasti said her organisation recommends a control, protection and public animal health service to be created in order to improve animal welfare.

Mandriotou said this should include fining owners for walking their dogs without leads as these often end up as lost dogs, prosecuting dog abuse and abandonment cases, and fining owners who fail to micro chip and register their dogs. www.pets2adopt.com/ www. argossanctuary.com/www.cyprusanimalwelfare.org

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7 SUNDAY MAIL • May 26, 2013

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9 SUNDAY MAIL • May 19, 2013

World

Swedish rioting spreading COMMUNITY patrols and a beefed-up police presence helped to calm violence around Stockholm overnight yesterday, but 20 to 30 cars were still torched in poor immigrant suburbs and serious incidents were reported outside the capital for the first time.

The rioting in Stockholm abated after a week of masked youths vandalising schools and police stations, setting cars alight and hurling stones at firefighters, police said.

“It was much calmer rocks weren’t being thrown at police or firefighters and that’s a sign that it’s calmer. We haven’t had any riots or anything similar,” said police spokesman Kjell Lindgren.

But serious incidents were reported outside the Stockholm area, for the first time.

In Orebro, a town in central Sweden, some 25 masked youths set fire to three cars and a school and tried to torch a police station, police said. Some 200 km to the southwest in Linkoping, several vehicles were set on fire and youths tried to torch a school and a kindergarten, they said.

The rioting was sparked by the police shooting on May 13 of a 69-year-old man, who media reported was killed when police stormed his apartment because they feared he was threatening his wife with a large knife.

Media said he was a Portuguese immigrant, which police would not confirm.

WORLD TODAY Talks resume

Arizona lawman Arepaio violated the constitutional rights of Latino drivers in his crackdown on illegal immigration a federal judge has found

US judges rule against sheriff in profiling case

By Tim Gaynor and David Schwartz ARIZONA lawman Joe Arpaio violated the constitutional rights of Latino drivers in his crackdown on illegal immigration, a federal judge has found, and ordered him to stop using race as a factor in law enforcement decisions.

The ruling against the Maricopa County sheriff on Friday came in response to a class-action lawsuit brought

by Hispanic drivers that tested whether police can target illegal immigrants without

Ruling comes on the heels of landmark immigration law racially profiling US citizens and legal residents of Hispanic origin.

US District Court Judge Murray Snow ruled that the sheriff’s policies violated the drivers’ constitutional rights and ordered Arpaio’s office to cease using race or ancestry as a grounds to stop, detain or hold occupants of vehicles - some of them in crime sweeps dubbed “satu-

ration patrols”.

“The great weight of the evidence is that all types of saturation patrols at issue in this case incorporated race as a consideration into their operations,” Snow said in a written ruling.

He added that race had factored into which vehicles the deputies decided to stop, and into who they decided to investigate for immigration

violations.

The lawsuit contended that Arpaio, who styles himself “America’s toughest sheriff”, and his officers violated the constitutional rights of both US citizens and legal immigrants alike in their zeal to crack down on people they believe to be in the country illegally.

The ruling came days after a US Senate panel approved a landmark comprehensive immigration legislation that would usher in the biggest changes in immigration policy in a generation if passed

by Congress.

Japan govt. says unaware of ghosts at PM residence - newspaper A DELAY in Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife moving into their official residence, the site of past assasinations, has revived talk of ghosts in the corridors, prompting the government to deny any knowledge of hauntings.

Abe has not moved into the prime minister’s official residence for five months since he took power.

Asked by an opposition lawmaker about the reported hauntings, the government issued a formal statement on Friday saying it was not aware of ghost

sightings, Asahi newspaper and other media reported.

The residence, formerly the prime minister’s office, was built in 1929 and was the site of military rebellions, including in 1932 when then-Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai was assassinated.

Russia bombing A SUICIDE bomber blew herself up in car near a police building in Russia’s Dagestan region yesterday, injuring 11 policemen and passers-by, Russian media reported.

Dagestan, an ethnically mixed, mostly Muslim region between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea, has become the most violent province in the North Caucasus, where insurgents say they are fighting to carve out an Islamic state out of southern Russia.

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Talk of ghosts has long haunted the building, remodelled in the early 2000s. It has served as the official residence for the prime minister and the premier’s family since 2005. Abe has given no explanation for the delay in moving in.

SYRIA’S opposition resumed talks yesterday aimed at creating a coherent front crucial to a proposed international peace conference, struggling under Western and Arab pressure to close their fractious ranks and elect a viable leadership.

Failure of the opposition to unite could weaken the hand of conference co-sponsors Russia and the United States in ending Syria’s civil war, which has killed 80,000 people and threatens to spill across borders and whip up wider sectarian conflict.

The US and Russian foreign ministers are to meet privately in Paris tomorrow to discuss how to coax Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition into peace talks in Geneva.

As opposition leaders deliberated, Syrian government forces reinforced

by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters stepped up a fierce campaign to seize more rebel terrain in the border town of Qusair yesterday, sources on both sides said.

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10 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

World

Murder provokes backlash across UK Mosque attacks and racial abuse follow Woolwich killing

By Rod Minchin, Emma Sword and Dominic Harris THE murder of soldier Lee Rigby has provoked a backlash of anger across the UK, including the attacking of mosques, racial abuse and comments made on social media.

A 22-year-old man was to appear before magistrates in Lincoln yesterday charged with making malicious comments on Facebook.

Benjamin Flatters, from the city, was arrested on Thursday after complaints were made to Lincolnshire Police about comments made on the social networking site which were allegedly of a racist or anti-religious nature, a Lincolnshire Police spokesman said.

A second man was visited by officers and warned about his activity on social media, the spokesman added.

The charge comes after two men were arrested and released on bail for making alleged offensive comments on Twitter about the murder.

Complaints were made to Avon and Somerset Police about remarks that appeared on the social networking web-

site, which were allegedly of a racist or anti-religious nature.

A 23-year-old and a 22-yearold, both from Bristol, were held under the Public Order Act on suspicion of inciting racial or religious hatred.

Detective Inspector Ed Yaxley of Avon and Somerset Police said: “These comments were directed against a section of our community.

Comments such as these are completely unacceptable and only cause more harm to our community in Bristol.

“People should stop and think about what they say on social media before making statements as the consequences could be serious.”

Two men were also to appear at Thames Magistrates Court yesterday charged with religiously aggravated threatening behaviour over an incident in an east London fast food restaurant on Thursday.

Labourer Toni Latcal, 32, and plasterer Eugen-Aurelian Eugen-Beredei, 34, both from London, were arrested following the incident at 9.15pm on Thursday.

Latcal was charged with religiously aggravated threatening behaviour and causing criminal damage, while

Eugen-Beredei was charged with religiously aggravated threatening behaviour.

INCIDENTS SURGE The killing has prompted a huge increase in anti-Muslim incidents, according to the organisation Faith Matters, which works to reduce extremism.

Before the attack about four to eight cases a day were reported to its helpline.

However the group said about 150 incidents had been reported in the last few days, including attacks on mosques.

Fiyaz Mughal, director of Faith Matters, told BBC Radio Five Live: “What’s really concerning is the spread of these incidents. They’re coming in from right across the country.

“Secondly, some of them are quite aggressive, very focused, very aggressive attacks. And thirdly, there also seems to be significant online activity ... suggesting co-ordination of incidents and attacks against institutions or places where Muslims congregate.”

Surrey Police said a 19-yearold man has been charged in

connection with comments placed on a social media website following the murder of the soldier.

Mohammed Mazar, of Balmoral Drive, Woking, has been charged with improper use of public electronic communications network under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.

A police spokesman said Mazar has been freed on police bail to appear at South West Surrey Magistrates’ Court on June 11.

Superintendent Matt Goodridge said: “Surrey Police will not tolerate language used in a public place, including on social media websites, which causes harassment, alarm or distress.”

An unemployed 28-year-old has been charged by police after allegedly posting an offensive message on Facebook.

Sussex Police said Adam Rogers, of Kingsman Street, Woolwich, was arrested in Hastings, East Sussex, yesterday. He will appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court later today accused of sending an “offensive, indecent or menacing message” online.

A police spokesman said: “The entry was allegedly in

Swaleh Ahmed, imam of Woolwich Mosque, makes a statement to the media after the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby connection to an incident in Woolwich on Wednesday.”

Meanwhile, a 23-year-old woman has been charged with allegedly sending a “grossly offensive” message on Facebook, Hampshire Constabulary said.

Michaela Turner, of Lumsden Road, Southsea, was arrested at her home yesterday evening after a post was uploaded at 10.42pm on Wednesday. The post has since been removed.

Turner was charged overnight with an offence contrary to Section 127 of the Commu-

nications Act 2003. She has been bailed to appear at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court on June 7.

A police spokesman said: “Following the terrorist incident in Woolwich this week, Hampshire Constabulary is working closely with local partnership groups to safeguard all members of the community.

“This includes monitoring social networking sites, and we will seek to arrest and prosecute anyone inciting hatred or violence online.”

‘Promiscuous minds’ gather for Britain’s Hay Festival

By Nigel Stephenson SOME of the biggest names in literature, science and politics will pitch up to a small British town this week for a clan gathering of the world’s most “promiscuous minds”.

The 26th Hay Festival of literature, which begins on Thursday in Hay-on-Wye on the English/Welsh border, will play host to writers, scientists, philosophers, economists and readers in the thousands.

Among star names this year at what former US President Bill Clinton dubbed the “Woodstock of the Mind” include bestselling spy novelist John le Carre, Australia’s Schindler’s Ark author Thomas Kenealley, Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt.

Most of the readings, talks and panel debates take place in tents set up in a field outside the town of

1,500 people.

And when the sun sets behind the hills over the festival site, musicians as diverse as British indie band Noah and the Whale and Malian Tuareg “desert-rockers” Terakaft take over.

Festival director Peter Florence has described the festival as a deliberate attempt to spark ideas and unexpected connections in a “promiscuous mind”.

This year should be no different.

Among events Florence highlighted as likely to fire the synapses were sessions featuring the music of Mali and another in which France’s ambassador to Berlin discusses the lessons of western intervention in Mali and Libya.

Florence said he hoped audiences would connect talks from Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize winner and “banker to the poor” Muhammad Yunus, who developed the concept of microfinance, to that of economist Linda Yueh on the growth of

Guests at the Hay Festival this year include authors Barbara Kingsolver, John le Carre (centre) and Thomas Kenealley China.

He also cited sessions with British economist Nicholas Stern, author of a 2006 report on the economics of climate change, and with Google’s Schmidt on the digital future.

Bernstein, who with Bob Woodward helped uncover the Watergate scandal that brought down US President Richard Nixon, takes part in a debate on the future of the free press.

“Most of all I hope people will contribute to the sessions and further the debate.

This crowd is really, really smart, and they are experts in fields we cannot even be-

gin to represent,” Florence told Reuters by email.

Among literary giants on this year’s programme le Carre, the creator of fic-

tional British spy master George Smiley, makes his first visit to the festival. US novelist Barbara Kingsolver, author of The Poisonwood

Bible and The Lacuna, talks about her latest book, Flight Behavior.

The Hay Festival runs until June 2.

11 SUNDAY MAIL • May 26, 2013

News Review

EU support as barbs continue Crossfire FURTHER signs emerged on Monday that Bank of Cyprus (BoC) has been reduced to a hapless hostage caught in crossfire between the government camp and the banking regulator. A legislative proposal spearheaded by DISY envisages increasing the number of board members at the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) from five to seven, two of whom will act as executive directors. The bill is co-sponsored by DISY’s Averof Neophytou, DIKO’s Nicholas Papadopoulos, the Greens’ George Perdikis and the European Party’s Demetris Syllouris.

House ‘coerced’ LAWMAKERS were coerced into backing a rescue package for ailing Laiki Bank last May, European Party MP Demetris Syllouris said on Monday.

“Parliament was forced to vote for the €1.8bn,” Syllouris told a panel that is looking into the circumstances leading to the economy’s near-collapse. In May 2012 parliament overwhelmingly voted in favour of the state underwriting the issue of €1.8bn in new shares for Laiki to help it recapitalise from its exposure to toxic Greek debt. A government bill had been rushed through the House plenum, leaving legislators little time to study it, Syllouris said.

North elections INTERNAL STRIFE within the ruling National Unity Party (UBP) in the breakaway regime on Monday led to the announcement of early ‘parliamentary’ elections in the north. According to reports, seven or eight UBP rebels led by Ahmet Kasif had planned with the Turkish Cypriot opposition to table a motion of censure in ‘parliament’, forcing Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Irsen Kucuk to resign. A provisional government would then have been set up until new elections could be held three months later at the end of September.

All change: workers were kept busy throughout the week taking Laiki signs down from outside branches and replacing them with Bank of Cyprus signs as the two banks merge (Christos Theodorides)

‘One of the biggest mistakes of the previous government was that it would not assume the political cost for taking measures’

Parole board THE MEMBERS of a new parole board were sworn in on Monday, 11 months after the previous board’s tenure expired, leaving dozens of convicts hanging because there was nobody to examine their applications. Chairman and former judge Philippos Charalambous, and members Giorgos Demetriades, Evaggelos Anastasiou, Giorgos Mavrolefteros and Marios Argyrou were sworn in at the Presidential Palace in the presence of President Nicos Anastasiades. Back in November the justice ministry was forced to inform parlia-

ment they could find no replacements for the parole board whose previous members, citing other obligations, passed on another term.

Blame game THE HEAD of parliament’s finance committee told an ongoing inquiry into the country’s near-financial collapse that former President Demetris Christofias was primarily to blame for the country’s botched bailout.

“One of the biggest mistakes of the previous government was that it would not assume the political cost for taking measures,” Nicolas Papadopoulos told the Committee of Inquiry.

Papadopoulos, chair of the House finance committee, accused the previous government of delays in taking austerity measures, Christofias did not allow his finance ministers to take any substantial action to contain spending, making it clear he was not politically willing to condone austerity measures, Papadopoulos said.

Millions lost BANKERS on Tuesday criticised as unfair a deal to sell the Greek operations of

QUOTES OF THE WEEK “We wouldn’t be in this mess today had we promoted ability rather than cronyism. Name one board of semigovernmental organisation, cooperative or government department without a son-in-law, daughter-in-law or father-in-law” European Party leader Demetris Syllouris “Unfortunately my (July uly 2011) statement that (the Christofias government) would uld make a bigger mess than Greece Greece and wreck the banking ng system was vindicated” ed” DIKO MP Nicolas Papadopoulos “I not only accept his invitation, but I demand it so that the Ethics Committee stops operating as a forum of unanswered slander and populist utterances” Ex Laiki boss

Andreas Vgenopoulos “The landlord came to the municipality to complain and also signed a testimonial stating that his property was made into a sex museum without his approval. The tenant locked the doors, drew the curtains and did not reveal what he was doing until he started distributing flyers all over Ayia Napa” Ayia Napa Mayor Yiannis Yi Karousos impression we “I have the impres indicators are replying to ind demanded by internainte tional rules on anti-money ant laundering in a much better way w than some som big countries that cou forced forc us to suffer suf this ordeal” ord President P Nicos N Anastasiades (left)

“A summary of the reports cannot be considered balanced if it omits to mention that they reveal a number of strengths both in the Cypriot AML framework and in the effective implementation of customer due diligence by Cypriot banks” The central bank “We had to take five scarves from my store to stop the bleeding” Shop owner Alexandros Kozas on Ledra Street talking about a stabbing in nearby premises “We are trying our best to combat the problem but there is nothing to stop dogs from crossing the Green Line” Ayios Dhometios mayor Costas Petrou “Detention appeared routine with no alternative measures being considered. Upon their release, those individuals were immediately re-detained on the same grounds as before” Amnesty International on Cyprus

the island’s banks as part of a €10 billion bailout deal Cyprus signed with international lenders.

The operations of all three Cypriot banks – Bank of Cyprus (BoC), Laiki and Hellenic – went to Greece’s Piraeus Bank, which paid around €500 million.

The deal went through despite opposition from the boards of BoC and Laiki, which was 84 per cent state owned.

RE fine OMBUDSWOMAN Eliza Savvidou on Tuesday gave the Education Ministry a deadline to comply with what she regards as discriminatory practices against students.

The case draws on a complaint lodged by a high-school student attending a public school who opted out of religious education (RE) class.

Where the girl was excused from taking the class and from being graded for it, she was required to be present during the lesson.

The girl refused and was penalised by the school.

Clean waters ALL 112 beaches tested in Cyprus for a recent European report have “excellent” water quality, putting the island at the top of the EU for bathing. Ninety-four per cent of bathing sites in the European Union meet minimum standards for water quality, with Cyprus and Luxembourg having the highest quality of bathing sites in the bloc, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA) annual report on bathing water quality in Europe.

Cyprus, along with Luxembourg, scored full marks in the report.

Solidarity PRESIDENT NICOS Anastasiades on Wednesday asked the European Union to provide additional funding to help Cyprus get out of the mess it’s in.

Speaking from Brussels, where he attended the European Council meeting on energy and tax evasion and held bilateral contacts with EU leaders, Anastasiades said he asked the EU to increase economic aid earmarked for Cyprus within the multi-annual financial framework and to take a greater role in the co-financing of Cyprus-based projects.

First yachts LIMASSOL Marina has welcomed the first yachts just months after delivering the 94 luxury Nereids Residences apartments. “The delivery of the south eastern breakwater and the arrival of the first yachts mark a new era for Cyprus,” Limassol Marina public relations officer, Sophia Paraskeva said on Wednesday.

The new marina boasts a capacity of 650 berths.

Troika distortion CYPRUS on Thursday accused the troika of distorting information in a document purportedly summarising the island’s status vis a vis anti-money laundering (AML) measures by “drawing inferences” where none existed in the original reports. The four-page summary, based on audits by the Council of Europe’s money-laundering watchdog Moneyval and by private auditors Deloitte, had been drawn up by international lenders.

The Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) said the summary did not give a synopsis of the main findings “but rather a description of the perceived weaknesses of the system, drawing inferences where none exist in the original reports.”

No millions FORMER President Demetris Christofias on Thursday published his family’s accounts in a bid, as he said, to put paid to malicious rumours that members of his family are ultra-rich and that they transferred millions out of the country.

On December 31, 2012 the property of the couple was worth a total €341,901, compared to €315,704 on December 31, 2007. By the end of 2012, however, they owed €200,000, bringing their net worth down to €141,901.

Barroso help ALL available EU resources will be mobilised as quickly and as effectively as possible in order to help Cyprus, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said on Thursday. Barroso was speaking at a joint press briefing with President Nicos Anastasiades following a meeting they had in Brussels. The discussion, he said, focused on the very important challenges Cyprus faces. He further expressed his gratitude on Cyprus’ strong European commitment.

12 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Opinion

Our politicians need a sense of perspective THE RETURN of the Cyprus problem to the news 10 days ago lifted the gloom of the politicians, broadcasters and newspaper commentators, who, for the previous two months, had to talk and write about the unrelenting barrage of negative developments that hit the country.

In these two months, their powerlessness and the hollowness of their public pronouncements were exposed for all to see. Brave and serious-sounding words meant nothing as the Eurogroup set in motion the demolition of our economy with nobody in Cyprus able to limit it, let alone stop it.

The national problem, in contrast, has always allowed a much more extravagant discourse, marked by defiant rhetoric, big words and uncompromising posturing.

This is why our leaders and opinion formers seized the opportunity to make big issues out of the previous week’s revelations about the existence of the 77-page UN document, recording convergences and

divergences during talks and President Anastasiades’ letter to the UN Secretary General.

They all started playing their favourite role again as brave defenders of our national interests, determined to resist the foreign attempts to impose an unfair deal.

Last Sunday’s newspapers were full of articles about Anglo-American attempts to ‘force a speedy closure of the Cyprus problem,’ as well as calls for the replacement of the UN Special Representative Alexander Downer.

Political parties were also calling for Downer’s immediate replacement, as they had been doing every so often in the previous three or four years.

The consensus was that the Anglo-Americans were working on an ‘express solution,’ now that they felt the collapse of the economy had put the Greek Cypriots in a very weak position, because the US also wanted to tackle the issues of energy in the eastern Mediterranean.

Inevitably, the hydrocarbon

SundayMail deposits in the Cyprus EEZ are now being linked to the Cyprus problem, even though the Anastasiades government has been arguing that the two issues should not be linked, as if this were a realistic possibility. With Turkey regularly issuing threats and warning that it would use force to stop Cyprus extracting natural gas from its EEZ, is there the slightest possibility that the two issues would not be linked?

In fact, the UN is pushing for a resumption of the peace talks because a settlement would create the stability necessary for the exploitation of the area’s hydrocarbons.

NATO chief, Anders Fogh Rasmussen was stating the obvious a few weeks ago when he said that the exploitation of the natural gas would have to wait for a settlement, but all Cypriot politicians dismissed his view as ‘unacceptable’ because it

ignored our sovereign rights.

The possible existence of large quantities of natural gas in our EEZ has, regrettably, made us have ideas out of step with our size.

The nationalist hard-liners are now boasting that Cyprus could become a major player in regional politics. One columnist wrote last week that the east Mediterranean would become a ‘world energy power’.

The Barroso proposal, presented on Wednesday in Brussels, for a gas pipeline from the eastern Mediterranean to Greece and from there to Europe, had commentators talking about the creation of a ‘regional power,’ comprising of Greece, Cyprus and Israel, the implication being that Turkey would not dare mess with it.

Had anyone asked Israel if it wanted to be part of this alliance? As for the idea of an underwater pipeline to Greece, it had been repeatedly dismissed as impractical and too costly by experts, a factor that did not enter the analysis.

Will our Cyprus problem

warriors ever realise that we are a tiny country incapable of playing regional power games?

It would be our biggest mistake yet, if we thought we could use the discovery of hydrocarbons to reject a settlement again, under the illusion that we could become a major energy player, something that will never happen.

If we are ever to benefit financially from the hydrocarbons in our EEZ, we need to recognise that the first requirement is regional stability that could only be achieved through some form of co-operation with all our neighbours.

We need to have a sense of perspective and consider how badly our politicians fared the last time they had to handle a serious matter such as the bailout, which involved dealing with powerful countries. We do not want to be put in a similar position – being faced with an ultimatum we cannot turn down - because we think Cyprus could become a ‘regional energy player’ and not have to worry about a settlement.

Letters to the Editor Crisis-hit Cuba can teach us a lot about the use of alternative therapies THE FINANCIAL crisis has been raging in Cuba since 1989, when the Cold War ended and the former Soviet Union withdrew its support for the communist island.

Since then, Cubans have lived under grim circumstances, but poverty and economic isolation have spurred them to find ways around the lack of modern medicines and chemical pesticides. The result is a resurgence of alternative therapies and organic agriculture. Now that Cuba is cautiously opening its doors, the West may be able to learn from its example.

Cuba’s “challenge” has spurred growth in alterna-

tive medical systems such as homeopathy, acupuncture and phytotherapy (herbalism). Cubans are as familiar with arnica, belladonna and nux vomica as the average European. Traditional herbal medicine is even more popular in Cuba than in the West. And Cuba has recently developed new alternative medicines, such as a homeopathic vaccine for Weil’s disease and Vidatox, an herbal remedy for cancer made from the venom of an endemic scorpion.

If Cyprus follows suit, it’ll be a positive outcome to the Crisis.

Penny Douglas Parekklisia Limassol

Spread of ugly graffiti is sending the wrong message AS A visitor to Cyprus I noticed with interest two letters of complaint from tourists in last week’s Sunday Mail.

What has distressed me most has been the vast quantity of ugly graffiti to be seen everywhere. Surely this sign of disrespect and disaffection is a fundamental attack on your society. If you do not bring up your young people to love and respect their country how can you expect outsiders to care about what happens to Cyprus? Your president claims that once again Cyprus will be a proud nation with dignity. I suggest he starts with a grass roots, nationwide anti-graffiti campaign. Graffiti puts off both tourists and businessmen alike, and can only further impoverish your country.

Lucy Jenkins, Pissouri, Limassol

Surely I can’t be blamed for this highway car accident I AM a registered student in my final year of a Business Administration degree and a citizen of Pakistan.

Last week I was driving some friends and their baby from Larnaca to Nicosia on the main highway. The conditions were dreadful as there was a thunderstorm in progress and visibility very poor which caused me to drive with extreme caution. On approaching Dali region I was confronted with a stationery vehicle, unlit and abandoned, in the centre lane. I engaged emergency braking but was unable to avoid a collision.

My car was written off but my passengers were safe although extremely shocked.

I noticed a police car parked some little distance ahead of my vehicle and the police were talking to a young Cypriot woman who I discovered was the owner of the abandoned car. It seems that her electronics had

failed in the rain and she had called the police for help, but why they had not put hazard signs around the car I cannot imagine.

The woman, who was very distressed, was escorted from the scene by the police after we had exchanged details.

I was told to attend the local station on the following Monday. We made our own way back to Nicosia and the following day I informed my insurance company that stated they would await the police report. My appointment with the police was postponed four times.

Last Monday I was summoned to Nissou police station where I was interrogated by a woman officer who told me I was responsible for the accident and would be prosecuted. I explained that I was under the impression that one must not leave a vehicle unattended on a motorway no matter

what the cause. Had I driven into her at a set of traffic lights I would have no excuse but on a motorway in the given conditions it seemed wrong.

The discussion became slightly heated because I felt I was being blamed for something beyond my control, and I mentioned that the police at the scene should have taken precautions because we could have been badly injured. As I made this point a huge policeman entered the room and started shouting at me that I was responsible for the accident.

I felt very intimidated and stopped talking.

It seems that I will receive no compensation for my loss as I only have third party insurance and I run the risk of being prosecuted for careless driving if I don’t admit responsibility.

It doesn’t seem right.

Name and address supplied

Call for Scottish Freemasons Badly positioned harbour worked, but there must be more lights have caused many ABOUT seven months ago, I wrote a letter requesting that Scottish Freemasons who didn’t attend Masonry in Cyprus but were particularly interested in a Scottish Lodge in Cyprus contact me. A number of Scottish Brethren did contact me and the result was that after detailed discussions, the creation of Lodge St Andrew 13 took place on February 13, 2013. The Lodge, totally approved by both the Grand Lodge of Scotland and the Grand Lodge of Cyprus (with whom we are a member) is operational. Needless to say, we have an excellent relationship with the Grand lodge of Cyprus.

Because Scottish Freemasons are throughout the Republic of Cyprus, our Lodge is based in Limassol (being the central area), the location being to meet the requirements of both Brethren and potential Candidates who may have to travel to the meetings.

Because I believe there may be a number of Scottish Brethren who are not yet aware of the fact there is now a Scottish working Lodge in Cyprus, should they wish to meet up for membership they are requested to contact me on mobile 97 613998 or email alexstrange@primehome.com.

Alex Strange

accidents in Paphos

I AM writing to express my concern about the state of the pavements and walkways in Paphos. I have just returned from a week’s holiday in Paphos where I fell on the second day (May 2). I got my foot caught in one of the sunken lights at Paphos harbour front and ended up breaking a finger, dislocating another and badly bruising myself. I ended up with my hand and arm in plaster and will remain so for six weeks. However I met several locals who said they were not surprised at my accident because of the state and the position of the lights. Other visitors at my hotel also fell there and in other spots as well. This was in broad daylight and sober!

Helen Hare, UK

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13 SUNDAY MAIL • May 26, 2013

Opinion

Doing more with less Comment

The imperative of public sector reform

Theodore Panayotou

E-government is just one measure that would increase public sector efficiency

C

YPRUS HAS inherited a colonial civil service which at the time, more than half a century ago, was quite efficient and effective for the limited demands then placed on it. Over time this changed with economic growth, technological advancement, globalisation and changes to the role of the state.

New demands have been created and old ones reduced or altered, all demanding a leaner, more focused and efficient civil service. New management and technology have provided the means of doing so, yet the Cyprus civil service, through political meddling and distortions has accumulated a lot of flab to the point of becoming a lumbering giant in a small economy.

Even as a good part of the public sector responsibilities have shifted to local government, civil society, the private sector and to Brussels, the Cyprus public sector continued to expand in numbers and cost to the point of becoming unaffordable and a cause célèbre of the current collapse of the Cyprus economy.

Within the public service, meritocracy and performance incentives have gradually been ironed out by union pressures and non-merit based appointments and promotions while technological progress and new management pass it by.

In the post-memorandum era, with the severe budget cuts, the reduction of personnel and the virtual freeze on new hiring, the civil service and the public sector as a whole are called upon to do more with less, a lot less.

How can the public sector in Cyprus respond to the growing demand from both citizens and businesses for more and better services with less money and fewer civil servants? This is needed not just during the times of crisis because of the recession and the tight budgets, or because it is stipulated by the memorandum or the troika. It is an absolute necessity because of the competition from the lower-cost, more agile emerging economies in a global market with instantaneous communication, free movement of capital, technology and even labour.

The answer is to be found, as always, in institutional and technological innovation and change. On the institutional side, the right incentives must be created for raising

public sector productivity, efficiency and speed. These incentives can be provided through results-based performance and result-based management, i.e. by linking salary increases, promotion and bonuses with objectives and performance. This, in turn, requires that public sector productivity is measured at the organisational level and performance is assessed at the individual level.

The role of top executives and senior public managers here is pivotal in terms of both assessment and motivation. They are to set the strategic vision and the strategic priorities as well as the measures of performance and cost effectiveness which are critical for value creation and delivery of value for money to stakeholders, both citizens and businesses. There is no shortcut or alternative to “managing by objectives, managing by results”.

Flexibility and interchangeability of public servants are critical for cost effectiveness in a world of uncertainty and constant change. Both of these qualities require acquisition of transferable skills, including change management and a can do attitude.

Involving the stakeholders, be they citizens or businesses, is key to value creation since only they know what they want and how much they value it.

Employment of information technology to a degree that we have effectively an e-Government, not just in name, across the board is a sine qua non for increasing speed, lowering cost, and delivering more and better public services with fewer civil servants, less bureaucracy and tighter budgets. Knowledge management and integrated operation systems can have dramatic effects on raising cost effectiveness and improving problem-solving and decision making thereby adding value while cutting costs. Where an integrated e-Government and knowledge management have been implemented, savings of the order of 30-50 per cent have been attained on top of those attained by linking rewards to productivity and managing by objectives.

Achieving more with less is imperative in a world of pervasive uncertainty, resource scarcity and constant change. It is also quite feasible; but, are the top executives and senior public managers up to the task of managing this change?

Potentially yes; pragmatically no, with certain exceptions. Continuous executive development is key to preparing top executives and managers not only to implement changes but more importantly to train, mentor and motivate, if not

also inspire, lower-level managers and employees to adopt a mindset of service and value creation, to embrace change and risk-taking and to respond rapidly and flexibly.

Beyond structured training, top executives can learn from each other, through interaction and knowledge management, and from their colleagues in other EU countries, through exchange of experiences and best practices.

Lifelong learning should be part and parcel of public executives’ life and for that matter of all civil servants if they are to deliver value for money in a world where change is the only constant.

Many countries in Northern Europe saw the shifting sands of the global economy and have acted to defend their competitiveness by ensuring that, their public sector, regardless of its size, remains productive and responsive.

Some countries in Southern Europe, notably, Cyprus, Greece, and Portugal, have ignored the winds of global competition and failed to change, allowing a slow moving, high-cost and low-productivity public sector to eat into their competitiveness to an extent that they needed a bailout from European institutions and the International Monetary Fund. For them doing

more with less is no longer an option; it is an absolute necessity. Doing less with less would sink them deeper into recession.

On a positive note, the current economic crisis has brought to the surface a festering problem and created the pressures for governments to find the political will to bring about changes that were unthinkable only a couple of years ago. It is hoped that the changes underway are not viewed as temporary responses to the crisis but as permanent and systemic transformations that will put Cyprus on a more solid ground to compete globally. The announcement by the government of public service reform measures are in the right direction. It is hoped that the joint World Bank/British Government study on Cyprus public sector modernisation will help transport the public service to the 21st century.

Top public sector executives have a crucial role to play in this regard, for it is they who will ensure that fewer resources, human and financial, do not mean doing less but doing more with less. Their tools are public sector innovations, such as e-Government, productivity measurement, and management by objectives and results, as well as training and development of themselves and their people.

Management and public administration schools should come to the assistance of top executives in meeting these challenges. Responding to this need my own school, the Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM), a non profit postgraduate institution which has been grappling with these issues for the past 20 years, has turned its executive leadership programme and its Master in Public Sector Management into “doing more with less” training and development platform for public sector managers. CIIM also participates, with PwC in the “Strategic, Leadership and Management Programme for the Cyprus Public Service”, a five-year project of the Cyprus Academy of Public Administration, cosponsored by the EU Social Fund.

Dr Theodore Panayotou is professor and director of the Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM). He served as professor of economics and the environment at Harvard University and consultant to the UN and to governments in the US, China, Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Cyprus. He has published and was recognised for his contribution to the Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007

Planned defence purchases a worrying sign of DIKO clout Comment Loucas Charalambous I HAVE a feeling that President Anastasiades is attempting the unachievable - proving a worse leader than Christofias. This fear grows by the day. Every day something happens to remind us that Cyprus, regardless of who is in the presidential palace, remains a political lunatic asylum.

A week ago, Defence Minister Fotis Fotiou gave a demonstration of what I am talking about.

In a newspaper interview he said the government was exploring the purchase of two open sea patrol boats “so we would be able, as much as we could, to safeguard

our sovereign rights in the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus”.

According to information the government was considering the purchase of two frigates. I do not think Anastasiades and his warmonger minister are unaware of the strength of the country from which they would protect our hydrocarbon deposits.

Currently, the Turkish navy has 48,600 men, 16 frigates, seven corvettes, 14 submarines, 27 ships with missile launchers and 75 planes. Turkey’s air force consists of 60,000 men, 700 fighter planes and 77 helicopters. In view of all this, is anyone in this country justified in ignoring the possibility that if Turkey decided to prevent the extraction of natural gas by force, she would need no more than 25 minutes to sink our frigates? The

flying time for a F16 from Konya to Block 12 is about 17 minutes.

What are we going to do with the frigates? Are the debts we have not enough? Are we now going to borrow more money in order to buy targets for Turkish pilots to aim at?

In my view, one of two things could be happening. One possibility is that the cool breeze of May that is blowing through the cypress and pine trees of the presidential palace has gone straight to the head of our new president and made him forget the Anastasiades of 2004.

Back then he was the prudent and courageous politician who had the guts to take on all halfmad demagogues and vested business interests of the island, who joined forces in the axis of evil

that imposed (in a democratic way) partition. He has now joined their camp - the camp of political madness - playing with them the fiery patriotic games that will at some point burn all of us.

The other possibility is that his government allies DIKO, the party of ‘kickbacks’, has decided to return to its old ways. And as Anastasiades does not seem prepared to stand in DIKO’s way over anything, I can only assume the party decided to indulge in a little cash generation. I cannot think of any other reasons to justify this insane decision.

Interestingly, some time ago, a former member of DIKO was telling me that until 2005 the party still had money in its bank account from the commissions paid for the purchase of Airbus planes

by Cyprus Airways in the 1980s.

According to press information, the cost of purchasing the two patrol boats was estimated to be €120 million. I do not know where this figure was found, as, from what I know, the cheapest frigates (the Italian-made Masitrale) cost €120m each. In any case, the commission on even €120m - I estimate it to be 15 per cent - would be €18m and it will be very interesting to know how it would be distributed.

It would appear that Anastasiades’ alliance with DIKO’s gang of political opportunists could prove his political grave.

There is also another question raised. Was the troika asked about this purchase as its loan would be financing the planned party? Will they be able to fool the troika into giving its approval?

14 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Opinion

A depressing Cyprob chat over lunch Nobody on either side really cares what’s happening on the other side Comment Hermes Solomon

A

T A RECENT luncheon of Turkish and Greek Cypriot couples I heard Mr M, retired professor and now novelist and TV personality in the north say, “What a disappointment Mr A has turned out to be....so soon and so tragically. The man has no idea of leadership. Does anyone know his game plan concerning future Cyprob talks? I certainly don’t...”

Nobody responded so he continued, “On the other hand, I think Turkey will let Mr A show to Greek Cypriot rank and file that his leadership is no different to that of Christofias - no vision, no plan. Ankara does not need to rush into decisions over Cyprus. Mr A will, in time, put the final nail in the coffin of the Cyprob.”

GG, also a writer and prolific commentator in the south then piped up, “You have hit the nail on the head Mr M rather than hammering it into his coffin. If you are faced by a weak player, hold your cards close to your chest and wait for him to dig his own grave.”

“But what cards is he holding?” asked Mr M. “None!” said GG. “The Cyprob will be solved by those who created it. It will be as you, Mr M, have often said - de facto loose federation and two separate EU states; it’s just a matter of time. I visit your side regularly and can see for myself that the gap between us is widening not narrowing. Just wish I spoke Turk-

ish so that I could get a real feel of exactly how the north thinks. Have you heard Mr A’s English? Laughable. He’s always pictured in Brussels with the stupid grin on his face, suggesting the island’s problems are a joke.”

Mr M then said rhetorically, “Is solving the Cyprob a lost cause then - a farce? Mr A has made it abundantly clear that he has every intention of following the same sterile path of the past. I’m sure that none of his actions so far have been lost on the north or Turkey.”

GG, true to form of most Cypriot apologists, changed tack with, “Azerbaijan now supplies at least one third of Israel’s oil and has purchased 1.2 billion euros of Israeli arms.

Azerbaijan’s foreign minister was in Israel around the same time as Anastasiades. Word in Baku is that Israel will export their gas using BP/Israel facilities in Ceyhan, Turkey. A decision on the South Stream/Nabucco pipeline is expected in June.”

PARTITION “Did not Christofias visit Azerbaijan during his catastrophic reign?” said Mr M. “Was Cyprus’ gas the reason? Will it stay in the ground until permanent partition is implemented?”

“Partition is only to be expected,” retorted GG. “No passenger shipping - no free movement of capital, no future investment of consequence in the island other than casinos - we are being starved into submission. Some 350 miles to the west lies Crete, populated by a proud people; Cretans first and Greeks second, a complete reversal of what exists here on both sides.”

“You mean Enosis and Taksim,” said Mr M. “Yes,” said GG. “Did we expect any less of an outcry from our political parties in response to Downer’s ‘Convergences 2008-2012’? It seems to me that each ‘side’ has reasons for

President Nicos Anastasiades in Brussels complete with his ‘what-else-can-I-do’ grin not discussing the national issue. First it was the EU council of ministers presidency in the south, then the republic’s presidential elections followed by sorting out our self-inflicted financial crisis, which has put back talks between the two sides until October; and now the news of political turmoil in the north. Excuses, excuses, excuses - pathetic! There are too many politicians intoxicated by the sound of applause and none capable or brave enough to take important decisions. God help us!”

“Political dysfunction is not limited to the south,” interjected Mr M. “My take on the latest news of early elections in the north is: about time our political intrigues were sorted!

We’ve had enough of the feuds between the Eroglu family, ruled by Mrs Meral Eroglu, and ‘prime minister’, Ersin Kucuk’s family. It’s as if we were still living during the times of the Ottoman Agha system, when the Aghas and Orthodox Church were constantly embroiled in tax revolts and conspiracies.

“I am not unhappy to see the Eroglu dynasty come to an end. It has been unbelievably corrupt and self-serving. There will be elections in the north on June 28 and the right wing UPB (National Unity Party led by Dervish Eroglu) is already split down the middle.

In the end Ankara, or more precisely, Recep Tayyip Erdogan will win the day. The Turkish Cypriots lost control of the north a long

time ago - not that they ever really had it!

What with hydrocarbons, Ankara has its own agenda. Cypriots, both north and south have increasingly one thing in common: incompetence in governance. Weak leadership has become an established feature of both sides.

EU totalitarian rule will determine the future here, not the south and north.”

IRON FISTS I can only conclude from the above dialectic that nobody on either side really knows or cares what’s happening on the other side, or for that matter in Brussels. And until both sides do, they are condemned to rot. We must join forces and listen to each other or remain divided and impoverished.

Mr A has willingly succumbed to EU iron fists in velvet gloves. He had no choice but to, after his predecessor’s five year mishandling of the economy and the Cyprob talks. Is his permanent cynical grin a ‘what else can I do’ grin - self-flagellation and enjoying it?

At least, under EU totalitarian rule, we will sleep safely in our beds with our remaining euros in the mattress or a foreign bank. As for the Cyprob and gas wealth prognostications - who really believes our politicians and technocrats anymore? Confidence in our leaders is at its lowest ebb ever.

How mourning became a mental illness Comment Christopher Lane HOW long does it take to mourn the death of a loved one? The question is peculiar, even mildly offensive.

Recovery from bereavement is a personal process that varies significantly among individuals. While it could take months to surface, grief - in its many forms and at various levels of intensity remains a natural response to loss.

But the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), produced by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), deems invalid the long-accepted understanding of bereavement as a highly individual and unpredictable experience. The updated manual advises psychiatrists and general practitioners that two weeks is an appropriate interval for grief. After that, depression supposedly can be diagnosed.

In other words, doctors can - and should - be able to distinguish grief, a normal response to loss, from depression, a mental disorder, after just 14 days, when most people

would still be coping with the initial practicalities of a loved one’s death.

The implication that mourning should be fast and efficient is both disturbing and unnecessary.

Moreover, with significant potential for misdiagnosis, defining “acceptable” grief could have serious unintended consequences. Allen Frances, who led the previous DSM Task Force and has 40 years of experience in the field, said that he could not distinguish normal grief from mild depression at two weeks - and “challenge[d] anyone else to do so.”

Of particular concern is the response of primary-care physicians, who prescribe 80 per cent of all antidepressants, but often treat many patients per hour. The DSM’s latest revision will increase the number of prescriptions by including, among the diagnosed, those experiencing the kind of transient depression that can also typify grief.

Because the DSM’s influence extends far beyond the United States, the introduction of this change has caused an international uproar.

For example, the British medical journal The Lancet called the proposal “dangerously simplistic” and “flawed”, and warned of the flood of misdiagnoses that would ensue.

Compounding the problem, the DSM’s authority is not limited to health-care institutions. American schools, courts, and jails consult it daily, in order to determine whether psychiatric treatment is necessary and reimbursable.

Earlier editions of the manual were careful not to include grief in diagnoses of depression, because the two conditions - both of which may include insomnia, loss of appetite, listlessness, and intense mood swings - are easy to confuse. And, as New York University Professor Jerome Wakefield points out, “similar normal feelings of sadness” can also follow other losses, including “marital dissolution, romantic betrayal, job loss, financial trouble, natural disaster, and a terrible medical diagnosis”.

Wakefield also vigorously refutes the APA’s claims that the change was based on scientific evidence. Indeed, after conducting a detailed review of published studies, he and Columbia University Professor Michael First concluded that “DSM-5 should be narrowing the category of clinical depression, not broadening it”.

Despite such fervent opposition, however, the APA approved the change, deleting the so-called Be-

reavement Exclusion and adding a footnote giving the attending physician the option to diagnose depression after two weeks. Apparently, the APA considers the chances of misdiagnosis to be negligible. According to David Kupfer, chair of the DSM-5 task force, an accurate diagnosis simply requires “good solid clinical judgement”.

But this is not the first case of damaging diagnostic overreach by the APA. In DSM-IV, released in 1994, the threshold for Social Anxiety Disorder was lowered so dramatically that the organisation had to warn practitioners not to confuse it with normal shyness.

Nonetheless, SAD, previously considered rare, came to seem routine.

Even “anticipated” fear that one might “do something or act in a way that will be humiliating or embarrassing” became a basis for diagnosis. The edition carrying the warning added new symptoms of SAD in children, including such common childhood behaviours as “clinging”, “freezing”, and “shrinking”, which inevitably raised the disorder’s prevalence to unprecedented levels.

Neither the APA nor its defenders seem to have learned from this expe-

rience. Even after conceding that 14 days is “sometimes too little time to permit confident diagnosis” of major depressive disorder, former Psychiatric Times editor Ronald Pies insisted that “this is true regardless of the ‘context’ in which the depressive symptoms occur”.

Decisions like these - carrying monumental implications and difficult to reverse - recently led the US National Institute of Mental Health, which gave its support (and considerable funding) to earlier editions, to announce that it is distancing itself from the manual.

Today, consensus is clearly missing (whether it ever truly existed is dubious). As the once-imminent promise of identifying “biomarkers” for depression recedes into the distant future, the APA is raising the stakes - and increasing pressure on the already vulnerable - by implying that, after two weeks, a person’s grief is no longer just grief. Now, mourning can be a mental illness.

Christopher Lane teaches at Northwestern University and is the author of Shyness: How Normal Behaviour Became a Sickness © Project Syndicate, 2013

16 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

World in pictures

A Palestinian refugee woman looks out from her family home in a poverty-stricken quarter of the town of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza (EPA)

National Guard troops walk through a destroyed neighborhood in Moore, Oklahoma after the town was hit by a tornado on Monday killing at least 24 people including seven children in one school (EPA)

People have fun during the concert by Australian band Tame Impala at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona

Models welcome US actress Sharon Stone (centre) on stage during the charity auction at the Cinema Against AIDS amfAR gala 2013 held at the Hotel du Cap, Eden Roc in Cap d’Antibes, France during the 66th annual Cannes Film Festival (EPA)

As dawn breaks, storm clouds roll over a destroyed neighborhood the day after a tornado hit in Moore, Oklahoma, USA. A powerful tornado tore through parts of the state, killing 24 people (EPA)

Cambodian Buddhist monks march during Visaka Bochea celebration to commemorate Buddha’s birth (EPA)

Soldiers place a small American flag in front of each grave during the ‘Flags-In’ ceremony to honour the nation’s fallen

Children enjoy the inflatable, colourfull labyrinth on the first day of the Twente Biennale in Enschede, the Netherlands

German Chancellor Angela Merkel takes part in a reception for first German-Dutch Cabinet Meeting at the Kurhaus Museum in Kleve, Germany (EPA)

17 SUNDAY MAIL • May 26, 2013

Coffeeshop

Dodgy dinners and Turkish fish... it’s all a bit of a gas WE MAY be a small and inconsequential country but this has never stopped us thinking big. Not even our newly-found poverty has affected our delusions of grandeur and ambitions to become a regional mover and shaker, a flyweight that fights in the heavyweight division.

Our ambitions were given a big boost last Wednesday when the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso presented his proposal for a sub-sea, gas pipeline, which he described as the southern corridor, running from the Levantine Basin, in which the island at the crossroads of three continents is based, to Greece and from there to the rest of Europe.

He even spoke about Kyproulla becoming an energy hub and presented a map with a thick grey line showing the path of the proposed pipeline, triggering multiple orgasms in the political/journalistic fraternity. These were more intense than those caused by the return of the Cyprob to our lives a week earlier.

“Cyprus is now on the energy map,” declared the government spokesman triumphantly, the following day, while an ecstatic House president Yiannakis Omirou declared on Friday that thanks to Kyproulla, all the EU’s gas needs would be covered. We would enable the EU to be self-sufficient, he proudly concluded.

WE ARE on our way to becoming a “world energy power”, as a Phil correspondent christened Kyproulla last week. Bash-patriotic guests on the Lazarus patriotic radio show, on Thursday morning, were in buoyant mood, but more restrained, talking about the Levantine basin energy alliance of Greece, Cyprus and Israel as a “regional power”.

The corridor would be a “powerful strategic tool”, concluded the geo-strategic brains behind our latest plans to become a regional mover and shaker, Yiannos Charalambides who was convinced that the alliance would put the Turks in the corner.

The only guest who tried to instil some rationality into the debate, by insisting that first we should establish what quantities of natural gas there were under our seabed before using it as a “strategic tool”, was given short shrift by the presenter, presumably because his negativity was ruining the upbeat mood of the show.

Another factor, that could have destroyed the mood and the guests’ geo-strategic plans for regional domination, was that nobody asked Israel whether it wanted to participate in the Levantine basin Alliance.

WE WERE also rather disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm shown

by Yiorkos Lillikas, a man who also subscribes to the theory that Kyproulla should be a major power.

Yiorkos issued an announcement saying that the pipeline to Greece did not serve our geo-strategic and national interests.

of Famagusta to the Greek Cypriots as a confidence-building measure.

Would Nik and his missus storm out because this would be a violation of the social character of the dinner, or would he diplomatically change the subject, asking Eroglu how many grandkids he has?

Meanwhile the UN chef has been in continuous consultations with Al’s political advisors over the menu for the social dinner. The UN does not want to serve any food that could be seen as politicising the dinner, so political vegetables like potatoes, broccoli, carrots, kolokasi and kouloumbra are off the menu.

Only a liquefaction plant would allow us to exploit the Asian markets, said geo-strategic George, who must not want to help the horrible Europeans become selfsufficient, after they destroyed our economy. He also feared that if we cornered the European market, Gazprom would lose out and we would no longer be able to rely on Russia to change words or phrases in UN Security Council resolutions about the Cyprob.

This is another strong reason for targeting the Asian markets. We must be able to think about these things when we become a world energy power, at least until we become a permanent member of the UN Security Council and no longer need Moscow’s help.

THE CYPROB comeback, celebrated in all last Sunday’s papers, faded as the week progressed in spite of its salesmen’s efforts to keep it on the news market. Passionate calls for Big Bad Al’s immediate replacement, repeated for the last four years, have become too routine and boring to capture people’s imagination.

There were valiant attempts to make something out of the UN chief’s eagerly-awaited reaction to President Nik’s indignant letter, bad-mouthing Al, but New York refused to play ball, avoiding a public response. As Ban Ki-Moon was away, the director of his office, Susana Malcorra, on Thursday gave “appropriate assurances” to our UN perm rep that the May 30 dinner would be a “social event” as Nik had agreed and expected.

When a statement was eventually released about the dinner by the UN on Friday, our government was unhappy with it and insisted that the wording had to be changed; a compromise was reached in the early hours of yesterday, but as much as we love our problem, we will not bore you with any more information.

TO ENSURE no politics is slipped into the dinner by the devious Downer, it was reported that no translators would be attending the bi-communal feast. This would guarantee that the dinner conversation would not get too lively as Eroglu’s English is as good as Nik’s Turkish.

The big question is what if Eroglu, in his broken English tells Nik that he would like to discuss the return

THE EUROCOCK minister of agriculture Yiannis Kouyialis may have been in charge for only three months, but in that short time he has drastically improved the ministry’s effectiveness in dealing with the clandestine importation of Turkish fish.

In the first four months of this year 32 cases have been brought against individuals selling fish of Turkish nationality. In four months, we are just one case short of equalling last year’s total. This is a direct result of Kouyialis’ orders for stricter checks. The minister is now planning for inspectors to work on a shift system (as long as Hadjiklamouris permits it) so there could be even more checks.

By the end of the year, our bashpatriotic minister will ensure the threat from Turkish fish is completely eliminated and thieving fish restaurants would resume charging prices for fresh fish that 95 per cent of the population can’t afford. We can always rely on a Eurocock to defend our national interests.

THE ALLEGEDLY well-run co-op banks, which were model credit institutions, according to our politicians and the Governor of the Central Bank Professor Panicos, will cost us about €1 billion to recapitalise.

I can still remember how last summer, when the Professor was performing the role of the AKEL Central Committee’s puppet, he was publicly praising the healthy fundamentals of the co-op banks and assuring us that they were very well-regulated, compared to the banks. For the commies and Panicos, banks were synonymous with bad and co-ops with good.

At the time, the Governor supported the Akelite dogma, which was violently opposed to bringing the co-ops under the supervisory authority of the Central Bank because it might limit the loans-asrusfeti policies of the commies who controlled most of the co-ops.

Now the Co-op Central Bank, which performed its supervisory duties so well, is looking for €1 billion to cover the co-ops’ capital needs. It has decided to cover the shortfall by a share issue that is guaranteed to flop. ‘A’ and ‘B’ shares would be put on sale. ‘A’ shares would be offered to co-op members with no money and ‘B’ shares to members of the public

There’s plenty of fish in the sea, some of them even have nationalities with no brains.

When the share issue flops, the state would buy all the B shares with the troika money that was set aside for the co-ops, despite Panicos’ assurances about their financial health.

FORMER commerce minister, Antonis Michaelides, has been offered the poisoned chalice of the chairmanship of Cyprus Airways by the government, but is playing hard to get. Press reports suggest that he would be meeting the ministerial committee dealing with the airline and subsequently president Nik, before he gives an answer.

Michaelides, who has experience of running a big company in serious financial trouble – unsuccessfully - does not seem very confident of rescuing the national carrier, which is why he has set one condition for accepting the government’s offer – the guarantee of financial support to the airline by the state.

If the government planned on offering financial support it could have appointed any Party loser chairman and would not have been seeking the business expertise of Michaelides.

EVERYTHING to do with the once mighty B of C seems to degenerate into farce. Efforts to hire a new CEO to steady the bank stalled, after the successful candidate, a Cypriot bank executive working in Greece – Michalis Kolakides – failed to agree terms.

Kolakides had been negotiating the details of what he thought would be a two-year contract, only to be informed on Thursday that the bank could only offer a fourmonth contract. The B of C did not want to commit to a longer contract because by the end of September, the new shareholders

(the Russian businessmen whose deposits were bailed in) of the bank would choose a new board of directors (the Cypriot lawyers representing the new Russian shareholders) which would choose a new CEO. If the members of the interim board of the B of C believed that any banker, worth his salt, would give up a well-paid job, for a fourmonth contract at a struggling bank with an uncertain future, they are not just unfit to be directors, they are unsuitable to run a periptero. One of them could run Cyprus Airways, if the state offered financial support.

BASH-PATRIOTIC Professor at the Nicosia University, Andreas Theophanous, on Tuesday, presented a study in which he argued that Kyproulla had no choice but to leave the euro, because otherwise “we are heading for collapse”.

Theophanous proposed that we leave the euro temporarily, after securing the approval of our EU partners, whom it would be easy to convince that they stood to gain from such a move. We would return to the eurozone after we and the eurozone solved our structural problems, opined the populist professor.

The details of his proposal were especially interesting. Bank deposits would remain in euros, while loans would be converted to Cyprus pounds. Businesses would have the option to pay in euros – even salaries – and an incomes policy would be introduced.

I have to admit this is the most brilliant idea Theophanous has come up with, during his impressive academic career. A nomination for the Nobel Prize for Economics, I believe, is nothing more than such original thinking deserves.

18 SUNDAY MAIL

Lifestyle These days a good first touch is by no means a footballer’s only skill, as Premier League players tackle intellectual pursuits in a bid to improve their off-pitch reputations. From Nietzsche to portraiture, children’s books to charity work, Premiership success is as much about upping your IQ as it is winning the league, says Alex Clark

ON TH

Juan Mata takes in the sights of London

‘H

AS anyone been to the Chuck Close exhibition at the White Cube gallery?’ a recent tweet enquired of the British capital’s art lovers. It was

Books by Frank Lampard and Paul McVeigh

posted by former England goalkeeper David James, who enjoys taking up a brush and easel himself. Among those who might have responded are fellow player and gallery lover Joey Barton, currently stationed in Marseille in the art-rich South of France, and Wolves defender Jody Craddock, who has displayed a prodigious talent as a realist painter and plans to be a professional artist once his playing days are over.

James, who has just signed as player-coach for an Icelandic football team, is 42 and presumably won’t be keeping goal for that much longer, but he is unlikely to be bored once he hangs up his boots. There’s art, of course, but there’s also his work for the David James Foundation, which he set up in 2005 to help communities in Malawi improve the reliability of their food supplies.

And he’s by no means alone in this kind of charitable and educational initiative.

His one-time England teammate Gary Neville, now a television pundit and part of the national coaching team, last year co-founded Sustainability in Sport, which aims to turn football green.

Neville has also been trying to build his own eco-friendly home in Bolton (though the ‘Tellytubby mansion’ has been shelved due to planning issues), and he made sure that his testimonial match at Old Trafford was wind-powered.

What’s going on with footballers? Former Inter Milan and World Cup legend Ronaldo told a Brazilian newspaper last year: “Eighteen

Real life: Jody Craddock with some of his paintings

years have passed and I’ve hardly studied at all; I feel a great need to become a student again,” before revealing that he would be going to London to learn the ropes at the global advertising firm WPP, run by Sir Martin Sorrell, which has invested in 9ine, the former footballer’s sports marketing agency in São Paulo, set up in 2011.

“I’ve learned a lot in life, travelling, living abroad, just

in the school of life. But I also have to immerse myself in something,” explained the wannabe Don Draper.

Then there’s Chelsea’s Frank Lampard, who is writing a series of children’s books called Frankie’s Magic Football, the first of which, Frankie vs The Pirate Pillagers, will be published next month. If he needs any tips unlikely given that he reportedly has an IQ over 150 and

got an A* in his GCSE Latin - he can always ask Arsenal’s Theo Walcott, who has also written a series of footballflavoured books for children.

Their titles - TJ and the HatTrick, TJ and the Cup Run, TJ and the Winning Goal - have a reassuringly wholesome ring to them, with a dollop of the heroics of Roy of the Rovers thrown in.

In other words, we’re extremely unlikely to see

Many foreign im immerse themselve such as Chelsea’s Juan Mata, who tak London landmarks in his sp ‘Frankie Gets a New Maserati’, or ‘TJ Goes to Mahiki and Punches a Photographer’.

Lampard and Walcott are two of the Premier League’s cleanest-cut superstars, but they also exemplify the way in which we’re beginning to see another side to today’s footballers - for so long considered preening young bucks with more money than sense and a frightening propensity to hit the tabloid headlines for all the wrong reasons.

But as Luis Suarez’s recent arm-biting incident goes to show, this new footballing intelligentsia still has some way to go to improve the image of players as hoodlums.

Joey Barton, the reformed wild boy of the British game, whose prison term in 2008 convinced him to embark on a journey of self-improvement, which includes becoming a Twitter philosopher and online pundit on everything from politics to the relevancy of the Royals, recently called defender Thiago Silva (David Beckham’s

19 • May 26, 2013 Glen Johnson

HE BALL Mind gamers: history’s smartest footballers ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE The creator of Sherlock Holmes also played in goal

Arthur Conan Doyle

SÓCRATES One of the Brazilian greats of the 1970s and 1980s, was also a qualified doctor. Well, with a name like that…

ROMELU LUKAKU The West Brom striker speaks fluent English, Dutch,

Romelu Lukaku

ports are keen to es in British culture, Spanish playmaker kes photographs of and visits galleries pare time team-mate at Paris SaintGermain) an “overweight ladyboy”. But then his hero Nietzsche was no angel either.

So what’s changed? Partly, of course, it’s explained by the broadening of football culture. Every Premier League team - and many in the lower leagues, too - is now a swirl of nationalities, languages and ethnicities; gone are the days when football was a monoculture, with teams made up of lads from the same class, the same background and, often, the same area. This shift has been happening for years, but its effects are now really beginning to show. Many foreign imports are keen to immerse themselves in British culture, such as Chelsea’s Spanish playmaker Juan Mata, who takes photographs of London landmarks and visits galleries in his spare time. Then there are the second-generation footballers – Lampard is one example - who have grown up in comparatively affluent circumstances and with

a knowledge of the life of a professional that means they are better equipped to handle its pressures and more likely to cultivate interests beyond the game.

Footballers have also had to adapt to a game that has changed beyond all recognition over the past couple of decades. Paul McVeigh is a former Northern Ireland international who played for Tottenham Hotspur and Norwich City before his retirement in 2010. Now he concentrates his energy on running ThinkPRO, a sports

development programme he formulated with the sports psychologist Gavin Drake.

In July, McVeigh will publish a book entitled The Stupid Footballer is Dead: Insights into the Mindset of a Professional Footballer.

McVeigh believes that you can have bags of natural talent, spend your time perfecting your skills and keeping yourself at peak fitness, but if you don’t have psychological strength and mental resilience, it all pales into insignificance. He believes that as players and coaches begin

Playing with economics: Joey Barton catches up with some reading

to recognise this, it will feed into their lives off the pitch.

“As a footballer, it’s not really a job, it’s a lifestyle, you can’t just take a day off.” He believes that a player’s image of himself, his sense of self-worth, plays a huge part in how well he does and how far he can go up the ladder.

“What we’re actually working on,” he explains, “and what the book is about, is that all your beliefs and the way you think about your life will dictate what you actually end up doing in football.”

Some of the Premier League’s managers are also known for their cerebral approach to the game. Not for nothing is Arsenal’s Arsène Wenger referred to as ‘The Professor’. He uses a holistic blend of sports science, philosophy and psychology to run his team. And André Villas-Boas, the ex-Chelsea manager who is now the gaffer at Spurs, is no former player. Like his mentor José Mourinho (who had a brief and undistinguished career as a player), AVB immersed himself in gaining the necessary qualifications and mastering the latest techniques and developments in sports science.

It’s 18 years now since Eric Cantona made his gnomic remark: “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.”

It probably wouldn’t seem quite so strange these days.

For despite the fact that the football industry is now one of the most heavily mediated and managed, many players have found a way to give their minders the slip.

ALBERT CAMUS Like Conan Doyle, the philosopher and author of L’Étranger was a goalkeeper

Albert Camus French, Spanish and Congolese GLEN JOHNSON The Liverpool and England defender is doing a maths degree at The Open University ROY HODGSON The fiction-loving England boss likes nothing better than to relax with a John Updike novel

Socrates

All those long trips to away games, the nights spent in hotels, the dull afternoons to while away after training... they can all be enlivened by a quick dip into Twitter: “I’m a firm believer that we are in a stage of devolution rather than evolution. People are getting thicker, day by day! #lookaroundyou” tweetificated Monsieur Barton earlier this year. And when he’s really stuck for entertainment, the face of the footballentsia also writes an oc-

Roy Hodgson

casional column for The Big Issue, in which he tackles big topics such as government...

“The sleaze running out of Westminster now on a daily basis is there for all to see, and is disgusting and pungent. So much so it burns your eyes every time you watch the news on the TV or read a propaganda pamphlet [newspaper]. It’s Orwellian and it can no longer be ignored.” With opinions like that he’ll be on Newsnight next.

20 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Business

Populism always Trichet’s warnings went unheard

HEN Cyprus joined the euro the economy was in a good condition. Successive governments had worked hard to create a growth model that could employ our highly educated workforce in offering financial services. Cyprus had developed into a regional financial centre.

Fiscal finances were in good order. The country had a solid banking system. Funding was stable and deposits exceeded loans. Despite a real estate overheating, similar to the UK, Ireland and Spain, risks were contained by tight loanto-value ratios.

Cyprus had already in place liquidity regulations and macro-prudential measures whose significance has only recently been recognised by the international central banking community.

Cyprus and its banking system enjoyed international respect.

Five years later, the economy is in shambles. For two whole years, Cyprus has had a government with no access to markets. Euro deposits in Cyprus are unequal to euro deposits elsewhere. How could this happen?

Could anyone have seen this coming? A look at the credit default swaps for the five euro area member states that have requested support so far offers an explanation. This figure confirms that Cyprus has been in a crisis. But this figure obscures a crucial element that made Cyprus unique.

This uniqueness is shown by the date when the eurogroup received a request for help by the Cyprus government in relation to its exclusion from the markets. Greece, for example, sought assistance on April 23, 2010 and its Memorandum of Understanding was finalised on May 2, 2010. In all cases, except Cyprus, when a government ran into difficulties, with the CDS spreads reaching or exceeding about 600 basis points, it asked for help.

And in each case within three weeks or so, a programme (MoU) was agreed, and the government started its implementation.

The Cypriot government ran into problems in May 2011, two years ago. But unlike everyone else, the Cypriot government refused to follow the rules. More than a full year passed before the Cypriot government was forced to ask for help, on the same day in fact that Spain asked for assistance.

But Cyprus was also unique in that the government refused to finalise an MoU. In contrast, Spain completed its agreement on July 20, 2012, three weeks after it had asked for help.

The inaction by the government had severe economic consequences, with unemployment reaching historic highs.

This was the first time in the history of the republic that

Government delays in signing a Memorandom of Understanding generation and the total collapse of the island’s banking sector

W

People queuing to get money out of the bank after they reopened following the bailout agreement

unemployment had reached double-digit levels during peace time. Worse still, by February 2013 one out of every three young adults was unemployed. The government had set in motion all the ingredients needed for creating a lost generation.

What happened? What made Cyprus so unique? In February 2008, just two months after Cyprus joined the euro area, there were presidential elections and the public voted in the leader of the communist party.

The public did not foresee the catastrophe this could bring. At that time, the economy was doing so well that voters focused on the political problem of the island.

The government started overspending as soon as it took power. In an environment of stagnating growth it created doubts about the sustainability of its fiscal affairs.

When financial markets raised red flags, the government had a choice: fix the problem, regain credibility, restore sustainability; or make the problem worse.

Faced with this choice, the government assaulted the banking sector that was already weakened by the global crisis. By the time the five-year term of this government had ended, it had also succeeded in destroying the economic model of the country.

The spending spree started the imbalance. Growth averaged around 4 per cent before the crisis. Starting in 2007, there was a 4 per cent growth path, but over the next five years the graph line showing growth of real GDP remained about flat.

By contrast, real government expenditures accelerated af-

ter 2007. This only stopped when the government ran out of money and could no longer keep up. Couldn’t someone explain to the government why this was a problem?

There were many attempts.

Concerns were raised as early as 2009.

However, the government refused to either acknowledge or correct the evident imbalances. The argument was used that debt to GDP was below the average of the euro as plenty of area so there was pending and room for more spending bigger deficits. ified during Concerns intensifi her deterio2010 with the further ances in the ration of fiscal finances overeign cricontext of the sovereign ea that year. sis in the euro area The large size of the banking nnectedness system and its connectedness to Greece implied greater vulnerability to fiscal missteps.

A letter from the Central overnment, Bank to the government, 10, warned dated 18 May 2010, “... that unless there is a tion with change in direction meaningful fiscal consolidation, primarily on the e, the expenditure side, consequences forr the Cypriot economy will be catastrophic”. d of Before the end emthe year, on Decemhe ber 15, 2010, the alpresidential palve ace would receive g, another warning, e this time from the European Centrall Bank. The letter,, e co-signed by the ithen ECB Presiude dent Jean-Claude Trichet and the governor of al Bank was the Cyprus Central emphatic.

Among other things, it warned, that in light of the

large size of the Cypriot banking system, the country could experience negative feedback loops between the financial sector and public debt that could be disastrous for the country. The letter stressed that the challenges faced by the Cypriot economy required prompt corrective action.

Unfortunately for the Cypriot public, the government dismissed all these warnings.

Not heeding the ECB warnings was particularly costly.

Through its actions, the ECB had demonstrated its willingness to provide support and diffuse stress situations. It had been purchasing Greek, Irish and Portuguese bonds.

A few months later, it started purchasing Italian and Spanish debt.

Cyprus had a government that chose to dismiss all warnings. Unsurprisingly, the ECB made no purchases of Cypriot bonds.

The failure of the government to correct its widening fiscal problems p and the deteriorati rioration in Greece attracted attent attention to Cyprus in 2011.

The sovereign was down-

ing risks. And the government chose to add to these pressures.

By May, the situation had deteriorated but the ministry of finance denied it. There was a reason for the denials.

The ministry of finance was trying to avoid disclosing the deterioration of the country’s finances prior to the parliamentary elections in late May 2011.

For many months, the ministry had been postponing needed long-term bond issuance.

The maturity of the debt was significantly and dangerously shifted from long-term financing to short-term financing to

Ju two months after Cyprus Just joined the euro area, there were joi ppresidential elections and the public voted in the leader of the communist party. The public did not foresee the catastrophe this could bring Would he never listen?

Communist president Demetris Christofias

graded. But instead of t taking consolidation m measures the governm ment imposed a levy o banks to raise more on re revenue and continue sp spending.

T This was the opening salv in what was to folsalvo T global banking crisis low. The al was already pressuring banks.

Banks were raising additional capita to defend against riscapital

facilitate the election plan.

It was later disclosed that the ministry of finance had even asked a rating agency to postpone downgrading the sovereign until after the election.

The government’s plan was successful. The communist party gained one seat on the 22 May 2011 parliamentary elections. However, the country was to pay a huge cost.

21 SUNDAY MAIL • May 26, 2013

Business

ends in tears

The blast at Mari put further strain on the economy

created all the ingredients needed to cause a lost says former CB governor Athanasios Orphanides The economy hasn’t looked this bad since 1974

The government had lost control of its financing.

Anyone with access to market data could see the tsunami coming. The central bank had been providing information to stakeholders. Markets had treated Cyprus similarly to Italy and Spain until the end of 2010. The government’s refusal to take action with the budget for 2011 put Cyprus in a worse condition. Portugal was the only country giving cover to Cyprus.

By the beginning of 2011, it was clear that if Portugal was forced to seek help, Cyprus could be next. The loss of market access was immediately

Despite real estate overheating, risks were contained by tight loanto-value ratios

evident. By mid-June, yields were as high as the levels for Greece, Ireland and Portugal when they were contacting the EU and IMF to ask for financial assistance.

A chart showing these high yields was attached to yet another warning letter sent by the central bank to the president on June 17.

The summer of 2011 presented an explosive mix for

Cyprus. The government had lost access to markets in May. There was a very unfortunate Iran-Syrian arms related incident in early July. And the euro area crisis intensified.

The Mari explosion on July 11, 2011 was very damaging.

The event paralysed the government and resulted in political instability. The explosion also had a tremendous economic cost. Over half of the island’s electricity supply was lost. The island had to endure rolling power outages. The economy was thrown into a death spiral.

In yet another warning, the central bank noted that following the explosion, and in light of having already lost market access, the economy was in a critical condition comparable to that in 1974.

Action was imperative to avoid the worst.

Once again, action was not forthcoming. Instead advisers, including academics based abroad were drafted in to criticise those calling for action and argue that what was needed was more spending.

The country was falling apart. But what about its banking system? Certainly, the banking system of any country driven to the ground by its government sooner or later faces severe difficulties and a crisis. But what was the state of the Cypriot banking system in July 2011?

The answer can be obtained by looking at the results of a European Banking Authority stress test that by coincidence was published that month, on July 15.

The two largest Cypriot banks participated and both passed. The system was under pressure, but banks had been raising capital to de-

fend against risks and could weather even possible haircuts to Greek debt that were then under discussion.

On July 21, the EU Council decided to implement a private sector involvement (PSI) on Greek debt. The decision, following negotiations with bank groups, called for a voluntary haircut of up to 21 per cent. The two large Cypriot banks, with major operations in Greece, held a lot of Greek debt, as all banks operating in Greece were expected to. This was a painful loss to shareholders. However, the banks had accumulated more than enough capital and they weathered this decision with existing buffers.

Unfortunately, on October 26, the EU Council decided to abandon the 21 July 2011 agreement. The governments backtracked on their decision and forced a bigger haircut that eventually translated into about 80 per cent in market value.

At the same time, they demanded a new recapitalisation exercise with elevated coretier 1 capital requirements (nine per cent) without an agreement on how capital would be provided. This was a huge blow to the banking system in Europe. ECB President Mario Draghi later characterised this sequence of decisions as a “Lehman’’ event for Europe.

The October 26, 2011 decision cost about 25 per cent of Cypriot GDP to Cypriot banks.

Remarkably, the government agreed to this decision while the exposure of Cypriot banks and associated cost to them were public information.

The two banks had extra capital to cover about 15 per cent of GDP. The largest bank

could complete covering all additional required capital once it had completed the sale of some insurance assets.

But the second largest bank needed temporary support of about 10 per cent of GDP to reach the 9 core-tier one threshold. However, as the sovereign had lost market access it faced a difficulty.

With the economy tanking and no access to markets the sovereign faced default. Once again, the government avoided seeking assistance from EU/IMF. Instead, the government sought a bilateral loan from the Russian Federation, of about 15 per cent of Cypriot GDP. Once again, the government chose to delay taking corrective measures and make the problem worse.

The government tried to delay everything beyond the February 2013 elections. It might have worked. If banks could be assured that government debt would remain ECB eligible, then the government could raise the funds through issuance of debt that banks could finance with liquidity provided by the ECB using the bonds as collateral.

But there was a catch. ECB eligibility requires at least one investment-grade rating of sovereign paper. The Cyprus government had suffered such a loss of credibility that it could no longer safeguard its rating. But this rule had been waived for programme countries. Could Cyprus secure similar support?

A last chance presented itself in April 2012. A new minister of finance had assumed office in March. He suggested that the government adopt and implement voluntarily measures similar to what a MoU would have demanded

and in this manner avoid a formal support mechanism.

At a meeting with the executive board of the ECB on 17 April, he committed to adopt and implement specific measures before the end of May. Unfortunately, his plan was deemed too politically costly for the communist party and resoundingly rejected. The president’s public dismissal on June 1, 2012 pushed Cyprus over the cliff. Shortly after, government bonds no longer met the ECB eligibility criteria.

The ECB did not waive the rules for Cyprus. Cyprus became the first country in history whose central bank refused to accept its bonds for monetary policy purposes for many months. Unfortunately, although the government asked for help on June 25, 2012, it chose not to complete the MoU. The government desperately tried to push adjustments beyond the February 2013 elections. Simultaneously, it intensified its assault on the banking system as a platform for the election.

After the communist party effectively secured the control of the central bank, on May 3, 2012, the government and central bank could engage in a coordinated campaign against the banks as part of the February 2013 presidential election campaign.

The central bank contributed in a number of ways. It removed the chairmen and CEOs from the two largest banks. It started a number of investigations against the banks, with selective defamatory leaks to press. More damaging for the international image of the sector, the central bank characterised banking

in Cyprus as “casino banking’’. And, as was reported widely, it took steps to exaggerate the capital needs of the banking system.

The goal was to create a negative image that could be used to claim that the only reason the government had to seek EU/IMF assistance was problems with the banks.

The coordinated campaign succeeded in creating the image that the banking system was so severely undercapitalised that if the government provided the capital, as was done in previous cases, then, according to standard IMF analysis, government debt could be deemed unsustainable.

The bail-in of depositors became the only option the Eurogroup was willing to discuss.

The economic consequences of these five years were severe.

By 2012, real GDP per person fell cumulatively by more than 10 per cent relative to 2007.

Worse, as a consequence of the damage to the economic model of the island, the decline was projected to continue.

In five short years, Cyprus had become a case study on how destructive economic populism can be. I recall a lesson I learned long ago from the famous economist Rudi Dornbusch while studying about other crises that could have been avoided. As Rudi used to say: “Populism always ends in tears”.

Athanasios Orphanides was governor of the Central Bank, May 2007 - May 2012. This article is taken from a presentation he gave on May 17 at the conference ‘Cyprus: five years in the Eurozone’

23 SUNDAY MAIL • May 26, 2013

Business & Jobs

Cooperation is the only way of solving the banking crisis Dangerous divisions among past and present presidents and Central Bank governors Comment Costas Apostolides HE EMPHASIS on the Memorandum of Understanding with the troika is not the most damaging feature of the policy imposed on Cyprus, because that dubious honour goes to the so called “bail in”, translated by the locals as outright theft, by which non-guaranteed deposits in Laiki and Bank of Cyprus have suffered a forced cut in their deposits to recapitalise the new Bank of Cyprus thereby enabling it to stay afloat, and to bury Laiki Bank.

This condition for support from the Eurogroup should not have been accepted because it breaks the major rule in banking, which is to avoid doing anything that creates a negative psychological assessment of the bank sector.

If people fear for their savings in banks they panic and massively try to withdraw their funds, to save their holdings. What was done

T

Divided: Former deputy governor Spyros Stavrinakis (left), governor Panicos Demetriades (centre) and President Nicos Anastasiades by the Eurogroup was stupid and, as former finance minister Michalis Sarris stated before the commission of inquiry, against every banking principle. This is because the reaction of the public cannot be assessed, and the extent of cash withdrawals cannot be predicted.

Given the present situation and Cyprus’ commitment to the memorandum, it is essential that gradual step by step relaxations in the present regulations be undertaken so that the bank sector returns to normal banking conditions without a mass outflow of cash from the banking system. It is therefore of the greatest importance that the mistakes of the previous government and governor of the Central Bank are not repeated by the new government, parliament and the Central Bank. It was

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the failure of the former president, Demetris Christofias, and former governor Athanasios Orphanides to consult and work together that got us into this mess.

Unfortunately it seems that the present government, parliament and the governor of the Central Bank are on a conflicting course and that presents great risks for the economy. The government has applied great pressure on Governor Panicos Demetriades to speed up the process of normalisation, especially with respect to the forced merger between BOC and Laiki, which is full of booby traps such as landing the former with the €10 billion or so Extraordinary Liquidity Advances of Laiki and other losses.

The ruling Democratic Rally party is constantly criticising the governor while protecting the former governor. Meanwhile parliament is investigating Demetriades for providing inadequate information on personal accounts to the House, and President Anastasiades has sacked deputy governor of the Central Bank Spyros Stavrinakis on the grounds that this is not an emergency and does not come under the rule of necessity which allows constitutional changes. The present investigations by the House and the commission set up to investigate how this mess occurred, could develop into a witch hunt reminiscent of the McCarthy era in the USA directed at the governor himself. That is probably why the governor has instructed the Central Bank to challenge that decision to sack Stavrinakis , something which has caused bitterness in the ranks of the ruling party, but in essence it is an act of self-

defence by the governor that poses risks for the government as well. In the event of failure to convince the Supreme Court of the grounds for sacking Stavrinakis, which is possible since the less important positions of deputy attorney general, deputy auditor general, deputy accountant general, and minister of education) were all made in less critical times, would reduce the prestige of the president.

To be fair the governor is also not cooperating with the government. Hiding behind the principle of Central Bank independence he appears to be behaving in a dictatorial manner, and from what I have heard the government and Central Bank do not have joint committees working on the problems. As a result the president himself has endeavoured to coordinate at joint meetings under the president with the governor and minister of finance.

Cooperation and coordination are essential if progress is to be made, but that must come from both sides.

The president has tried to get his views across and wants normalisation of the banking sector as soon as possible, and over the past two weeks it appears that progress has been made in finding a way to work together.

It must be remembered, however, that the job of the governor is extremely difficult, and not only because he is squeezed between the European Central Bank and the government.

Essentially, if mistakes are made and deposits are released too quickly without exchange controls, the whole system could be jeopardised. Slowly and steadily is the way things should be done, and with luck we could land softly with less damage than we think. Already the accountants advising foreign companies have expressed an evaluation that most foreign companies will stay in Cyprus, though what is left of their deposits is likely to move away to other locations in the Netherlands, UK and other tax havens.

The official statistics of the Central Bank presented below in Tables 1 and 2 show that in May 2012 deposits in banks based in Cyprus peaked at €72 bln, but by March 2013 after the Eurogroup bail-in decision, almost €9 bln had left the system. Most of this was from Bank of Cyprus and Laiki, but also the “others group”, mainly the foreign banks. Modest increases in deposits took place in the Co-ops, Eurobank and Bank of Piraeus, as well as some smaller banks.

Overall deposits are now less than loans, with most of the problem being in the now demised Laiki, though some problems also exist with the “others” group.

The conclusion is that the situation is very serious, and unless the government and the Central Bank work together, the situation cannot be managed and further pain lies ahead for everyone. It is time for all sides to reduce the rhetoric, control their egos and work constructively together.

Costas Apostolides is chairman of EMS Economic Management Ltd (costas.a@highwaycommunications.com)

BANK DEPOSITS AND LOANS (¤MLNS) Depositor Category

2012 May

2013 January

2013 March

Reduction 5/12-3/13

Residents

44,259.9

42,789.6

41,290.1

- 2,969.8

6,425.6

4,748.3

3,391.2

-3,034.4

Other

21,776.2

20,882.9

19,035.4

-2,740.8

Total Deposits

72,461.8

68,420.8

63,716.8

-8,745.0

52,218.3

54,011.2

54,298.7

+2084.4

4,261.5

4,786.2

3,838.8

-422.7

Other

13,826.6

13,323.9

12,283.0

-1,543.6

Total Loans

70,306.4

72,121.3

70,420.5

Other Area

Euro

Loans Category Residents Other € Area

Source: Central Bank of Cyprus, EMS.

+114.1

24 SUNDAY MAIL • May 26, 2013

Property Gnomes were allowed at the show for the first time as a fund raiser

A women wearing a dress of fresh flowers designed by Zita Elze in the M & A Centenary Garden. Right: A woman walks through floral artist Rebecca Louise Law’s stand

Aussies get top

garden

Chelsea judges hand out almost as many gold medals as years the show has been going on for

A

N Australian team this week won the best show garden prize for the first time in Chelsea Flower Show’s 100-year-history - with one of its members celebrating by stripping off and going for an impromptu swim.

The Trailfinders Australian Garden by Fleming’s Nurseries, which features plants native to the country and demonstrates sustainable landscaping in an urban setting, was also awarded a gold medal, being praised by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) for its attention to detail.

One of the 18 volunteers, who had flown in from the other side of the world to spend hours putting the design together, was so delighted by the historic win that he jumped into a natural pool or billabong – in the centre of the garden, wearing only his underwear.

Tim Wilkinson was pictured in the chilly water proudly clutching the Best in Show plate awarded for the design, despite the temperature being somewhat colder than what he would be used to back home.

Cheers from the exultant Australians could be heard throughout the show site during the afternoon, an RHS spokeswoman said.

Bob Sweet, RHS head of judging, said: “RHS Chelsea

Flower Show stands for the highest levels of horticultural excellence, and the exhibitors this year have demonstrated an unrivalled level of knowledge and ability.

“To be able to deliver gardens at the peak of perfection in a year when the growing conditions have been so challenging is extraordinary.

“The achievement of Fleming’s is fantastic. The attention to detail and evocative feel of Australia is a great tribute to the skill of the designers, growers and landscapers who have contributed to their garden.”

Garden designer Phillip Johnson, of Phillip Johnson landscapes, said the best in show medal was the “Olympics of the horticulture world”.

He said: “Being involved in Chelsea was a dream come true for myself and my team.

Winning an award amongst contemporaries of this calibre is absolutely mind-blowing.

“We couldn’t be more proud of what we have achieved - it’s been an incredible experience. We came here with a very ambitious vision – to showcase Australia, our horticultural industry and to educate the world on the possibilities of sustainable landscape design.

“This presented challenges from the other side of the world, but we knew we only had one chance to make the

WHAT YOU GET FOR

Water winner: volunteer Tim Wilkinson takes the plunge to mark victory for the Trailfinders Australian Garden

impact necessary to educate, and that’s what we have done.”

Wes Fleming, team leader, said: “I have dreamed of this moment since I was a little boy growing up on the nursery with mum and dad regaling tales of the Chelsea Flower Show”.

He said “the design is an incredible display of Australian horticulture and a timely reminder of how we can be more sustainable in our management of our most precious resource - water - in our gardens at home.”

Prince Harry had paid a visit to the Australian garden when he attended the show last week, as the finishing

touches were being made to each design, something Johnson said had given the team a huge boost.

The garden designed by Jinny Blom for Harry’s charity, the B&Q Sentebale ForgetMe-Not garden, received a silver gilt medal.

Harry showed members of his family, including the Queen and Prince Charles, around the garden as they toured Chelsea Flower Show on Monday evening. Sentebale, set up by the prince following a gap year trip to Africa, helps vulnerable children in Lesotho, in southern Africa.

Judges at the centenary show handed out almost as many gold medals as the

number of years the show has been running, with a record breaking 92 exhibits securing the coveted award. For the first time, 10 show gardens got gold.

A garden representing the regeneration of a landscape after a devastating forest fire, After the Fire designed by James Basson for Scape Design, won the title for best of the “fresh” gardens which call for innovative design.

And the best artisan garden category, for small gardens, was won by Japanese design company Ishihara Kazuyuki Design Laboratory for their garden representing an alcove in a traditional Japanese tatami room.

Family-run business Blackmore & Langton, which has been at every Chelsea show since 1913 when it began, won the president’s award, given to the RHS president’s favourite exhibit, for a display of begonias and delphiniums.

Some 62 nurseries and growers in the show’s great pavilion, which showcases a wide variety of blooms and exhibits, secured gold medals, with the Diamond Jubilee award for best display going to Warmenhoven for their amaryllis, allium and ornithogalum.

The Chelsea Flower Show was open to the public until Saturday, with a total of 165,000 people expected to attend.

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25 SUNDAY MAIL • May 26, 2013

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*************************** KITTENS (2-month-old), boys & girls, litter-trained, multi colours). Seek good home. For more info, call Agnieszka, 96672245 Nicosia.

FOR SALE MISCELLANEOUS ***************************** FOR SALE – PAPHOS CATERING EQUIPMENT

1. Industrial freezer – CORECO Height 200cm, width 68cm, depth 58cm

VICTOR Male Jack Russell cross around 2 years old. Very dynamic little dog, best suited to homes with older children, active families and ones with a well fenced yard for him to run and let-off steam. He is dominant with other dogs, males and females alike. Victor is very entertaining and needs an owner who is patient and with a good sense of humour. With guidance and training this dog will adjust well to a new home nd a structured lifestyle. **************************** PUG PUPPY FOR SALE. Please be sure that you can take care of the puppy and then contact me. Price €400. For information please call Tel: 99490424, Nicosia, Cyprus. ****************************

PERSONAL ***************************** GERMAN MAN, 50 years, searching for a nice women.

Mobil:00491736590562 ****************************

JULIE Young female (probably a hound – lab cross) only around a year old. A friendly, loving and playful dog. This is a medium sized but heavy-built, strong dog best suited to families with older children.

RAOUL The gentle giant!!!! A beautiful male black large strong dog. Gentle, nice character, amazing with kids, people, cats and other dogs. He is an inside dog and trained. He will make a perfect family dog. ***************************

2. Electrolux Freezer, model EUC3109X, width-595mm, height-1800mm, depth623mm, freezing capacity-24kg/24hours, energy class A 3.

CONVOTHERM OVEN model-OBG 6.10Combi Oven-Steamer with Gas Steam Generator Extra: Stand with stainless steel shelving, extractor fan, water supply system and gas installation connections, PLUS CHAFING TRAYS & THERMO BOXES, ALL IN EXCELLENT CONDITION AT REDUCED PRICES. PLEASE CALL: 99622678 ****************************

FOR SALE BUSINESS/ PROPERTY/LAND ***************************** PLOT FOR SALE IN KATO PLATRES in a pine tree area. It comes with title deeds, 1095 square feet. Tel. 99881051. ***************************** FOR SALE LAND in Anthoupoli (half plot) 288 sq.metres. for information 99621554. ****************************

PROPERTY TO LET NICOSIA ***************************** FURNISHED 2-bed Flat (95sm).

Close to town centre. ONE

Employment Opportunities pg 25 Employment Miscellaneous 25 Pets 25 Lessons 25 Health & Fitness 25 Personal 25 Services 25 For Sale Miscellaneous 25 For Sale Land/ Property Business 25 For Sale Motor vehicles 25 Properties Wanted -To Let Nicosia 25 To Let Limassol 28 To Let Larnaca 28 To Let Paphos 28 To Let Protaras, Ayia Napa, Paralimni -For Sale Nicosia 30 For Sale Limassol -For Sale Larnaca -For Sale Paphos 30 For Sale Ayia Napa -For Sale Famagusta Protaras 30 For Sale Paralimni 30 Property& Home Services display ads -Churches 29

abbreviations bdrm c/h a/c s/pool f/f apt pm pw sw nw st rd p/s c/l swb r/cass e/w

bedroom central heating air conditioning swimming pool fully furnished apartment per month per week south west north west street road power steering central locking short wheel base radio cassette electric windows

Please note tel nos. that begin with: 22 = Nicosia 23 = Paralimni/Protaras 24 = Larnaca 25 = Limassol 26 = Paphos

26 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA MONTH FREE RENT! Spacious living area, Separate kitchen.

Parquet floors. Central Heating & A/C. Covered balcony, Covered parking. Suit professional single/couple. . €450pm. Tel: 9955 9525. ***************************** ACROPOLIS LUXURY FLAT; three bedrooms; bathroom; laundry room; fully fitted kitchen; large sitting/dining room; everyday room; two verandas; guest WC; central heating, air-conditioning, broadband internet, satellite TV; covered parking. Furnished €950, unfurnished €800, Tel: 22312255, 99557457. ***************************** TO LET 1 bedroom upper floor house, large veranda near restaurant Periyiali in Acropolis 5 Aeantos Street €300 call 99680208

TO LET NICOSIA LUXURY HOUSES: 1. 3 bedr luxury fully renovated semi detached house with storage heaters, full a/c, 2wc, big bedrooms, big sitting and dining area with semi open plan kitchen, FULLY NICELY MODERN FURNISHED, big garden with grass and big covered patio with bbq, in a very quiet area in a dead end opposite Orfanides supermarket – Strovolos €800 (H3ST10014-R), (photos in the website).

2. 3 bedr luxury terraced house, 210sq.m,central heating, full a/c, marble floor in the sitting areas and solid parquet floor on stairs and bedrooms, 4 wc,3 bathrooms, 2 en suite, big verandas, electrical appliances in the kitchen, 3 covered parking spaces, roof garden access, in a quiet neighbourhood on

TO LET NICOSIA Mon Parnas hill – Engomi €850 (photos in the website).

3. 4 bedr new luxury detached house build in a big plot of land, central heating, full a/c, 2 bedrs with en suite shower, 4 wc, bathroom with jacuzzi, big open space sitting and dining areas, 330sq.m, big swimming pool 5x10, big garden with grass, big covered patio with bbq area, roller blinds and curtains on all the windows, electrical appliances in kitchen, covered parking, in a quiet neighborhood off Tseriou Avenue. AVAILABLE IN JUNE – Strovolos €1500 (H4ST10024-R), (photos in the website).

4. 4 bedrs new luxury detached house,230sq.m,big sitting and dining area with solid parquet floor, big kitchen with cooker and oven,3wc,2 bathrooms, curtains on all windows, small garden, patio, central heating, full A/C, covered parking in a dead and near French Ambassador house- Strovolos €950 (H4ST10012-R) (photos in the website)

TO LET NICOSIA 5. 4 bedr+ very big attic room separated in 2 rooms +separate room for the maid in the basement luxury fully renovated detached house with big sitting and dining room with fire place, big kitchen with electrical appliances sitting room and breakfast area, 3 bathrooms, floor heating independent with grass, a/c units, garden with grass and covered patio, in a quiet area near the International fair in the central part of Makedonitissa - €1500 Negotiable –(H4MAK0018-R) (photos in the website) 6. 3 bedr + attic room with shower and wc luxury detached house with central heating, a/c, fireplace, modern kitchen open plan with expensive electrical appliances, blinds, garden with grass, over flow swimming pool, covered parking in a quiet area. – Makedonitissa €1500 (H4MAK0023-R), (photos on the website).

7. 4 bedr luxury detached house with 2 big extra rooms on the attic with shower and wc, cen-

KIOSK FOR SALE 20.000 EUROS (OVNO) PAPHOS PRICE INCLUDES ALL STOCK AND EQUIPMENT FOOD, DRINKS, CHILLED PRODUCTS, PET FOODS, CIGARETTES FROZEN PRODUCTS, HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS, TOILETRIES. FREEZERS, CHILLER CABINET, ELECTRONIC TILL SYSTEM, SHELVING ETC INTERESTED PARTIES SHOULD E-MAIL – midnight011963@gmail.com

TO LET NICOSIA tral heating, air condition units, 360sq.m, solid parquet floor all the house except the kitchen, big sitting and dining areas with fire place, big separate kitchen with family room and breakfast area, big mature garden with grass and swimming pool, covered parking, in a quiet neighborhood close to Alfa Mega supermarket – Dasoupoli €2000 - Available middle of June (H4DAS0001-R) (photos in the website) 8. 3 bedr +office space luxury detached house with storage heaters, full a/c, 3 wc, 260 m², big kitchen with big family room opening to a big garden with grass, electrical appliances, covered parking, in a very quiet neighborhood in a dead end - Makedonitissa €2000 (H4MAK0034-R) (photos in the website) 9. New modern luxury very good quality finished semi detached house built in 3 levels. Upstairs 1st level 3 bedrs all en suite+ laundry room, 2nd level big attic room which can be used for office space or bedroom.

Ground floor with 2 sitting areas ,dining area and breakfast area, kitchen with all the electrical appliances, central heating,

TO LET NICOSIA full a/c units. Basement with kitchen with cooker and oven, dishwasher, microwave and 2 refrigerators, sitting room with fireplace, and 2 bedrooms with one bathroom. Outside private fenced garden with artificial grass, bbq area and covered veranda. The house has blinds and shutters on all windows, false ceiling with spot lights throughout house, pressure system, covered parking, satellite dish, central music and network system, storage room, very good double glazed windows. Behind General flooring in the centre of Makedonitissa - €1900 (H4MAK0001-R), (photos on the website).

10. 4 bedrs new luxury detached house, 450sq.m, central heating, full a/c, office space, separate maid’s room, big kitchen with sitting room and fire place and all the electrical appliances, all the sitting areas viewing the garden with grass, blinds on all windows downstairs, very big bedrooms with parquet floor, main bedroom with jacuzzi,2 covered parking’s near Alpha Mega supermarket and English School. – Strovolos €2200 (H4ST10001-R) (photos in the website)

27 SUNDAY MAIL • May 26, 2013

TO LET NICOSIA 11. 4 bedr + big attic room luxury detached house with central heating, full a/c, 3wc, 260sq.m, big sitting and dining room, big kitchen with family room, big covered patio on the back with bbq area, covered parking, FULLY NICELY FURNISHED, BEHIND Apoel training field- Archangelos €1500 (H4AR0018-R), (photos in the website).

12. 3 bedrs luxury 2 storey, FULLY RENOVATED LISTED HOUSE with high ceilings in the centre of Nicosia, 260sq.m, 2 small attic rooms, big sitting room upstairs, big sitting room and dining area downstairs, wooden floor, kitchen with all the electrical appliances, 2 bathrooms (one en suite),3wc,CH independent, A/C, big garden – Nicosia Centre €1400 (H4NIC0002-R), (photos in the website).

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA rooms with en suite shower/ bathroom, extra room upstairs for sitting room/office space/ bedroom, solid parquet floor in bedrooms, big kitchen with granite and all the electrical appliances, maid’s room, big sitting areas with fire place and internal yard, big swimming pool 6 x 12,big mature garden with grass and big trees surrounding the house giving privacy, in a very quiet neighborhood near Acropolis park.

Available in August €5500 – (H4DAS0006-R) (photos in the website)

13. 4 bedrs luxury renovated detached house built in 3 plots of land,550sq.m aprox, central heating, full a/c, all the bed-

14.4 bedrs new luxury detached house, all the bedrooms very big and all with big bathroom/ shower, sitting room upstairs, attic room with shower and wc, office space/maid’s room with shower and wc, central heating, full AC,450sq.m, big sitting and dining areas, big kitchen with sitting area and fitted cooker and oven, 6wc, 2 covered parking, yard with tiles and SWIMMING POOL,

FOR RENT

English-Painter & Decorator

2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment in Larnaca near new hospital. €400 per month including service charge and refuse collection Call 99358916

Fully Qualified 30 years’ Experience SUMMER OFFER 30% OFF ALL AREAS • External & Internal painting • Damp Damage Repairs • Spritez Repairs • Free Estimates + very clean work • All areas. All types of woodwork stained and preserved • All work guaranteed

Tel. Tony on 99176557

TO LET NICOSIA bbq area in a very quiet neighbourhood near CYBC (RIK) station and near a neighbourhood park – Platy Aglantzias €2500 (H4AGZ0005-R), (photos in the website) For many more properties with photos visit our website at www.landtouristestates.com which is updated daily. LANDTOURIST ESTATES LTD 22-422225/96422225/96422226, www.landtouristestates.com ***************************** LUXURY FLATS:

1. 3 bedr luxury finished spacious floor apartment with very big sitting and dining areas with family room with fire place, solid parquet floor all through, central heating independent, full a/c, all the bedrooms with en suite shower/bathroom, 4wc, big kitchen with all the electrical appliances, blinds on all windows, big covered veranda, covered parking, big storage room, on a small 3

TO LET NICOSIA storey building in a quiet neighbourhood – Agios Andreas€1100 – A3AAD0005-R (photos on website).

2. 1 bedr spacious fully luxury renovated apartment,60sq.m, big sitting and dining room, big bedroom, fully newly modern furnished with LCD TV 32’, covered veranda, covered parking, storage heaters, full a/c, near Cyta, Laiki and Hellenic Bank headquarters – Dasoupolis €490 (A1DAS0004-R) (photos in the website).

3.

1 bedr spacious apartment,60sq.m, storage heater, 1 a/c, big sitting and dining room, NICELY FURNISHED , near Europa hotel and 5 minutes Walk from European University – Engomi €380 (A1ENG0001-R), (photos in the website).

4. 2 bedr FULLY RENOVATED spacious apartment with laminate parquet floor, a/c for hot and cold in all the rooms, big sitting and dining room, sepa-

SELECT Fencing & Decking Specialist For all your Garden and Security Fencing ♦ Quality approved workmanship ♦ 15 years experience + guaranteed work ♦ English workers ♦ also garden gates ♦ sheds ♦ chain link fencing ♦ free estimates ♦ all types of fencing & decking

Roofing flat & tired roofing repairs and construction Tel. SELECT fencing 99176557

TO LET NICOSIA rate kitchen, big bedrooms, FULLY NICELY FURNISHED, covered veranda with nice view, near the American Embassy - €450 (A2ENG0018-R) 5. 1 bedr luxury spacious apartment with big sitting and dining room, storage heaters, 2 a/c, cooker, oven, dishwasher, washing machine/dryer, refrigerator in the kitchen, 2 wc, 1 bathroom, blinds, big covered veranda, storage room, parking, big common SWIMMING pool. Price includes common expenses – Latsia €420(A1LAT0004-R), (photos in the website).

6. 2 bedr spacious renovated apartment 100sq.m with separate big kitchen, air condition for hot and cold in all the rooms,

TO LET NICOSIA covered veranda, nicely newly fully furnished , off Kyriakou Matsi street very close to the centre on foot – Agioi Omologites €450 (A2AOM0003-R), (photos in the website).

7. 2 bedr new luxury apartment with central heating independent, full a/c, 2wc, big sitting and dining room, separate kitchen with cooker and oven, blinds on all windows, covered veranda, solar heater, pressure system, covered parking, storage room, on a small building in a quiet neighborhood next to a playground, near Central offices of Cyta and Laiki Head quarters – Dasoupoli €500 (A2DAS0018-R), (photos in the website).

8. 2 bedr new modern lux-

28 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Advertiser TO LET NICOSIA TOURIST ESTATES LTD 22422225 / 96-422225 / 96422226 www.landtouristestates.com ****************************** 2 BDRM flat in the centre of Nicosia. Rent €450. For information call 99453663, 99663927. *****************************

LIMASSOL ***************************** FURNISHED, spacious and welllit 3 bedroom apartment for rent in Mesa Geitonia, Limassol. A/C, TV, fridge, couches, dining room table and beds. 1 bathroom with bath and shower and two separate toilets.

Carport. €650 per month. Call 99541101

TO LET LIMASSOL ury apartment with separate central heating, full a/c, 2bathrooms(one en suite), blinds on all windows, electrical appliances in the kitchen, big sitting & dining room, big covered veranda, covered parking near Alpha Mega – Engomi €500. (A2ENG0014-R), (photos in the website).

9. New top quality 2 bedr apartment, 93sq.m+20sq.m veranda, on a small modern building with 6 flats only. Central heating independent, full a/c, 2 bathrooms, 2wc, fully fitted kitchen with all the electrical appliances, water pressure system roller blinds and shutters on windows, big sitting and dining room, big bedrooms, covered parking and storage room, in a quiet neighbourhood near

TO LET LIMASSOL Akropolis park. – Acropolis €700 A2ACS0002-R (photos in the website) .

10. New luxury finished 1 bedr penthouse apartment with big verandah with nice view, in a small modern building,55sq.m,storage heaters,2 a/c, blinds on the windows, expensive electrical appliances (cooker, oven, extractor, refrigerator, washing machine, dryer), covered parking and storage room, off Kalippoleos street opposite Dessange Day Spa near the University – Lykavitos €400 (A1LYK0002-R), (photos in the website).

11. 2 bedr luxury apartment with a/c for hot and cold, separate kitchen, big covered veranda,

TO LET LIMASSOL FULLY NICELY FURNISHED, covered parking, near the Ministry of Education – Acropolis €550 (A2ACS0036-R), (photos in the website) 12. 2 bedr new luxury apartment,7 years old,89sq.m,central heating independent, 3 A/C, 2 bathrooms, 2 wc, cooker and oven in the kitchen, blinds, covered verandah, covered parking and storage room in a quiet area opposite Akropolis Park – €500(A2ACS0038-R), (photos in the website.

13. New luxury finished 3 bedr penthouse (floor apartment) on the 5th floor,165sq.m+ big verandas(one bigger with bbq), solid parquet floor all the flat,3wc,2 bathrooms, central heating ind, full a/c, big sepa-

TO LET LIMASSOL

TO LET LIMASSOL

rate Italian kitchen with electrical appliances and dining area, big sitting room, covered parking and storage room off Makarios Avenue walking distance to the centre €850 (A3NIC0030-R), (photos in the website).

place, separate kitchen, NICELY MODERN FURNISHED, big covered and uncovered veranda, covered parking, in Strovolos near the Municipal building €575 (A3ST10014-R), (photos in the website).

14. 2 bedr brand new nicely finished ground floor apartment with economic a/c for hot and cold, FULLY NICELY MODERN FURNISHED, covered veranda, covered parking, on a small 2 storey building off Kennedy Avenue near the centre. No extra common expenses – Nicosia Centre €500 (A2NIC0032-R), (photos in the website).

16. 3 bedr luxury apartment, 150sq.m + very big verandah, nicely modern furnished storage heaters,3ac,2 bathrooms,2wc,parquet floor in the bedrooms, big sitting and dining room with open plan kitchen, covered parking, off Makarios Avenue behind Hilton hotel – Nicosia Centre €700 (A3NIC0017-R), (photos in the website)

15. 3 bedr luxury penthouse apartment with central heating independent, full a/c, 2 wc, big sitting and dining room with fire

For many more properties with photos visit our website at www.landtouristestates.com which is updated daily. LAND-

SPECIAL OFFER

FOR SALE

In Kokkinotrimithia, 15km from Nicosia in a good area, (in the centre, opposite Maragos bakery, 41/2 acres or 7 plot with 90% building factor.

Semi-detached house in Archangelos area split level on a hill, no houses in front, 3 big bedrooms, 2 big bathrooms and TV room big lounge & dining area, fireplace, fitted kitchen, 40 sq.m. store room, C/H, A/C, solar.

For more information please call 99673286, 99918830.

For information call: 99496541

CHURCHES GRACE CHURCH, LARNACA 8 Ayiou Neofytou St Sundays 10 a.m.

Also Midweek Meetings Details: Colin 24530700 HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC CHURCH, PAPHOS GATE, NICOSIA Sunday Masses: Saturdays 6.30 pm, Sundays 8.00am, 9.30am & 6.30pm Weekday Masses: 6.30 pm Monday to Friday Tel: 22662132 Email: holcross@logos.cy.net

LARNAKA COMMUNITY CHURCH APHRODITE STREET, LARNAKA 10.00 AM MORNING SERVICE and SUNDAY SCHOOL For more details ring Fred 24365152

International EVANGELICAL CHURCH (Reformed) Limassol 352 St. Andrew’s Street (1½ blocks from Starbucks/Fat Boy) Sunday worship 10:30am Wednesday Bible Discussion 7pm For info: 99384742 ALL ARE WELCOME

St Helena’s Anglican Church, Larnaca St Helena’s Court, Grigoris Afx Sunday Service: Holy Communion 9.30 am

NICOSIA CHRISTIAN CENTRE 10 PINDOU STR, ENGOMI, NICOSIA, TEL. 22464375 SERVICES: SUNDAY 10AM, WEDNESDAY 8PM

Family oriented evangelical church Contemporary Christian Worship Sunday 10am (Holy Communion - 1st Sunday of the month) Sunday School (Juniors and Teens) Outreach and Evangelism Bible Studies

Tel. 99 293489, 99 279960 Email: immanuel.church.nicosia@gmail.com Website: www.immanuelchurchnicosia.org

ALL WELCOME Tel:24651327 office@sainthelenas.com

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF ST ANDREW AND ST JOHN THE BAPTIST MESA GEITONIA, LIMASSOL The Orthodox Liturgy in English served fortnightly on Saturdays at 9.00 am. We also hold a Discussion Group every Thursday evening at 7.30 pm For information please call Fr. Christopher Klitou Mobile: 99957144 Fax: 25710318 You can email us at: klitoux@logos.cy.net or visit our website: www.christopherklitou.com

THE REFORMED CHURCH OF LIMASSOL Clear exposition of the Bible in the presence of God, and relevant to our lives.

Our Sunday services start at 10:30 am sharp, and the Wednesday Bible discussion at 7 pm.

International Evangelical Church (Reformed) is located at 352 St. Andrew’s Street. 1½ blocks from Starbucks / Fat Boy, and 1 block from the Municipal Gardens, Zoo. For further information call Steve at 99384742, or email: iee.limassol@gmail.com All are welcome!

PROPHETIC CALL-OUT Grieved by preachers living in sin ? Pastors collaborating with idolaters?

Bored with just being a spectator?

In Prophecy there is no ‘us and them: Everyone contributes (1 Cor 14:26) 10am start 9/2/2013 God willing, Meet: Entrance Palaiopafos, Kouklia Instruments/shofars welcome

Open Door Baptist Church

St Barnabas’ Anglican Church 153 Leontiou A Street Limassol www.stbarnabas-cyprus.com Telephone: 25362713 - All welcome ALL SAINTS GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH (ENGLISH) Sunday Divine Liturgy 8-10am. Followed by Fellowship hour (coffee) Services are now being held at the underground Chapel of All Saints of Cyprus at St. Panteleimonos Church Makedonitissa Archangelos (Engomi) For more info please contact Fr. Joseph Coleman Tel. 99938924

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF AGIOS ARSENIOS, LIMASSOL (near Tsirion Stadium) The Orthodox Liturgy in English Saturday, 4 February at 8:30 am For information please contact: Father M. Spanou at 99 – 401365 (msspanou@googlemail.com)

9 Larnakos Street Katholiki Area Limassol Sundays: 9:45, 11:00 AM, 1:30 PM Wednesdays: 7:30 PM 25 751193 or 99 758729 www.cbm-odbc.org

GRACE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH Invites you to COME AND EXPERIEBNCE THE LOVE OF GOD WITH US Int. Christian Business Fellowship Meeting Centre Sundays: 10.00am Sunday School 11.00 am Main Service (Dine with us centre services) Wednesdays: Prayer meeting 6pm Address: To Arsinois Str., 1010 Nicosia (Next to Western Union Office to KISA) Contact: 99988900 or 97667932. \VISITORS ESPECIALLY WELCOME!!!

The Anglican Church of Paphos Ayia Kyriaki (St. Paul by the Pillar) Sunday 8.15am Holy Eucharist 6.00pm Sung Eucharist th 4 Sunday 6.00pm Choral Evensong Wednesday 9.00am Holy Eucharist 3rd Wednesday (BCP) St. Stephen’s, Tala st rd 1 & 3 Sunday 11.00 am Holy Eucharist 2nd & 4th Sunday 11.00am Morning Worship St. Luke’s, Prodromi 1st & 5th Sunday 9.30am Morning Worship 2nd , 3rd & 4th Sunday 9.30am Holy Eucharist 1st & 3rd Wednesday 9.30am Holy Eucharist 1st Sunday 6.00 p.m. Peace & Wholeness with Holy Eucharist 4th Sunday every quarter 9.30 am Holy Eucharist from BPC Church Office: 26-953044 Fax: 26-952486 Email: anglicancofp@cytanet.com.cy for directions to each church

DEUTSCHE GOTTESDIENSTE IN ZYPERN Nikosia: Am 1. und 3. Samstag im Monat in der St. Paul’s Cathedral um 18 Uhr Limassol: Am 2. Sonntag im Monat im Gemeindehaus in Germasogeia um 11 Uhr Am 4. Sonntag im Monat in der St. Barnabaskirche um 18 Uhr Paphos: Am 2. Samstag in der Kirche an der Paulussaeule um 16 Uhr Agia Napa: Am 4. Sonntag im Monat im Hof des Klosters um 9.30 Uhr Näheres Informationen durch Pfarrer Dr. Herold, Tel 25-317092 oder im Internet www.ev-kirche-zypern.de

St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral Byron Avenue, Nicosia, 22 445221/22 677897 www.st-pauls-nicosia.com

Sunday 0930 : Holy Communion Sunday School in the hall 1800 : Evening Prayer Monday/Tuesday/Thursday 0830: Morning Prayer Wednesday 1030 : Holy Communion First Monday of each month 1930 : Guild of St Raphael Parish Office : Mon-Fri : 0900 – 1100 Saturday 1000-1200

Bookshop and Thrift Shop

29 SUNDAY MAIL • May 26, 2013

TO LET LIMASSOL ***************************** TO LET Hebrew homes, by Limassol twin towers, Kosher or Free, 3 monthly let. Call 035799036312. ***************************** TRADITIONAL VILLAGE STONE HOUSE IN APESHIA. Very quiet village, 20mins from Limassol. Road to heritage school/Troodos. 2 bedrooms, office available top floor with veranda great view of mountains. Small courtyard with trees. Electric solar water. A/Ctoilet in main bedroom. Semi/ full furnished. Fitted kitchen with electrical appliances, fireplace. Toilet/shower. €550pm negotiable. Tel 96891800. ***************************** GROUND FLOOR HOUSE, furnished renovated this year.

Laminated parke floor, and big wardrobes in the 3 bedrooms.

Rent €590.00 Tel 99497576 99886775 *****************************

LARNACA 2 BEDROOM sea view apartment in Larnaca Phinikoudes.

Features: interior decorated finish, parking, building security, heating and cooling, huge veranda, central location, sought after building. Rent as an office or home (unfurnished or furnished). Inspection will impress! Call Anna on 9777 4512. ***************************** LOVELY SOUTH FACING furnished apt, first floor, four balconies, sea views. Good area, Pyla Beach 2 kms, 3 double bedrooms, A/C, flyscreens, ceiling fans. Lounge, free internet access, B flat screen cable TV. B Kitchen, all modcons €575 euros pcm. Photos Tel: 99935294 or 99935263. ***************************** TO LET SEAFRONT STUDIO, fully furnished, sleeps 2 adults, all amenities including satellite,

Advertiser TO LET LARNACA common pool and tennis court, basement parking, spacious verandas. Rent €1000 pm incl utilities. Available 1st June 2013. Better rate for full season or year booking. Tel 99657055

properties have detailed descriptions, professional photographs. Interactive Virtual/ Video Tours. Please visit our website. www.superiorrealestatelarnaca.com

***************************** TO LET SEAFRONT 2 BEDROOM FLAT, modern fully furnished, easily sleeps 4 adults, all amenities including satellite, common pool and tennis court, basement parking, spacious verandah.

Rent €2000 pm incl utilities.

Available 1st June 2013. Better rate for full season or year booking. Tel 99657055

4. www.superiorrealestatelarnaca.com - License No. 419. LANDLORDS AVERTISE YOUR PROPERTY WITH US FOR FREE. Tel. 24815926 Email. info@superiorrealestatelarnaca.com

***************************** FOR RENT fully furnished 1 bedroom flat near Larco Hotel Larnaca. Price €370. Tel 99202543

***************************** 1. CORAL BAY, 1 bedroom fully furnished apartment walking distance to the sea. Communal pool, parking, amazing sea views. € 450 PTR 116

***************************** 1 BEDROOM flat in Ermou Square area Larnaca - 2 bedroom flat in Phaneromenis area Larnaca. Call 96693375 **************************** 1. Superior Real Estate Larnaca. 3 bedroom detached unfurnished property set on a fantastic development in the village of Tersefanou. Available for immediate occupation.

Ref. TLL973. Tel 24815926

2. Superior Real Estate Larnaca. 2 bedroom fully furnished apartment, nr the Metro/American Academy Larnaca. Ref. TLL1654 Please call to arrange a viewing Tel. 24815926 3. www.superiorrealestatelarnaca.com – LARGE RANGE OF RENTAL PROPERTIES. From studio apartments to 5 bedroom villa’s for rent, all

wide repertoire bars, cafes, hotels, receptions etc.

****************************

PAPHOS

2. TSADA, modern 3 bedrooms unfurnished detached villa in a cul de sac. One bedroom downstairs, low maintenance garden, private pool. € 600 PTR 110 3.

TRACHYPEDOULA, stunning 3 bedroom stone house only 30 minute drive from Paphos town and above humidity. Property which is suitable for retired families but not only.

All bedrooms en suite, modern furnished. A wonderful family home in a rural location! Must be seen to be appreciated!

Book a viewing, no obligation, it’s free! € 500 PTR 115

TO LET PAPHOS

Call 99554988 & 99100292

TO LET PAPHOS

Easy access to town, covered parking. € 700 PTR 111

Glazed Windows with Shutters, Open Fireplace €350

PAPHOS TO RENT Tel: 99389198. For listings and many other properties please visit our web www.paphostorent.com and give us a call.

TREMITHOUSA - Superb Detached 3 Bedroom Villa with Large Pool, F/F to a very High Standard, Mater En-Suite, Family Bathroom with Jacuzzi, Beautifully Fitted Kitchen, Utility, Separate Shower room, Spectacular Mountain and Sea views, Quite Cul-De- Sac location €700 Euros

***************************** PEYIA, luxury villa, 3 double bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, fully or part furnished, private pool, quiet location, paved garden area, sea and mountain views.

Sky satellite, €550 ono, please call: 99771532 – no agents **************************** TSADA and KALEPIA - Beautiful 3 Bedroom Villas and Bungalow all with pools and Fantastic Mountain Views Available U/F or F/F, GCH, From €500

URGENTLY WANTED – 3 Bedroom U/F Detached Villas €600/700 MORE PROPERTIES AVAILABLE FOR INFORMATION PLEASE CALL 99862922

TSADA - Immaculate and Spacious 2 and 3 bedroom properties, U/F, Quiet location, Spectacular Sea views, Finished to a very high standard €300

***************************** FOR RENT a selection of 1 to 5 bedroom houses & apartments F/F & U/F Universal, Peyia, Tomb of the Kings, Tsada, Timi, Kato Paphos & Kissonerga Landlord & Owners please call 99329357 Or please view at our website www.cyprussands.com Fully Registered Company in Cyprus

LEYTIMBOU - Stunning 2 Bedroom Traditional Stone House that’s been completely Modernised to a very high standard although all the Original Features remain, Beamed ceilings, Under Floor Heating Flagstone floors, 2 en-suites with power showers, Large Enclosed Courtyard, Double

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30 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

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31 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Compiled by Rosie Ogden

Motoring

1923 Avions Voisin C6 Laboratoire at the Goodwood Festival of Speed THE annual Festival of Speed at Goodwood in West Sussex, UK, will take place from 12-14 July this year and once again it is expected to attract record crowds to see the various events, but the highlight of the festival is invariably the 1.16-mile hillclimb up Goodwood hill.

One of the more bizarre and memorable race cars to tackle the hillclimb is the distinctive 1923 Voisin C6 Laboratoire, which first wowed the Goodwood crowds in 1998, and returned again in 2003, due to popular demand.

It will be racing again this year.

The advanced C6 Laboratoire grew out of pioneering aviation and au-

tomotive engineer Gabriel Voisin’s liberal interpretation of the rules for the 1922 Grand Prix of Lyon, which his car won. The race organisers were unhappy with the result and banned the Voisin car design for the following year, so in response, the innovative engineer evolved an entirely new concept - the C6.

Due to the lack of a suitable twolitre engine, plus the technical challenge of extracting more power from the Voisin’s sleeve valve engine compared to one with conventional valves, Gabriel Voisin asked his colleague André Lefèbvre – who later went on to design many seminal Citroen mod-

els - to create a light car with good aerodynamics to compensate for the lower power of Voisin engines. The C6 Laboratoire was thus conceived in 1923 and became one of the first competition cars to attempt improved stability using aerodynamics, as well as the being the very first monocoque race car.

The barely-tested engine was the Voisin’s weakest link, and the poor power output resulted in the car struggling in the race, with additional cooling required, plus the rear differential being dispensed with to reduce weight. Only one Voisin finished the 1923 Lyon race, in fifth position.

One of the more bizarre and memorable race cars to tackle the hillclimb is the distinctive Voisin

Aston Martin celebrating centenary in great style

CITROEN’S DS Wild Rubis concept car was unveiled recently at the Shanghai Motor Show and is the latest expression of the iconic DS line. It features full-hybrid plug-in technology which the French makers say delivers “unparalleled performance”; it has a range of 50km, 295 bhp with the boost and a lowly 43g/km of CO2.

The car is fitted with ‘ground-breaking’ full-LED headlights, made up of three mobile lighting modules, surrounded by scrolling indicator lights at the base “and a diapason-shaped light signature on the edge”.

Every time the car starts up, the three lighting modules in the headlights and the special sound effects combine “to create a unique experience”.

Debut of the CC100 Speedster Concept ASTON Martin is celebrating its centenary in style with the debut this week of the CC100 Speedster Concept.

Created as “a stunning celebration of 100 years of sports car excellence”, the one-off CC100 looks to both the past and to the DBR1 Aston Martin’s greatest sporting triumph on the track - and we can assume it also looks to the future, with its teasing glimpses of the possible direction of future design.

The 6.0-litre V12-powered concept car made its world debut by completing a lap of the famous Nordschleife at Germany’s ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of Nürburgring race. It lapped the circuit together with the racewinning 1959 DBR1 with British racing legend Sir Stirling Moss at the wheel.

The concept is the most tangible expression yet of the brand’s year-long 2013 centenary celebrations.

Viewed by tens of thousands of spectators in Germany, the radical speedster was driven by Aston Martin CEO Dr Ulrich Bez. He said: “CC100 is the epitome of everything that is great about Aston Martin.

“It represents our fantastic sporting heritage, our exceptional design capability, our superb engineering know-how and, above all, our adventurous spirit!

“I have nicknamed it ‘DBR100’ because of its affinity to the great 1959 racewinning cars and, of course, our 100-year anniversary in

Citroen take a walk on the wild side with the Rubis

STIMULATE

The 6.0-litre V12-powered concept car made its world debut by completing a lap of the famous Nordschleife at Germany’s ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of Nürburgring race 2013.

“But this car is more, even, than a simple ‘birthday present’ to ourselves: it shows that the soul of Aston Martin - the thing that differentiates us from all the other car makers out there - is as powerful as ever and I very much hope that everyone who catches a glimpse of it at the Nürburgring today enjoys seeing it.”

Designed and constructed in fewer than six months at Aston Martin’s global headquarters in Gaydon in the UK, under the leadership of Special Projects and Motorsport Director David King, the finished look of the two-seater CC100 is the work of Design Director Marek Reichman working alongside the brand’s Chief

‘A stunning celebration of 100 years of sports car excellence’ Exterior Designer Miles Nurnberger.

Miles explained: “The brief was very simple, yet enormously testing: create something that reflects the 100 years of Aston Martin heritage and signals the fu-

ture of the brand.

“The idea of an iconic speedster concept that nods to the Le Mans - and Nurburgring - winning cars of 1959 soon came, and we have had complete freedom to shape this car.”

Reichman described it as a “fitting tribute” and added “I’m extremely proud of the entire team at Gaydon for creating this remarkable sports car concept in such a short time”.

The car is almost four and a half metres from nose to tail, and more than two metres wide (including the mirrors). The body and interior are crafted from carbon fibre, and it uses the latest generation AM11 naturally aspirated V12 petrol engine mated to a six-speed

hydraulically actuated automated sequential manual transmission.

Controlled via steering column-mounted paddle shifts, the lightweight gearbox “delivers truly sporting changes perfectly suited to the Speedster’s track-focused nature”.

The CC100 accelerates from rest to 62 mph in a little over four seconds, and the top speed is limited to 180 mph.

Dr Bez added: “The future of Aston Martin is, very clearly, more exciting now than perhaps at any time in its history and I’m looking forward to seeing the excitement and anticipation that CC100 creates among Aston Martin owners and enthusiasts worldwide.”

It seems that cars are no longer (or soon won’t be) just cars: Citroen says “to stimulate the imagination still further, Wild Rubis makes a whispering sound.

Crystal-like sounds have been specially developed to magnify the various lighting configurations (headlights, indicators and so on), while the movement of the three lighting modules is accompanied by a mecatronic sound effect.”

The drivetrain comprises the award-winning (international engine of the year) 225 bhp (165 kW) 1.6-litre THP petrol engine, combined with a 70 hp electric motor positioned on the rear axle, and powered by lithium-ion batteries that can be recharged from a domestic socket.

Wild Rubis can run in fullelectric mode, with zero emissions, over a range of 50km, but when the driver presses the accelerator pedal hard in order to have more torque immediately, the boost function combines the torque of the internal combustion engine with that of the electric motor, “allowing car to reach exceptional levels of performance (295hp), without compromising fuel consumption (43g/km of CO2)”.

32 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Sport Tigers maul Twins to inflict 10th straight loss

Legal advice taken over putter ban

DETROIT’S Anibal Sanchez was denied a no-hitter but still struck out 12 batters in a pitching gem as the Tigers sent the Minnesota Twins crashing to their 10th straight defeat with a 6-0 victory on Friday.

Sanchez was heading towards a second career no-hitter with one out in the ninth inning before Joe Mauer punched a single up the middle to deny the Venezuelan a chance to become the 28th pitcher in Major League history with multiple no-hitters.

The win catapulted the Tigers (27-19) back to the top of the American League Central, in front of the Cleveland Indians (27-20), while Minnesota (18-27) remain rooted to the bottom.

Detroit’s charge up the standings was aided by Boston’s John Lackey, who also pitched an impressive game to lead the Red Sox to an 8-1 victory over the Indians.

Lackey allowed just two hits and one unearned run over seven innings, striking out eight, while Mike Carp helped the offence with a three-run homer in the second.

Boston improved to 29-20 to keep pace with the Yankees (29-18) in the American League East after the Bronx Bombers proved too strong for Tampa Bay (24-23) in a 9-4 win. But it was not all good news for the Yankees, who lost both Curtis Granderson and pitcher David Phelps to injuries.

In the National League, World Series champions San Francisco fell out of a threeway tie at the top of the West division with a 5-0 loss to Colorado, who remain level with Arizona after the Diamondbacks beat San Diego (21-26) 5-2.

The Rockies and Diamondbacks improved to 27-21 while the Giants slipped back to 26-22 with the loss.

Washington pitcher Jordan Zimmermann grabbed an eighth win of the season as his Nationals (25-23) took down Philadelphia (23-25) 5-2.

MASTERS champion Adam Scott is among nine players taking legal advice over the ban on anchored putters.

The R&A and USGA confirmed on Tuesday that the ban will come into effect from January 1, 2016, with Rule 14-1b approved after consideration of comments and suggestions made during the 90-day consultation process.

South Africa’s Tim Clark said he was among “a fair number” of players exploring their legal options, with Bostonbased lawyer Harry L. Manion telling GolfDigest.com that he represents nine players, including Clark, Scott and Carl Pettersson.

Manion is also quoted as saying that he has read the governing bodies’ explanation for the ban, adding: “I’m not persuaded by it. There’s some good lawyering in there, but I don’t think they’ve made the case, and I believe the court would see it that way, too.”

Clark told reporters at the Crowne Plaza Invitational earlier this week: “We do have legal counsel. We’re going to explore our options. We’re not going to just roll over and accept this.”

When announcing the ban, R&A chief executive Peter Dawson admitted he was concerned that players could file lawsuits, but added: “I don’t think lawsuits will be on particularly strong ground.

“We are not so sure of ourselves that you can always be sure you’re going to be right, but we have certainly done our homework on this one, far more than anything else in my time at the R&A.” It is understood the players are waiting to see how the PGA Tour responds to the ban before deciding their next step. The PGA Tour and PGA of America voiced their opposition to the ban when it was proposed, with the PGA Tour stating: “We will now begin our process to ascertain whether the various provisions of Rule 14-1b will be implemented in our competitions and, if so, examine the process for implementation.”

Miami’s LeBron James (left) drives on the Pacers’ Roy Hibbert

Pacers turn up heat on Miami to level series

By Simon Evans THE Indiana Pacers threw open the NBA Eastern Conference finals on Friday, upsetting the Miami Heat with a 97-93 victory to level the bestof-seven series at 1-1.

LeBron James scored 36 points for Miami but gave up two crucial turnovers down the stretch that cost the Heat, while Roy Hibbert top-scored for the Pacers with 29 points and Paul George added 22 and produced some outstanding defensive work.

“That was a heck of a basketball game wasn’t it?” said Pacers head coach Frank Vogel, whose team never looked intimidated in either of the opening games on the defending champions’ home court.

The Pacers took full advantage of a slow start from Miami, grabbing a 10-point

Late turnovers dampen the stellar showing from James lead midway through the first quarter and they were up 5347 at halftime.

With James producing some outstanding play yet again, Miami fought back and led 8884 with 6:09 on the clock but, as in Wednesday’s Game One overtime thriller, the Pacers refused to buckle and came roaring back.

Indiana took the lead with 48 seconds remaining with two George Hill free throws and on the next possession, James’ pass intended for Ray Allen was stolen by David West.

Miami had another chance though when a 24-second clock violation on the sub-

sequent Indiana possession gave them the ball back with the game on the line.

James had grabbed the winning score with just 2.2 seconds left in overtime in Game One and he had 17.6 seconds to tie or win the game this time. However, his misplaced pass was collected by Hill, who was then fouled by James.

Hill made the two free throws to secure victory and a split from Miami’s first two home games.

“LeBron played one of the best basketball games I’ve ever seen anyone play,” Vogel said. “We just were able to make a few plays at the end.”

James though was in no

mood to reflect on the great play that had come before his turnovers, describing them as “careless”.

“The first thing I always look for on the stat sheet is my turnovers. I had two key ones at a big point in the game. I am very disappointed in my judgment and my plays down the stretch. But I’ll make up for them,” he said.

It was a poor night for Miami’s bench, who managed just 19 points with Allen, Norris Cole and Shane Battier among those who struggled.

“We have to figure out a way to get our shooters into the game more instead of trying to get them the ball and make them make a tough one late in the game,” James said.

The series continues in Indiana today while in the Western Conference, San Antonio were looking to take a 3-0 lead against Memphis yesterday.

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34 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Sport Beckenbauer predicts German Rio joy in 2014

Brazil’s Santos end three year fight to retain Neymar

FRANZ Beckenbauer claims the success of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund means Germany are on course to win next year’s World Cup. Beckenbauer, the president of Bayern Munich, says England and other countries can learn from Germany’s drive to promote its youth players into its top club sides.

The all-German Champions League final at Wembley is an outcome of the decision in 2000 to oblige all professional clubs to have academies, and a major programme to appoint youth coaches, according to the man who won the World Cup as a player and manager with West Germany.

Beckenbauer told a news conference in London: “Germany is on its way.

Teams like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund and the national team are on their way, maybe next year on their way to Brazil to win the World Cup. They have a good chance.

“That means that German football is really on the top.”

Since 2000, the number of German players in the Bundesliga has risen to a level of 60 per cent, with benefits felt in the national team, even though there are no restrictions on the number of foreign players.

“I think what helps us in the last 10 to 15 years is our academies and youngsters, (Bastian) Schweinsteiger, (Mario) Gotze, (Marco) Reus, all these young players, (Manuel) Neuer, they all came from the academies,” said Beckenbauer.

Forward said mulling Barcelona, Real offers

By Tatiana Ramil and Pedro Fonseca BRAZIL’S Neymar is on the verge of choosing one of two offers from un-named clubs, reported to be Spanish suitors Barcelona and Real Madrid, after Santos agreed on Friday to transfer him.

Santos said they had ended a three-year fight to keep the 21-year-old, Brazil’s big hope for next year’s World Cup finals, and agreed to a transfer, giving him the right to choose which offer to accept, though a decision was not imminent.

“In the face of the offers and the player’s contract, the management committee of the club decided to sell the player,” Santos said in a statement on their website (www. santosfc.com.br).

“At a meeting with the representatives of Santos FC’s management committee, the forward Neymar Jr was informed about the proposals received by the club and will analyse them in the coming days before making a definitive decision,” Santos added in a later statement.

“I’m happy by the interest from both clubs, it makes me proud, but now I’m going

Cyprus Handicrafts

Brazilian hope: the subject of whether Neymar (centre) should go to Europe or not became a topic of debate within the national team, given how important some players believed it was for him to get experience of facing the world’s top defenders home because my mother’s waiting,” Neymar was quoted

by Gazeta Esportiva (www. gazetaesportiva.net) as saying as he left Vila Belmiro with his father.

Gazeta said Neymar would turn out for Santos in their opening match of the Brazilian championship against Flamengo in Brasilia today.

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two leading clubs were in Brazil and Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper put the latest offer from Barcelona at 74 million Brazilian Real ($36.12 million).

Should Neymar go for the most likely option of moving to Barcelona, he will play alongside Argentine Lionel Messi, Golden Ball winner for the last four years.

The Spanish champions are looking to revamp their stellar squad after what by their high standards is a slump during which they have been eliminated from the European Champions League at the semi-final stage for the last two seasons.

Neymar, regarded as former

Santos great Pele’s heir, was the only non European-based player among the 23 finalists for FIFA’s player of the year award in 2012 and has been a target of top European sides for at least three years, including Chelsea in 2010.

So far Santos had rejected all offers and improved his contract, which included sponsorships, to stay at the club.

In November 2011 he said he had signed for Santos until after next year’s World Cup tournament but has often said he favoured a move to Barcelona. However, since the middle of last year a move had become increasingly possible for the current South American player of the year as Santos lost form and he demanded improvements in the squad.

The subject of whether Neymar should go to Europe or not became a topic of debate within the national team given how important some players believed it was for him to get experience of facing the world’s top defenders.

Neymar made his debut for Santos aged 17 in 2009 and the following year helped the team win the Paulista state championship and Copa Brasil knockout tournament.

Such was his impact playing alongside creative midfielder Paulo Henrique Ganso that fans and media wanted to see them both included in Brazil’s 2010 World Cup squad in South Africa but coach Dunga resisted the calls.

Neymar confirmed his qualities as a match winner with his brilliant dribbling and finishing as Santos were crowned South American champions with their third Libertadores Cup title, the first since Pele’s heyday in the early 1960s.

However, his performances for Brazil have often disappointed and he was a part of the teams that were knocked out of the Copa America in Argentina in 2011 at the quarter-final stage and lost the Olympic gold medal match to Mexico in London last year.

Nonetheless, he has the confidence of national coach Luiz Felipe Scolari for next month’s Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup.

Becks left out of season finale DAVID Beckham was not included in Paris St Germain’s squad for their final Ligue 1 game of the season at Lorient today as the former England captain headed into retirement.

The 38-year-old midfielder had expected as much after his special send-off in Paris last weekend, saying he did not think he would play on the artificial pitch at the Brittany side because the surface could aggravate previous Achilles injury problems.

Beckham was not among the 19-man squad named by manager Carlo Ancelotti yesterday on the Ligue 1 champions’ website (www.psg.fr).

The Englishman had been made captain for what turned out to be his final game in last week’s 3-1 victory over Stade Brest and he had wiped away tears when he was substituted in the 81st minute in front of a packed Parc des Princes.

That was his 10th Ligue 1 appearance and brought the curtain down on a career that has taken him from Manchester United to Real Madrid to Los Angeles Galaxy to PSG, winning league titles at all four clubs. He also had loan spells at AC Milan.

Beckham, who earned 115 caps for England, a record for an outfield player, announced his retirement on May 16.

35 SUNDAY MAIL • May 26, 2013

Sport

Holloway hoping for fairytale ending

Holloway feels Zaha (R) is ready to repay Palace’s faith in him once more by firing the team to promotion tomorrow

WILFRIED Zaha will attempt to complete a “fairy story” by firing Crystal Palace to promotion at Wembley on his final appearance for the club.

Winger Zaha joins Manchester United in a £15million switch after tomorrow’s npower Championship play-off final showdown with Watford, and Eagles manager Ian Holloway is backing him to sign off in style.

“It would be a nice fairy story,” Holloway said.

“Wilf will help Manchester United win games. I’ve never heard anyone talk about one player so much. He just needs to be left alone to play because his talent is so fresh and real and exciting.

“He might do enough right to get us what we need and that would be wonderful. We feel like we are losing a family member.”

Palace only agreed to sell Zaha to Old

Trafford, where he will be Sir Alex Ferguson’s final signing for United, if they could loan him back for the rest of the season.

The 20-year-old responded to the challenge of helping the Eagles join him in the Barclays Premier League next season with both goals in their 2-0 semi-final win over Brighton.

And Holloway feels Zaha is ready to repay Palace’s faith in him once more as they battle for the estimated £120million jackpot on offer for the Wembley winners.

“How would he have been feeling if we’d been selfish and denied him that opportunity? What would he have produced for us after that?” added Holloway.

“I think he will pay us back. We need him to play well because he’s a huge part of what we do.”

Zaha, who has been at Palace since he

was eight, came to United’s attention when he was named the Championship’s player of the year last season.

He has continued to impress this term, scoring eight goals and making his England debut as a substitute against Sweden in November.

If Palace do secure promotion at least defender Damien Delaney will only have to face Zaha twice, rather than every day in training.

“Sometimes when you’re playing against him he drives you a bit mental, he can make you look a little bit foolish,” said Delaney.

“But I don’t think he knows any other way. He’s one of those naturally gifted players - you give him the ball and tell him, ‘go and enjoy yourself’.

“Obviously you have to give him a bit of structure in the team shape, but in general he’s a one-off, such a good player.”

Ba would savour competing more against Torres

Zidane: Bale good enough for Real

But striker also keen to partner Spaniard

By Andy Hampson CHELSEA striker Demba Ba would relish more competition with Fernando Torres next season - but is also keen to partner the Spaniard.

Outgoing manager Rafael Benitez tended to rotate his principal forwards after Ba arrived from Newcastle in January.

But with Benitez moving on and Ba’s ineligibility for European football no longer an issue, that could change under the next manager.

When asked if the pair could play together, Ba said: “We could do. He is a good man.

“We will have to see the view of the manager who is going to come in.

“We will have to see what he will bring to the team and if he can play two strikers, how he wants it.

“But we are not rivals, no chance. You learn a lot from having competition with players like this - it’s good for me. I’m getting better and better.”

Ba has made a good impression in his first four

months at Stamford Bridge, scoring six goals and often looking the team’s most dangerous attacking threat.

The Senegal international does feel he owes something to Benitez, who leaves his post as interim boss after this weekend’s friendly against Manchester City in New York.

Ba, speaking at a Chelsea youth football clinic in Harlem, said: “It’s been good since I came and he (Benitez) has been good.

“He made good rotation between me and Fernando.

“I have had the chance to play a lot of games since I came and that has been really good.

‘LEARNED A LOT’ “I have learned a lot, about new team-mates and the way Chelsea plays football.

I’m very happy.”

One frustration for Ba was having to sit out the Blues’ Europa League success last week having been cup-tied playing for the Magpies before his £7million move.

The 28-year-old said: “It was frustrating but I knew

that from the beginning, so I was happy for the club.

“It was the same with the manager - we knew it from the beginning he was leaving.

“We knew if we won it he was going to go, we were prepared for that.”

Jose Mourinho, Chelsea boss from 2004 to 2007, is firm favourite to take charge at the club for a second time.

He will inherit a team in good shape from one-time rival Benitez after a strong finish to the season which also saw them secure third spot in the Barclays Premier League.

“Champions League football next season - I can’t wait,” said Ba, who maintained his goalscoring touch with the opener in Thursday’s 4-3 friendly loss to City in St Louis.

Ba was hoping to pass on some of his knowledge as he met inner-city children at FC Harlem in Manhattan for a coaching session.

Other senior players to attend the community event were Petr Cech and David Luiz.

Chelsea have had a rela-

Looking ahead: the frustration of having to sit out the Blues’ Europa League success last week is now in the past for Chelsea striker Demba Ba (right) tionship with Harlem since last year and are hoping to leave lasting legacies in the places they visit.

Referring to the slogan for the programme, Ba said: “It is like the writing behind me - we are here to play and here to stay.

“We want to do more events like this to be happy to see the kids happy. They

are important moments.

“It is good to be here in New York. I like the city and coming down to Harlem to play with the kids.

“I remember when I was young and I had the opportunity to meet a professional football player and I was so excited.

“I know what it means to them so I am very happy.”

REAL Madrid ambassador Zinedine Zidane believes Gareth Bale is among the top three players in the world and “more than good enough” for the Spanish giants.

Having missed out on Champions League qualification, Tottenham face an anxious summer as they wait to discover whether Bale will sign a new contract with them or move on to one of Europe’s top clubs.

And Zidane’s comments are sure to add to fears over a bid from the Bernabeu.

The France legend hailed Bale’s consistency and ranked the Welshman in the same bracket as Real’s own star player Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.

Zidane told reporters: “I’ve been watching Tottenham because Gareth Bale has been playing there.

“Aside from Ronaldo and Messi, he is the player who has impressed me the most in the world. He is outstanding.

“What has particularly impressed me is that he is consistent. It’s not just been in one or two matches.

“He is consistently scoring spectacular goals and very important goals. He is very quick, skilful and exciting.

“Of course all the talented players like that can come to Real Madrid. Is he good enough for Real Madrid?

Of course. He is more than good enough to play for Real Madrid.”

36 May 26, 2013 • SUNDAY MAIL

Sport Rosberg pips Hamilton to take Monaco GP pole NICO Rosberg scored his third successive pole position yesterday as Mercedes locked out the front row for the second consecutive race.

Fastest in all three practice sessions, Rosberg followed that up when it mattered most by taking top spot on the grid ahead of today’s Monaco Grand Prix.

For a split second it appeared as if Hamilton would beat his team-mate, only to be ousted from pole by 0.091secs by the German, who was also on pole in Bahrain and Spain.

From such a mighty position, and unlike in the last two races when Mercedes have gone backwards, Rosberg and Hamilton should now be in a position to go on to take the chequered flag given the difficulty in overtaking around the streets of the principality.

Behind the Mercedes duo is a second-row lock-out for Red Bull, with triple world champion Sebastian Vettel ahead of Mark Webber.

Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen, four points behind Vettel in the championship standings, starts fifth and is joined on the third row by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

McLaren’s Sergio Perez managed to get the upper hand on team-mate Jenson Button as the pair line up seventh and ninth either side of Adrian Sutil in his Force India, with Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne in 10th position.

On the super-soft compound in Q2 as the track had dried following rain before the start of qualifying, the six to drop out were of no great surprise, spearheaded by Nico Hulkenberg in his Sauber who will start 11th.

The German is joined on the sixth row by Daniel Ricciardo for Toro Rosso, followed by Lotus’ Romain Grosjean.

The team just managed to get the Frenchman back on track following his shunt at

the end of final practice and carrying out repairs.

Although Grosjean comfortably made it out Q1, he was anything but that in Q2 and lines up 13th, with Williams pair Valtteri Bottas and Pastor Maldonado 14th and 16th.

Caterham and Giedo van der Garde caused a major coup by qualifying into the second session for the first time this season, with the Dutchman to sandwich the Williams duo in 15th.

With the track at its worst in the opening 20 minutes, the drivers spent the entire session on the intermediate tyres.

Given the rain had relented at the start, as the track was drying so the times tumbled, Q1 still produced a shock.

That fell on Paul Di Resta as he failed to make it into Q2, leaving the Scot to start from 17th, equalling the worst grid slot of his career going back to the Belgian GP of 2011.

Behind Di Resta will be Caterham’s Charles Pic and Esteban Gutierrez in his Sauber, with Marussia’s Max Chilton 20th and the last of those to set a time.

On the back row of the grid will be Jules Bianchi in his Marussia, the Frenchman suffering an engine failure earlier in the session, with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa bringing up the rear.

Massa suffered a heavy shunt in final practice, smashing into a barrier as he attempted to turn into Ste Devote at the end of the start-finish straight.

The initial impact into the first barrier was considerable as the front-left of his Ferrari took the full force before the car slid around 100 metres into a TechPro barrier at the run-off area of Ste Devote itself.

Given the damage, the team faced a race against the clock in a bid to carry out the repairs, only to fall short in their quest.

Rosberg scored his third successive pole position yesterday as Mercedes locked out the Monaco front row

Pacers turn up heat on Miami to level series 32

Holloway hoping for fairytale ending 35

FAVOURITE RAMPANT LEADERS TO LIFT MAN TROPHY CITYFOR TAKE EIGHTH ON ONLY TIME OTHER AT ROLAND UNBEATEN GARROS SIDE Force of nature: it seems nothing much has changed since Nadal’s French Open triumph a year ago, despite a lengthy injury layoff

All eyes are back on Nadal for Paris glory

By Martyn Herman

W

atching Rafa Nadal churn his way through the claycourt season over the past few weeks, it seems nothing much has changed since his French Open triumph a year ago despite a lengthy injury layoff.

Titles in Barcelona, Madrid and Rome, where he dropped only three sets in the process, mean the 26-year-old is overwhelming favourite to lift the trophy for an eighth time at Roland Garros when play gets under way in Paris today.

Only world number one Novak Djokovic, who interrupted Nadal’s claycourt sweep by beating him in Monte Carlo, looks capable of preventing the Spaniard sinking his teeth into the Coupe des Mousquetaires again, but the Serbian’s confidence has taken a knock with early defeats in Madrid and Rome.

Roger Federer can be relied upon to add his elegant brush strokes on the Parisian dust and Nadal’s compatriot David Ferrer will strain every last sinew to reach the latter stages, while young guns such as Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov and Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz will be expected to make an impression.

All eyes though will be on

the force of nature that is Nadal as he returns to a venue that is as familiar to him as his own backyard and where he rightly appears invincible.

Yet, just a few weeks ago in Vina del Mar, next to the Pacific Ocean in Chile, Nadal’s long-awaited comeback from a knee injury that sidelined him for more than six months ended in a final defeat by lowly-ranked Argentine Horacio Zeballos.

With his knee still hurting him and his shots lacking their usual bite, some wondered whether Nadal was damaged goods, whether the aura he enjoyed on the red dust would ever return.

How ridiculous that notion now sounds.

Federer, who was given a claycourt lesson by Nadal in the Rome Masters final last Sunday, is not surprised at the Spaniard’s level since returning to competitive action.

“He’s not going to come back 20 per cent fit, he’s only coming back when he’s 100 per cent healthy,” Federer said.

“I am happy for him. He is super consistent and he is winning so many matches and he is improving.”

With only one defeat at Roland Garros to blot his copybook it would be only human if Nadal allowed himself the luxury of coasting through

his early rounds.

Complacency does not appear to be in Nadal’s dictionary, however, with the Spaniard relentless in his pursuit of claycourt perfection and records.

“When I go on court I am always thinking that what is happening to me in the past eight or nine years is not forever, nobody stays here forever and nobody wins forever,” said Nadal, who was struck down by tendinitis in his left knee shortly after his march to the title last year.

“I don’t know when this will finish and so I try to take care in every moment to make sure that this happens as late as possible. I respect everyone and this is why I have a lot of success every year and win a lot of matches on this surface.

“Some days I don’t play my best and I have to fight and run and be humble.”

Australian Open champion Djokovic has enjoyed a few more rest days than he might have expected in the run-up to the French Open, after chastening defeats by Dimitrov and Czech Tomas Berdych in Madrid and Rome.

Last year’s runner-up will arrive in typically confident mood, however, as he chases the only grand slam not on his CV. “I believe I can go all the

way,” he said in Rome. “It’s a long two weeks and I don’t want to make predictions. I need to get ready and hopefully I’ll make it.”

With world number two Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro both ruled out with injury, Berdych looks the best of the rest, especially if the usual damp conditions afflict the French capital as they did last year when the courts played heavy and slow.

Destructive off the serve, punishing on the forehand and moving better than ever, Berdych has shown growing belief that he can muscle his way into the world’s top four.

“He has been up there for a few years and is in the mix to win a grand-slam title, he is able to play big matches and has proved this in the past,” Djokovic said of Berdych after losing to him for only the second time in his career in Rome.

SEE ALSO PAGE 33: ‘Dominant Williams only afraid of enemy within’