Is a pregnant nun about to crash Poland's election?

8 May

In theory, the government's guy looks set to win Poland's presidential election, making life a hell of a lot easier for Donald Tusk as he attempts to undo eight years of destructive authoritarian rule under the previous rightwing populists. But might a pregnant nun swoop in and change everything at the last minute? For an explanation of this metaphor (and yes, it is just a metaphor), listen in to this week's great interview with Poland's best political YouTubers, Dominika Sitnicka and Agata Szczęśniak. We're also digging into Sweden's plans to crack down on porn influencers, and celebrating the sweeter side of last week's mass blackouts in Spain and Portugal.

Dominika and Agata are reporters at OKO.PRESS and co-hosts of its YouTube show, Program Polityczny (which can be watched with English auto-subtitles).

We'll be at two events in Amsterdam for Europe Day on May 9! You can buy a ticket to EuropaNacht at Paradiso here; tickets to the earlier event, at SPUI25, are available here. With many thanks to our friends at the European Cultural Foundation, DutchCulture and De Kiesmannen.

Inspiration Station recommendations:

Terry Pratchett's 'Discworld' (especially the Ankh-Morpork City Watch series)
Carême
'The Butterfly Effect'
'The Last Days of August'

Other resources for this episode:

'In the Madrid power cuts, I saw patience and common sense – but we were woefully unprepared' - María Ramírez, The Guardian, April 29, 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/29/madrid-power-cuts-blackout-radio-internet
'In case of crisis or war' - Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), November 2024 https://rib.msb.se/filer/pdf/30874.pdf
'The EU Commission's survival kits - fearmongering or necessary preparedness?' - Euronews, April 2, 2025 https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/04/02/the-eu-commissions-survival-kits-fearmongering-or-necessary-preparedness

Producers

Morgan Childs and Katy Lee

Mixing and mastering

Wojciech Oleksiak

Music

Jim Barne and Mariska Martina