“What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet” (Romeo and Juliet, Act II, scene ii)

In response to Reginos Theodotou from London UK and Joe Citizen from Insert Location Here, as well as various people with whom I have regular contact but still have a problem in understanding who I am, I think a couple of important clarifications are in order:

Although I’m called Charlie by people who know me, my professional name is Charles Charalambous. That’s Charles Charalambous from the Cyprus Mail. Not Charlie Charalambous, who writes for the Cyprus Weekly, and is a completely different person altogether. More facial hair, for a start.

When I was first asked whether I would like to write a blog for the new website, I said no, thinking I wouldn’t have the time, it would be just another thing I’d have to do at the office, and so on.

So who should you thank for changing my mind? Take a bow, Commerce and Tourism Minister Antonis Paschalides.

A short while ago I was listening to the CyBC lunchtime news, and heard Paschalides say that consumers should boycott cucumbers this Christmas if they think they are overpriced. This advice was followed by five minutes of shouted exchanges between various representatives of vegetable producers, one of whom stated solemnly that there is no cucumber cartel operating in Cyprus.