Not a very good title, really, since according to the Guardian, the trial was held behind closed doors but there are similarities with the “confession” (the Guardian’s inverted commas) of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the show trials of Stalinist Russia. The man, after more than three years under arrest quietly contemplating the error of his […]
Andrzej Zybertowicz puts up a strong, if entirely illogical, defence of the law requiring journalists to swear to whether they did or did not cooperate with the secret services of communist Poland in Wednesday’s Rzeczpospolita. Journalists should sign the loyalty declarations beacuse they are “the fourth estate.” It’s that simple. I have scoured the constitution […]
Not all journos here are finding the legal requirement to pledge that you never informed under communism so irksome as those prima donnas who claim that this is mere humiliation, since in any case the archives are about to be thrown open to journalists (and that, as mentioned before, means nearly everyone — including you, […]
From March 15th all journalists born before 1972 working in Poland will have to sign a declaration that they did not spy for the Polish People’s Republic. That includes me: Polish law has a very wide definition of journalism and the bill makes no distinction between Poles and foreigners. Nor does it make any attempt […]
“Monachal” means pertaining to monks. The OED gives a citation from 1587. A “vaticination” is an inspired or oracular vision – attested in 1603. Perhaps Leavis was making fun of Conrad.
Wikipedia on dialogue in theatre of the absurd: “repetitive or nonsensical dialogue and dramatic non-sequiturs are often used to create dream-like, or even nightmare-like moods.” For example: XX: I think that you people are under a curse. […] AA: I like what you said just now. XX: Do you? AA: The great problem is to […]
Pay attention class. Up till now the primary degree in Poland was not a BA but an MA. This takes five years of study and is awarded on submission of an MA thesis. After the MA you can go on to do a PhD – also by research – and then a “habilitacja.” The consequences […]
I am happy to report that I have solved the mystery of why Polish writers are so sloppy about little things like suspension of disbelief. They’re copying Joseph “monachal vaticinations” Conrad. In Under Western Eyes Razumov enters his apartment to find a man called Haldin inside, waiting for him. How did this man get in? […]
Here’s a Polish poem from 1950 in – for reasons that should become obvious – very free translation: “One needs” Stars stars have spread out in heaven Silence descends from the tops of the town. One needs one needs love poems so that lovers can notice them In the plan in the plan in the […]
Nie reveals that one of the creditors of the Academic Clinical Hospital in Wrocław, one of the hospitals facing the bailiffs, is a company called Greenhouse. The big cheese here is one Tomasz Tokarski, a CASE (Socio-economic Analysis Centre) expert. CASE is the organisation that advocates the introduction of additional, voluntary health insurance.
