News / Poland. Sold for nothing. [341]

I agree with this, CK. Poland made a gesture of solidarity by signing the missile shield agreement. And now? It has made enemies in antagonising Russia and maybe even Iran. It has been relegated to a bargaining chip. The deal was signed after all. No defence at all now.

A similar thing happened a few years ago. America did a U-turn when it was supposed to help Poland. My student didn't elaborate but I can ask him again what it was.

American twaddle, LOL. Funny expression!!

Life / Ideas for gift for my Polish gf that will assist with learning English. [12]

Aha, that's when I used it. I just assumed that he updated it periodically. To my knowledge, he is still the Head of Law at Aberdeen University. Ah well, I'm out of touch. Maybe something by Penny Ur, she's good.

UK, Ireland / (NO RASISM OR STEREOTYPING BTW) WHO IS POLISH IN THE UK AND ON BENEFITS? [46]

I couldn't agree more. Life doesn't stop during a crisis. Food is still a necessity.

Life / Ideas for gift for my Polish gf that will assist with learning English. [12]

I have been teaching for 6 years. I have taught at numerous different schools using different methods.

It's like bread and butter to me now. I also did European Law (with International Law) as my LLM subjects so I can vouch for the book above.

Life / Ideas for gift for my Polish gf that will assist with learning English. [12]

I recommend EU Law by Paul Beaumont and Stephen Weatherill. The former was my Prof whom I spent a lot of time discussing a range of issues with.

The Dummy guides are good too. Or Dla bystraków in Polish :)

Explaining things is not that hard, just pitch phrases at her level. You can teach almost anything to anyone with the right dedication :)

Life / Ideas for gift for my Polish gf that will assist with learning English. [12]

Would it be a perfect present or a present perfect? ;)

OK, on a more serious note, try CPE Use of English by Virginia Evans. If she is already advanced, this will give her some proficiency polish. I have really opened the eyes of my advanced students with this book. It gave their English a new dimension.

Life / Ideas for gift for my Polish gf that will assist with learning English. [12]

I recommend an English boyfriend ;) Some advice from an experienced teacher ;) ;)

Work / I have a "zero" chance to succeed in Poland - I do not have a degree! [93]

Yet one more pretext and justification in the long list of excuses not to hire sb.

Work / I have a "zero" chance to succeed in Poland - I do not have a degree! [93]

Some very successful people I know don't have one (my friend, a merchant navy Captain at 31, for example). They prefer industry-based qualifications which place the emphasis on skills.

Bill Gates didn't have one either. I know many more that do have degrees who can't find a job anywhere.

UK, Ireland / (NO RASISM OR STEREOTYPING BTW) WHO IS POLISH IN THE UK AND ON BENEFITS? [46]

Oh, it doesn't matter. They are spending other people's but whose money is whose is a discussion I care not for. It is complicated and who really knows these days?

I don't imagine that many are doing it, Lir. You'd have to get stats on it ;)

UK, Ireland / (NO RASISM OR STEREOTYPING BTW) WHO IS POLISH IN THE UK AND ON BENEFITS? [46]

Only by virtue of getting the Certificate of Fiscal Residence and the P85 exemption from UK tax, Lir.

That doesn't matter, double claiming is just not right. I wouldn't claim benefits in 2 countries.

UK, Ireland / (NO RASISM OR STEREOTYPING BTW) WHO IS POLISH IN THE UK AND ON BENEFITS? [46]

You are Polish, tretos, you know how bureaucracy works ;) ;)

Persevere and keep chasing them up. Your attitude is good :)

UK, Ireland / (NO RASISM OR STEREOTYPING BTW) WHO IS POLISH IN THE UK AND ON BENEFITS? [46]

I agree, Justy. Just as long as they are not illegally double-claiming as some did. Take what you can get but do it fairly.

Cheats are often caught. Unfortunately, this doesn't always extend to business.

Life / Damn proud of being (half) Polish [77]

Well, I knew it well before my Callan days. It's something you should know by the time you reach secondary school or not far into it. There is more to it than that but we are not dealing with scholars here if you catch my drift ;)

UK, Ireland / (NO RASISM OR STEREOTYPING BTW) WHO IS POLISH IN THE UK AND ON BENEFITS? [46]

Exactly tretos, they treat you like dirt sometimes and needlessly so. Well done for putting up with the game and actively pursuing gainful employment. I was on JSA for a short time and feel it to be a system sound in principle. You have to show them that you are taking reasonable steps to procure employment. Still, it's onerous and the paperwork is tedious. I didn't like being in with some of the toerags there, looking for easy handouts.

I'm impressed with the favourable commentary of posters above. All the Scots I've talked to have a positive impression of the Poles there and feel that they slog hard. Looking for benefits of some description is natural, life is costly in the UK. It's not nice to live your life on hold, at the behest of others. Screw them!

Hard-working Poles are very welcome! They can contribute in a range of ways. Not least dentistry, industrial factory work and the hospitality industry. Everybody can find their place and make their mark. People laugh at Poles for doing menial work but we all chip into society in our own way.

Work / Any non-shafty English schools in Poland to work as an English native speaker? [36]

The best thing is preparedness. Quote a few legal provisions or namedrop from authorities like PIP (Państwo Inspektorat Pracy), it works. Do some research, show them that they are wrong.

Even be economical with the truth. Say, well, that's not what the tax office said. Watch them change their tune. When I threatened my school, with the backing of experts, they quickly snapped out of their nonsense and got their act together.

You gotta fight for your rights these days.

UK, Ireland / Polish girls 'too pretty' for British schools [150]

That's the nature of young girls though, to be jealous. They have to come to terms with this competition.

UK, Ireland / Negative attitude towards Polish immigration in UK becoming stronger [90]

Precisely PD, it's quite disturbing but symptomatic of our times. Security is a standard feature. I had to call a bank based in the UK for my Polish friend. We pre-planned what she was gonna ask in advance but, little did I know, she gave me the Spanish Inquisition. I had to ask Jarek about 10 more questions.

This is a major area of work for career professionals. I'm with Nationwide and they always explain key new policies and the underlying need for safety. It's a bigger undertaking than most people think.

So, linking it into the thread, immigrants have to get used to our ways. Lord only knows that I have had to wrangle with authorities here. It's like Sharia Law, forget it! We are not gonna bend over backwards to accommodate foreigners. That Romanian woman must have been living in the Stone Age as documentation is a must almost everywhere. The moment we begin to have one standard for one group and another for others is when it'll start to go wrong. EU harmonisation and streamlining ain't always so bad :)

News / Poland..wake up to a multicultural world [1059]

Wow, such depth of analysis. What social priveleges don't they use?

UK, Ireland / Negative attitude towards Polish immigration in UK becoming stronger [90]

Well, I can sympathise as Romania is now in the EU I think. Still, standards are standards and asking for proof is necessary. Data protection etc etc.

Love / Polish girls' obsession with marriage [124]

Precisely, sister act. They have to take the bull by the horns and get out there.

As for southern's comments, take them with a pinch of salt. He's a smart guy and I like him but he's wide of the mark when it comes to women. Slavic people are not the way he paints them at all. His romantic visions don't square with reality. He totally skips true human nature. Slavs are rugged and hard, they fight and scrap for things.

The generosity tends to come from those in the hospitality industry, like in Scotland.

Love / Polish girls' obsession with marriage [124]

Society has taught us this. That the man should go out to work and bring home the bread, to be the breadwinner as they say. Women grew fed up and wanted to climb certain career ladders too. So, gradually, they were afforded certain opportunities and men adjusted to accommodate and facilitate this process. Many made it which was good. Still, others didn't make the effort and waited for the man to take home the dough. Men like having a woman for obvious reasons, hence the blindness at times.

Life / 800 thousand Polish women are victims of domestic abuse yearly [180]

As I said, it depends on the task. Think of national secrecy where they can't divulge. It's sometimes a fine line. There are other examples.

Life / 800 thousand Polish women are victims of domestic abuse yearly [180]

It depends who has the duty of disclosure. Merely withholding data is something that lawyers do until a timely moment when they can use it. If a public official has a reporting duty to the public and remains silent, then he may be held to account. However, this is a different matter and is called (non)disclosure in the public interest.

In the above case, materiality is a key consideration (feminists). If a man says to his wife that he is going to see his friend at his flat (and does, briefly) but sneaks off to the bar then he is lying by omission. I see your point, Randal, but you paint things too black and white sometimes.

Withholding info should be taken on a case-by-case basis, with an assessment of materiality and disclosure, rather than blankly called lying.

However, I see where you are coming from. Just don't make me read your thoughts too much and see them as blanket principles.

Life / 800 thousand Polish women are victims of domestic abuse yearly [180]

Sorry ZIMMY, that was a lame example. For a start, Stashu didn't lie as he said NO, he told the truth. You haven't even proved that he was art and part, aiding and abetting. He just happened to be with Jeeves. Maybe he didn't want to clipe/dob on his bro. There were occasions when I had to withhold info from my mum. It wasn't lying, just being tactful and sensible.

Even if I have knowledge of sth, it doesn't mean that I should put it out there. Ever heard of selective dissemination?

Look, you often don't reveal your lies unless you are a devout Catholic who confesses. Look at Bush, imagine an admission of guilt on his part. Best to say nothing sometimes.

Life / Damn proud of being (half) Polish [77]

Exactly, HB, exactly!! Well, change that to nationality. Nationalism is the dislike of other nations whereas patriotism is pride in one's own.

Jerusalem was well before biblical times if that's what you mean.

You are right to mention temporary. Add modern and contemporary to that. They are confusing words in English, not easy to unequivocally and unambiguously define.

Your thinking is quite sharp here, HB. I majored in this and you are asking good questions. Let's keep it up. I'm off for a shower, brb.

Life / Damn proud of being (half) Polish [77]

Yes but they still have their own State and that's the point. That's their nationality which is the factor you were mentioning. Since 1948 is a while btw.

If you look deeply enough, almost everyone is a descendant or a mixture of sth or other. The Scots were Picts. People from Newcastle have Danish roots etc etc.

Are you saying that there is no such thing as a pure Israeli with their own well-defined values and systems? That's who my parents would be in the hypothetical example given.

More of a connection to Russia, right? So why do the Jews call Jerusalem their Holy Land with an INEXTRICABLE connection to that territory? Jerusalem was around long before many other modern nations.

Life / 800 thousand Polish women are victims of domestic abuse yearly [180]

There are many ways of getting an intended result. It doesn't make them the same. Seriously Randal, you've lost this one.

Putting a story out there, without distortion, but withholding some info is not lying. Whatever happened to the public doing their own follow up?

Life / Damn proud of being (half) Polish [77]

People from other places, like where? Yehudi doesn't have a cohesive identity? Let's say they were born in the State of Israel, what then? Immigrants from where?

Life / Damn proud of being (half) Polish [77]

And if both my parents were Israelis?