Love / Age difference in our relationship. I'm 41, my girlfriend is 27. Common in Polska? [57]


Would it ?

Maybe a little, but not considering she is 27. If she was 17 and you were 31, then you might have a point. As it is, she is old enough to know what she wants.

As long as she is financially independent and not after any cash you might have, then I say relax and enjoy it.

If your only issue is the age-gap, then I say that there is no issue. If you think things are going too fast generally, then that's a whole different thing.

UK, Ireland / UK Poles attack Daily Mail 'bias' [33]


As Seanus said, it not a case of not wanting foreigners here, it's about managing and controlling the numbers.


Exactly, it's having to deal with the views of people like PolishCowboy who start saying that the British don't want foreign people in their country that slow the whole debate down. It's not as simple as that, nor is it racially motivated for British people to want immigration managed.

As for the Gurkhas, don't get me started. That just about sums up our approach to immigration at the moment. It's "come one, come all" when it comes to filling the country full of all kinds of people that don't speak English and probably can't or won't work, but when it actually comes down to something like the Gurkhas, they have to "satisfy" a whole bunch of criteria.

None of it makes sense.

UK, Ireland / UK Poles attack Daily Mail 'bias' [33]


It's not a case of not wanting foreigners here as you put it, it's more a case of wanting some managing over the numbers.

Love / SOS!! I feel a little hopeless with my Polish husband... [58]

Good advise and you should take it.

If money is an issue, start saving some now in a new bank account. Call it your "running away" account and leave as soon as you have enough to get far enough away. Look up "domestic violence" in your local phone book and see if there is a refuge that can help you.

This guy sounds a total sh!t bag and not only that, he sounds dangerous and more than capable of putting you in hospital - or worse !

From what you have said he sounds angry and resentful that he has to live and work in a foreign country and he maybe even resents you for not being Polish. Whatever his reasons for wanting to marry you, I don't think they are the same as yours.

Don't wait around hoping he will change as he probably won't, however, you not being there to give him the shock he needs to seek help. Leave and leave soon !

You've not mentioned kids, so I'm assuming (and hoping) that you don't have any. If this is the case, whatever else you do, don't get pregnant !

Good luck x

UK, Ireland / UK Car Insurance [13]


Just remember the rule that after 6 months, if you intend staying longer, any foreign registered car needs to be registered with a British registration number.

UK, Ireland / FIVE DIE AS POLE DRIVES WRONG WAY ON UK MOTORWAY [78]


So-called professional drivers are often the worst on the road.

Terrible business really, as it was so avoidable.

UK, Ireland / FIVE DIE AS POLE DRIVES WRONG WAY ON UK MOTORWAY [78]


"Condones" ?

How did he work that one out ? For a start we're not the only country in the whole world that drives on the left.

The guy that is dead caused this accident and, while I would never go as far as to say maybe that was for the best, giving the fact that causing death by dangerous/wreckless driving carries little consequences these days, the family of those in the Jaguar might do.

Blaming a country for having driving rules and regulations that, for whatever reason, this chap didn't follow is the daftest thing I've heard.

We "condone" driving on the left........!!! That's just stupid !!!

UK, Ireland / FIVE DIE AS POLE DRIVES WRONG WAY ON UK MOTORWAY [78]


Very true. It makes me wonder what research people do when they go to another country if they intend to drive there.

I think that too many people seem to think that a car is a car and a road is just tarmac and that they're both the same everywhere.


Also very true, but the problem is that when anyone suggests that there should be rules to follow before foreigners hit the road in another country or, God forbid, some kind of a test, there's an uproar.

"What about people that just want a couple of weeks holiday?" everybody starts bleating, "should they have to take another driving test ??"

I agree that testing might be a step too far, but something needs to be done to stop stuff like this happening.

The roads are bad enough in the UK and the standards of driving are low enough as it is, without allowing people onto the roads that are used to something totally different.

UK, Ireland / FIVE DIE AS POLE DRIVES WRONG WAY ON UK MOTORWAY [78]


That was what I meant, it's not easy to do to end up going the wrong way on a motorway.

Why on earth would anyone do a U turn on a motorway ? It makes no sense.

UK, Ireland / FIVE DIE AS POLE DRIVES WRONG WAY ON UK MOTORWAY [78]


You just copy and paste them from the address bar.


Exactly, the angles are all wrong on a motorway, in any country, for it to be easy for someone to end up going in the wrong direction.

UK, Ireland / ENGLISHMAN JAILED FOR HAMMER ATTACK ON POLISH GIRL [24]


"After inviting her to his room to watch the film Wayne's World, he produced an especially bought lump hammer from under his bed and attacked her because he wanted her to feel his pain."

Buying a hammer especially makes it sound more like attempted murder to me.

Five years is not all that long, but hopefully everyone will remember the name Christopher Fackrell and make it harder for him to slip back into normal life after his release.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]

Indeed. I hope you don't still see me as hostile towards your people.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]


All I am saying is that our lax approach to everything linked to immigration (including things like benefits) is causing problems - mainly for the immigrants/migrants (or whatever the current accepted term is) themselves.

I can only speak from the personal experiences I have through the job I do (which is essentially debt councelling/collecting) as that is my main contact with foreigners. I can't give you links to articles or statistics to back it up, although I'm not changing things to suit me - I'm not your enemy.

I've spoken to many people (not all Polish, but certainly quite a few) that seem to be in such a rush to "make it" that they are making some really bad choices. This seems to be often linked to marriage and kids (children that are being born here and from someone that was single and childless when they arrived), but not much thinking seems or planning seems to be involved. They certainly don't seem to care too much who the sperm-donor is.

Why would someone, 3-5 years into their "new life", want to end up a single-parent, not working, on benefits, in debt and on the council house list ? Is that really better than life in Poland ? If it is, then maybe some do secretly plan it ?

During the conversations I have with them, they are always keen to point out that their children are "British Citizens."

It could just be a class thing and maybe those at the bottom of the social-heap would consider almost anything for this much sought after "better life" to be a risk worth taking.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]


It wasn't an idea, more a train of thought - thinking aloud if you will.

You know the voice over in the AXA insurance advert, about not wanting to beat the system, just wanting it to work ? That's how I feel.


Only from the point of view that when someone is the child of someone that has lived off benefits pretty much forever, it should have an effect on what they can take from the system in the future.


And the current system isn't ridiculous ?


You've been on the forum a day and think you know me ?

I think if you ask any of the other regular posters, I think many will say I'm one of the more balanced and measured British people that post on here.

I'm not "hostile" towards the Polish as you put it, I just don't think that there is anything wrong in debating difficult subjects. I'm not here to get at people.

In terms of statistics, these are the only recent ones I could find:

"In total 895,000 Eastern Europeans have been allowed to work in the UK since the EU expanded to include Eastern Bloc nations in 2004. Of those registered, 199,677 are in receipt of hand-outs, including child benefit, jobseekers allowance and housing support.

However, the figures only cover up to September last year.

In August 2007 there were 112,000 Eastern Europeans claiming £125million a year. That is now expected to soar to £200million."

Taken from: express.co.uk/posts/view/92468/-200m-benefits-bill-as-out-of-work-Poles-flood-back

You have to admit that it's a pretty hefty amount of money going to people that aren't British and weren't born here.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]


I'm just saying that there should be more of a link between the two, so that bonehead chavs that come from family where whole generations haven't worked, don't get such an easy ride.


Enjoying laughing your f*****g ass off. As Shelley said, you knew what I was getting at.

If your dad is so rich, then why are you working in a dole office ?


I know.


Exactly. Do you think that the brides in arranged marriages that were shipped over here 15-20 years ago flourished and are now fully contributing members of society, or are some simply non-English speaking baby-machines that have no choice but to rely on the state ? The system encourages life-time benefit dependency.


As Mr Bubbles said, for every one of you there are many others with totally different agendas.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]


No probs ;-)


I was talking about people that are new to the country - do keep up ;-)

Assuming that the person in your example had parents with a decent track record of paying taxes, then of course he would be entitled to benefits.

I'm just trying to get away from this "I'm entitled, don't question me as I couldn't really explain how I'm entitled, I just know I am !!" attitude that seems all the rage these days.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]


I'm just trying to put it into context when people start saying "I've been paying tax for two years and therefore I'm entitled to......."

Bollux are they entitled. It should be based upon what you've paid in and a couple of years is nothing.


There is little we can do apart from elect a different Government, which will probably do nothing different.

I'm not ranting.


I keep my head down and I get on with my job. Have you ever worked for a big corporate giant ? If not, then you won't appreciate the fact that it's a very hard place to be critical of anything, even when justified. It's just not worth the aggro you get in return.

I don't scapegoat anyone, I merely state the facts as I see them and the facts are that a lot of foreigners are in deep sh!t when it comes to debt.


I doubt that many can afford the plane ticket now and those that can have done a bunk and left a trail of unpaid bills.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]


Yes, I'm afraid so although obviously it's not purely down to one specific nationality, but it's very common these days for people whose English is pretty basic to be offered credit cards, loans and overdrafts, without really understanding what they are taking on.

How do you explain that a credit card cash advance is one of the worst ways to borrow money to someone that doesn't speak the same language ? I think at some stage banks were told not to allow such people to have anything other than a basic bank account so that they can be paid and have direct debits.

Somewhere along the line, that has been totally ignored and banks have been throwing credit at people like the Polish and not really being interested in any consequences. I work in the department where we pick up the pieces because they can't pay.

They don't owe a few hundred, they all owe thousands, some tens of thousands and when you consider that a good proportion (maybe as much as 35-40%) of the people I deal with are from the "New EU", it's safe to say that this is a big problem.

I think that many Polish people that stay here are trapped here in a spiral of debt, the work has dried up and all that's left is the dole queue.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]


I think that the age-old issue of money and class as a lot to do with how and where people end up when they move to another country looking for this much talked about "better life".

Someone with some cash and a good education behind them, that has been able to learn a decent amount of English to land themselves a decent job is often going to do better than someone that hasn't.

The bank I work for employs quite a few foreigners largely down to the fact that their native language will help in dealing with the huge numbers of customers that can barely say their address in English. It's their ability to communicate in both English and their mother-tongue that has got them a decent job with some prospects. It's sad that part of their job involves speaking to their fellow countrymen that have barely a penny to their name and having to explain how the credit card that they have been carrying around really works and why they are up to their necks in the brown stuff.

Poorly managed immigration has created an immigrant under-class and these people are probably those that would often have had sod all anyway. They just have nothing here instead of where they came from. Those that make it, make it because they had the education to give them a fighting chance.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]


You got benefits after only working here for three years - think yourself lucky that you got anything at all.

Some people have lived and worked here all their lives and get told that they don't meet various requirements for this, that and the other. Be grateful for what you did get.


That's a joke. It's a choice to come here, maybe not an easy one, but a choice nonetheless and we shouldn't be paying for their children too - whether they are here or not. When will people realise that at this rate, there will be no money left. What will people do then ?


How do you work that out ? I work with very few Polish people (very few foreigners at all in fact) with the majority of people I work with being British born people. I work for a bank in collections and most of the customers I seem to speak to that are all up to their eyeballs in debt and on the dole are foreign - and yes, many are Polish.


That's always thrown around. I work with mainly British people and we pay plenty of tax and I've been paying tax for almost 20 years. If you want to make this into a competition, come back when you have been paying UK tax and NI in at least another 10 years or so.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]

That wasn't what I asked. Anyway, it's too late, in every sense of the word, to argue with the likes of you.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]


I didn't go to university, but I don't seem to be the narrow-minded bigot that you seem to be.

I can spell too.


Where do you put the people from the council estates, where three generations of the same family have never worked ?


I don't really see either as really deserving help from the British tax-payer.

What you get out should be based upon what you put in. I don't see how anyone that has lived here less than five years or anyone that has never held down a job can consider themselves as qualifying for much.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]


He does have a point and I don't dispute that, but he needs to do more than have a point. Having views is all fair enough, but when someone doesn't want to listen to someone else's views, or be open to the fact that they might actually be wrong, then how can you ever get anywhere ?

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]


It's not so much what he says, but how he says it - see below.


How can you have a reasonable discussion about immigration with someone that thinks it's ok to use words like "horrible foreigners" ?

He doesn't create or stimulate debate, he twists it to serve his own daft agenda.

UK, Ireland / British Government keeps work restrictions for eastern Europeans [19]

I think you mean Matt Lucas, but you're right, Britain is awash with Vicky Pollard types and it tends to be people like this (unemployed, unemployable dregs of society) that probably complain the most about foreigners.

It's cretins like this that people think of when they think of the British. We need a good dollop of ethinic-cleansing, starting with all those families with the worst reputations on the worst estates !

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]

I do agree with you, very much.

Somewhere, everything has got very twisted and the dreaded "R" word is, sadly, never too faraway should anyone dare question the current situation.

As I've said many times before, both on here and elsewhere, this situation hasn't dropped out of a clear blue sky. We've arrived at where we are after DECADES of successive Governments pretending that nothing is wrong.

There is nothing wrong in imimgration, but it needs to be controlled and we (just like anywhere) can only hold so many people.

UK, Ireland / British Government keeps work restrictions for eastern Europeans [19]


I agree with you, but we're also been sent down the pan by 'our own'.

Walk down pretty much any High Street anywhere and see the slack-jawed, chain-smoking miseries in tracksuits, with their broods of kids, going in and out of Poundland and MacDonalds, which they're dragging up on benefits.

Yes, there is a big problem with immigration in the UK, but it's not the only problem that is being ignored by the Government.

UK, Ireland / 13,000 Polish births this year, in the UK [180]

If it helps to wipe out those awful British 'parents' featured in Channel 4's "The Hospital" this evening, I wouldn't object.

I'd support anything that helped erode the chavs.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]


You need to provide a source to support what you are saying or you may as well not say it.

UK, Ireland / Poles claim UK benefits after working only one year instead of going home [156]


Do you have something to back up those figures ? They sound very low. (A link to the BNP website doesn't count).


Exactly, there are plenty of British boneheads claiming benefits that they probably don't deserve. The system as a whole is a shambles.