Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic?

Because there is no pub culture for the working man, such as the corner boozer in the UK, the cafe in rural France, and the co-op owned bar in Germany.

The poor financially challenged Polish boozer is chased out of the flat by his domineering wife and has no option but to stand on the street corner by the bushes with his mange ridden dachshund mongrel, drinking Wojas beer with his similarly down-trodden mates.

Terrible. And PIS will of course throw these poor retirees in the drunk-tank :)

WTF?


I find the opposite. There isn't full deflation yet, and hopefully there won't be, however non-imported, non-sugar foods have risen far lower than salaries.


A lot of that is to do with the wartime decimation of the cities and the post-war influx of rural people. Sadly the fewer pubs per head a country has, the more right-wing the governments seem to be. A lot of reasons for that.

I have noticed that usually always buying same things every week, my groceries bills have gone up a lot these past few months.

However, no pay increase in years. If I make more money, it's simply because I work more hours ;)

And yet not long ago government economists were worried about deflation -- excessive price drops. Did they do something to stop the deflation? Can anyone explain this in plain English?

@Pol: when I buy basics for the week at the supermarket, until a year ago, I could manage with around 120 ZL (+ buying additional things on a daily basis) and now I do the same and spend some 70 or 80 ZL each time I go to the supermarket, what I do 3 times a week. So yes, prices have gone up.

Of course, if we listen to (any) government, all is rosy, all is great, life is cheap, salaries are high and everyone is happy. BS!

You mean falling inflation. True deflation is a while away.

facebog.deon.pl/pawel-kukiz-o-kosciele
kukiz on the Church:
Evil is everywhere, also in the Church. But when I hear attacks on the Church may answer is: were it not for the Church we wouldn't be spekainbg Polish today. Evil is everyhwere and today it is being served up in such attractive form that we can easily confuse it with good.

Was he gazing into a mirror when he said that?

He's trying to be a priest, now?

The guy is really sick but unfortunately so many Poles cannot see it ....

I think he's trying to appeal to PiS voters...???

There is no such a beer.

Do you think a rush to judgement is the best approach? OK, he's unvonventional, but why not give the bloke the benefit of the doubt until he explains what he is on about.

Regardless of whether he is a single-issue activist (JOW) or not, the 20% support in the election is a warning bell that not all is right with the Polish politcal scene. How could there be when the Polish-Polish War is now in its 10th year with no signs of abating. All the energy which could help solve problems most Poles find oppressive has been channelled into sterile and unproductive mutual mud-slinging.

@Pol: sure my comments were a little bit hasty but what does the guy offer, if not nothing? He is against the system (but benefits from it) but so what, concretely what does he mean?

He believes, possibly mistakenly, that JOW will settle all problems -- bring politicians closer to the people, involve citizens in public affairs, etc.
I understand that system is used in Britain and the results are that the number of votes do not translate into mandates. I seem to have heard UKIP got a lot of votes but only one or two seats. Regardless of whether anyone likes or dislikes UKIP -- I used that example because it struck me as being way out of proportion. But let's see what transpires. I only know that the Tusks and Kaczyńskis and their flunkies have made a mess of things, so maybe this will be a breath of fresh air -- maybe it will serve as a catylst fostering positive change. Piłsudski was also inconventional his own way.

Kukiz? ROFL.
When were you last in Poland Polonius? People who can think for themselves do not want the church any longer to interfere in their private lives - the church is dead, long live the church!

My family is normal as normal can be, from a very religious background, and they only set foot in the place on special occasions, and this may be reprehensible, as alluded to in Sir John Betjeman's "Diary of a church mouse" - but frankly this is the reality, that the church has had it's day. And no one in their right mind wants a lecture from this ageing second rate pseudo-intellectual muso on what is right or wrong.

Thanks.


Wojas/Wojtas. What's in a name when it is ethanolly enhanced dishwater?

I bet 99% of his voters don't even know about JOW. Nevertheless, is it the main problem in Poland? Poles have no jobs and when they do, most often they make peanuts, a lot of them need to go abroad, the health system is lousy, the birth rate is very low, most retirees get groszy and he worries about ... JOW???? I bet very few Poles will even bother to vote in September and like a Pole told me if less than 50% participation, the results won't be counted (= a huge loss of public money).

There's no chance of it reaching that. PO and PiS have ignored the JOW issue because they don't really care, and even the referendum on the new constitution failed because of that 50% barrier.


Even as a very anti-UKIP voter, you're absolutely right. It was criminal that UKIP (and the Greens) got a huge amount of votes and a couple of seats - while the SNP won almost all the seats in Scotland with less votes. The only advantage of JOW is that people like Kukiz can win seats in the Sejm based on winning in one area - he has no chance under the current system.

I wouldn't object to the German system, which seems to work well.

Witam! I seriously doubt that 50% of Poles shall bother to vote in September and hence waste of public money and waste of time talking about an issue hardly anyone cares about (instead of talking about real problems).

The PO are good at that. Like the away cabinet meetings, the latest in Wrocław. "We want to be closer to the people bla-bla-bla," claim their propagndists. Somehow in 8 years at the trough they only started doing this during the election campaign. Pure coincidence of course! Nothing to do with winning brownie points with the electorate. These cabinet sessions in the field requiring extensive organisaitonal effort and the transport of the entire government plus auxiliary personnel use up incomparably more taxpayer money than just Szydło or Kopacz touring the country, shaking hands and electioneering.

@Pol: what amazes me (right now, among other things) is that the campaign has not officially started but nevertheless there are EW posters (style "I listen, I understand, I help"...)) in bus stops. Is it legal? Nevertheless, I am also amazed that PiS and other opponents don't say anything about that.

If the campaign has not officially started, why letting some candidates do campaign?

On top of that, these posters were made with public money, I suppose, not PO's.

How could they? They are doing the same kind of electioneering whether or not the campaign has officially started. The PO side is at an advantage becuase the govt still can adopt populistic electorate-pleasing measures which may gain them extra votes. The oppositon can only promise what they will do if they win.

It's started already - I've seen quite a few PiS posters in/around Wrocław over the last few days.


The election is actually at a very unfortunate time for PiS - PO still have nearly 3 months to pass laws, yet PiS will have their President in power. Yet a single use of the veto between now and the October elections will result in a huge amount of negative press going the way of PiS.

Interestingly Polonius, from a quick scan of the news, it looks like people from both PO and PiS are discussing the possibility of a Grand Coalition after the election.

@Delph: A lot of Poles told me campaign is to start in September. All candidates are not even registered so how can some already be campaigning?

@Delph: Sejm shall be closed all month of August so the current governement does not have 3 months to get things passed. Futhermore AD becomes president on August 6 and obviously he would put his veto to anything.

PS: who pays for the PO's campaigning? PO or the Sate (= taxpayers)?

Paweł Kukiz has registered his grouping with the Polish Election Commission. It is called Kukiz'15.

I don't think there's any rules on the official start of campaigning - the September start is based purely on when the two big parties will have agreed to start properly as it's after the summer holidays.

Kopacz and Szydło have been on the campaign trail for weeks now, as has Petru from NowoczesnaPL.


I think they can still recall the Sejm if they want, although I suspect that PO will be quite happy to let Duda make a fool out of himself in the first month or so without their help.

If he does veto anything, it's like manna from heaven for PO. They'll be able to portray PiS as "same old, same old" - and it will hurt them. Duda's best bet is to work with PO and not to do anything that might arouse any attention whatsoever.


Mix of both, as far as I know. I think one of the referendum questions is about abolishing state funding of parties?

InPolska - PO pays for the campaign from it's own budget, as every other party though they are being subsidied from taxpayers money unfortunatelly. This goes for all perties.

Paweł Kukiz has begun highlighting "planks" of his poltical programme. He opposes abortion except when the woman's life is in danger. He is opposed to foreign poltical or media outposts (agentura in the original) that come to Poland and protect minorities. He also said: "We must restore the normal family where a a woman can afford a rich husband, ie one not encumbered by taxes. Today women must work whether they wnat to or not. They earn as much as the tax encumbering their spouses. Of course, I have nothing against women working if they want to, I'm liberal, they can hold down four jobs if they want. The point is that they shouldn't be forced to."

As I keep saying - he has no real manifesto. That stuff about a woman being able to live off her husband's money is just nonsense, and he's yet again showing that his ideas are all just random nonsense. Low taxation for high earners, but huge social benefits? Something doesn't add up...

I admired Kukiz as a singer in his early stages. But as a politician, he is full of hot air... his promises to do away with the existing political system remind me of one very well known leader in particular: Владимир Ильич Ульянов.