Notes from Poland

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks about Donald Tusk’s current Polish government with Daniel Tilles , editor-in-chief of the Notes from Poland website. They discuss the government’s record since coming to power in December 2023, the reasons for its falling popularity, including the failure to deliver on key election promises, and ongoing controversies over rule of law....

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks about the Polish government’s controversial new migration strategy with deputy interior minister  Maciej Duszczyk . They discuss accusations of a "nativist" shift in migration policy among mainstream liberals in Poland and across Europe; the Tusk government's proposals to suspend the right to apply for asylum; the wider...

This week, in a reversal of roles, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill is in the podcast hot seat, speaking about the life and politics of Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński in an interview with Tom Leeman , a researcher based in London. This conversation was recorded jointly with Leeman’s podcast, The Hated and the Dead , which features discussions of the most influential contemporary politic...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks about the Polish government's war reparations claims of approximately $1.3 trillion against Germany with Arkadiusz Mularczyk , an MP from ruling party PiS and chair of the Parliamentary Group for the Estimation of the Amount of Compensation due to Poland from Germany for Damage Caused during the Second World War. They discuss the...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks with Paweł Jabłoński , Poland's deputy foreign minister, about Russia's war on Ukraine and its ramifications for Poland. They discuss what Poland is currently doing to help Ukraine, a new proposal to send NATO peacekeepers into the embattled country, energy sanctions, and the unfolding refugee crisis. Also take a look at our...

This week, in a special episode, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks to internationally-acclaimed film director and screenwriter Agnieszka Holland . They discuss the role of art in times of crisis, the burdens of history and politics, and Holland's cosmopolitan experience working in different countries and languages. The conversation originally took place as a live online eve...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks with John Scott-Railton , senior researcher at Toronto-based Citizen Lab, whose work has recently uncovered the use of spyware to hack the phones of individuals connected with Poland’s opposition. They discuss the details of Citizen Lab's key findings, how the team does its work, and what it might mean for Polish democracy and th...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks with Mateusz Wodziński , a Polish citizen reporting on the current migration crisis from his home inside the restricted zone on Poland’s border with Belarus. They discuss what the crisis looks like on the ground, the challenges faced by migrants in the forest, the state of emergency declared by Poland's government, and the danger...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks with journalist and political commentator Marcin Makowski about the latest developments in Polish politics. They discuss Poland’s continuing confrontation with the European Union over rule of law, the internal machinations of the ruling coalition, and Donald Tusk’s effect on the opposition. Marcin Makowski is a journalist and opinion...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks with legal expert Anna Wójcik about Poland’s ongoing conflict with the European Union. They discuss the latest controversies over rule of law in Poland, the possibility of punitive action from the European Commission, and the chances of Polexit. Anna Wójcik is a researcher at the Institute of Legal Studies of the Polish Academy of Sci...

This week, in a reversal of roles, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill is in the podcast hot seat, giving a range of his own perspectives on Polish politics in an interview with Fabian Eiden , based in Heidelberg, Germany. The conversation was recorded for the Committee on Constitutional affairs of the 93rd International Session of the European Youth Parliament, taking place this July i...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks with Barbara Nowacka , one of the leaders of Poland’s largest opposition grouping, Civic Coalition, about the current crisis of the opposition parties. They discuss the troubles of the Civic Coalition, conflict with the Left, the government’s post-pandemic recovery plan, and the fate of the Women’s Strike. Also check out our previous...

In the sixth part of our Brief History of Poland series, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill looks at the eighteenth-century decline and fall of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, covering the period between 1697 and 1795. He examines the Saxon kings, the descent into political disorder, the Enlightenment and reform, Hasidic Judaism, the Constitution of the Third of May, and the three...

In the fifth part of our Brief History of Poland series, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill looks at the war-torn seventeenth century and the beginnings of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s decline, covering the period between 1582 and 1699. He examines the Polish occupation of the Moscow Kremlin, the Counter-Reformation and the Baroque, Sarmatian culture, Ukraine and the Khmelnytsk...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks with Poland’s former finance minister, and key author of post-1989 free market reforms, Leszek Balcerowicz, about Poland's economy and politics under the current government in the shadow of coronavirus. They discuss PiS's social spending programs and economic policy, its handling of the epidemic, rule of law, and the opposit...

In the fourth part of our Brief History of Poland series, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill looks at the "golden age" of Poland-Lithuania in the sixteenth century, covering the period between 1505 and 1572. He examines the reign of the last two Jagiellonian kings; the establishment of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; religious tolerance and conflict; the great cultural ac...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks with Poland's deputy foreign minister Paweł Jabłoński about controversies over rule of law in Poland and the ongoing conflict over the EU budget. They discuss the multiple changes Poland's PiS-led ruling coalition has made to the judiciary, including the constitutional court and the judiciary council, as well as the proposal...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks with women's rights activist and academic  Agnieszka Graff about the mass protests against the recent abortion ruling in Poland. They discuss the motivations of the protests, their striking use of vulgar language, the reaction against the church, the political background to the court ruling, and what might happen next. Graff talk...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill is back with Ben Stanley , a political scientist at SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw, to talk about the recent crisis in Poland's ruling coalition and the reshuffle of the government. They discuss the conflict between Law and Justice (PiS) and the United Poland (Solidarna Polska) party of justice minister Zbi...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks to Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy , director of Belsat television, a Polish service broadcasting into Belarus in Belarusian and Russian languages. They discuss the background to the current mass protests in Belarus, Poland’s broader interest in its eastern neighbours, the muted international response, and the threat of Russian interventio...

In the third part of our Brief History of Poland series, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill looks at the establishment and development of the Jagiellonian dynasty - covering the period between 1370 and 1505. He examines the beginnings of the Polish-Lithuanian union, the addition of Royal Prussia and the Baltic port of Danzig, the growing freedoms of the nobility, and the evolving polit...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill is back with Ben Stanley , a political scientist at SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw, to talk about the upcoming presidential run-off between incumbent Andrzej Duda and opposition candidate Rafał Trzaskowski. They discuss the candidates' prospects, their potential paths to victory, the controversies of the ca...

This week, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks to Ben Stanley , a political scientist at SWPS University in Warsaw, about the upcoming presidential elections. They discuss the prospects of the two front runners, the controversies over "LGBT ideology", Donald Trump's apparent intervention, media bias, and the minor candidates of the left and far right. Also check out...

In the second part of the Brief History of Poland series, Notes from Poland editor-at-large Stanley Bill looks at the Piast dynasty in the period between 1025 and 1370. He examines the development of the dynasty, the feudal fragmentation of the kingdom and its restoration, the rising conflict with the Teutonic Knights, the dazzling reign of Kazimierz the Great, and the oldest known Polish song - B...

In the latest Notes from Poland podcast, our editor-at-large Stanley Bill talks to contributing writer Juliette Bretan , who is an expert on Polish popular culture of the 1920s and 1930s. They discuss the music, cinema, stars and broader history of the interwar period, while also presenting seven classic songs – from tango to cinema, from Mieczysław Fogg to Eugeniusz Bodo and the eastern sounds of...