Jarek Wisniewski

That other football, with reasonable VAR

This, by @shaunwalker7.bsky.social, is excellent. At times, it reads like a spy novel akin to John le Carré.

Highly recommended!

Saturday, sun, football by the river

An extremely important report from the House of Lords International Agreements Committee looking into parliamentary scrutiny of international treaties and agreements.

Worth noting that IAC is the only parliamentary body dedicated to treaty scrutiny.

📖 publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld...

Green graphic with portcullis logo and green background. An image of the House of Commons Chamber is overlayed in a green and beige colourway

🔴Shadow Defence Secretary, James Cartlidge MP is asking an urgent question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the violation of Poland’s airspace by Russian drones.

Watch live ⬇️
parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

‘Huge number of Russian drones’ violated our airspace, says Poland’s PM – follow live Tusk says that those which posed a threat were shot down as Zelenskyy says incursion sets ‘extremely dangerous precedent for Europe’

A good day to follow @theguardian.com Europe Live for reliable information about Polish (and not only) reactions to the overnight violations of Polish airspace by Russian drones.
@jakubkrupa.bsky.social provides helpful translations from 🇵🇱 incl political context

www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Poland shoots down drones over its territory amid Russian attack on Ukraine, prime minister says Donald Tusk says operation launched after ‘repeated violations of Polish airspace’

Poland said it scrambled its own & Nato air defences to shoot down drones over its territory after repeated violations of its airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine

The first time in the war that Warsaw has engaged Russian assets in its airspace.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

This is a very good piece on the growing tensions and competing foreign policy visions between the Polish President and Prime Minister.

An excellent discussion on recruitment and hiring

There are times when your team will fail, regardless of what they do.

This was one of those games. Fuham was doomed to fail. I have never seen a more biased and one-sided refereeing.

Makes you question what the point of following this sport is at all

By the river #FFC

Doświadczony dyplomata doradcą Tuska ds. bezpieczeństwa. To ruch wyprzedzający To sposób na odsunięcie współpracowników Karola Nawrockiego od eksperckich rozmów dotyczących przerwania walk w Ukrainie.

According to @wyborcza.pl, the Polish PM is due to appoint his first National Security Advisor.

Robert Kupiecki, currently one of the Deputy Ministers in the MFA, is a ‘securocrat’ with both Ambassadorial & MoD experience

wyborcza.pl/7,75399,3220...

Next year in Türkiye #NATO

Following the bombing of the Commons chamber in May 1941, the House of Lords lent its chamber to MPs while the Lords sat in the Robing Room.

Today is the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.

On this day in the Lords in 1945, the State Opening of Parliament took place. It was the first for several years to happen in the Lords chamber itself. Between 1941 and 1944, State Openings took place in the Robing Room, pictured here.

Back to the weekly madness

#FollowFulhamAway

An indication that Poland may soon have „a special cell” in the PM’s Chancellery responsible for coordination of defence & security policy

Note: The Polish machinery of government currently does not include a National Security Adviser post in the PM’s office

Source: @tygodnikpolityka.bsky.social

Today - 16/08/2025 - BBC Sounds Including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

My thoughts on that Alaska summit from 15mins in here. In short, a clear win for Putin. With an ICC indictment for war crimes hanging over him, shunned by W nations for 3.5 years, he was greeted as a co-equal world leader by Trump without giving anything in return. 1/4 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

YouTube video by Prof James Ker-Lindsay Understanding German Foreign Policy | Constanze Stelzenmüller

#Germany has long been an economic power in Europe, but it is still finding its way as a foreign policy actor. It was therefore really great to talk to @constelz.bsky.social about how Berlin sees the world and its main priorities youtu.be/D2PVSqN1MPQ

I can help! The Home Sec has written to the Commons Home Affairs Cttee (and to me in the same terms). The HAC have published the text here👇You will see that the Home Sec has relied on Section 22(1) of CRAG allowing ratification in exceptional circs. 1/2 committees.parliament.uk/publications...

An excellent briefing on the new EU border systems (launch on 12 October) by @stefanofella.bsky.social

The European Affairs Committee published a letter from the Home Sec on the UK-France Treaty on the 'one in, one out' asylum/immigration scheme, including arrangements re: the parliamentary scrutiny process for the Treaty. The Treaty came into force on 6 Aug committees.parliament.uk/publications...

Nationalist Karol Nawrocki sworn in as Polish president Combative speech in parliament sets Nawrocki on potential collision course with Donald Tusk’s pro-EU coalition

A good overview by @jakubkrupa.bsky.social of what to expect from the new Polish President, Karol Nawrocki www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

SAFE: Where the EU27 stands on the Commission’s €150 billion defence loans Latest from Euractiv

SAFE: Where the EU27 stands on the Commission’s €150 billion defence loans

“We say goodbye without regret”

“We welcome without hope”

Cover of the latest issue of Polityka @tygodnikpolityka.bsky.social, a Polish centre-left weekly magazine, on today’s presidential transition in Poland.

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Democracy After Illiberalism: A Warning from Poland | Journal of Democracy Restoring liberalism after illiberalism is no easy task: Leaders face hard choices between acting quickly and effectively while maintaining a commitment to democratic procedure. Worse…

"A key legacy of illiberalism turns out to be a series of institutional traps that are difficult to counteract in the short term without resorting to the same methods that established them in the first place."

www.journalofdemocra...

With all these Franco-British discussions about state-building in the Near East, now’s the time to read (or re-read) this by @jamesbarr.bsky.social. Not only a brilliant book about the tangled history of the region, but one if the best non-fiction titles. dauntbooks.co.uk/shop/books/a...

I’ve just pre-ordered it and would recommend doing the same to everyone interested in what is happening in Polish politics.

Over 500 pages later, I can wholeheartedly recommend this book. It's an excellent summer read, full of interesting nuggets (e.g., on his intellectual rivalry with Henry Kissinger). Most interestingly, his reflections on Russia have stood the test of time.