This joint production of Lewackie Pitolenie and West Country Voices is an English translation of the recent episode of the Polish language podcast Lewackie Pitolenie, in which we hear from Polish people engaged in helping Ukrainian refugees – both at the border and in the west part of the country, a Ukrainian protester in Glasgow […]
society
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 209
Finally, what was always commonly known, now it’s officially confirmed. Remember when Jarosław Kaczyński was asked about the tax reform “Polski Ład” after expert pointed out, that it will make most Poles worse-off? Back then he said that “Poland needs positive changes but only those who make a living from – pardon my language – […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 206
It seems that the New Years’ concert organized by TVP (see last week’s chapter) really left a huge impact upon society. Zakopane, the mountain resort where that event took place (and located within the region inhabited by highlanders, who are amongst the most anti-vaccine groups in Poland) noted 159 % raise in COVID infections. No […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 201
Hallelujah! It’s such a great time to be living in Poland now! Petrol, for example, is cheap like nowhere else in Europe. True, you might not feel it at the forecourt, as for the average salary a Polish person can buy only 700 liters of petrol (Czech: 800 and German, for example, 1800), but as […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 199
This week’s news were dominated by Donald Tusk losing his driving licence. He was stopped when driving over 100 km/h in a village – so in a place where speed limit is 50 km/h only. Michał Karnowski, an editor of a pro-government propaganda outlet is calling for him to step down from politics. This just […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 194
You might remember that PiS came to power thanks to, amongst other things, a secret recording of the private conversations between politicians (see here). Those recordings, as we know today, were doctored and only those inconvenient to the politicians of the previous ruling party have been released. There was suspicion that Russia is involved in […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 187
Earlier this year president Duda was praising the work of the Polish Police during the women’s strike. According to him, the police behave in an exceptionally professional way, because “nobody died” during the riots (as he called the women’s strikes last year). He says that as long, as nobody’s hurt it means that the police’s […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 175
Apart from hunters, the State Forests are mentioned frequently in this series. This peculiar organisation is an unusual mix between a state institution tasked with managing the public property (that is, the forest) on behalf of the nation and a company making money from exploiting it. And if you don’t believe that, just look at […]
Is it racist to say “hey, but Ann Boylen was white!”?
Gazeta Wyborcza, the biggest Polish daily paper, decided to gain some clicky by resurrecting a discussion that tumbled across the Polish internet a couple of weeks ago. The question of casting Jodie Turner-Smith, a black actress, as Ann Boylen in the oncoming Netflix series was controversial. Since the series was announced as a period drama, […]
So are we still in lock-down? Or is that a normal life now?
We just entered March 2021. If you look even at my blog from year ago, I published several texts related to pandemics last March (see here). We all remember panic buy of pasta and hoarding bog rolls or speculation on the soap and hand sanitizer. Then the lockdown came and I remember how, along with […]