We’re living in a strange times. I recall today when 25 years ago I wrote for a student magazine “Semestr”. One day Andrzej Lepper – a controversial politician – was coming to meet students in my home town of Wrocław. When the editor asked who wanted to cover it, half of the team raised their […]
history
On the 8th anniversary of Brexit referendum.
The Brexit referendum happened 8 years ago. I remember that I didn’t believe right to the end that Britain can be stupid enough to do it to itself. What else do I remember about that? I remember the next morning we were driving our car to work (we worked together in one office back then). […]
Leftist Drivel on Finnish politics.
Our listeners were asking us about Finnish politics. We know nothing about Finnish politics, so we invited a true Finn to explain it to us. As the conversation took place in English, we decided to publish the English version too as well. So if you are curious: – what are the main political powers in […]
Leftist Drivel on Polish-Ukrainian relations and Russia
Our guest today is Ukrainian youtuber and film critic, Alina Nikulina. We talk about how the life of Ukrainians changed last year, but also about how it influenced Polish-Ukrainian relations. Of course, we could not omit the topic of Russia, its past and future, and how it influenced the history of our countries – but […]
Leftist Drivel on Scots and Haggis (Guest: MizLiot)
This is an English version of our polish-language podcast. Burns night is coming. On that day Scottish people sit to the table to enjoy their national cuisine. The most important moment of the evening is cutting the haggis and loud reading of the one of the most famous Scottish poems by their national bard Robert […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 203
Yet another week, yet another time Poles went to the streets. This time to protest against so-called LexTVN, the new law proposed by PiS that on the surface are to ensure that foreign powers have no influence over the Polish media. Doesn’t sound like that bad idea, until you close. The law is clearly aimed […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 202
40 years ago General Wojciech Jaruzelski introduced Martial State in Poland. This decision is still widely discussed today. For the opposition it was an obvious tragedy, the whole resistance movement, that managed to achieve some degree of Freedom (the months before 13 XII 1981 were later nicknamed “a Solidarity Carnival”), had been brutally stamped upon. […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 190
Remember last summer, during the peak of the COVID epidemics, where ambulances were queuing outside hospitals, and everyone thought that it can’t get any worse? Well, we should never underestimate the PiS government. Because now, the ambulances are parked in the yard and are not helping patients at all. There is not enough crews around […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 186
It seems I am a really, really bad journalist. For nearly 200 chapters of that series I tried to keep a close eyes on developments in Poland and somehow I missed a very important fact: that every worker in Poland in recent years got a 60% pay raise. Surely, I don’t know how it is […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 163
We haven’t had one of those for a while. But they came back with a bang. Literally. A government VIP vehicle, that, according to witnesses, was driving through Warsaw well over the speed limit, had smashed into a small Škoda. Its driver was unconscious and has been taken to the hospital and his car is […]