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The head of the Czech Senate Miloš Vystrčil called for mutual understanding and respect for others in his first Advent speech broadcast on Czech Television. He warned that intransigence in place of compromise and reasonable solutions could lead to the weakening of democracy and undermine trust in the country’s state institutions. In a democracy, no one should recklessly exploit their superiority at the expense of the weaker party, and no one should recklessly block a solution that has majority support, Vystrčil said. He warned that if this behavior by politicians continues the development of the country will suffer and distrust in the parliamentary system will grow, which would only profit populists and extremists.

Tuesday should be partly cloudy to overcast with day temperatures between 4 and 8 degrees Celsius.

Charity organizations have appealed to institutions to donate unused food from company canteens to the needy. They say that while compared to past years tens of thousands of lunches from company canteens were saved this year, companies still throw away over 70,000 portions of unused food every day. Save the Food activists say the number of people in need of help, most often seniors and single parents, is growing and the process of donating left over food to charity with the help of an app is simple: a courier comes to pick up the food, which is delivered directly to shelters or charities working with the needy. The plan is to involve school canteens as well. Research data suggests that more food is thrown away in school canteens than in company ones.

The Czech government should seek help from communication experts, President Pavel said in an interview for Seznam.cz. The head of state, who has previously criticized the Fiala administration for failing to  properly explain unpopular measures to the public, made the statement in reaction to a survey according to which trust in the government has dropped to 17 percent and it is now the least trusted of all the country’s state institutions. President Pavel also noted that it makes sense to replace ministers when it is obvious that they are hampered not by an inability to communicate, but an inability to handle their portfolio. He did not mention any names. The coalition government of Civic Democrats, TOP 09, Christian Democrats, the Pirate Party and Mayors and Independents is now mid-way through its four-year term in office.