— “ALARMIST SIGNALS ARE SOUNDING”. FIRST DATA FOR POLAND IN 2025 – BARTOSZ KRZYŻANIAK IN BUSINESS INSIDER: “Entrepreneurs are entering 2025 with grim faces. Those whose production is destined for foreign markets are particularly affected. And it’s of little consolation that others are faring worse.”
https://www.forbes.pl/gospodarka/pmi-dla-polski-pierwsze-dane-w-2025-r-niekorzystne-dla-polski/d9c3wjc

— AMONG OTHER THINGS, A VERY POPULAR RELIEF USED BY THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WILL DISAPPEAR. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT CREDIT HOLIDAYS. ZUS CONTRIBUTIONS ARE GOING UP. THIS WILL NOT BE A KIND YEAR. “FAKT” HAS CHECKED EXACTLY HOW MUCH POLES WILL BE PAYING:
https://www.fakt.pl/pieniadze/rzad-po-cichu-skasowal-wazna-ulge-a-to-nie-wszystko-zaplacimy-wiecej/14xq3vw

— RECORD NUMBER OF CONSUMER BANKRUPTCIES. THE PHENOMENON IS STILL GROWING – PAP: “As the newspaper reports, the number of personal bankruptcies is rising sharply each year, although ‘last year this growth was not as spectacular as it has been before’. Nevertheless, data from the Court and Economic Monitor and the National Debt Register show that in 2024, as many as 21.2 thousand people went bankrupt, the highest number in history.”
https://www.pap.pl/aktualnosci/rekordowa-liczba-upadlosci-konsumenckich-zjawisko-wciaz-narasta

— ALL OF THIS IS STARTING TO LOOK GROTESQUE, AND IT WOULD BE A FARCE IF IT WEREN’T HAPPENING IN A COUNTRY OF 38 MILLION IN THE MIDDLE OF EUROPE – RESPONDS MAREK SAWICKI IN A COMMENT FOR MONIKA WALUŚ ON ONET: “If there had been even one indictment instead of these 150 notifications to the prosecutor’s office that Minister Bodnar is talking about, then I would believe we have a Ministry of Justice, I would believe we have a government and a coalition. – You no longer believe? – I ask. – I don’t have such faith. And I don’t know if Bodnar’s prosecutors are so incompetent, or if PiS has so cemented the system, but it looks like a political stunt, and PiS is laughing at us. All of this is starting to look grotesque, and it would be a farce if it weren’t happening in a country of 38 million in the middle of Europe – replies MP Sawicki.”

— WE ALSO HEAR IN THE NEW LEFT THAT THE IDEA OF AN INCIDENTAL LAW IS FURTHER HEATING UP THE ATMOSPHERE AROUND THE SITUATION IN THE SUPREME COURT, NOT AN ATTEMPT TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM – CONTINUES MONIKA WALUŚ ON ONET: “In the New Left, we also hear that the idea of an incidental law is further heating up the atmosphere around the situation in the Supreme Court, rather than an attempt to solve the problem. — Marshal Hołownia is adopting the stance of a politician above divisions, who wants to unite everyone, but his idea is nothing more than an element of his presidential campaign, in which he is participating as a candidate — comments MP Anna Maria Żukowska of the New Left in an interview with Onet. — The way to remedy the situation would be to abide by the constitution, not to invent new solutions that show we are only pretending when we say we do not recognize neo-judges.”
https://www.onet.pl/informacje/onetwiadomosci/spor-o-pieniadze-dla-pis-koalicjant-grzmi-nie-wierze-w-ten-rzad/k026mct,79cfc278

— TRZASKOWSKI: I SAY A FIRM “NO” TO THE EU-MERCOSUR AGREEMENT, “IN A FEW DAYS”. GRABIEC ON DOMAŃSKI'S STANCE ON MONEY FOR PIS – 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2025/01/03/

— WHATEVER NAWROCKI SAYS, HE WILL OFFEND SOMEONE. AND BECAUSE HE HAS NO SUPPORT BASE, MONEY, CAMPAIGN TEAM, NO LOYAL FOLLOWERS, HE HAS TO LIE TO OFFEND NO ONE – AGNIESZKA KUBLIK IN GW: “Whatever Nawrocki says, he will offend someone. And because he has no support base, money, campaign team, no loyal followers, he has to lie to offend no one. This phenomenon will intensify. Nawrocki will have to say “I don’t think anything” more and more often. And thereby confirm how little depends on him. Unless it’s running, but we’re not choosing runner of the year. What will Nawrocki answer to questions about Orban’s stance on Putin? Would he call Putin, like Orban, an “honest partner”?”
https://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,31583163,mam-kilka-pytan-do-karola-nawrockiego.html

— HOW JAROSŁAW KACZYŃSKI FOUGHT WITH “WOOLEN” RHETORIC – ARTUR BARTKIEWICZ IN RZ: “Indeed, their rhetoric was more than just woolen” – wrote Zbigniew Herbert years ago, explaining in the poem “The Power of Taste” why he and others like him did not succumb to the arguments of the communists after the war. Now, Jarosław Kaczyński has provided an example of “woolen” rhetoric AD 2025 at a press conference.”
https://www.rp.pl/komentarze/art41640091-artur-bartkiewicz-jak-jaroslaw-kaczynski-parciana-retoryka-wojowal

— WE NEED TO SHOW THE PARTY THAT EVERYONE WILL WORK FOR THE CANDIDATE AND THERE IS NO GRUMBLING OR RESISTANCE – PIS POLITICIANS TELL US – DOMINIKA DŁUGOSZ IN NEWSWEEK ABOUT SZYDŁO'S APPEARANCE: “But a joint conference with such a group also has another purpose. We need to show the party that everyone loves each other, works together, and opens the fridge together. – Let’s agree that there is no reason for Beata to suddenly appear at a press conference at Nowogrodzka Street. There hasn’t been love there recently, quite the opposite. There can be two reasons: either she is needed, or it is necessary to show the party that everyone will work for the candidate and there will be no grumbling or resistance – PIS politicians tell us.”

— KACZYŃSKI BOOSTS SZYDŁO BECAUSE HE IS PLAYING FACTIONS – CONTINUES DOMINIKA DŁUGOSZ IN NEWSWEEK: “This is an element of the president’s favorite management technique. Jarosław Kaczyński has always led the party by ‘playing factions’. He humiliates some, elevates others, pushes others aside, only to change the order immediately and lift up the humiliated, and embrace the sidelined. Recently, Beata Szydło has had a very bad time in the party; it is clearly time for the president to decide that for a change, she needs to be boosted a bit so that other factions start to fear.”
https://www.onet.pl/informacje/newsweek/pokazujac-sie-z-szydlo-kaczynski-dal-sygnal-frakcje-zaczely-sie-bac-kulisy/ehgfwrx,452ad802

— 'BULLDOG FIGHTS UNDER THE RUG’. ZDANOWSKA AND SKRZYDLEWSKA: TWO CAMPS IN THE LODZ CIVIC PLATFORM – PAWEŁ KOWALSKI, LECTURER AT THE FACULTY OF INTERNATIONAL AND POLITICAL STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LODZ, IN A CONVERSATION WITH JERZY WALCZYK IN GW: “What is somewhat surprising in the context of political assessment is the internal division into two competing factions within the Civic Platform. The first is Hanna Zdanowska’s group, the second – Joanna Skrzydlewska’s. We currently have two centers of political power in the region (the city hall and the regional assembly), and this division is evident, among other things, at the level of individual collaborators who decide to end their cooperation with Hanna Zdanowska and move to the regional assembly, headed by Joanna Skrzydlewska, who does not hide her aspirations to replace Hanna Zdanowska as mayor, which she expressed during a recent Christmas Eve meeting when, in a somewhat veiled manner, she wished that in the future she might run for the office of the mayor of Łódź.”

— SIMPLY, NOW THERE IS NO IMPULSE THAT WILL MAKE ITS RESIDENTS FEEL THAT IT IS WORTH STAYING IN ŁÓDŹ FOR LONGER – CONTINUES KOWALSKI IN A CONVERSATION WITH GW: “Mayor Zdanowska repeatedly says that she would like every resident of Łódź to have good living conditions, a bathroom, and a toilet. That is her vision. I have not heard any mention of a new technology center, a research center, or attracting innovative companies that could lead to better-paying jobs and, as a result, an improvement in the individual standard of living. Simply, now there is no impulse that will make its residents feel that it is worth staying in Łódź for longer, because the city offers them attractive prospects for personal and professional development.”
https://lodz.wyborcza.pl/lodz/7,35136,31581726,walka-buldogow-pod-dywanem-hanna-zdanowska-i-joanna-skrzydlewska.html

— THANKS TO A UNANIMOUS DECISION OF THE SENATE, JÓZEF TISCHNER BECAME ONE OF THE PATRONS OF 2025 – AN EXCEPTIONALLY CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE, ONE OF THE KEY ARCHITECTS OF THE THIRD REPUBLIC AS A SECULAR STATE – ŁUKASZ ŁACHECKI IN KRYTYKA POLITYCZNA: “But how does Michał Żebrowski, who has been friends with Trzaskowski for 40 years, view all of this? Even die-hard Civic Platform fanatics shared on their holiday break a fragment of the popular actor’s statement that PiS was merely a representative of the force that commanded the entire operation – i.e., the Catholic Church. It’s interesting if, after eight years of PiS rule, the enlightened elites are not annoyed by holy pictures with quotes from John Paul II that Trzaskowski receives from devout highlanders.”
https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/ksiadz-jozef-tischner-patronem-2025-roku/

— IWONA ŚLEDZIŃSKA-KATARASIŃSKA WOULD HAVE TURNED 84 TODAY.

— BIRTHDAYS: Alicja Pacewicz, Arleta Zalewska.