History / Roman Dmowski- Polish Adolf Hitler? [219]

The guy was a nutcase, and a dangerous one at that. You might like to check out Jedrzej Giertych on wikipedia for more of the same.

News / Polish man goes on trial for defaming the Polish president [7]

Of course that's true, and some countries (inc. UK) have the concept of Criminal Libel, which can theoretically send someone to jail, though is never used, and despite it's name is a civil offence, not a criminal one.

There are however very strict criteria about libel, and the question is whether politicians should have more rights than most in the matter and are legally immune to satire.

Imagine if the creators of 'Spitting Image' in the UK or 'Saturday Night Live' in the US ended in in a criminal court for satirising their leaders!

And DCB, what have energy costs got to do with this thread?

UK, Ireland / My friends upset at Brits.... [51]

I wonder if this Polish swan-eating thing has ever been proved. I've never heard of a case coming to court and the only people I know who've caught and eaten a swan in UK were actually from Canada.

The swan tasted nice, rather like goose, but leaner meat......

As for


People can say the same anywhere. His experience, sadly, isn't unique. I hate it when people say it happens in UK. It shouldn't. And many immigrants to Poland would say it mirrors theirs. The 4 things mentioned have happened to me here in the past 10 years, insults from strangers, unfair requests from bosses, companies attempting to underpay me (ALWAYS get everything in writing here) and anti-immigration (British) propaganda in the media.

The fate of the immigrant everywhere. The only thing to do is to rise above it, to avoid just becoming cynical.

News / Polish man goes on trial for defaming the Polish president [7]

What the guy actually did was to manipulate search engine rankings so when someone searched the word 'chuj' one of the top entries was the Polish president's website.

Not unlike that computer virus back in the eighties which got into wordprocessors and replaced the phrase 'Margaret Thatcher with 'The B1tch'.

Hat's off to whoever wrote those programmes, annoying though they are.

So what should we be able to say about a president and what shouldn't we be able to say?

Real Estate / Polish palaces for sale - Is this a scam site? [9]

Indeed. There are a few large houses (palaces even) in Poland that are virtually unsaleable. Sometimes because of ownership issues, but mostly because of the cost of renovating historic buildings. One of the Warsaw real estate magazines, a couple of years ago, was advertising some amazing houses, even for as low as $5000, but the downside is that they were uninhabitable, often with half a roof, and could only be restored by architectural specialists and art restorers who are not cheap.

UK, Ireland / My friends upset at Brits.... [51]

Have a look at GW and Nasz Dziennik. Both have printed some pretty nasty stuff recently. The comments from readers of the GW online version would be illegal in most European countries.

UK, Ireland / My friends upset at Brits.... [51]

No. Mostly about British people in general, though there was a spate of articles about a year ago making fairly wild claims about British and Irish people buying investment property in Warsaw and pricing locals out of the market. Though this wasn't true. And I remember something rather negative in the press a while ago about finding British and Americans "on every street corner".

Another, about a year ago saying that the ancient cobbles in Krakow's Maly Rynek were being destroyed by oil dripping from kebabs eaten by British tourists. That one was so ridiculous as to be funny, but intended seriously and no doubt some people believe it. It should be findable on their website still.

The online onet.pl occasionally publishes some really negative things about UK, and the comments by readers are hair raising. I stopped reading it for that reason.

UK, Ireland / My friends upset at Brits.... [51]

I found something about swans in The Sun :)) from about three years ago which may have been the origin of the story. Somewhere in London (by the River Lea, wherever that is) there was a campsite used by people from 'East Europe'. At the time of the article, there was a large influx of people from Poland and the recent wave of immigration was becoming noticeable. In the campsite (I've never heard of Poles in the UK living in campsites) there were three tents. Outside one of them was a pile of swans' wings and a cooking pot. There was also a bible in Romanian. The reporter claimed that one of the tents had two Poles in, but he/she didn't actually see them.

From such humble but bizarre beginnings, mythology starts....

Life / Cost of seeing a 'professor' in his private medical practice? [8]

Avalon is right about the price, though most normal doctors are fine. LIM is worth going to if you need an English speaker, but some of the other well-known ones like Damiana and Enel-Med are at least as good. I use Izis, which has a good reputation, and costs (at their city centre clinic) between 60 and 100 depending on the doctor and length of appointment.

UK, Ireland / British celebs that are bigger in Poland than in Britain [49]

There's a Polish fireman, who came originally from Britain called Kevin Aiston who appears on a rather downmarket TV programme about immigrants from within the EU here and also does a radio breakfast show.

I rarely watch TV, so have no real no idea what he's all about, but he has a huge following here in Warsaw, and a couple of people who've mentioned him to me are astounded that he isn't famous in the UK.

Life / COFFIN PHOTOS FROM POLAND? [11]

My friend (from £omża) showed me some photos of his granny's recent funeral. Most were of the procession, but there were one or two showing the deceased in an open coffin, so clearly the tradition is still alive in his region. Never liked the idea, myself.

Life / Buying an Electrical Adapter in Warsaw [13]

Saturn in Zloty Taras indeed have some adaptors. A good place for converters is the Warszawska Gielda Elektroniczna in the pedestrian tunnel under the tram stop called 'GUS' at the junction of al. Niepodleglosci and al. Armii Krajowej. There are a few shops there that have them - good to check the going rate on Allegro first.

Life / Buying an Electrical Adapter in Warsaw [13]


In the middle of the night, who has time?

Life / Freemasons in Poland [41]

Those are all good links.

There's a new Polish language site though, at wolnomularstwo.eu

Well worth looking at.

UK, Ireland / POLISH TEENAGER MURDERED IN UK..man convicted [28]

This was a really sad story - I can't help thinking there's something we don't know. I was especially saddened because it happened a couple of hundred metres from where I used to live.

This interview with the girl's mother suprised me though. She seems a very decent person.

yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Mother-of-Catholic-girl-murdered.4689469.jp

Life / muslim community in poland [430]


The Spanish courts investigated this and determined it was an al-Quaida inspired terrorist cell. Some Spanish politicians would maybe have preferred it to have been ETA, but it wasn't.


There have been three reports of his death, most recently by Benazir Bhutto on 2nd November 2007, saying he had been killed by Mullah Omar. He is also known to have serious kidney problems and I wouldn't think there are many dialysis machines in whatever cave he went to hide in.


Somehow I doubt this.

Life / Is it expensive to give birth in Poland? [26]

Because Iceland is in the EEA, you should be covered. [dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Entitlementsandcharges/OverseasVisitors/Browsable/DH_074392] Here are details about how that works in UK, and the Polish consulate in Reykjavik should be able to advise on the situation re. Poland.

Life / muslim community in poland [430]

The issue of Islam, its presence in Europe and Islamist terrorism has polarised people.

I live quite near the Warsaw mosque and the visitors there seem normal, but they have really high security. Apparently many who attend are converts.

Life / muslim community in poland [430]


Same with the IRA. The Islamists just seem to want to see the blood of innocents.

UK, Ireland / What exactly is the process to get into the UK? [44]

Depends where you're from. If you're a Polish citizen, you can just move there since Poles and Britons have an absolute right to live in each others' countries, because both are in the EU. Poles have a right to work in UK, and vice versa, so all you need to do is turn up. Unless the recession gets much worse, it should be easy to find work quickly through a temp agency. Hope you enjoy it!

Life / muslim community in poland [430]


The tragedy at Omagh was perpetrated by opponents of the IRA, who had broken away from them some time earlier because they objected bitterly to IRA/Sinn Fein's part in the peace process. The bombers gave a warning, though the police were evacuating people from the wrong place, possibly as a result of deliberate misdirection by the terrorists. The Provisional IRA, despite all their evil deeds, torture, murder and cruelty, had at least some standards, low though they often were.

Though back to Muslims in Poland (or rather Islamist terrorism), I remember that after the yellow emergency phones were installed on the Warsaw metro, the police reported that they were getting up to 30 calls a day, mostly from old ladies who rang to say they'd seen a black person.

Given Poland's role in Afghanistan, and especially Iraq, it is very good that there hasn't been an attack here.

UK, Ireland / What exactly is the process to get into the UK? [44]


I think that was before Poland joined EU (I had to provide proof of income for residence papers but that was 9 years ago). Now there's free movement within the EU.

I checked one of the original poster's other posts to see where they came from, and she mentioned that she's Polish born but living in US. Presumably with Polish citizenship, which would allow her unconditional access to UK, just as I now have unconditional access to PL.

UK, Ireland / POLISH TEENAGER MURDERED IN UK..man convicted [28]


That's what surprised me too.

News / British food exports to Poland up 53% [43]

Some shops have HP sauce and Marks & Spencer in Zloty Taras now sells food. The Polish diet is broadening!

UK, Ireland / What exactly is the process to get into the UK? [44]

Exactly that - no visa problems, no red tape, except for the work registration scheme which all employers know about and which takes 5 minutes on line.

So you can indeed just turn up!

UK, Ireland / POLISH TEENAGER MURDERED IN UK..man convicted [28]

But she wasn't. She was a British resident, albeit from elsewhere, and in Britain they stopped decapitating people centuries ago. Let him rot in jail - I'd pay a bit of extra tax just to keep him in there longer.

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

I remember meeting a very redheaded lady in Warsaw (natural redhead) and a guy whose hair was read until it went white. Redheads do exist here, just not so many as in, say, Edinburgh.

UK, Ireland / Working as an au-pair in UK and leaving the host family. Is it legal? [60]

These posts are right. If you're a Polish citizen, then you can live and work in the UK. You'll need a National Insurance number (easy to get) but even if you don't have one, you can still start work and sort it out after. There's the Worker Registration Scheme, for people from the 'new' EU countries but all employers know about this and it isn't a problem to arrange.

If you have any questions still, there's a Citizens' Advice Bureau (CAB) in almost every town. They are free and are experts in matters like this.

UK, Ireland / What exactly is the process to get into the UK? [44]

Even during a recession temp agencies usually have something, and of course certain parts of the country are more recession hit than others.