Sunday/ Christ in the Temple

 

On this Day:

1620
Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sight land at Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
1799
Napoleon Bonaparte leads the Coup d'état of 18 Brumaire ending the Directory government, and becoming one of its three Consuls (Consulate Government).
1851
Kentucky marshals abduct abolitionist minister Calvin Fairbank from Jeffersonville, Indiana, and take him to Kentucky to stand trial for helping a slave escape.
1867
Tokugawa Shogunate hands power back to the Emperor of Japan, starting the Meiji Restoration.
1888
Jack the Ripper kills Mary Jane Kelly, his last known victim.

1913
The Great Lakes Storm of 1913, the most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the lakes, destroys 19 ships and kills more than 250 people.
1923
In Munich, Germany, police and government troops crush the Beer Hall Putsch in Bavaria. The failed coup is the work of the Nazis.
1938
Nazi German diplomat Ernst vom Rath dies from the fatal gunshot wounds of Jewish resistance fighter Herschel Grynszpan, an act which the Nazis used as an excuse to instigate the 1938 national pogrom, also known as Kristallnacht.
1970
Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6 to 3 against hearing a case to allow Massachusetts to enforce its law granting residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
1989
Cold War: Fall of the Berlin Wall. Communist-controlled East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall allowing its citizens to travel to West Germany. This key event led to the eventual reunification of East and West Germany.

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"They maintain themselves high above the fray, descending only to shoot the wounded."--S.J. Perelman on the press

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A top public transport operator in Norway has introduced stricter security after tests found its electric buses could be remotely accessed and potentially even shut down by their manufacturer in China. The bus-maker says the remote access is —like other automakers — just for maintenance and optimisation.

But they can be trusted, right?

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The election was not a referendum on policy; it was an intelligence test of voters. Mamdami was the explanation point.
Socialism is not an economic policy; it is a political one. Before any economic changes can be even considered, significant political changes are necessary. Socialism requires an expansion of external authority into personal areas of freedom. It cannot develop or mature; it must be imposed. The initial vote merely opens a box of control and repression that has existed since the dawn of man and has been successfully locked up for only 250 years. It is the ultimate self-inflicted wound. An "own goal."

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At church today, the priest, a theatrical sort, did a magic trick with hidden boxes during the sermon. I was reminded of an old Harvard Crimson cartoon where a priest in vestments pulled a rabbit out of a chalice. It's probably not a good idea to do magic tricks on the altar.

And, I received my first 'wink of peace'.

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Oddsmakers put the chance of Trump's tariffs surviving the Supreme Court at 27%.
If it goes against him, what will happen to the money collected? And all the diplomatic agreements attached to them?

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Sunday/ Christ in the Temple

Today's gospel, Christ confronts the money changers, then obliquely prophesies his death and resurrection with his famous “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

No discussion can compete with the resurrection, yet there is a revolutionary idea in the ejection of the money changers. They are there for a purpose. There is a religious tax, the "tribute tax" of a half-shekel on all adult Jewish males to maintain the Temple, dating back to Moses. The money changers facilitate the payment. They are tradition.

Christ has no problem with taxes, as 'giving to Caesar' shows. But he does introduce a concept intrinsic to the history of Israel that echoes through the history of conflict in government: the principle that all political authorities must be tested and reformed according to a code that was not made by man. Here Christ throws the money changers out of the temple.

But these men are a mainstay in the temple, men who are helping the visitors fulfill the law of the tribute tax--a tax that benefits the temple and, presumably, the worship of God. Christ is calling attention to a divergence between the belief in the law and its practice. The money changers are performing a traditional function with traditional benefits. But without its original belief. it is only form, not substance.

Israel's laws are written following precepts that define man, presume a nature of man. A principle before the law. The principle Socrates died for. Caesar is a money changer.

The supports of law have always been in debate, knowingly or not. Once simple power is rejected as arbitrary, where do we turn for the alternative? What laws can be written that are in concert with the nature of man? And, once those principles are decided upon, how in a world  with changing economic and military circumstances, changes in science and populations, and gross ignorance of the populace can those laws be maintained with the protoction of those founding, universal principles?

Christ's world is spiritual, but he does offer some shocking temporal asides.

SatStats

On this day:
1519
Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with a great celebration.
1576
Eighty Years’ War: Pacification of Ghent – The States-General of the Netherlands meet and unite to oppose Spanish occupation.
1602
The Bodleian Library at Oxford University is opened to the public.
1605
Robert Catesby, ringleader of the Gunpowder Plotters, is killed.
1745
Charles Edward Stuart invades England with an army of ~5000 that would later participate in the Battle of Culloden.
1861
American Civil War: The “Trent Affair” – The USS San Jacinto stops the United Kingdom mail ship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US.
1895
While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers the X-ray.
1923
Beer Hall Putsch: In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government.
1942
World War II: French resistance coup in Algiers, in which 400 civilian French patriots neutralize Vichyist XIXth Army Corps after 15 hours of fighting, and arrest several Vichyst generals, allowing the immediate success of Operation Torch in Algiers.
1942
World War II: Operation Torch – United States and United Kingdom forces land in French North Africa.
1950
Korean War: United States Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown, while piloting an F-80 Shooting Star, shoots down two North Korean MiG-15s in the first jet aircraft-to-jet aircraft dogfight in history.

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“The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class—it is the cause of humankind”--ANNA JULIA COOPER

But if competition and hatred are qualities of our lives, when and how will 'humanity' be served?

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The European Court of Human Rights has now declared that Europeans have both a right to smoke in prison and a right not to be exposed to smoke in prison.

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Foreign nationals seeking to immigrate to the United States could now be denied visas and green cards based on pre-existing chronic health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, under new guidance issued by the Trump administration.

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James Watson, a renowned molecular biologist and one of the Nobel Prize winners for discovering the structure of DNA, died Thursday after a brief illness, according to a statement from his former employer.

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AI might well homogenize the information available to the citizenry, but information is not knowledge, and knowledge is not wisdom.

Should we, instead, start referring to disparities in the country as results of 'the wisdom gap?'

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SatStats

American Murder
Since 1999, an average of about 18,816 murders per year have been committed in the United States.
At the present rate, 1 in 200 Americans will ultimately be murdered.
In the United States, the portion of murders in which a suspect is identified and acted upon by the criminal justice system declined from 92% in 1960 to 58% in 2023.[70] [71] In some cities like Chicago, this figure has been as low as 25%
In 2023, the police chief of Washington DC reported that “the average homicide suspect has been arrested 11 times prior to them committing a homicide.”

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The average Muslim family in England has 6-8 children. 63% of Muslims in England do not work.

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In 2024, federal, state, and local governments in the U.S. spent $1.4 trillion on education.

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Earnings

In 2023, U.S. residents aged 25 to 64 reported average cash earnings of $60,709. Cash earnings do not include non-cash compensation, such as employee fringe benefits.

In 2023, 80% of U.S. residents aged 25 to 64 reported at least some cash earnings, and 20% did not report any cash earnings.

Among U.S. residents aged 25 to 64 who reported cash earnings in 2023, the average was $75,720. Among the same group, the median was $56,150.

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37% of U.S. adults were able to answer a question similar to this one requiring basic logic, addition, and division:

How much would you pay during the sale if you purchase the two pairs of shoes shown?

Election Lessons

 

On this day:

1865
American Civil War: CSS Shenandoah is the last Confederate combat unit to surrender after circumnavigating the globe on a cruise on which it sank or captured 37 vessels.
1865
American Civil War: CSS Shenandoah is the last Confederate combat unit to surrender after circumnavigating the globe on a cruise on which it sank or captured 37 vessels.

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Excellence is a habit, not an act..--Aristotle

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16% of Americans are on food stamps. How is that possible?

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When socialists fail, they always blame a domestic enemy.

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No Kings report: Is a senator or representative who has been in office for a generation sort of a member of the House of Lords?

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Election Lessons

There will be a lot of talk about the election. Great truths will be gleaned from Supreme Court elections in Pennsylvania, a political outlier getting one million votes in a city of eight million, the third defeat for a gubernatorial candidate. But democracies have meaningful voting. Some thoughts:

--Any number of Americans voting for Mamdani is significant. Intelligence and experience have never been crucial in candidates but some baseline is assumed. That generality is now gone. It is not, however, a criticism of Mamdani. There has always been a 'make-work' element in government, but usually not at this level. Those days are long gone. Chicago, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia are all electing people who could not run a toll booth. Government can be shielded from incompetence in government for only so long, especially if the society is rich. But a society under any stress needs some element of competence. That does not seem to be a priority anymore.

--The goal of democracies is to have the government reflect the very nature of its people, not their desires. The Americans created the first lasting democracy based upon basic, agreed-upon principles that protected free people to express and improve their lives. Militant philosophies and beliefs that do not tolerate dissent are incompatible with the nation's philosophy. This is a problem with collectivism because it assumes disparities are the undeserved consequences of a conflict inherent to the culture. Often, that conflict is resolved with righteous violence. It is crucial to understand that this cleansing violence is, in many redistributionist philosophies, an inevitable part of the 'economic change.'

--The Democrat party has no actual political beliefs other than political success. This does not discourage voters from voting for them. Citizens discouraged with the status quo vote for the people and party that has been in power over them for years, in some cases, decades. 

--The education system's problems are beginning to show. The peculiar voting patterns of what used to be called the educated class should be a worry to all thoughtful people. But maybe not if that poor education benefits you.

---The Left's basic belief is that hatred of others and demands of self-gratification motivate all social and political interactions and contaminate all governing concepts. This demands faith-based equality that requires force and overrides law, punishment of criminals, and gender sensibilities. It trumps philosophy, logic, science, history, and, therefore, thought and judgment.

Mamdani

On this day:
1501
Catherine of Aragon (later Henry VIII’s first wife) meets Arthur Tudor, Henry VIII’s older brother – they would later marry.
1576
Eighty Years’ War: In Flanders, Spain captures Antwerp (after three days the city is nearly destroyed).
1677
The future Mary II of England marries William, Prince of Orange. They would later jointly reign as William and Mary.
1839
The Newport Rising: the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain.
1847
Sir James Young Simpson, a British physician, discovers the anaesthetic properties of chloroform.
1921
The Sturmabteilung or SA, whose members were known as “brownshirts”, physically assault Adolf Hitler’s opposition after his speech in Munich.
1922
In Egypt, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
1942
World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein – Disobeying a direct order by Adolf Hitler, General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel leads his forces on a five-month retreat.
1956
Soviet troops enter Hungary to end the Hungarian revolution against the Soviet Union, that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded, and nearly a quarter million leave the country.
1966
The Arno River flooded Florence, Italy, to a maximum depth of 6.7 m, leaving thousands homeless and destroying millions of masterpieces of art and rare books.
1979
Iran hostage crisis begins: a group of Iranians, mostly students, invades the US embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages (53 of whom are American)

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When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes. -Desiderius Erasmus, philosopher, humanist, and theologian (28 Oct 1466-1536)

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Gick Cheny died. So did Cheryl Ladd.

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Oracle founder Larry Ellison paid $10.7 million for a historic pub in Oxford, England, that was a beloved hangout of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and was owned by a college of the University of Oxford. Since 2023, the American tech titan has spent hundreds of millions on real estate in and around Oxford. Ellison is bankrolling a massive for-profit research campus outside the city center costing upward of $1.3 billion. Some Oxford insiders and university supporters worry the Ellison Institute of Technology could hollow out the 900-year-old institution’s faculty and research.

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The dream of every hard-working citizen is to stumble upon a plaisible non-profit.
Social justice radicals flourish in non-profit sectors. This means that they are accountable to neither customers nor reality.
A great technique is to demand access to something in inexhaustible supply.

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Mamdani

The great Mamdani hype is here. Today, New Yorkers who want a life they can't afford will vote for a man who promises to give it to them. This is not the usual political exaggeration and falsehood; this is a specific American lie. America has been the 'shining city on the hill', a refuge of liberty above the international boiling wildfire of political abuse, thievery, group hatred and murder for 250 years. But it has also been a practical beacon. The government has been constructed to make the building of the foundations of political fantasies impossible. Now, one of the hardest-bitten of American cities will vote for Hogsworth.

There are countless relevant themes here. The importation of the very tyrannies that immigrants are fleeing. The vulnerability of democracies to sincere candidates, however wacky.  The ever-present deathless monster of perceived inherent injustice as an explanation of social and economic distinction. The weirder faith-based notion that disparity is the result of ancient curses rather than something you are, have done, or have not done.

There are many others, the most important being the difficulty of maintaining a civil democracy when voters see no need to be informed, and society sees no need to educate them.

This will end in failure. The government has neither the money nor the power to do the magic. And, with luck, this will end with a new appreciation of the country, its laws and limits, and its strengths. That could be a terribly disillusioning process for some. But, like a car wreck, we can't look away.

Sunday/All Souls Day

On This Day:
1675
King Philip’s War: A combined effort by the Plymouth, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut colonies attacks the Great Swamp Fort, owned by the Narragansetts
1783
In Rocky Hill, New Jersey, US General George Washington gives his “Farewell Address to the Army”.
1795
The French Directory succeeds the French National Convention as the government of Revolutionary France.
1917
The Balfour Declaration proclaims British support for the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” with the clear understanding “that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities”.
1920
In the United States, KDKA of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania starts broadcasting as the first commercial radio station. The first broadcast is the result of the U.S. presidential election, 1920.
1936
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini proclaims the Rome-Berlin Axis, establishing the alliance of the Axis Powers.
1960
Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley’s Lover case
2000
The first resident crew to the ISS docked in November 2nd on the Soyuz TM-31.

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Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak; and that it is doing God's service when it is violating all his laws. -John Adams, 2nd US president (30 Oct 1735-1826)

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Multiple agencies are investigating an explosion at a Harvard Medical School building early Saturday morning that arson investigators say appears intentional.

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Ten people remained in hospital on Sunday, nine of them with life-threatening injuries, after a mass stabbing attack spread fear and chaos on a London-bound train in eastern England, British police said. Two suspects were in custody and police said they were working to find a motive.

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"If you know how to use artificial intelligence, it can save you a lot of time and money. Leasing a new car? Be sure to upload a photograph of the contract to ChatGPT first. Need help with a leaky tap? AI often understands the issue—and at a lower cost than a handyman. Parents with a fussy baby can now use chatbots to answer questions in seconds, rather than waiting for a doctor’s appointment. Giving Claude a PDF of a wine list is a great way to find the best-value bottles."--From an article in the Economist theorizing the advantages of AI to the average guy. There is another side to this: the ubiquitous hidden, little scams that constantly beset the average guy.

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Cannabis use may leave lasting fingerprints on the human body, a study of over 1,000 adults published in 2023 suggests – not in our DNA code itself, but in how that code is expressed. Epigenetics.

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Sunday/All Souls Day

The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. In the eyes of the foolish, they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be an evil thing, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace. For though in the sight of men they were punished, their hope is full of immortality. --Book of Wisdom

All Saints’ Day, which began most likely as All Martyrs’ Day, can be traced to the earliest Christians. By the third century, the followers of Christ annually honored their fellow Christians who had given their lives while witnessing for and defending Jesus Christ. Typically, on the anniversary of a martyr’s death, those living would gather to remember and offer prayers at the tomb or place where the deceased had died. Tombs were sometimes decorated, and altars were built over the tomb.

In 609, during the reign of Pope Boniface IV (608-615), the Eastern Emperor Phocas (r. 602-610) gifted a temple in Rome to the Holy See. The temple, the Pantheon, was originally built in the first century. Destroyed by fire and rebuilt between 118 and 128, it was a public place to worship and honor all the Roman gods and goddesses — a spectacular monument to pagan Rome.

Pope Boniface accepted this temple, removed all the pagan embellishments, all the statues of false gods, and, according to legend, relocated and buried the remains of hundreds of Christian martyrs beneath the Pantheon. The pope then consecrated the Pantheon as a Christian church to the Blessed Mother and all the Holy Martyrs (Sanctae Mariae and Martyrs). The consecration took place on May 13, and that was the annual date of the feast of All Martyrs for the next 125 years. On Nov. 1, 735, Pope Gregory III (731-741) dedicated an oratory in St. Peter’s Basilica to house the relics of the apostles, martyrs, saints and confessors. Thereafter, Nov. 1 became, at least for the churches in Rome, the feast of All Saints. Eventually, Pope Gregory IV (827-844) assigned Nov. 1 as the date of the feast of All Saints throughout the Latin Church and proclaimed it a holy day of obligation.

The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed, or All Souls’ Day, evolved onto the church calendar long after All Saints’ Day. Sometime between 998 and 1030, St. Odilo, the abbot at the Benedictine monastery in Cluny, France, encouraged all the monks to pray for the souls of those who had died, those awaiting the joys of heaven. He instituted this commemoration on the day after All Saints’ Day, and soon other religious orders and churches began, on that same date, to annually remember all who had died.

Remembering and praying for the faithful departed is tied directly to the belief in purgatory.

Satstats

On this day:

1520
The Strait of Magellan is discovered, the passage immediately south of mainland South America, connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, is first navigated by Ferdinand Magellan during the first global circumnavigation voyage.
1555
French Huguenots establish the France Antarctique colony in present-day Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1755
Lisbon earthquake: In Portugal, Lisbon is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between sixty thousand and ninety thousand people.
1765
The British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act on the 13 colonies in order to help pay for British military operations in North America.
1814
Congress of Vienna opens to re-draw the European political map after the defeat of France, in the Napoleonic Wars.
1922
The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, abdicates.
1938
Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral in an upset victory during a match race deemed “the match of the century” in horse racing.
1950
Pope Pius XII claims Papal Infallibility when he formally defines the dogma of the Assumption of Mary.
1950
Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate US President Harry S. Truman at Blair House.
1951
Operation Buster-Jangle: 6,500 American soldiers are exposed to ‘Desert Rock’atomic explosions for training purposes in Nevada. Participation is not voluntary.
1952
Operation Ivy – The United States successfully detonates the first large hydrogen bomb, codenamed “Mike” [“M” for megaton], in the Eniwetok atoll, located in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean. The explosion had a yield of 10 megatons.

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Advocates of industrial policy believe that there are some promising new industries that are essential to countries and that these should have support (usually in the form of protection) to raise domestic prices and let domestic production be profitable. To my knowledge, no one has ever spelled out what techniques would enable government officials to identify such “winners.”--Krueger

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Historic moment as 38-year-old openly gay Rob Jetten becomes Netherlands’ new Prime Minister after his party D66 crushed far-right leader Geert Wilders in a stunning election defeat.

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A Democrat politician recently referred to Charlie Kirk as " lacking empathy." Subjective and vague. Perfect for their class warfare theme.

Look for it to grow.

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High-resolution satellite images show “activity that suggests mass killing on a level that can only be compared to Rwanda,” where an estimated 800,000 people were killed in 1994 by armed militias from a rival ethnic group.

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Satstats

While only 4% of the world’s population, the U.S. accounts for half or more of the worldwide revenue for a new drug.

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There are 17 American men in history who have run under 2:10 in the marathon. There were 32 Kalenjin (an East African tribe) who did it in October of 2011.

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60% of the American population has reading skills below the sixth-grade level.

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In the 70s, 2% of Americans were on food stamps. Today 16% are (42 million people.)

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190 languages are spoken in the NYC school system.

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The R&D spending of Amazon is greater than the R&D spending of all companies and government in France.

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Around 45% of America’s representatives are over the age of 60. That is a higher proportion than any other country in the OECD, where the average is 19%.

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Millionaires

     Teachers rank third, behind engineers and accountants, on a top-five list of careers most likely to have millionaires within their ranks.

     Physicians don’t rank in the top five

     88% of millionaires graduated from college. However, few went to elite schools (only 8%). 52% earned a postgraduate degree.

     85% of respondents use a grocery list.

     In 2023, millionaires accounted for 1.5% of the adult population analyzed. The U.S. had 38% of all millionaires.

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Only about 7 percent of readers made it through Nobel Prize economist Daniel Kahneman’s magnum opus, Thinking, Fast and Slow.

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Doctors are 14% more likely to diagnose a child with ADHD on October 31, not because there are more kids with ADHD, but because the kids are excited to go trick-or-treating.

The Demographics of Independence and Loneliness

On this day:
1226
Tran Thu Do, head of the Tran clan of Vietnam, forces Ly Hue Tong, the last emperor of the Ly dynasty, to commit suicide.
1470
Henry VI of England returns to the English throne after Earl of Warwick defeats the Yorkists in battle.
1485
King Henry VII of England is crowned.
1905
Czar Nicholas II of Russia grants Russia’s first constitution, creating a legislative assembly.
1918
The Ottoman Empire signs an armistice with the Allies, ending the First World War in the Middle East.
1922
Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy.
1938
Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds, causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States.
1941
World War II: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approves U.S. $1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Allied nations.
1985
Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission.

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"Even $1 million isn't going to make you happy. It is not going to happen. You look around, and you see people with $2 million, and your happiness will disappear."--Warren Buffett

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From a remarkable paper:

'Researchers have shown for the first time that flipping an epigenetic “switch” in specific memory-holding neurons can directly alter memory strength. By targeting the gene Arc—which helps neurons adjust their connections—scientists used CRISPR-based tools to either boost or silence its activity in engram cells within the hippocampus.

Silencing Arc blocked memory formation, while activating it strengthened recall, even days later, and these effects were reversible. The discovery offers groundbreaking insight into how gene regulation within memory cells can control learning and forgetting, opening possibilities for future therapies in PTSD and neurodegenerative diseases.'

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The Dadger manager entered the World Series famously saluted his team's overwhelming scouting and financing with the line, "Now, let' destroy baseball."
Last night's Toronto starter went seven innings, gave up one run, and struck out 12. He is 22, started this year in Single A

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Seven years ago, President Xi promised to end Fentanyl shipments.

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The Demographics of Independence and Loneliness

In 2024, Poland’s fertility rate collapsed to 1.1. Round up the usual suspects. But in this article culled from The Guardian, Anna Gromada offers a unique idea about the problem.

'Unemployment in Poland has dropped to one of the lowest rates in the EU. Incomes have more than doubled. Nursery and childcare places are multiplying. The government now channels almost 8% of the national budget into cash transfers known as the “800 Plus” programme, so called because the state pays families 800 zlotys every month, per dependent child.

And yet, over the same time period, the population has shrunk by 1.5 million. A million new one-person households have materialised in the demographic ledger, quiet entries in a changing social contract. In 2024, Poland’s fertility rate collapsed to 1.1 – meaning it ranks among the world’s least fertile countries, beside war-scarred Ukraine. This year, it is poised to fall further, to 1.05.

The problem is not simply that Poles are having fewer children. Increasingly, they have no partners with whom to try. For the latest phase of gender wars impedes not only childbearing but the very formation of couples – here understood as heterosexual unions – on which birth statistics still mostly rest.

For most of human history, being alone meant being dead. The word “loneliness” barely existed in English until the industrial age. At the dawn of the 20th century, only a tiny share of adults remained unmarried – smaller still in eastern Europe than in the west. In the lands of today’s Poland, scarcely 8% lived as single people; in England, it was nearly double.

A century later, the balance has flipped. Nearly half of Poles under 30 are single. Another fifth are in relationships but live apart. This generation, in particular those aged 18 to 24, surveys show, is more likely to feel lonely than any other – more even than Poles over 75. In 2024, almost two in five young men said they had not had sex for at least a year. Abstinence, too, has become partisan: right-leaning men and left-leaning women are the likeliest to be sexually inactive.

What appears, in statistics, as a fertility crisis seems, in lived experience, to be a crisis of connection.

Gender wars – stoked by political polarisation, the bias of dating algorithms and the clash between autonomy and intimacy – have swept across much of the world. But in post-communist Europe, the conflict feels more acute. Three forces combine to set the region apart: the dizzying speed of change, the rise of psychotherapy as a new cultural grammar and the legacy of communism itself.

Few regions have transformed with such vertigo. Since 1990, GDP per capita in Poland has risen eightfold, even adjusting for the cost of living. Since 2002, unemployment has fallen from 20% to 2.8%. Prosperity has altered both daily life and consciousness, upending generational life patterns and sparking a reckoning between the genders.

The family, once imagined as Poland’s unbreakable core, has begun to fray. When the Berlin Wall fell, less than 6% of children were born out of wedlock – almost five times fewer than in Britain. But as that generation came of age, many chose distance over duty. Data on estrangement remain imperfect, but by one estimate up to one in four Poles under 45 has no contact with their father; up to one in 13 is cut off from their mother. (In Britain, around one in five has no contact with a family member.) When parents no longer serve as role models, stepping into parenthood yourself becomes an act of improvisation.

What the family and the church once provided, the therapist’s couch now supplies. Raised on an low-calorie emotional diet, many Poles have turned to psychotherapy. A decade ago, it was taboo. Today, public health providers report a 145% surge in psychological consultations in 10 years.

Behind these intimate dramas lies a paradox peculiar to post-communist Europe: it is at once more and less gender-equal than the west. Communism, in rejecting the bourgeois model of the family, propelled women into full employment and higher education, a policy that left Poland with one of the EU’s smallest gender-pay gaps. By the 1980s, women already outnumbered men at universities. Yet in the private sphere – marriage, domestic labour, child-rearing – conservative norms endured. When women still seek partners with equal or higher status, but in a society where they get two out of three university diplomas, the numbers no longer add up.

Men and women are literally in different places too: internal migration has shifted the balance so that in the country’s largest cities – such as Warsaw, Łódź and Kraków – there are at least 110 women for every 100 men. Men are more likely to stay in smaller towns, away from the new economy and new norms.

Poland’s baby deficit is not something that can be remedied with cash bonuses, cheaper mortgages, or subsidised creches. What’s faltering in the first place is not the willingness to raise a child but the capacity to build a life with someone.

Beneath Poland’s economic boom lurks what could be called the new generation’s Ingmar Bergman moment: a quiet crisis not of war or want, but of silence – of how to live together, how to find each other, how to sustain intimacy in a nation where people have learned all too well how to thrive on their own.'

This is a different, spooky assessment of a world maturing into group independence and plenty, both becoming individually toxic.