Life / Undercoat for gloss paint not available in Poland? [6]


They also use only one coat on walls with the result that it quickly looks dreadful. Domestic Polish paint products also tend to be quite low quality so (remember that even with Dulux 1-coat you still really need at least 2 coats) the results are bad. Plus (and I've seen this often) people use two brands of white paint sometimes without realising that the chemical composition is different and the result sometimes ends up as a blotchy two-tone!


We bought some across the border in Germany.


It's usually OK to do that

History / POLISH IDENTITY-shift from communism to democracy [28]


One of the many reasons that the current regime want to stifle an independent media; basically they want to act without scrutiny, PRL-style.


That would be the same 'epitome of virtues' that denied painkillers to people dying in agony because she believed that suffering was 'holy'.


And there are many other such individuals close to the current regime.

Fortunately the core support for that particular nationalistic political tendency is aging fast.

News / Poland leads in child well-being -- UNICEF [75]


Not good at all and of course tragic consequences. Social Services are certainly underfunded staff-wise and this situation is even worse in Poland. Plus the law here has problems. There was an awful case a few years ago wgere a man who had been jailed for molesting his own very young daughter moved straight back into the family home from jail. He had a legal right to be there and the rest of the family had to flee to homeless accommodation. And yes, it was in a village and the locals (probably related) mostly supported him. The state admitted at the time that they were powerless to stop him. It got quite a lot of publicity at the time.

News / Poland's Sejm passes anti-terrorist act; opposition negate [86]


You have not been on Polish soil or anywhere even near it since long before that shower took office so how would you know?


So you prefer totalitarianism? Would you prefer it in your own country of Australia too?


Of course not - it is one of his morbid fantasies and entirely unrelated to reality.

UK, Ireland / How might Britain`s withdrawal from EU affect Poles there and here? [474]


A possible scenario (if the vote is to leave in this referendum, especially if it's close) is that (and remember that post-Brexit it would take at least two years to actually leave the EU) at the next general election which would be likely to be earlier than planned one or both of the main parties would include EU membership in their manifesto and that would of course supercede the 'Brexit referendum' nonsense which in any case isn't legally binding.

News / Poland leads in child well-being -- UNICEF [75]


'Talking to kids' ain't 'proof' of anything Po.


More common than you think, and even some educated people here in Poland have 'interesting' ideas about childrearing...


I think it's important to remember that Social Workers operate within very precise legal parameters and in some of the cases that make the news they simply had no legal grounds on which to intervene further.


Yes - it takes a time for anything a government does to take effect and it's all cumulative over the years anyway. It's actually easy to make things worse; the last Labour government took a decade to lift two million children above the poverty line and the Tories took only 18 months to reverse that and put 2 million children back in poverty.

News / Poland's Sejm passes anti-terrorist act; opposition negate [86]


Fortunately PiS (the 'Teraz kurwa My') party will only have the chance to


or


for 4 years - and I doubt it will be so with impunity.

And this so-called anti-terrorism initiative will rebound on them, just as everything else has.

News / Poland leads in child well-being -- UNICEF [75]


Rather proves my point - it's all in the open. In Poland, would you have "found out"?


Any proof of that?

Travel / Poland Travel Help, first time visitor from Singapore - ways to cash withdrawal, cost of meal in McDonald ... [58]

Sort of, Paul.

It isn't a strict rule, but in most places if it's the town buses (the type you see most of) you should buy a ticket in advance from a kiosk or a machine (remember you can buy several and keep them until you use them - most people do that) and if it's a private or small-town bus (the buses are usually smaller, older and a different colour to the rest you see) you pay cash. There are however exceptions to this (sorry!).

The problem is (someone mentioned this) that yes, you can usually buy a ticket on the ordinary town buses but remember this is Poland and they don't always get things right - very often the driver just doesn't have any tickets (they only start the day with a few) and they don't like giving change; you should have the exact amount of coins.

News / Poland's Sejm passes anti-terrorist act; opposition negate [86]

Yes; it's one of the few things that work in their favour, keeping people down. After all, happy people with rewarding lives are not usually attracted to that sort of extreme politics unless there's something very wrong with them or there's something in it (usually financial or business related and rarely above board) for them directly.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]


As people are doing now - some of us however are made of sterner stuff.


Nope, I turned him down due to him being too ugly, too old and not a very nice person. But that was well over a decade ago.

And yes, Poland is changing fast and not for the better. the attacks on democracy and the latest rubbish about reverting from capitalism to what is in every sense a National Socialist economic and social model are but a sign of the things that so many people find distasteful.

Feedback / Stupid limitation on the quotation length [20]


This is a good idea; nevertheless, the 100 words is a bit tight sometimes, especially if the quote is well-written or quite complex and 150 words would be better.

News / Poland's Sejm passes anti-terrorist act; opposition negate [86]


I know Poles already who do this - and if there were time limitations they'd just change their SIM. I'll probably use a British one - I only use it for sms and data, almost never voice calls. Terrorists are even more resourceful; it's the nature of what they do.


In some countries you do have to - I've had SIM cards in Sudan, Iraq, Turkey etc, and all those shining beacons of democracy have the same sort of rule that the PiS flappers want.


Quite. PiS just don't care - misery and inconvenience is something they seem to like.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]


Why? They'll be gone after their term of office. I didn't much care for the last lot (better though they were) but didn't leave.


Now that really would cause a European refugee crisis! Millions would be looking for a new home!

Worth repeating, PiS have just promised to 'bury' the market economy and that is on top of all the other worrying things they're up to.

News / Poland's Sejm passes anti-terrorist act; opposition negate [86]


With the new EU-wide cap on roaming charges people will just get a better deal from a country where you can just buy the cards freely without a creepy regime monitoring it - so basically another PiS failure.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]


What makes you think those Poles busy securing second passports etc are a 'hysterical bunch'?

After all, PiS have just promised to 'bury' the market economy and that is on top of all the other worrying things they're up to.

News / Poland's Sejm passes anti-terrorist act; opposition negate [86]

Don't be silly. Those folks just stepped on a plane (and went through Polish passport control on the way!)


No - as far as I know the USA do not make dawn raids on opposition parties.


This is a particularly bizarre step - anyone who is actually a terrorist will just use a SIM bought and recharged elsewhere or evade the law in some other way.

Even some perfectly honest people will no longer use Polish pay-as-you-go.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]

In that case, your 'seem' is wrong - even very, however yes, there are plenty of people making contingencies should the appalling PiS regime continue their path towards totalitarianism and Poland suddenly becomes at least as repressive as it was a few decades ago.

The article - the quote is veryworth repeating, should set off a lot of warning bells:


From the Financial Times

News / Poland's Sejm passes anti-terrorist act; opposition negate [86]


The borders came down in 2004 and the requirement for exit visas was aboloshed 25+ years ago - nobody has to 'escape' from Poland - however it is understandable that a Polish pro-democracy activist or anyone else at direct risk from PiS and their cohorts may want to be in a safe place - and we can see why given the regime-sponsored attacks on this man.

We know, Gumi, that you have a bit of a history here of unsuccessfully trying to defend PiS actions, however that comment takes the biscuit!


Ditto

News / Poland's Sejm passes anti-terrorist act; opposition negate [86]


In your opinion. Others might wonder why they did wht they did, especially since there is insufficient reason to make a dawn raid on the offices of a legally constituted political party.

Imagine that happening in the UK, the US etc. But then again, those countries have better governments and a far smaller history of the political repression that PiS find so attractive.

News / Poland's Sejm passes anti-terrorist act; opposition negate [86]


And this is a reason to raid an opposition party's office without warning and at dawn? Most democracies would raise the issue in parliament rather than react in the shabby and shameless way that we expect from PiS.


Charged with, not convicted, and the PiS regime (who are behind this) are hardly known for their love of truth or justice.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]


Back to basics and a bit of honest labour might indeed do you some good, fresh air and all that, however in my case, like thousands of other Polish citizens over the years, I wouldn't stick around to watch the mess. Having 3 passports does help us wicked cosmopolitan elites.

Seriously, the contents of that article are truly disturbing and can only be very bad for Poland.

News / Poland's Sejm passes anti-terrorist act; opposition negate [86]


Very much so - they've already started raiding the offices of opposition parties and banning the peaceful and civillised Polish pro-democracy rallies is unfortunately a logical next step for them. And that's when the international community will respond.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]


I doubt that, since farming just ain't for me.


As you know, this is actually something they would like, and their behaviour towards legally constituted political parties as shown in the article as well as their contempt for the constitution and the Third Republic all point that way.

But sooner or later (probably sooner since they won't get a second term without scrapping democracy entirely) they will be gone.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]

Merged: PiS vow to end capitalistm in Poland? A return to the past?

This is actually quite chilling news for those of us who've experienced the transformation of Poland over the past couple of decades. It seems the current administration (already noted for their outspoken attacks on the democratic process and the people of Poland) prefer a sort of National Socialism to the system that is working so well now:


From the Financial Times: ft.com/cms/s/0/6a702384-2e49-11e6-bf8d-26294ad519fc.html#axzz4BCBoFoci

News / Poland leads in child well-being -- UNICEF [75]

I've a feeling we won't ever agree 100% on this one Roz and it's veering off the topic of Poland so best change the subject. BTW I do respect your point of view on this and think you appreciate mine - we discussed briefly by PM my interest in the celebrity cases - however all of the false allegations about guest houses in West London, former Prime Ministers, the head of the army sticking pins in children's bodies at 11 am on Remembrance Sunday in Wiltshire (while he was actually on TV in London standing next to the Queen) have been investigated very very thoroughly and disproved.

Unfortunately the internet (as we've seen with the Madeleine McCann disappearance and the host of conspiracy sites that have appeared since) is a place where someone can start a rumour, another person picks it up, some individuals make websites about cover-ups whether for good reasons or bad ones, other people pick up on it and in the end it all turns out to be something that someone once made up, usually to get attention or money.

Here in Poland (which we ought to discuss) there just isn't all this publicity about child welfare (whether imagined conspiracies involving the rich and famous or genuine abuse usually within the home) and despite the tsunami of false allegations in the UK and Australia (both where the same law firm behind a lot of it all operate) one good thing has happened - in the UK people do now report historic (or current) abuse and this is always dealt with. In Poland it isn't.

The Goddard Inquiry (which I'm involved with) is a vast thing - at least 13 different simultaneous investigtions into areas of child welfare with legal decisions about the facts of cases at the end of it all. It is really taken seriously there. In Poland, sadly no.

News / Poland leads in child well-being -- UNICEF [75]


'Fact' more on the internet than in reality fortunately (or not, for the victims of the false allegations). All those highly publicised cases of false allegations (usually historic child sexual abuse) about celebrities they'd never met by people like the vastly obese and attention-seeking Exaro Nick, 'Jane' (who made a false allegation against Leon Brittan) and Esther Baker (who waived her anonymity, allegedly because TV appearance fees were worth a lot of money) have been investigated very very thoroughly and at great expense and with enormous publicity and proved to have no basis whatsoever in truth. Even Greggs has heard about them. The claims that there was some sort of abuse ring for celebrities and politicians at a London guest house were proved false and no evidence of a conspiracy by politicians exists - probably because it didn't happen. If you read the exact nature and extremely lurid details of the allegations (the media don't tend to print those details because it would open their outraged stories to ridicule) you would wonder why those complainants weren't just shown the door, as they would be in most countries.

So yes, I'd say that child protections and allegations of harm to children whether in the past or now (part of Unicef's remit, therefore all on topic) is taken very very seriously indeed. Sure, someone like Greggs can post a link to some scandal from the past, however the very fact that he is able to find such information extremely easily and in such volume is clear proof that despite allegations of cover-ups (some people's favourite word).

Anyway, this is veering off Poland since Gregy is trying the old 'but in America they lynch people' chestnut - we see that here sometimes where people claim that the bad things in Poland can't possibly exist (they certainly do exist) because he's read something online about bad things elsewhere.

And in Poland, it still all goes on, but there are those who say it should all be dealt with within the very family who are doing it...

News / Poland leads in child well-being -- UNICEF [75]


A bit more complex than that, especially if you know the location (I do), have worked for the Local Education Authority in Rotherham (I have) and are aware of significant and enduring local political issues in that town (I am) - however yes, the very fact that you've posted about it here, and not for the first time, is very clear proff that it is all out in the open and dealt with very suddenly. Perhaps you'd like to hoik those who were convicted out of jail and try them again, for those who missed the extensive media coverage, the Public Enquiry and the questions in parliament the first time round...


No, this is simply untrue - and very worth mentioning that the number of cases (whether real or made up) that have been reported to the police have increased hugely in recent years as a result of vast and well-funded campaigning and an increased trust that the authorities will deal with people's complaints. Can Poland say that?


Details of complainants and details of cases that could identify a family are confidential under the Sexual Offences Act - such things are therefore very much out of the 'public eyes' for a reason.

If I were to name 'Exaro Nick' (the appalling individual who made allegations about various celebrities he'd never met leading to a 17 million pound investigation - yes, reports of abuse, even if a tissue of lies and fantasies are taken very seriously unfortunately; he's now refusing to co-operate with the police and is desperately trying to avoid a prosecution for perverting the course of justice) I could potentially be extradited to the UK and fined for publishing his identity. I'd be happy to supply anyone here with his name and address by PM, that's not illegal however it isn't much relevant to this thread either.



Conspiracy woo.

News / Poland leads in child well-being -- UNICEF [75]


Exactly! Very well publicised, on the news every night for ages, highly reported, prosecutions, firings, disbarring from public office and jailings - and a government Public Enquiry (two, even, if you consider the current Goddard Enquiry) to boot! You've proved my point that issues are dealt with there and brought out in the open - even you or anyone else anywherecan read all about it, both the official reports and the exhaustive discussions about the (now resolved) issue.

Now here in PL, how would we know what exploited minors out in the sticks are suffering since there is very little reporting and very little incentive to do so.

Yes, the Conservative cuts in the UK have made some things (especially supporting families - remember the Tory scum even abolished the government Sure Start centres) - this same effect is seen in Poland where both the current and previous regimes are essentially variations on the Tories and yes, in Poland the government have for years woefully underfundied support structures here.