Politka presents a public opinion survey on the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk after one year in office.

Weeklies reviewed by Krystyna Kolosowska.

Twenty eight percent of those polled say that the government is trying to do its job as best as it can, but its efforts are obstructed by the opposition. The second biggest group of respondents, 16 percent, believe that the government is performing rather poorly, though the situation is better than during the rule of its predecessors, the conservative Law and Justice party. These two opinions describe the situation quite well, says the weekly adding that the premier himself is given good marks by 45 percent of Poles and that he is heading all rankings of prospective presidential candidates. In the firs few months of its rule, the cabinet of premier Tusk was given a label of unprepared and ineffective, even though it did quite a good job during the past year, a job which deserves respect, also considering its pace. But it is working in a special situation, when the president is, for the first time, not only an informal leader of the opposition but is both mentally and emotionally dependent on it. The cabinet should have been prepared for permanent conflicts and broadened the coalition, at least on the parliamentary if not government level. This, as well as poor preparation and unfulfilled promises are problems which the premier should ponder on – in the opinion of Polityka.

Wprost, which rates the performance of government ministers at C or C plus at best, writes if the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk managed to push through only one bill reducing the number of people who take early retirement, its achievements balance would be positive. Today, one fifth of 4.7 million Polish pensioners are women below 60 and men below 65. Wprost explains that this situation, which seriously strains the budget, is a legacy mainly of communist past, when the authorities strove to buy social and political peace with pension benefits. I started in 1954, with a decree which sanctioned special privileges for soldiers, the security forces and their families as well as some railway employees, miners and a number of other professions whose work was said to involve a health risk. In 1981, there were 278 such professions, including sculptors, journalists, customs officials and circus jugglers. In the first half of this year, 142 thousand people started to take pensions, of which almost 100 thousand were those who retired earlier. There is hope that this production of the world’s youngest pensioners will be stopped at last. It is practically certain that the bill will be approved by the senate and there is a chance that it will not be vetoed by the President.

Przekroj turns the spotlight on what it calls a Polish specialty – the women’s ghetto on television. How to look good naked, how to lose weight before the wedding day, how to run a perfect home – in the world created by channels addressed to women there are tough rules a woman has to observe if she wants to be an ideal home maker, mother and wife. Over the past three years, the audience of TVN Style, which pioneered women’s television in Poland, has tripled to 0.4 percent. The newly launched Polsat Café decided to follow its example rather than opt for something more modern. In both, the image of women smacks of the time when first slacks for women have not been  sewn yet. Women are kept close to the wardrobe and the kitchen – also because this is a stereotype loved by marketing specialists, writes Przekroj.

Tygodnik Powszechny is astonished by news media reports that police had to step in to prevent a pre-arranged fight between teenage girls – fans of two rival soccer clubs. Of course, one can deplore such a deterioration of morals and customs, says the weekly. But respect for women’s rights prevents us from shedding more tears, it declares tongue-in-cheek. Women and men enjoy equal rights. After years of discrimination, Polish women have been building their position in society. Women lift weights, drive taxis, take drugs and throw up from excessive alcohol intake just like men do. Only a male chauvinist could say that arranged fights are for men only. It cannot be ruled out that the girls who were set and armed to fight are an avant-garde of genuine, radical transformations in accepted customs, the weekly concludes.

The already cited Wprost carries an extensive report claiming that politicians have an abundant sexual life. MPs themselves admit that tempting occasions are many. “Since I became a deputy, I have been attracting much more attention. Sometimes women approach me on the street and start to chat”, admits one MP. Another says that he is popular among women even though he is hardly a superman. A former premier recalls that when he was an influential statesmen women treated him as a celebrity. All of them deny using the opportunities that present themselves in this connection, but Wprost claims that behind the scenes, sexual life in the parliament is thriving. Well, this ties in nicely with a story in Newsweek, which says that the web has brought a sexual revolution into Poland: romancing and erotic contacts on the net, which do not necessarily lead to meeting the e-partner in real life.