UK, Ireland / Polish plane almost kills off UKIP leader Nigel Farage in 2010. [24]


Do read the post. Btw, the SNP aren't anti-immigration at all. In fact if they ever achieved their aims, they acknowledge that increased immigration would be needed.

And yes, tossed into the dustbin of history like the BNP, the NF and all those other fringe parties.

UK, Ireland / Polish plane almost kills off UKIP leader Nigel Farage in 2010. [24]


He didn't have one. They (and their anti-immigrant polemics) have been consigned to the dustbin of history just like their predecessors the BNP. It seems the British (if we forget this year's flash-in-the-pan Balkan-style separatism north of Berwick) the British prefer immigration to nationalism.

News / Should Poland change its Government from Parliamentary to American Style Republic? One-mandate districts? [20]

There should be more not fewer and yes, there should be one poseł constituencies with an obligation for them to actually live there themselves and conduct surgeries helping the people who elect them.

They should also get rid of this ridiculous PRL-era immunity from arrest/prosecution. Same for prosecutors who just park their cars wherever they like and speed knowing they won't get a ticket.

Real Estate / Shop / restaurant rent in Centralny Station in Warsaw? [5]

Have a look on Trovit etc (google it) - there are some advertised now.

Be aware though that it's a big place and since the restoration there are very few smaller units like you mention. It's also quite big and the ones likely to be affordable are in the western section which has much less footfall.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

I'd better be discreet here since I'm talking about somebody without their permission, however a friend's family member got married several years ago. She's a fairly normal occasionally practising Catholic and he (who by the way is a close family member of JPII) is an active member of a protestant congregation. They decided (as many would the world over) to get married in a his protestant church and have their first child christened in a Catholic church. Sounds a great idea? Not really, since they subsequently couldn't find a Catholic parish in their area willing to baptise the kid.

Another awkward thing is the habit in some village parishes of the priest reading out a list of the specific amounts each family donated at the kolendy, when they come round soliciting money. Humiliating for poorer families, a nuisance for those who want to keep up appearances and all about control.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]

Yes. You get the same in any rural society certainly in parts of the UK too, however the pervasive influence not just of the church but of particular conservative tendencies within it as well as the way some families work (plus the Polish/German trait of it being thought acceptable or even desirable to tell people what they should do) intensifies that effect in small-town Poland.

There's a long tradition in PL, going back centuries, of having to leave in order to be oneself.

Life / Why are Polish so conservative and religious? [240]


Basically yes. Many come from small towns and villages with a stifling atmosphere of both conservatism and religiosity where relatives and neighbours know their every move - plenty of pretending for many people. When they leave they find their first taste of freedom.

Genealogy / Why Polish aren't white?? [272]


Sort of, yes. Ethnic means shared cultural values, not skin colour or DNA as our racist guest poster seems to think.

So yes, there's a British ethnicity and yes, people of any skin colour or family origin can have British ethnicity.

UK, Ireland / London Strip Clubs? What's it like for women working there? [74]


Have you got a source for that, or is it just your own experience of tarts and scrubbers?

News / Polish government to allow kosher and halal methods of animal slaughter [29]

Since the ban on kosher and halal meat was repealed, it looks like production is really taking off, including exports (which is always a good thing).


thenews/1/12/Artykul/205711,Polands-kosher-exports-taking-off

UK, Ireland / London Strip Clubs? What's it like for women working there? [74]

I agree with you 100%. You're working and earning and anyone who gets snotty about the type of work you do can go take a running jump.

Life / Are there any Muslim areas in Poland? [173]

Kruszniany doesn't have a shop so buying vodka is no issue and in any case not all (very few even) Polish Muslims abstain. Nor are there any predominantly Muslim areas however vodka is sold near the few mosques that it is. Worth mentioning that alcohol sales are banned close to churches in PL.

Work / Salary for a senior software engineer in Poland [195]

It's a good salary for Poland. Even after tax you'll only spend about 3 days' pay on somewhere very nice to live, another two or three days' pay on day-to day expenses and food so the rest will be yours to spend or save as you like.

News / Footie hooligan punch-up thwarted in Poland [47]


The most successful method was used in the UK. The problems a couple of decades ago were bad and escalating. Now it's seating only, numbered tickets, named (I think) tickets, cameras everywhere and the courts having the ability to ban someone from watching football.

The clubs themselves need to take it seriously - the threat to their ticket revenues on the occasions when matches have had to be played with no audience is quite an effective motivator.

News / Footie hooligan punch-up thwarted in Poland [47]

Exactly my point - so much so that I wonder why you chose to restate it, but in any case, nice that you agree. They certainly are drunk and disorderly hooligans (though punk went out of fashion decades ago) which is why I favour community sentences so that they can learn that life isn't just about oneself and ones immediate circle.

Life / Are there any Muslim areas in Poland? [173]

There has been an Islamic presence in Poland since the Fourteenth Century.

There are long-standing communities in Kruszniany, Podlasie and some villages around, also communities of Polish Muslims in Białystok and Gdańsk (these communities were originally Tatar but are now Polonised and largely indistinguishable from their neighbours) as well as more recent communities in Warsaw, Kraków and Poznań, but above all in Warsaw.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kruszyniany

Poland's centuries' old liberal tradition has fostered an atmosphere of peace and there are a number of historically significant Poles who practised the Islamic religion.

News / Footie hooligan punch-up thwarted in Poland [47]

Education and community penalties might have a better effect - for both groups. The people protesting in Anerica have a very valid point - these are just hooligans.

News / Footie hooligan punch-up thwarted in Poland [47]


Much the same when the nationalists (and there's a considerable overlap between them and football hooligans) set fire to vehicles and rip up paving stones on 11 November. In crowds though, and during the chaos of a football riot it's hard to know who exactly did what and who was just caught up in it unless there's detailed film footage. Punishing the guilty is one thing, avoiding punishing those near them is much more subtle.

In this case though it was a gross overreaction by the police who panicked and behaved like trigger-happy amateurs. Not the first time this has happened recently in Poland. At least they didn't mistake real bullets for rubber ones when loading weapons as they did in Lodz.

Tear gas would have been much more effective.

News / Footie hooligan punch-up thwarted in Poland [47]

It sounds like spectacularly incompetent crowd control.

News / Footie hooligan punch-up thwarted in Poland [47]

Yes, though rubber bullets are certainly overkill. Tear gas would have been a more sensible solution.

News / Footie hooligan punch-up thwarted in Poland [47]

Sir Alex Ferguson? As far as I know he's got no connection with Polish football. In any case, football stadium punch-ups in Poland are nothing new and the various rivalries between football supporters is actually quite sophisticated, if that's the right word.

Personally I prefer Polonia to Legia - on the whole their fans tend to be better behaved and are generally from a different demographic.

Travel / Krakow for a middle-aged couple: sightseeing, places to eat, shopping [10]

A morning coffee and cakes or perhaps lunch at Jama Michalika (a Kraków legend) is a great idea.
jamamichalika.pl/en

The old Schindler factory (as in Schindler's List) is interesting to visit. Lots of exhibits about Kraków in wartime, old photos etc.

Nice to walk in the planty, the long park (like a smaller version of Harrogate Stray) where the old city walls were.

For shopping, the souvenir places in the Square have lots of stuff, but you can usually find nicer and cheaper away from the Square itself. Some nice stalls selling painted wooden boxes just as you get to Wawel Castle.

Travel / Krakow for a middle-aged couple: sightseeing, places to eat, shopping [10]

Wieliczka is a must (Google it) as is Wawel Castle. Think carefully if you want to take a day trip to Auschwitz or not. It is a memorial rather than a tourist attraction and visiting it is always traumatic.

Travel / Hotel / Hostel in Wroclaw in the city centre - any recomendations? [13]

Thanks, I looked it up on booking. and it seems perfect.

Study / Studying in University of Lodz as an Indian student? What's the city like - is it safe here? [56]

Yes - although the faded elegance of Lodz contributes to its unique atmosphere, it's sad to see the proliferation of dishes on old buildings. Plastic window frames are an even bigger problem. The authorities need to get tough about this and fine/jail building owners who don't maintain the property and who allow wooden window frames to be replaced by plastic ones.

Interestingly one of the London Boroughs has just insisted that an old building which a developer destroyed without prior permission be rebuilt brick by brick. I would like to see this in Lodz.

Study / International Schools in Poznan Reviews - which is better for my child? [21]

There's a demand and there's also an oversupply.

Work / Does Poland welcome overseas workers as much as the UK does? [34]


By no means all of them work for French companies or operate the sort of businesses you mention, Guest Poster...

In any case, someone who retains a financial link to their country of origin can still be called an immigrant - that term doesn't mean you have to sever all ties. I have a pension in my home country for example but have always been an immigrant and never an expat in PL. An Indian or Pakistani may well own real estate back in their country of origin and nobody would question that they're an immigrant. A Polish person who moved to the U.S. and never returned may have a pension and real estate in Poland.

You'll find that the situation is far less black and white than you think. Anyway, the thread is more about overseas workers rather than people higher up in society. Very few Europeans migrate to Poland for basic jobs.


We'll find this happening in a few years in the UK among Poles who exercise right-to-buy however conditions in Poland mean that it's not likely to happen among overseas workers in Poland.

Work / Does Poland welcome overseas workers as much as the UK does? [34]

I think you're mixing different sorts of people (and taking the thread off topic. We aren't talking here about French expats who pay equalised taxation and are posted here by their companies. We are talking about immigrants, here for the duration, not the bods from Varsovie Acceuil etc. There are more than you evidently know.

Yes, there are French people who still have one foot there metaphorically, however more than you evidently realise don't. There's even a whole generation who've grown up here.

Work / Does Poland welcome overseas workers as much as the UK does? [34]

Of all the French people I know and spend time with in Warsaw, I can't think of even one who is on benefits. I do however know people who have been here for years and will probably never leave. In short, immigrants.

Work / Does Poland welcome overseas workers as much as the UK does? [34]


Certainly not employment statistics. Or second learned language ones either.