As the second wave of coronavirus locks down central Europe fears are growing over pressure on already-strained health staff. Two decades of emigration and historic underfunding are being blamed. Staffing could become even more critical than equipment shortages across the region. Medical staff have been leaving central Europe in their thousands since 2004 when their… Continue reading Two decades of ‘medic migration’ rocks central Europe as Covid hits home again

We at the Preservation Society know it can be difficult being a foreigner in a foreign land … not having a command of the language, feeling isolated and simply not being sure what is going on. So we will be giving regular updates on the extraordinary lock down in Slovakia, the reasons for it, what’s… Continue reading Ex-pats in new Slovak lock-down … let’s help each other AND rely on our local friends

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Covid 19 is a runaway train according to Slovak PM Igor Matovič as he mobilises the army to carry out millions of tests and imposes a curfew-style lock-down. “It’s as if we were travelling on a train whose brakes have stopped working,” he said, according to the SITA newswire. “We have to stop the train… Continue reading Covid a runaway train, says Slovak PM as we face Halloween curfew, tests and fines – and ‘come home’ plea goes out to doctors

A family-owned television station with almost 30 years of broadcast history has made it into the new age of ‘streaming’. Airtv International has joined Roku, one of the world’s biggest entertainment and news platforms. Roku was recently voted ‘favourite’ streaming system, with the most streaming app options, the simplest interface and the best search. Rodney… Continue reading Leigh will, Rodney will… Roku on Airtv International

The hedonistic 60s are making a hazy comeback thanks to the predilections of some of the era’s greatest artists. We already know that Bob Dylan was the Mr Beaujolais Jangles of his generation and his mate Carlos Santana was one of the smoothest tokers in Vegas. But some say that Bob gave up the booze… Continue reading Roll up! Roll up! Say cheers to Whiskey Bob and old toker Carlos

We packed the boot of our ‘Bentley’ with lamps and books and stylish old clothes. It was time to head back to our European ‘heaven’. Things were getting pretty tight out there, the city we now called home was going in to semi-lockdown again. Being back in Britain had been markedd by soaring happiness and… Continue reading 4,000 miles through a covid world to see our family … and it went wrong

George Clooney and Bob Dylan are to work on a new film adaptation of John Grisham’s baseball-themed book Calico Joe. The project has Clooney and his Smokehouse Pictures partner Grant Heslov getting together with Dylan’s Grey Water Park Productions.  Calico Joe is the story of a father and son, played out against the backdrop of league baseball in the… Continue reading Dylan and Clooney set to retell story of Calico Joe

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we practise to please … like all those people who asked us to do a webinar on how to make a living as a writer. Sorry! We zoomed in, we zoomed out, we picked up the computer and shook it all about. We went live – then… Continue reading Web of intrigue as Jess and I try to have screen chat about making it as a writer

President Donald Trump has ‘put people’s lives at risk’ with his decision to stage a drive-by outside the hospital where he is being treated for Co vid-19. “Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For… Continue reading How Trump came over ‘all unnecessary’ and deliberately drove into another potential Covid scandal