What are your thoughts about integrating Polish people into the British society? For Poles: what do you think should change/ improve/ be implemented in the UK's city councils, job centre plus, local governmental bodies, etc. to help Polish immigrants to assimilate smoothly into the British culture?
For British: in your opinion what knowledge about the UK, skills and attitudes Poles should have so that they can quicker become the valued citizens?
I spend a lot of time in Poland on business and have friends there and have just started learning the language. I also know a lot of Poles in London on a professional basis, though to be honest, I don't know any who I could simply call out and invite out for a beer. Which is a shame.
I once got chatting to a Polish guy in a pub, and he was really reluctant to tell me where was from (being vague and saying that he was from Europe LOL!!). Like he was embarrassed by the fact that he comes from Poland. Again, a great shame.
There are some good efforts however - Radio Orla, the Lonodn based internet radio station has shows in both Polish and in English.
My biggest bugbear at the mo is the London Live gig - why are all of the communications in Polish? Did it not occur to the organisers that Non-Poles would also like to attend?
For British: in your opinion what knowledge about the UK, skills and attitudes Poles should have so that they can quicker become the valued citizens?
I'd just like to know what their agenda is.
Do they just see us as a cash-cow ?
I'm fine with people here for the longhaul (as long as there's not too many), but I've had enough of cleaners, child minders and the like who don't speak English and don't go back home if it all goes belly up.
They need to come with a proper plan, speak decent English, not bring their kids and half their extended family with them, have a job lined up and be able to afford to live somewhere decent.
They should also be keeping a close eye on the economic news coming out of the UK and plan their best time to come. We're practically in a recession !
In Scotland, there are clubs and societies devoted to this process. It is largely centred on linguistic development but there are other aspects to it to.
Mister H, do the cleaners not do their job well? They have a function in society too, being of more practical benefit than many 'so-called' academics.
There are many Brits with fluent English who don't live "somewhere decent".
In Scotland, there are clubs and societies devoted to this process. It is largely centred on linguistic development but there are other aspects to it to.
Mister H, do the cleaners not do their job well? They have a function in society too, being of more practical benefit than many 'so-called' academics.
There are many Brits with fluent English who don't live "somewhere decent".
People who come here to work and don't speak much English drive down wages for everyone else. They're seen as a cheaper alternative. They get exploited and it means that there are less jobs around for everyone else.
Why come here if all you can offer is the ability to clean or stack shelves ?
I agree that there are plenty of people already here who can't afford a decent place to live, but I'm sure they don't plan to move to a foreign country and live somewhere just as bad or worse.
Yeah, but it's amazing how we precisely attach value to any given job. Creating false people who think they are more important than others cuz of their price tag. Look at teachers, they serve an excellent social utility function if they are worth their salt but don't receive great financial remuneration. I'm sorry, jobs are being filled and it is merely incidental that wages are going down. Nobody said that the economy was a perfect concept.
Living in a different country brings with it new challenges. Maybe many Poles are happy to barely pay their way but be in a new environment.
I don't think it's "incidental" that wages are going down as a result of mass immigration. Some of the staff where I work are on peanuts and many of them are foreign workers, the difference being is that they all share houses and don't have the outgoings that many others have.
They'll do the same job for half the price, so why would a company pay everyone else more ?
Living in another country is a new challenge, but I don't think everyone who comes here (from all corners of the globe) take it that seriously.
Getting and holding down a job is an inherently complicated process these days. With some prospective applications, u go through step after step, just to get a job and be urself. Wow, thanks, u mean I've got licence to be myself, super!!
The job market has changed hugely, beyond recognition for some. It is a fact that companies have been seeking to minimise overheads for so long now, immigrants offer them just that. Why should they pay for a Brit who may not have anything better to offer? Brits should not be strangers to this, Thatcher drafted it in way back in 1987, or was it 1989? CCT, compulsory competitive tendering, the idea that services would be, for all intents and purposes, auctioned off to the best bidder. There are so many people chasing so few jobs, economic forces will undoubtedly play their part. Companies benefit and the Poles have a decent skill-set to improve it. If Brits are so good, they will keep the plum jobs.
Well the fact that the British have lived here a lot longer for a start. Surely being British should count for something ?
Society isn't going to prosper if they, the British, have to be seen as the more expensive alternative for jobs. This will mean that they get passed over in favour of cheap, foreign labour.
That's a scandal.
I've worked for plenty of places where money gets wasted anyway, so they could afford to pay more if they spent their salary budget better.
If MagdalenaZ wants to know what the Polish need to do to integrate better and feel more welcomed, they need to stop making the British feel that they're being pushed out of their own country.
Britain is a multicultural society. There are immigrants from many places, not just Poland. Brits have always managed in the past to get round this. Also, many Poles have returned.
Britain is a multicultural society. There are immigrants from many places, not just Poland.
Yes there have been Brythons (including Romano-Britons), Anglo-Saxons, Danish Vikings, Bretons and Normans, they went over to our Islands, couldn't even speak Gaelic! And now they have the cheek to complain? some people, I tell you....tut tut tut
Britain is a multicultural society. There are immigrants from many places, not just Poland. Brits have always managed in the past to get round this. Also, many Poles have returned.
Life is hard, survival of the fittest.
I'm aware of that, thanks. Have you asked any British Asians or British born black people what they make of all this ?
They're just as pi**ed off with it all.
When will you start talking Polish? I went to London for a weekend and find it irritating.
eh?
I think he means we need to learn Polish, rather than the Polish learn English.
Can we have a picture of the more impotrant project for UK, from the point of the UK? Do we should talk about this subject now ? project EU vs project British Commonwelth here? hmm?
The question was about how the Polish can integrate into the UK, so I'm just pointing out that many British people don't want them here at all, which makes them f**ked before they even start.
I don't share that point of view totally, but it doesn't stop it being true for many people.
The Polish (and other foreigners) have to want to integrate BUT, perhaps more crucially, the British have to want to be integrated with.
Most of the people I know are pi**ed off with the whole shooting match and just want it to end.
To me it's a simple numbers game and too many people have been and continue to be allowed in.
No amount of initiatives to make integration easier or better will change that.
I'm not bothered whether people are coming from within the EU or from somewhere else, I just want a system of managed migration put in place. People would integrate better if they didn't feel such resentment for foreigners.
We've been totally f**ked over by this Government and they won't be doing anything anytime soon to change put it right.
I don't think we quite voted for this, I don't think many follow politics that closely to know the manifesto small print, but I see what you mean.
Many dont understand it, but they voted for it. They voted for this somehow ****** government, but they voted for them, and up to 3 years ago, nobody was complaining. The only people therefore u can blame, is your fellow British.
But the whole immigration issue has exploded over the last 18 months or so and we were always fed the line that EU migrants were "young, healthy and single" as oppose to "all ages, need the NHS as all the women seem to be pregnant, married with kids and wives who are expecting again".
The Government won't do anything to try and make the situation better until it's too late.
need the NHS as all the women seem to be pregnant, married with kids and wives who are expecting again".
Considering half the NHS is based on immagrant employees cause good old Brits cant be arsed working for minimum wage, that arguement has feck all basis.
The issue of immagration hasnt been around for only 18 months, its been there for many years. Us Brits complain they are taking advantage of the system, maybe its us who are too lazy, unwilling to take advantage ourselves.
