UK, Ireland / Poles in GB: Why did you go - for money or something else? [53]

I'm English and I've met and worked and got drunk with loads of Poles over the last year or so, and being quite a nosey sod, I've asked most of them why they're here.

There doesn't seem to be one specific reason. Some come for work. As unemployment in Poland is high. Some come because while they had work in Poland, the money wasn't enough to live on. Some come because they want to improve their English. Some because they're pissed off with the Govt / think Poland is too corrupt. Some because they want to earn a shed load of money. (that isn't always possible... but maybe it's easier here than Poland) Some because they've heard the UK is more relaxed (maybe that's a Catholic Polish thing.. not too sure)

That's the simple version. I get the feeling that most come here for a mixture of the reasons above.

I'm only saying what I have heard with my own ears, this isn't a dig at Poland, far from it.

The answer I've heard most though... is that wages here are good. Which may be true if you're prepared to deny yourself everything for a couple of years, then go back to Poland with your savings. I can see that. But as soon as you start to "live" here, like the natives then you realise the wages aren't too high, that the cost of living is comparative, and you end up just like most Brits, working to pay the bills.

Interestingly, a lot of the Poles I know very well, have no intention of returning to Poland but really like it here and intend to stay. :)

UK, Ireland / Polls for Poles in the UK [178]

To summarize...

Point made, regarding Poles voting in the UK in Polish Election.

Question asked, who pays for this?

Point answered. The Polish.

And.... relax! :)

And z_darius quoted the RotP act 1989... which, and I may be mistaken, was brought in by the Conservative Govt, purely to extend and round up votes of Ex-Pat UK citizens, who'd gone to live in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Caymen Islands, Jersey, etc etc.... as those tax avoiders were more likely to vote Conservative. There was a bit of an outcry about it at the time.

So, Tornado, we do have the right to vote, from abroad, for an election in this country and it is paid for by you and me (and those Poles here paying tax!)

UK, Ireland / Polish Londoners get free courses & help from London Development Agency [6]

Any free Polish lessons going??? :)
not sure about free courses but the polish cultural institute used to run subsidised courses

UK, Ireland / English people attitude towards Poles? [761]

Here's my 2p's worth!

Damn.... amongst all of the arguing and sarcastic remarks, I seem to have forgotten my point....

Oh yeah. That's it.

I work for an agency. I'm English. I've many Polish friends, workmates and an ex-girlfriend who is Polish. I'm slowly learning to speak Polish.

As far as the work situation goes, yes, having so many Polish arrive so quickly, has made life as an agency worker, extremely tough. If there are, for ease of example, 100 jobs to be given out in one week, from the agency. Then, before the "invasion" ( I hate that term!) the agency would have struggled to fill even half of those positions... leaving me with the option of taking the highest paying work that week.

On top of that, if a company were absolutely desperate for extra staff, then they'd pay higher, often above those of its regular staff... because the market economy dictates that is how they need to behave. When there was no need for those staff, then they'd lay you off. No problem, I'd go and pick the next highest paying... or best conditioned job, with the hours that suited me.

Now. If there are 100 jobs available in one week, then there are ( I am guessing here) about 200 people to choose from. We're all on pretty much minimum wage, because, it's a market economy, and the employers and agency know that they can get anyone they want... because we all know there're 100 people behind us who'll take the work if we say we wont work for minimum wage.

Most weeks now, I am lucky if I get 3 shifts. I'm sitting here today, in a seasonal work town, with many many unemployed, because I have no work. Tomorrow I do. Yesterday I worked. Next week? I don't know. Maybe nothing, maybe 5 shifts. And yes, life is bloody difficult. But I don't blame the Polish for it. Many English have done exactly the same as the Poles, when unemployment was high in the UK in the past, we went abroad and worked in Spain and Germany and elsewhere.

I like where I live, I have roots here, I have a mortgage. I can't just pick up and leave. I also wont sign-on. Unless I was absolutely desperate. It hasn't come to that yet. I can normally get enough money each week to pay the bills. Just.

As I said, I don't blame the Poles. Life is Brutal, as many of them say. Things will even out eventually, and hopefully soon. I was laid off from a decent job I'd held (as an agency fella) recently. I got a bit pissed drowning my sorrows, as I'd had little work that week, and went round to talk to a mate about how shite the situation for work is in Scarborough. He said the problem was too many Polish in town... i disagreed, there's not enough decent work, but... and here's the thing... my mate is Polish! Kind of weird eh????

Anyhows, just a ramble, to kind of explain it from one Englishman's perspective. Hope that enlightens some people.

UK, Ireland / Is violence in the UK vs Poland natural? [19]

Agreed there. On the breast cancer awareness website, it says this:

# In 2004, there were 44,659 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the UK: 44,335 (99%) in women and 324 (1%) in men.
# Breast cancer causes more than 12,500 deaths each year in the UK

On the Women's Aid, website, they say this:
Did you know that domestic violence kills over two women per week? More key statistics are available in each section of the FAQs.

It might have been a confusion over the amounts of Domestic Violence incidents reported each year... not actual deaths. (2 a week is still 2 too many!!! )

As someone else said above, the UK is a multi-cultural society, and as such, the figures might be distorted a bit, in that it only deals with crimes committed here, not who they're caused by. For instance, if someone kills their wife, then it's treated as a murder. But that murder might be part of an "honour killing" which is seen as "acceptable" by certain people in certain immigrant communities... and yes, being very careful not to say ALL...

Saying that, yes, undoubtedly there is domestic violence committed here by British on British too. I don't think now though, that women are as likely to tolerate it as they did in the past. Just my view though.

Life / Redheads in Poland - How many? [95]

The MC1R gene is responsible for red hair...

Interestingly, this news item came up today.

uk.news.yahoo/afp/20071025/tsc-science-neanderthals-us-e123fef.htm l

Not too sure on the Polish connection though!

As for Poles in the UK, I've not met any with red hair.

UK, Ireland / Polls for Poles in the UK [178]


While the statistics there are impressive, something else even more vital is missed.

The Battle of Britain was a pivotal battle during WW2. The UK stood alone against Nazi Germany after the fall of France.

Hitler, to enact his plan of the invasion of the UK, needed total air superiority to make sure of the success of a sea and airborne invasion. The RAF had to be destroyed. This was going to plan, as at one point during the Battle of Britain, we had every available pilot in the air. The RAF was on its knees with losses that we couldn't replace quick enough. Then we threw the Polish pilots into the battle... who up until then hadn't been involved in the battle as fighter pilots...which gave the RAF more resources and turned the battle.

You could say, quite easily, that without these additional pilots, we'd have lost the Battle of Britain and the invasion of the UK would have then been a real possibility. So, while the figures alone are impressive, the more important aspect is that by using Polish pilots, we didn't get invaded... and letting Poles vote here, in a Polish election, paid for by Poles/EU is the very least we could do.

There endeth the lesson!!!

UK, Ireland / Polls for Poles in the UK [178]

While I disagree with Tornado, because the point he made originally has been proved to be unfounded, and that personally I don't care who votes in the UK for elections in other countries, or even if the election was on Mars... paid for by Martians of course! ;)

But, here's something I got to wondering about. Should people, from one nation, now living in another, be allowed to vote in an election where the outcome will not affect them?

For example. Someone from Poland, living in the UK, and paying tax in the UK and no tax in Poland. Votes for a political party that says they'll reduce taxation, but at the cost of public services. (Like Th*tcher did in the UK) The impact of that will affect those in Poland, but will not affect those Polish living in the UK.

Is that OK?

And Tornado.. this does NOT validate your point... OK! ;)

Life / How much do you HATE POLISH PEOPLE and POLAND [1260]


Nope! We know it! ;)

Love / Why do you suppose the Polish guy I'm dating refuses to speak Polish? [22]


Thanks for that sledz, have just downloaded it and had a go, it's really easy, especially for the basics. Thanks!

UK, Ireland / What will the Polish give the UK? [58]

Hmmm, this isn't an entirely serious thread. As I guess we wont know for many years, until the word or thing has become a part of the national psyche, I'm just asking what do people think will end up here.

I personally quite like the swear word Kourvamuch! (sorry about the spelling) It "works" for me... so much so I've found myself using it in preference to F*ck sake! Or sometimes mixing it, without thinking about it so it comes out as F*cking Kourva!

:)

UK, Ireland / What will the Polish give the UK? [58]

Ah! then things are looking very good ;)

UK, Ireland / Sending a parcel to Poland from UK [30]

Ooooh, this is something I know a bit about! Being an Ex postman.

Posting it should be very easy. As said above, just turn up at the PO and it'll all be done for you.

You can send it by Airmail, if it is 2kg or under. Though you may find that sending it as an International Parcel will be cheaper, though somewhat slower. You could even send it "surface" if it is non-urgent, as this is by far a lot cheaper. (one trick though, to send it surface, that works about 50% of the time, is to pay for the surface rate, but put an Airmail sticker on it. Most posties don't know all the International postal charges, they just throw it in with the rest of the Airmail stuff!)

Another thing to know is to write the words "Small Packet" on the item. This will dramatically reduce the price. If you are sending books or newspapers/magazines etc, write the words "printed paper" on the item for a further reduction.

Example.
Normal price for 2kg airmail item to Europe = £18.64
Small Packet @2kg = £10.88
Printed paper @ 2kg = £10.60

Royal Mail's website has a range of options to choose from.
Here's the address for Airmail and Surface mail.

royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump1?catId=400023&mediaId=400033

For Parcels, they'd go by ParcelForce (aka ParcelFarce), which is a Royal Mail company, and you can find out about the cost for your parcel at the PO. You might also be able to use RMSP (Royal Mail Standard Parcels) which ISN'T ParcelFarce, though I 'm not 100% sure if the service is International... but it'd be useful to ask.

Hope that has helped.

UK, Ireland / What will the Polish give the UK? [58]


Sorry, I don't understand this. Where's this £6 billion coming from? Am I going to see any of it? :)

UK, Ireland / Polls for Poles in the UK [178]


Thank you ladies *blush* .....

(that's my entire yearly allowance of sensible posts used up now..)

UK, Ireland / Polish as Irelands Third Offical language? [123]


You sure? Even the higher number of 380 million seems a bit on the low side to me.

60 Million in the UK. Plus Australia, Canada, South Africa, Zimbabwe, USA (close on 300 million alone there!) New Zealand, and not forgetting the penguins in the Falklands... or about a dozen other places that have English as a first language. I'd guess, and it is only a guess, that about 500 million speak English as their first language. Then there's things like Pilots, who use English. Or the Indian Civil Service, where English is used as a "lingua franca".

If it is 500 million, then 1/12 of the world speaks English. And with everyday that passes, more Poles here learn a bit more English.... neat! ;)

UK, Ireland / Polish as Irelands Third Offical language? [123]


But they only talk about fish.... boring sods really. :D

UK, Ireland / Polls for Poles in the UK [178]

Tornado. I'm kind of new here. But I'm a regular poster on forums elsewhere. Your responses seem to me, now, Trolling.

You're looking for an argument, and your selectively quoting as well as being quite derogatory towards people.

Quite sad.

Don't feed the Troll.

UK, Ireland / Where have all the Polish students gone? [6]


As an English teacher, you're probably aware, that jumping in the deep end, is better than someone being told how to jump in the deep end, and how it'd feel to do so.

I'm going to guess, that many of you former Polish students wanted to learn English, not for a love of the language, but because of its economic potential. English is the language not only of business, but many other things. Therefore it made sense, at the time.

Now.. instead of paying to learn English, even at the cheap price of £95 per annum, those Poles are learning English at the "deep end".... idioms, slang, accents, swear words et al...... and getting paid to do so.

If I was in Poland, wishing to learn Polish, the last thing I'd do is sign up for a Polish course. I'd learn "on the job"... or probably, to be truthful "on the piwo" !!! :)

UK, Ireland / "As the Poles Get Richer, Fewer Seek British Jobs" - article [10]


Interesting! It's kind of what I have heard too... but it'd be nice for someone from Poland to confirm this as correct.

(I've heard that people in Poland earn as much in one week here as they would in a month in Poland..)

Maybe this is an entirely different thread.????

UK, Ireland / What will the Polish give the UK? [58]


Iron boats are indeed an invention. A British one. While boats have been about for tens of thousand of years, it was the British who invented Steel ships. Made of iron.

It may be a point of contention, or even semantics, but the UK invented boats/ships made of very heavy metal stuff....

Now go and stick that in Lech Walensa's pipe! ;)

(note the wink, eh!)

So.... back on track... what are the Poles going to leave as their imprint on UK society... other than me getting pissed at the weekends on Zywiecs. (sorry for the spelling, I can say it better than spell it)

UK, Ireland / What will the Polish give the UK? [58]


Ah.... looking at your profile, you speak no Polish. Even though you have an Eastern European sounding user name.

Sorry Michal, are you Anglielsku?

Because I find it mighty confusing. Because, well, the biggest arguments about the Poles in the UK is they're taking all the jobs...

... which leaves your point about SS tabs pretty redundant! Or have I got it wrong?

:dontknow:

UK, Ireland / Honest How many Poles are in the UK Eire ! Tell me the real number [6]

I fancied going somewhere deserted and quiet next summer....

I went to the travel agent....

They suggested Poland.

Erm... seriously.. the figure being bandied around in the UK is that there are 1.5 million Poles here.

BUT.... we have no outgoing figures....

SO! If someone comes here, they're counted. They go home, because they need fags/ funeral/ it's Xmas.... then they aint counted... but they are when they return..

I'd personally love to know the true figure... and yep.. Poles are noticable in the UK, but the figure for the amount here NOW is wrong.

UK, Ireland / Polish language teacher wanted in brighton, UK! [9]

Sign on with any agency........ sure taught me enough Polish!

:)

(really... it does! No kidding!)

UK, Ireland / Polish language teacher wanted in brighton, UK! [9]


I meant...... an agency, that gives work out..... as in where i get my work from, and as in where I meet so many Poles!

;)

UK, Ireland / Help needed - Calling all Polish persons living/working in London [60]

Nah.... Carly, in the interests of "research"... discovered Polish Vodka! ;)

UK, Ireland / Polish teenager murdered after arriving in UK [117]


I live in "Yorkshire". Now it depends on where you are talking about. North, South or West Yorkshire. If you just mean "Yorkshire" then you're talking about a "county that is the largest in the UK.

I doubt if any of Yorkshire is as diverse as say London, but it can come close, if you're talking about Bradford or Leeds in West Yorkshire. Sheffield in South Yorkshire is pretty cosmopolitan.

North Yorkshire, where I live, is mostly rural. Hundreds of square miles of nowt but moorland with the occasional town. There's nothing to attract immigrants who need to work.. no heavy industry. Ny town, Scarborough is one of the few places you'll find in North Yorkshire with any kind of industry outside of York itself.