Boris Johnson’s conservative government in the UK is on course for an history victory this morning in what is likely to be their biggest general election victory since Margaret Thatcher won in 1987. Current results show that the conservatives will have a majority of around 78 seats when counting of votes concludes.

This will mean that Boris Johnson will be clear to push through the UKs planned exit from the European Union at the end of January. In a disastrous night for the left leaning labour party, they are likely to win only 203 seats against the conservatives 368 seats which is labour’s worst performance in nearly a century. The Scottish National Party will have around 48 seats in parliament which could make life interesting for Mr Johnson with respect to a Scottish bid for independence from the UK.

Anniversary of Martial Law in Poland

Today marks the 33rd anniversary of the declaration of martial law in Poland in 1981 that lasted until 1983 in which Poland’s military rulers declared a state of emergency and placed the leaders of the Solidarity trade union under arrest and drastically restricted normal life in an attempt to crush political opposition. Thousands of opposition activists were jailed without charge and as many as 91 killed. Although martial law was lifted in 1983 and in that year Lech Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize, many of the political prisoners were not released until a general amnesty in 1986.

Demands for EU Support in Reaching Climate Neutrality

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said this week ahead of an EU summit that a push for climate neutrality by 2050 must consider countries’ different levels of economic development. The summit in the Belgian capital on Thursday and Friday comes a day after the European Union’s new executive launched an ambitious “Green Deal” policy package to tackle climate change and cut fossil fuel dependence. Morawiecki stressed the need for a “just energy transformation”, adding: “The pace of reaching for neutrality must be different, reflecting the stage of economic development of individual countries.”. „We cannot agree on such a model of economic transformation that Polish society will suffer”, he argued.

And finally, the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management has issued a warning for freezing rain today.

The warning applies across a large swathe of Poland including Pomerania. Freezing rain and drizzle may occur in these places, which will cause black ice. In Wielkopolska, in the province Łódź, Świętokrzyskie, Lesser Poland and Silesia can also be sleet and snow. Drivers are being advised to be extra careful on roads and pedestrians should also take care on pavements where it will be slippery.

Weather

Friday is going to be cloudy with a fresh breeze and chances of sleet and temperatures reaching only 2 degrees centigrade (36 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day and remaining at 1 degree overnight too. There is a high risk of black ice on the roads today.

Saturday will remain cloudy in a moderate breeze and temperatures hovering around 3 degrees centigrade.

What’s On – Friday

Highlights of what’s going on this weekend in the Tricity

• The well-known Polish pop singer, Edyta Górniak will be appearing at the Baltic Philharmonic tomorrow night at 7pm for her Acoustic Tour Concert. Edyta Górniak is a singer, songwriter, composer and producer, and above all a diva of the Polish music scene! She is distinguished by an amazing voice having a very wide scale. We will hear her greatest hits, but also songs from discs that were not performed in public before. This is a great treat, especially for the greatest gourmets of Edyta’s work. Tickets cost between 140 and 200 złoty.

• Today at 5pm you can enjoy an evening of Christmas Swing at the Treasure Island – Gdańsk Archipelago of Culture on Sobieszewo island. You will be treated to a collection of well-known and less well-known Christmas songs to get you in a festive mood. Entrance to the event is free.

And finally tomorrow evening at 7pm at the Gdynia Theatre there will be a showing of the well-known poetic drama Dziady by the famous Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz. It is considered one of the greatest works of both Polish and European Romanticism and a supreme realization of Romantic drama theory, to be ranked with such works as Goethe’s Faust and Byron’s Manfred. The drama’s title refers to Dziady, an ancient Slavic and Lithuanian feast commemorating the dead (the „forefathers”).

RGEN/MC