The Debrief

It’s been a week marked by International Holocaust Remembrance day and the Polish government’s announcement that it has placed an order for 87 million Covid-19 vaccines from as many as five different companies.

And while we’re on the subject of the ongoing pandemic, in this week’s interview, host John Beauchamp is joined by Dr Maria Reimann from the Interdisciplinary Team on Childhood Research at Warsaw University about how the pandemic has affected kids in Poland and across the world.

You can check out a whole range of information and resources on the pandemic and how it has affected youth by going here.

In this week’s review:

• Polish man in ‘vegetative’ state dies in Plymouth hospital
• WWII artefacts found in hidden bunker at Warsaw Ghetto building site secretly ‘smuggled’ out of Poland
• Restaurants may reopen in May - Polish Development Fund
• IMF maintains Poland’s 2021 GDP growth forecast at 2.7 pct

Why not drop me a line? You can get in touch with the show by writing to [email protected], and please remember to share, like and subscribe to The Debrief!

In this week’s show, host John Beauchamp is joined in the studio by Dr Stefan Czarniecki, a medical professional working in Warsaw to talk about how Poland’s mass vaccination drive is going and how it compares to what’s going on globally.

In this week’s review:

• Poland to consider legal steps against Pfizer if vaccines not delivered
• Polish clinic offers to take Pole ‘in a coma’ after UK court rules he should be left to die
• Trade to reopen from February 1, too early for reopening of other sectors
• Red hot chilli farmers: Lublin couple at forefront of Poland’s spicy food revolution

Why not drop me a line? You can get in touch with the show by writing to [email protected], and please remember to share, like and subscribe!

From unemployment and real estate prices to inflation and GDP, we've got you covered.

Join host John Beauchamp and TFN Editor-in-Chief Dagmara Leszkowicz for this year's look at the Polish economy.

What a year it's been. Host John Beauchamp is joined by Paddy Ney to talk 2020, while catching some of our favourite stories on TFN, including unwitting mushroom-picking bounty hunters, and my personal favourite episode of The Debrief this year, the time capsule found in a church spire.

Thanks to all of you out there who are listening regularly to the podcast, and stay tuned for a brand-new Debrief from 2021!

It’s that time of year again for The Debrief Christmas Special! Hosted by John Beauchamp with guest Ed Wight, Managing Editor of The First News.

Ed chooses his three top stories for 2020: a serenading opera singer who cheers up a Warsaw hospital in times of lockdown; how Polish scientists are making extraordinary discoveries in these adverse times, and; how a 100-hundred-year-old bridge got saved from being blown to smithereens in the latest planned Mission Impossible movie.

Also in the show: can you identify the sounds from around Poland which you can hear throughout the show? Let me know by getting in touch at [email protected] and if you get all three you win a surprise!

All the very best for this Christmas and festive season 🥳

Hosted by John Beauchamp

I hope you didn’t have anything planned for the New Year, as the government announced this week a whole slew of restrictions which are to come in force over the Christmas period.

What is being called a ‘national quarantine’ will be enforced from December 28th, 2020 until January 17, 2021, with an outright ban on movement between 1900 CET on New Year’s Eve and 0600 CET on New Year’s Day.

With a vaccine coming soon, though, what next for the COVID crisis? I spoke to Dr Krzysztof Ostaszewski, who told me what’s in store for the country over the next weeks and months…

While I wouldn’t say that the pandemic is like solitary confinement, the fact that people are staying in close-knit groups and keeping a ‘safe’ distance has also led to a loosening of social ties, problems in the workplace and a greater risk of anxiety.

So it might not come as a surprise, then, that there’s a piece written on The First News at the end of November which reports that the sale of antidepressants in Poland is on the up.

Life in lockdown still has its ups and downs: one day you feel great, the next day you’re climbing up the walls. How are you coping? It’s a hard time for all of us to get through, but let’s get through it together!

If you want to get in touch please write to me at [email protected] and if you have Whatsapp, why not leave me a voice message (which you agree to being used on air, of course!) at +48 504 202 352.

Stay updated by checking out the Coronavirus updates on TFN, and there’s also a lot happening on Facebook. It’s doesn’t all have to be doom and gloom.

Hosted by John Beauchamp.

We’re working on a format change for The Debrief. Not that the old format didn’t work, but it’s been taken over more or less by What’s Up Poland, a weekly live video I’m now doing for TFN with Paddy Ney and our Ed-in-Chief Dagmara Leszkowicz. Give it a try!

There’ll be more updates before the year is up as The Debrief will be coming out twice a week to wrap up 2020 with a bang. Is there anything you would like to hear on The Debrief? Are there any pressing issues you want to be addressed? Do let me know – the email address is [email protected]

In this episode of The Debrief, host John Beauchamp speaks to TFN Managing Editor Ed Wight about a British spy who was briefly stationed in Warsaw during the 1960s...

Just what was he doing in Poland at the height of the Cold War? You can read all about him here, and we follow up the story with more information that has come to light since the story's publication.

Host John Beauchamp talks to TFN staff writer Joanna Jasińska about an article she wrote recently about the ins and outs of the Atlantic cinema, which opened its doors to great aplomb in the 1930s and has since pretty remained open, even during World War II and the years of communist rule in the country...

However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of internet streaming services have put a question mark over the cinema's fate.

You can read the original article here.