The view from Gdańsk of the Lisbon aftermath is not too different from that in Bologna and, at a guess, everywhere else in Europe. My fellow monkey reports that the President of Italy said: “you can’t think that the decision of lit
The Lisbon Constitution was accepted by Poland’s parliament. This comes under the heading of absurd because of the storm in the teacup that preceded it: I’m hazy on the details but half-former primesident Kaczyński was for it when he was not former and agin it when he was. If you follow. It was good when […]
Jacek Żakowski is what passes for a left winger here in Poland. In fact he’s regarded as practically a Bolshevik, while the organ he writes for, Polityka, despite abundant evidence to the contrary, is considered almost socialist. Despite his undeniably communistic credentials the final few sentences of a recent article about the politics of doing […]
In yesterday’s entry I forgot to mention the huff that president Kaczyński disappeared into after Tusk’s victory. Apparently, before the wheels of government could be set again in motion, Tusk – like it or not, the people’s choice – had to apologise to the president for all the nasty things he said. Like for instance, […]
No, not really. He is bitter to the end. He is claiming that a judge’s decision to force a couple of PiS-sympathetic journalists to appear in court in a libel case is evidence that the new rulers of Poland are in cahoots with the judiciary to do down PiS. I know, I know it doesn’t […]
The people of Poland woke up this morning slightly dazed, slightly confused, by the million-strong army of industrious party activists who were busily engaged in removing and ecologically disposing of the election campaign posters that had appeared over the last six weeks of intense but cheerful campaigning. Battered but proud, ex-prime minister Jarosław Kaczyński spoke […]
The signs are unmistakeable. All over the land it is evident that Polish politicians have shaken off the complexes and shackles of yesteryear. The East is awake! The last time I saw election posters here almost every single photograph of the candidate had the very top of his or her head cropped by the photographer. […]
I mentioned before how the names change but the faces remain in Polish politics. Here is the concrete example of Jacek Kurski, sometimes known as the “Bull Terrier” though “Liar” would be both less complimentary and more truthful. Mr. Kurski, deeply principled politican that he is, in his infinite care for the people of Poland, […]
Yesterday I had a perfectly average day — the details of which I will not bother you with — nicely rounded off with a refreshing ten hours kip. Is this “dignity under pressure”? Am I keeping my head while others all around are losing theirs? I ask because the signs in Polish are particularly — […]
Friday’s Gazeta Wyborcza carried a story under the above headline (more or less) on its front page. In it Bartosz Węglarczyk calculated how much time Kaczyński would have to talk to Bush on the latter’s visit here. The answer: 40 minutes, and since an interpreter would be needed that should be halved. Consecutive interpreting Węglarczyk […]
