Poland will take half a century to catch up with the West

Please.. more like we developed it and paid you taxes to do so.

America probably owes more thanks to France than Britain. They helped us kick you out!

PS: You didn't build New York, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles or St. Louis. Poles, Germans, Italians and the Irish did. They are our real brothers.. not you.

Yes they need sometime to catch up expecially in their banking , medical and some economic ways of doing day to day business.. oh yes and their post offices..suck

How about UK banks, where only this year instant bank transfers were introduced as a wonder of wonders? (Something I had been used to in Poland since at least 1998). How about UK post offices, which are basically glorified corner shops (most of them)? I also see nothing wrong with the Polish health care system. Heck, ever since coming the UK I have apologised to all Polish institutions that I had thought badly of in the past! Speaking of health care - my father had unexplained pains in his lower abdomen, and within a MONTH he has had several ultrasound scans, two consultant appointments (one neurologist and one cardiovascular specialist), an x-ray, at least 5 GP check-ups, and ongoing rehabilitation (all under regular Polish health care - he is retired). I am well and truly impressed. In the UK, he would maybe have gotten past the "take a paracetamol and come back in a week" phase with his GP by this time.

They would've more than likely been refunded by the Polish system.

It's pretty dreadful when people are travelling to the UK for abortions - but then again, people from the island of Ireland have been doing it ever since abortion was legalised in Great Britain.

Lol just one of the worst.lol

Source?

Yeah Yoshi, Stevenson was Scottish. Another genius inventor. When it comes to inventions in the West, the Scots (relative to size) are untouchable.

Oh, and it was England who invented the www, not America as they'd have you believe.

Thats the biggest crap not true !! And about banks in the UK you can open an account in 15 mins in Poland it take forever its crazy.

About the medical side i didnt mean the treatment but lets think about the medical aid it stupid back home my medical aid covers my teeth eyes and even people contact lenses. In poland i get a free check up then i must pay for the rest thats crap.

About the post office i had to wait liek an hour to get stamps and that is damn crap !!!!!!!

Hi,Hi really- you can be a millionaire but without 'credit history' -such a golden phrase you struggle in UK.

>>>stupid back home my medical aid covers my teeth eyes and even people contact lenses>>>

Covers???? you pay for everything including eye test- about £15 now.

>>>About the post office i had to wait liek an hour to get stamps and that is damn crap !!!!!!!>>>

For a change not long ago UK post offives were full of drunk and alcoholic queuing for their dole.Very pleasant.

mbank is your friend :) Remarkably hassle free.

Up until summer this year a bank transfer from one British bank to another took up to 4 working days to clear. Now it finally only takes several hours. You can read more about it on the internet.

guardian.co.uk/money/2008/may/27/banks.currentaccounts


It took me much longer than 15 minutes to open my account at Lloyds TSB - about 2-3 hours. And it took me under an hour to open my bank account at PKO SA.


WTF is that?! ;-)


I spend at least 30 to 45 minutes waiting in a long line snaking outside my local post office / corner shop to post my letters. Every day. In London. I think it's damn crap!!!!!! ;-p

Judging by all the negative posts in this thread regarding the West, I doubt Poland will want to catch up at all. ;)

No, I guess this thread (as many threads of the type "my country is better than your country" or generally "my brother is bigger/stronger than your brother") went simply in wrong direction, partially because of use of such terms (in the original post) like "standard of living".

So a research concentrating probably simply on economical issues ('richness' of a country compared to other countries) somehow identifies them with a much broader term of "standard of living" which for many people have different meanings (quality of life in a certain place).

I guess most people here agree that Poland is poorer than Germany, UK, France etc., but is it a worse place to live? To answer this question you need too many variables (social, cultural etc.) which are often subjective. And this always leads to fervid debates.

- I don't believe Poles will ever catch up with Germany. They lack of solidarity, discipline, protectionism and respect of their own culture, that behavior is very uncommon in western European nations. Poles collectively can do nothing; what are the famous polish trade marks? Dill pickles? In 17 years they cant even pick anyone sensible to their government, the same reruns are swapping back and forth. Tv shows them a corrupted politician from PO party and what happens a day later? PO party wins smashingly the election... If you don't believe me look at Czech republic - they are light years ahead of Poland.

Cheers

Very uncommon? Yeah, like only polish culture is heavily influenced by american one.


Czech republic can't even figure out a sensible name of their own country after the split from Czechoslovakia. Where do you see those lights, dear? Influenced slightly by too many Czech beers?

Light years ahead of Poland in what?

They have the edge in beers, I'll say that much.

HHhhmmm....
If Poland takes half a century to catch up to the "west" won't the west be half a century further in too? how long will it take to catch up to that?

This is a little silly, there are different parts to Poland and they will develop at different levels and to different levels


Are they?
Cause Poland is light yers a head of Lithuania :)

I am not sure where it is better to live. We are just thinking about leaving the country back to Poland. Why? I think that the living standard in Poland is not so far away like some people try to make me believe here. And democracy has always been a process of learning - stupid politicians are everywhere. So what?

The atmosphere here is getting worse and worse - I think Great Britain was too service-oriented within the last years. They have lost all important key sectors in industrial businesses. It is a big history - you can explain the decline with the 19th century. There was a big crash, but nobody has learnt from the financial crisis of those days. My impression is now that Polish people are the scapegoats.

He means medical insurance - a basic "Hospital Saturday" insurance policy can cover you for what he mentioned - it costs as little as £3 per month...


Why? You can buy stamps from anywhere and we have these little red things call "post boxes" that you can put your letters in.

Look, Magdalena, why are you actually in the UK, since you hate so much about it! I am actually sick to death of you incessant whining! Why not go back to Poland where everything is perfect...You know, you must have had a really bad life in Poland to have been driven to come to such a hell hole such as the UK!!!

As for this whole topic...who cares when Poland will be supposedly on parr with the rest of Europe - from what I saw in my 3 visits they are a modern western country who could hardly be classed as "backwards"

What seems to be undeniable is that Poland is way behind Western Europe and will take some time to catch up, regardless of how upsetting it is for some to accept this

But in recognition of this fact, how about a little credit to those who are aware of this obvious gap and have no qualms about pointing it out


It's probably worth pointing out here that the majority of people in the queue will be foreign. The Brits, living in 21st century Western Europe, have bought themselves computers and send emails

Well, many say IT is the technology of tomorrow, brought to you today.

Poland is at the forefront of many current developments. In some parts of Britain, you have limited downloads. My folks, quite well off in Aberdeen, were surprised that I could watch as many Youtube videos as I wanted. When I was there in July, my viewing was rationed.

Health care, well, the jury is still out on that one.

Public transport isn't as bad as people make it out to be here.

Isn't this more to do with the pakage they have bought into


I am not a fan of public transport but am happier using it in Poland than in England

It may well have to do with the package, more than likely. Poland still ranks VERY high for broadband technology. Bush made a statement that America was 10th, ten places too low, lol. I think he meant 9 but nevermind.

If technology is a benchmark or yardstick, then Poland is not faring too badly.

This topic was created to aggrievate people. I don't see many differences between life in Poland and England. In general it depends more on your education, job....There are poor and rich people in both countries.

I hope you realize I was winding "away guy" up with this one. And no, I cannot just buy stamps and drop my letters in the letterbox because I use Special Delivery.

BTW, why do you assume I had a terrible life in PL and ran off to the UK? I had a good life in PL, but was curious about the UK - 2004 was my first chance to visit the country whose culture and literature I studied all those years ago.

I think you may be being a bit unfair here. If a Polish person dares say anything against the UK, it appears the UK people do not like their country being criticized yet don't even think twice about posting negative comments about Poland.

I think Magdalena is entitled to post her views and thoughts on here about the UK. They are her experiences and how she sees it here in England.

I don't mind if a Polish person, or any other country's person, says sth bad about the UK. That's the whole idea, discussion.

Besides, I feel that many just label all 4 countries in the UK in the same way. That's a bit laughable but there we go.

A little bit of spice helps a discussion, provided that it is kept civil.

When is the last time u caught the bus? Seriously, in Trojmiasto where I live, the transport system is rubbish. I hate the way u have to pay for 2 singles here unlike in UK where u can buy a return.

As for technology, there are some ways in which Poland can be seen as being close to Western standards but there are ares in which they are really lacking too. The mobile phone industury being one - no free upgrades, expensive contracts and no compensation in case of loss and damage.

Those people who complain about the British healthcare system read a few stories in Polish newspapers which like to sensationalise any hint of trouble in the British system, and make their decisions based on that rather than personal experience. A friend of mine died in Poland a yr ago because the doctor who was supposed to give him his monthly shots forgot about the appointment. 4 days later he went into a coma.

Every system has its problems? Have u ever tried queueing for stamps in Poland. The Polish post office is a disgrace, it took me 1 hr to pick up a letter. In Uk we have machines for this or you can buy them in most if not all shops.

I caught the bus to Zabrze not long ago and it was ok. I catch the tram every week. Fine too.

My sincerest condolences concerning your friend. It'd be disingenuous for me to comment so I'll say nothing in reply.

The PO is pretty abysmal here. I'm still waiting on my package, posted over a month ago. My mum is furious. She went to a lot of effort to put it together. 10 quid alone on packaging.

I'm not too well up on mobile phone technology here. I've stuck by my trusty Nokia with the soft and big keys. I love rubbing them, nice texture.

That has nothing to do with technology, just lack of serious competition.


The same again.