Back in deepest Oxfordshire, after a week in which I gave five set-piece presentations. One was at a Wilton Park conference on the general theme of Russia and Social Media. The second was at TEDxWarsaw, a coaching session in public speaking for some of the speakers at the main event. Then […]
Here is Poland’s Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski yesterday in Washington: Events in the Middle East show that we are fast entering a new phase in the spread of democracy, or at least a new pluralism. People living under dictatorships are finding out who they are. They are realising that the […]
This is the relaxing blog of Michael Dembinski, musing on life from the vantage-point of an intriguing Warsaw suburb. Here is a clever idea he’s had: to find photographs from contemporary Poland somehow suggesting life under communism, as if nothing has changed. And his blogroll led me to Jacek Koba, […]
I have had a kind message from Stevan Hobfoll (former officer in the Israeli defence forces turned expert on Stress) about a novel he has written, The Imperfect Guardian. The book is a Jewish adventure story, based loosely on his grandfather’s early years in Poland and Russia from 1906 (the failed […]
Anyone interested in learning more about what is happening in both the UK and Poland with different forms of renewable energy (biomass, wind, waste-to-energy and so on) should get on down to the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel at 22 Portman Square. London W1 next Wednesday (26 January), for a brisk seminar […]
PM David Cameron made an important statement to Parliament about the latest EU Summit. Full text here (written it must be said in commendably clear language). Though you’d never guess from our snow-infested news bulletins, this was a really important gathering from which, by the usual standards of such gatherings, […]
The second gripping instalment of my analysis of the EU Budget is here: In a few months’ time, the familiar weary battle will unfold in Brussels as the next Financial Perspective negotiations get under way. The Commission, cheered on by the profligate European Parliament, will announce an indicative budget increase […]
My long-awaited analysis of how the EU Budget really works is now being posted by Conservative Home, in two gripping episodes. The first one has appeared this morning – here. The second should appear tomorrow. Note especially the analysis of the famous British Rebate: a) It is the wonderful Thatcherite […]
My talk at TEDxKrakow contained one throw-away observation which raised warm applause from the massed Polish audience. I said that I had studied various languages. Polish is the only one which teaches you the verb ‘to complain’ – narzekać – as one of the VERY FIRST VERBS YOU LEARN. This subsequently led to […]
Good question. But it will happen. Poland one day will fade once and for all from the map of Europe (as will the UK and Germany) and give way to Something Else. Jan Klosowski looks closely at the options (in Polish, but Google translator gets you the gist).
