A book just published by Routledge sheds new light on the Conservative Party’s controversial radical right-wing allies in Poland.

It illustrates the rapid growth of organized radical nationalism in Poland by showing its origins, its internal dynamics and the historical, political, social and cultural context that has made it possible.

‘The Populist Radical Right in Poland’ goes to the heart of radical politics in one of the European Union’s newest members

The book is written by Rafal Pankowski, who has served as deputy editor of ‘Nigdy Wiecej’ (Never Again) magazine since 1996.

He has published widely on racism, nationalism, xenophobia and other issues including the books Neo-Fascism in Western Europe (1998) and Racism and Popular Culture (2006).

He currently works as a lecturer at Collegium Civitas and head of the Warsaw-based East Europe Monitoring Centre.

Press contact:
From a press release

In an interview last week on Radio 4′s Women’s Hour, David Cameron insulted his own party. Bizarrely enough, not many in the media picked up on it.

The discussion took place on 18th February on Women’s Hour, which you can listen to from here.

A proportion of the interview with Cameron revolved around better representation in Parliament.

At one point Cameron states: “The point is, you need to be more representative to be more effective”

There is also discussion on the controversies around women candidates Liz Truss and Joanne Cash.

Cameron then goes on to point out that imposing All Women Shortlists from Conservative Central Office was the only option open to him since change was not taking fast enough.

At this point interviewer (at around 22 min in) Jenni Murray says:

This would make Margaret Thatcher’s heart go cold. The party has always argued you should get there on merit than because of your gender.

To which Cameron replies:

I have a lot of sympathy with that view BUT, and it’s a really big but, we tried that for years and the fact is the rate of change was just to slow. And if we just carried on as we were I think in the end we would have… some very talented women would have gotten through but they were having to jump barriers far higher than any of the men.

I mean I’ve said this, half-jokingly to some in my party, and they sort of laugh because they know it’s true that sometimes in a selection meeting there can be as if they’re looking for the perfect son-in-law rather than the perfect candidate [laughs].

And you have to recognise the rate of change wasn’t faster we weren’t going to be representative enough as a party so I took the view that we had to give things a big shift.. a bit of a shock, and that’s what I’ve done.

I heartily commend David Cameron on his honesty. But will Conservative Associations around the country take that remark so lightly?

In a speech three years ago this March David Cameron claimed Margaret Thatchers economic revolution as his own. She had, he said, engineered an enterprise economy that was the envy of the world. Today “our country does not face economic breakdown. We’ve won the economic argument.”

As we approach an election in which the economy will be the defining issue we need an assessment of the Conservative legacy. The three turbulent decades of Conservative economic hegemony has created little productive wealth.

The Conservative legacy has been a massive shift in income, wealth and power from labour to capital, from the poor to the rich and from the country to the City.

The defining issue of the election will be how we rebuild the economy. What are the Conservative answers?
Come and find out at a public meeting:

‘OSBORNOMICS: What will the Conservatives do to the economy?’
7pm – 9pm, Monday 1 March.
Venue: House of Commons, Committee Room 10, St Stephen’s entrance
Speakers: Howard Reed, Larry Elliott, Polly Toynbee, Andrew Gamble. Chair, Jon Cruddas MP

Organised by the New Political Economy Network and Compass in association with The Guardian, Renewal and Soundings

Places are limited.
Please register by emailing

It all started with a phone call by writer Robert Popper.

At the height of bullygate’, he thought he’d play a prank on the media by inventing a story about Gordon Brown throwing a tantrum and chucking a tangerine at a factory machine that ends up breaking it.

Here is the phone-call to LBC Radio

That story then took a life of it’s own. The FT’s Jim Pickard blogged it.

The Telegraph then turned it into a story and the Sun also mentioned it.

And then, inevitably, came the animation by a Taiwanese station

Meanwhile, Robert Popper can’t stop laughing. Don’t believe all you read in the media.