Final Word from Thursday, October 2, 2014
The billboard wars in Prague could have ended Tomáš Hudeček's career as mayor but will apparently have the opposite effect. BigBoard, whose secret ownership harks back to Martin Roman and ČEZ's billions, spent a fortune making Hudeček out to be the enemy of the people for changing Prague's building rules, but the people never really got the message, and TOP 09 is leading in the polls. What could have caused TOP 09, with Miroslav Kalousek's close ties to Roman, to go after BigBoard by changing the construction rules? Nothing's clear in the billboard wars, but it appears that this is a case of double-dipping at Prague city hall by Deputy Mayor Jiří Vávra. He might be Kalousek's man, and by extension Roman's, but JCDecaux was momentarily more persuasive. James de Candole raised the scary possibility that Roman and Andrej Babiš have cut a deal that would cover up Roman's secrets forever but require Roman to dump Babiš's nemesis, Kalousek. That's a subject for further analysis after the billboard wars run their course. [Czech Republic BigMedia SPVR]
Glossary of difficult words
to hark back - to evoke, bring to mind;
to go after someone - to attack or pursue someone;
to double-dip - to obtain an income from two different sources, typically in an illicit way;
nemesis - archrival, adversary or foe.