UK, Ireland / Getting the most from my hard earned money (transfer money from England to Poland) [41]


I wonder where he got it from? As far as I'm aware, the only restrictions with one is that non-EU citizens (with the exception of some, such as Americans) cannot open one - but there's no restriction on where you invoice to.

In fact - I can tell you that a friend of mine regularly invoices both Ukraine and Serbia without any fuss at all (he imports from Ukraine, sells to Serbia).

UK, Ireland / Polish Prams & Baby Travel Systems [12]


There's something about the phrase that just makes me cringe.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


According to the PKW, there were around 3.5% of invalid votes. Is this 15% line just another lie spread by Gazeta Polska to stupid people who can't even check the PKW site?

UK, Ireland / Getting the most from my hard earned money (transfer money from England to Poland) [41]

I've never had any issues invoicing people from all over the world with a dzialnosc gospodarcza. I even used to include both zloty and Euro amounts on the invoices, no questions asked.


What are you talking about? Poland has incredibly simple tax residency laws - if you're resident here for more than 185 days, you're considered a Polish resident for taxation purposes and must make the appropriate declarations.

Why so serious?

Why would you tell the Polish tax man? Because you're committing tax fraud in Poland as it stands - you're legally resident here for tax purposes and must pay your fair share of taxation to the Polish government. It's almost a certainty that you'll have a liability for some Polish taxes due to the UK allowing what, 7,000 pounds tax free - whereas Poland only allows a base of around 3000zl. So - go there, own up and pay what's owed.


Wrong. If you're resident for more than 185 days, you pay taxes to Poland. End of story.


From a quick check of the tax calculators, he'll definitely have some liability in Poland. Actually, could be more than "some" - could easily be in the region of 25,000zl a year (the difference between the UK and Polish tax free amounts).

Life / Question about hot water in Poland and the use of water heaters? [52]

I know it's Poland and all that, but surely....economies of scale would mean that a customer of the power station would always get a better deal than a private customer of gas?

Love / Should I bring gifts? - help with a Polish wedding [46]


I don't like it for one simple reason - I do not and never will want to get into a pissing contest over who handed over the most cash.


Insulting for village peasants who have no idea about manners, perhaps.

The whole thing of giving money just seems to be an extension of the horrific Polish habit of "look how big my penis is, it's grown x amount in 22 years".

Life / Question about hot water in Poland and the use of water heaters? [52]


It's just the cheapest solution in Poland right now.


In Poland, my only advice is to forget about it. If it's not there now, there's no guarantee that it will come - especially if other forms of fuel such as coal are cheaper.


I don't understand - why are they advertising? Surely anyone with an ounce of common sense would use central hot water over a gas heater if they had the choice?


Impossible to say, but such a big place will be expensive to heat with oil - I can tell you that.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]

Godson has a fantastic reputation in Lodz, while Grabraczyk is..well... not a star in PO.

Law / Government/EU Funding to start a new business in Poland (Warsaw)? [13]


Forget it. The EU isn't going to give you one grosz.


Don't bother even asking - you're not going to get the money to open a restaurant.

UK, Ireland / Poles in Ireland by Peadar de Burca. They "turned their backs on a country that gave them" [195]

What would happen?

Probably massive riots, open warfare and indiscriminate killings of Catholics.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


For the worse?

Perhaps you should be more concerned about why a priest did this, as opposed to claiming that the country is getting worse. That's exactly the mentality that's causing the Catholic Church to lose power/influence all over the world - blaming everyone else rather than looking inside.


I can clearly see that you've never lived here - otherwise you wouldn't come out with such rubbish. Poland has been multicultural for years and years. Need I remind you that Poland in the times of the Commonwealth was one of the most tolerant, open countries in Europe? Do you need reminded that Kashubians, Lemkos, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Germans, Lithuanians, Poles, Jews and more all lived quite happily within her borders?

Let's be honest - you're just a kid that's utterly dissatisified with his life in the UK and fantasies about how great Poland is, but you don't actually live here. All these "values" you talk about - they only existed in a brief 20 year period of Polish history.

UK, Ireland / Getting the most from my hard earned money (transfer money from England to Poland) [41]


I do hope you're declaring the income to the Polish tax man.


I'll bet my left testicle that he's not paying taxes on the income.

(bit stupid to transfer money into a Polish bank account without declaring the source of the income, though)

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]

Highlanders count as "poor peasants". I've never heard anyone refer to the Gorale as anything but poor mountain peasants.

And where's your evidence for who was voting in this election?

Then again, what would you know about Polish politics, having never been here?

As for the Polonia moving back - possibly, or even more likely, the brightest and best ones wouldn't be reading the rubbish that the Polonia print for themselves - they'd be too busy reading far more high brow sources. They'd probably also be pragmatic enough to know that voting would be absurd.

UK, Ireland / Poles in Ireland by Peadar de Burca. They "turned their backs on a country that gave them" [195]


Not just there, but there's all the other improvements - the A1 is pretty much motorway-standard between the border and the M1 now, though they should just bite the bullet and designate the thing as motorway.


I dunno - do you think Dublin would be keen on paying for all the stuff that keeps both sides quiet in NI? Would Dublin even want to have a lot of angry Unionists within her borders?

For what it's worth, I would have been a huge fan of handing over nationalist-majority areas in NI. Fermanagh, Tyrone and bits of Armagh could have gone south - and perhaps West Belfast. The Unionist part of Derry could have stayed in NI, along with most of the other counties. Given the circumstances of the time, they could have easily moved Nationalists/Unionists to the "right" side of the border - and NI would have remained as a overwhelmingly majority Unionist state.

Leaving Crossmaglen in the North was one of the most stupid moves ever made by the British, if you ask me.

UK, Ireland / Poles in Ireland by Peadar de Burca. They "turned their backs on a country that gave them" [195]


Interestingly, that should have been all cleared up - but the Boundary Commission's report was leaked - and it caused outrage in almost all quarters. As I recall, a lot of the absurdities were due to be eliminated, but because of the Nationalist population going mad because they didn't get the huge swathes of NI that they wanted, and the Unionist population going mad because of the loss of territory - it just couldn't happen.

There were plans to return areas such as South Armagh to Dublin - but, something that kept coming up - would the Republic really want such places? Ireland couldn't afford the 2bn+ subsidy given every year to NI, for a start.


That was a fantastic example of how completely out of control the Unionst Government was in NI. The state of the road between Derry and Belfast to this day is a disgrace - but they do seem to be finally doing something about it.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


That's my view.

Without even resorting to the usual insults such as "Ukrainians" - look at where the emigration from Poland took place. They left from the incredibly poor (and still so to this day) Eastern borderlands - apart from Lwów and perhaps the modern day Ivano-Frankivsk, there was really nothing much to note in that area. They also left at the start of the new Polish state - so it does make sense that the elite would have stayed while the poor peasants would have left for a better life.

I suspect these poor peasants would have also been incredibly sentimental about the homeland - especially as literacy wouldn't have been high, but they would have retained the stories told by their ancestors. So - it's probably unlikely that they would have been able to read about what was happening in Poland. That probably translates into the modern day racism seen in the US Polonia (as told by their forefathers) - and thus the votes for PiS.

UK, Ireland / Poles in Ireland by Peadar de Burca. They "turned their backs on a country that gave them" [195]


It can be. There's a legal provision that allows Northern Ireland to join the Republic if the majority wish for it to be so.

Actually, there was a poll done recently - and the majority of Northern Irish Catholics want to stay in the UK. More generous welfare provisions, more generous subsidies - the list goes on.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]

He's known for his sense of humour ;)

Even the PiS voters on here (yes, even those that claimed to vote for Nowa Prawica) don't seem to be backing him now.

News / POLAND TO BECOME THE NEXT GREECE? [28]


Won't happen in the UK, because it would be easy for the country to simply slice expenditure.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


The more amazing thing is that he does appear to be so - he's now lost something like 13 elections, yet he's still the leader of the second biggest party.

But I noticed something different this time. Unlike before, when they were rabidly behind him - it seems PiS are much, much more laid back - his speech was short, his henchmen looked exceptionally pissed off...all in all, not good news for him. If he can survive until the 2014 European elections, I'll be amazed.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


Interesting, because in Poland, no such thing exists. Without being offensive to your family - it shows how America has changed the political identity of people. No bad thing - they're thousands of miles away from their homeland!

For instance - in Cieszyn, we can see that Ruch Palikota only got 11% of the vote.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


I've reported this post.


Still an amazing, stunning result. When you look at what Palikot did - he managed to take a very stable 4 party setup in the Sejm and break down all the doors.

Does anyone have the final voting figures for the US Polonia to hand? The total vote for Ruch Palikota would be interesting there.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


Hang on a second. I've been abused thoroughly in this thread, called all sorts of names (look back, including in the bin) - and yet *I'm* being threatened with being suspended for discussing the issue in a rational way without personally attacking anyone? Look back - do you see any red text in my posts? Do you even see any personal attacks towards Des? There's nothing there - yet I've been called a "clown", "spiteful", "hateful", "stupid", "idiot" and more.

You made it crystal clear that personal attacks would result in a suspension - and if you actually look at the previous posts, me and PWEI have made absolutely no personal attacks on any member here.

Not really fair to threaten us with suspension, is it? I mean - over the last two days, Des has gone insane with his attacks on posters. He's been throwing abuse left/right/centre towards British members on this forum, including referring to them as "prostitutes" and all sorts. Yet - he's still here.


Nah, they get told who to vote for by their newspapers.

History suggests that they would be feverent PiS voters - patriotic (but only when it's easy to be so), misguided and driven by a false sense of nationalism from the days that have long gone.

The fact that their newspapers often print utter garbage about PO and the President also helps - I've read so much rubbish in one newspaper that they would be sued out of existence within seconds in Poland. They even make Gazeta Polska look like a credible newspaper!

PennBoy - interesting that the highlanders there support PiS - I don't know if it's the same in Poland.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


Why are your posts littered with red text, including a very prominent warning about receiving a week's ban if you continue then?


It is fine, because it's our personal opinion that they shouldn't be allowed to vote. Sadly, your 'defence' has consisted mostly of personal attacks and little in the way of rational, reasoned argument.


Calling the moderators "stupid", as well as calling 38 million Poles "idiots" and "stupid" is really..well...not a good idea.

Still, let's get back on topic -

This 80% result for PiS just shows how utterly out of touch the US Polonia actually is. It's pretty obvious that they're relying on poor sources of information - there's simply no reason why a Democratic city like Chicago would vote for Kaczynski - unless they simply don't know who they're voting for. No doubt "Busia" tells them who to vote for in her confused old age, probably while wearing a "World's Greatest Busia" t-shirt.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]

Yet more personal abuse.

Des, don't you think that perhaps, after having a fair few posts moderated today and yesterday, it might just be a little bit wise to lay off with the personal attacks?


Depends - was your father a Polish citizen as of 1962? If so - yes, you can. Pretty trivial to claim your citizenship too.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


That tends to stop them laughing in a hurry ;)

Interference in domestic politics by foreign powers is no laughing matter in Poland. Given the amount of spies that the USSR had in the USA, it's not inconveivable that those with Communist sympathies and Polish heritage could in fact be traitors in more ways than one.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


Certainly is. It's a conscious act designed to show Poland how little the US Polonia actually cares about them.

Des - why do you persist with the personal insults when you can clearly see that there's a moderator on here reading this thread?

I still love the part where Americans with non-Polish great-grandparents feel the need to interfere in domestic Polish affairs.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]

I wonder how many of the US Polonia voted who avoided their obligations to perform compulsory military service in Poland?

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


According to Polish morals, which are stronger than the law (just ask anyone who actually lived here during Communism) - they're traitors.


Not only have you called 38 million Poles "stupid", but now you're also calling them "idiots".


Do try and keep to the topic.

USA, Canada / US Polonia 70% for Kaczyński [343]


They aren't citizens though, they're mostly traitors. Certainly, every single one of them with American citizenship is a traitor.

The vote should certainly be stripped from anyone who has pledged to help a foreign power.

I'm very much of the opinion that Polish citizenship shouldn't be awarded without a langauge test AND proof of contribution to Poland.

Buying "kielbasas" and "pierogies" at POLISH FEST doesn't count.