News / Poland's PIS go back to their old ways [194]


Very good too. The last thing Poland needs is that sort of economic focus. Now, Keynes is a different matter.

Though any focus on Duda is missing the point. His role has very little power.

UK, Ireland / Polish striking due to anti-Polish UK feeling [58]

"Migration Watch"? Very dodgy.

And no, there is t any large scale anti-Polish feeling in the UK, despite the best effort of numpties like 'migration watch' to whip up hatred.

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Genealogy / WHERE IS JNEJANOW in Poland? [12]

Dzierzanow is a maybe. Worth mentioning that there are many places, mostly very small called Dziekanow.

Study / Is there racism in Poznan and hate crime against coloured people (students)? [59]


Jezyce is a fairly safe neighbourhood. If there's any racial violence in Poznan, it isn't in that part of town.

News / Poland's PIS go back to their old ways [194]

That and the system where people vote on Sunday's in the place they're registered, unless they fill in some documents to change that.

And of course the very low turn out, skewed towards elderly voters.

News / Poland's PIS go back to their old ways [194]


I very much doubt, if they accidentally got in the back door like last time, that they could do much damage.


And this will be their downfall, hence the straw man Duda saying nothing and almost certainly being advised to say nothing. It wouldn't take much to get the various cranks like JK, Macierewicz etc sounding off on it.

News / Are Poland's politicians able to speak foreign languages? [29]


Spot on. the man is nothing but a cipher.

He seems a very odd choice for a president. Basically a non-entity. Probably chosen because the other possible PiS candidates were all either to dodgy, too crazy or both.


Cameron and Osborne (Chancellor of the Exchequer - like Finance Minister) are both fluent in French. Tony Blair certainly learnt at school - he is very well educated. Of the next Labour leader, 2 out of the 4 candidates are fluent.

Work / Temporary assignment to Krakow as a Test Analyst (IT QA) - salary 8800 gross and possible savings [4]

This might be useful for you re. cost of living. You'll need to register, however it is free.
tefl.com/_/register_citycost.html

History / When will you Poles give back German land and the cities which you robbed? [557]

Reality, Pol3, not some nationalistic mythos of irredentism.

History / When will you Poles give back German land and the cities which you robbed? [557]


Very deep in history indeed and a world with a tiny, tiny population.

Slavic, pre-Slavic, Germanic placenames are no grounds for current ownership of territory. If so, half of Eastern England would be Danish.

UK, Ireland / Why can't unemployed Polish people on benefits just leave UK and go home please? [240]


Most people support renationalising railways and to a point utilities. The income from that would make a more dignified benefits system - the danger with that though is that not just Poles (in fact mostly not Poles) but others from poorer parts of the EU will be attracted to it.


Same here though that has changed a bit from the old days.


Very very few I think. Corbin talks about revitalising the North in which case there would be far less unemployment though this is I think an empty promise.

One thing we forget is that the Poles came thinking (hoping) they'd get proper jobs and so many ended up doing agency work, being dumped half way through the week. This is where the benefits system does actually kick in and yes, it's your tax money subsidising those employers. Poles are being exploited too.

BTW, I support Andy Burnham not Corbyn. None of the candidates have mentioned Poles in low wage jobs and agency work, or having to resort to the dole. I'd be interested in the candidates' real views.

UK, Ireland / Why can't unemployed Polish people on benefits just leave UK and go home please? [240]


Some people see him as a kind of an Alex Tspiras which he isn't. Whether he gets elected as Labour leader or not (and the other candidates are lacklustre) won't have any material effect on Polish or other EU people claiming benefits - none of the candidates for Labour leader, and none of the other party leaders support removing the access that EU citizens have to welfare. Cameron has talked about it but has done nothing. Most Poles don't claim unemployment benefit anyway - they came to Britain to work and earn some money.

News / Poland's President-Elect Duda leads in public trust - CBOS poll [185]

I quite liked him actually. What is it with politicians and drink. Some terrible stories about the Sejm hotel in Powisle.

So who would fit Duda? I was going to say Simon Danczuk because I can't abide the pair of them however Duda says nothing and Danczuk never shuts his gob. There's that liberal (not yet named except there are clues to his identity) whipping up the false child-abuse hysteria who's actually been falsely accused himself by that appalling Baker woman. Poetic justice. But Duda's too careful and too bland for that. Ziobro reminds me a bit of a Chris Grayling, a sanctimonious twat and a deficit of compassion. A bit of Hague there too, a youngish has been who married a convenient wife while in office.

But Duda I think is something of a Chuka Umunna, no obvious talent but a shrewd operator who appeared from nowhere. What do,you think?

Food / Where to go for the best steak in Warsaw? [77]

A fashionable name for several breeds of cattle, usually raised under certain conditions. In Japan, they actually sometimes massage the cows to relax the muscle. The meat is very marbled, hence good steaks. But not so amazingly good that it justifies the price, nor would most people who buy it recognise if it's the real thing or not.

Quite a lot of about willy-waggling regarding Wagyu really. Reminds me a bit of some of my colleagues who buy $200 bottles of malt at duty free then mix coke with it. All about the name and the price.

Especially in Poland where people almost always want the steak medium or well done and it is rarely done to perfection anyway.

Genealogy / WHERE IS JNEJANOW in Poland? [12]

Uniejów. Janów (Podlaski)?

Is there anything about the person which could give a clue?

News / Poland's President-Elect Duda leads in public trust - CBOS poll [185]


I only met the wife but certainly admire him more than the people at a local level in that party - they aren't much better than the PiS mafia and in fact the two groups have a reputation for doing 'business' together.


This I agree with.

Your mention of what UK politician certain Polish ones remind you of got me thinking. For Leszek Miller, hard to say - perhaps one of the Northern Labour Grandees, possibly Lord Prescott (who I rather admire). Ikonowicz is a bit of a Corbyn, Ogorek is Liz Kendall, Tusk is a bit of a Chris Leslie or perhaps a Baroness Warsi. LK was pure Geoffrey Dickens and Lepper was Screaming Laud Such, who if I remember died the same way. Komorowski is Gordon Brown - a committed technician of a politician; low on charisma.

Duda - very hard to say, but I'd suggest something between a Farage and that LibDem who was drinking too much.

News / Poland's President-Elect Duda leads in public trust - CBOS poll [185]


Nope. The party leadership contained some very committed people. Never forget that they were functioning in a very different world.


Yes, actually, and Belka too and quite a few others. Both of those mentioned are bog standard politicians, much like those at home who came up through the Trade Union Movement..

History / When will you Poles give back German land and the cities which you robbed? [557]


That, Pol3 would mean that the Republic of Poland could stake a claim on my home town and yours since neither for generations have lacked people who identify as Polish.

You should substitute the word 'Poles' for the word 'people', since no one country has any more or less right to 'rightly claim' any territory on those grounds. And it would (see how stupid nationalism is) mean that the Germans have a claim on a hefty chunk of Poland.

Sad to see you agreeing with the OP here.

History / Poland PRL era shops in pictures [17]

I know a restaurant in Gdynia (Bistro Kwadrat or some such?) that does it. Always packed full of people. Plus also the Bar Mleczny still does that. At Amrit in place Wilsona you order at one place and pay at another unless they've changed that when they enlarged (decent food - excellent hummus - crappy service)

Probably very few actual shops left that still do that.

A question for those who lived here during the PRL, did the larger shops ever have those black plastic slides that delivered your change? I remember those in the UK. Also a few that had bank-style vacuum tubes.

UK, Ireland / Why can't unemployed Polish people on benefits just leave UK and go home please? [240]

Waldek seems untypical (and frankly a bit suspect). Usually employers are impressed with their Polish staff. And most prefer to work than claim benefits.

You get good and bad everywhere, however people who go to another country for a better life tend to have a bit of get up and go about them.

News / Poland's President-Elect Duda leads in public trust - CBOS poll [185]

I never believe these telephone polls. Most of the respondents are retired and rural - not a representative sample.

And Duda so far has said/done nothing. He's probably under instructions from his paymasters not to open his mouth so he can't put his foot in it like his PiS predecessor, Poland's worst president.

Food / SURVEY OF THE POLISH CONSUMERS' CONSUMPTION HABITS OF CAFÉS [28]

Anax, there are a couple of places in Warsaw that sell coffee for that much a cup, however in both of them most menu items are cheaper.

People tend to buy, as Polonius3 says, cheaper brands. One good one for the price is Fort. Very cheap (pretty well the cheapest in the shop) and tastes more expensive than it is.

History / Forgotten great Polish writers [4]

Merged: Antoni Lange - and other forgotten great Polish writers

Very sad that he seems almost forgotten now. I'm reading Miranda at the moment, which he wrote in 1924 when he was quite old. Unfortunately an English translation isn't available any more as far as I can see, however it's very readable in the original deserves to be. It's an amazing work of pre-war modernist literature and very accessible.


en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Lange

His poetry is excellent too:


From the Deuteronomion, 1902

Some of his stuff is available free (he died in 1929 so out of copyright) on wolnelektury.pl

There are so many Polish writers, among the greats, who deserve to be better known outside Poland. I'd include the playwright Miron Białoszewski among them, and Hoene-Wroński for his non-fiction. Tuwim is well enough known in Poland and great fun to read but just doesn't seem to translate well.

History / Poland PRL era shops in pictures [17]

There was a bookshop like that in Poznan that was open until about 10 years ago. Buying a book was a three stage process.

Law / Long Stay Proof of Income with an application to support myself in Poland [6]

That figure would be more than enough. Better though to produce a document saying you have a pension rather than actually deposit it in a Polish bank. You should consider depositing it offshore and you should take tax advice on this in order that your pension is not eaten into.

As for translation, you should maybe ask the immigration dept exactly what they require.

History / Poland PRL era shops in pictures [17]

30 years before the pictures, which were 20 years ago.


They might have made it look a bit more appealing.

History / Poland PRL era shops in pictures [17]

Look like Western Europe 30 years before that. Despite it all, people got on with life and made the best of things. Triumph in adversity.

News / Poland's President-Elect Duda leads in public trust - CBOS poll [185]

Well there you go, attacking committed public servants for the choices they made when under an unusual regime, all from the comfort of your armchair. One reason why such people command a lot of respect even now, despite skewed CBOS polls about Duda (a non-entity if ever there was one) made by calling 200 old rural age pensioners at home in the daytime on their landlines.

News / Poland's President-Elect Duda leads in public trust - CBOS poll [185]


All excellent people.