True story: an Irish friend of mine went to the bank in Gdańsk for a loan. Everything went swimmingly until it was time to type in his PESEL, the Polish equivalent of a social security number. My friend only had his Irish number. “How many digits?” asked the clerk. “Nine.” “I’m sorry, it has to […]
Romuald Rytwiński, director general of GM Opel in Poland: “The situation is still far from normal. 600 or 700,000 new cars should be selling on the Polish market [every year], not 200 or 300,000 as is the case now.” Blackadder: “It wouldn’t have anything to do with leeches, would it? Doctor: I had no idea […]
It is probably tempting fate to use the words “new low” and “tabloid” in the same sentence but I cannot resist: Polish tabloid Fakt has hit a new low. Their animatronic reconstructions used to be just ridiculous pandering to their non-literate readers but this… Former minister Barbara Blida was arrested in her home on suspicion […]
As the great and the good (as well as John Major) filed into Moscow’s reconstructed Christ the Saviour cathedral to pay their last respects to Boris Yeltsin, the debate over the legacy of Russia’s first elected president was only just beginning. As the more generous appraisers of our own Charles J. Haughey were apt to […]
How much money would the marketing department of a posh vodka manufacturer have to spend on translating their slogan into English would you think? Maybe ten, twenty euros? Surely enough, anyway, to avoid this one: “The king is only one.” Yes and we are many so let’s kill the king. I presume they meant “there […]
The New York Times website offers a beguiling multimedia feature on the enigmatic patterns formed by huge flocks of starlings that gather in the skies above Rome during Autumn and Winter. The final photo in the selection suggests, to my eyes at least, a haunting sketch of a winged, humanlike figure descending.Bonus info: apparently, the […]
While prying through some personal files late one night last week in the local IPN branch I came across one that caught my eye. It was the file of a certain university professor, doctor… well, let us call him “Dr. Wykształciuch” for the sake of discretion. The top sheet was his CV and at the […]
In today’s post, Twenty Major–the Irish blogosphere’s answer to Jim Davidson–cracks some laboured gags about the “little things” that annoy him.To give a flavour of the comedic mind at work, “dwarves” are listed.But, reflecting his position as Ireland’s premier blogger, Twenty Major does not shy away from the major stories of the day. A throwaway […]
Covering the interminable contract dispute between hospital consultants and the state, the Irish Independent today described the latest offer on the table: “On top of the €205,000 for a 39-hour week, they [the consultants] would also get an additional €40,000 if they meet targets for treating patients.” But for some, the prospect of a quarter-of-a-million […]
Despite having about 120-seconds’ worth of facts to report, the 24/7 news channels have devoted 1200 minutes to the carnage at Virgina Tech. CNN International has yielded the airwaves to its U.S. big brother, allowing viewers to witness improbably burnished anchors pepper dazed students with questions of staggering inanity. Meanwhile, camera-phone footage of the event […]
