In a glowing portrait of Gordon Brown (who appears to be doing something about the crisis other than make soothing noises) in the latest Nie, there is the following quotable quote: “…unemployment in Great Britain is expected to reach a terrifying 6%, which is regarded here [UK] as a catastrophe. In Poland 11% of people […]
In 2001, Chris Carlsson writing in Processed World (the magazine that he helped found), outlined the challenge facing community activists after the Seattle protests:”It is common for radicals in our era to describe easily what they are against, but when it comes to what we are for, a painful silence descends. (A couple of notable […]
The governments of all the major countries have stepped in to solve the worst financial crisis experienced since 1929. The capital markets at the very heart of the financial system have failed, exposing all the limits and contradictions of the present system in which the terms freedom, greed and abuse are too often mixed up. […]
Gazeta Wyborcza continues its “Poland is no Country for Old People” series. The Onion was there first.
Fannulloni is a word much in vogue in Italy at the moment, in part because of a headline-grabbing crusade by the Minister for the Public Sector, Renato Brunetta, against this seemingly large and well-deployed group. Fanulloni put simply means a layabout – and there’s plenty of evidence that the public sector is full of them. […]
Back in September rumours spread in Ireland that one of the country’s biggest banks was close to going bust. Total nonsense, the experts said. Everything was A-OK. But the rumours persisted. On one radio talk show a caller pointed out that savings in the Post Office Bank were state-guaranteed in their entirety. Within hours millions […]
Dr. Grzegorz Makowski of the Institute for Public Affairs says that corruption is not the gigantic problem in Poland that everyone thinks it is. Among the reasons everyone thinks the problem is so bad is Transparency International. TI was a good idea but later “… TI began to sell it [its corruption index] as a […]
“Poland is no country for old people,” Gazeta Wyborcza announced on Friday, with much handwringing in a full page spread advertising an upcoming series of heartrending etc etc. The text continues: “You humiliate us You forbid us love and sex Fast cars You tell us to throw pots and make wall hangings Look after your […]
The Cellist of Sarajevo is Canadian novelist Steven Galloway’s third novel, but only the first to be published in the UK & Ireland. I picked up the novel enthusiastically (it’s beautifully put together, from the elegant cover through to the paging and paper-weight) but also with the slight apprehension that always accompanies a novel that […]