Food / The Fortuna beer brewed near Poznan, Poland [8]

Lethally good ;)

(I should mention that the only time I drank them, I had a ridiculous 4 day hangover afterwards due to far too excessive consumption - thumbs up from me)

Food / The Fortuna beer brewed near Poznan, Poland [8]

Oh yes, I've tried.

End result : two hours riding around Poznan on the trams, missing my stop several times and generally being a bit worse for wear.

But yes, it's a great beer if you like sweet, dark beers.

USA, Canada / Polish man's visit a nightmare - Welcome To Canada [65]


Do you speak both languages?

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]

I dunno, I don't see how he can rant about traitors and so on when his own father was one.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone and all that.

Life / Expats/Immigrants in Poland: Needy, Greedy or contributor. Which one are you? [118]


Heat and light shouldn't be 30PLN in a new school. Showers? No need to use them. As for the janitor - they're normally there anyway for other things, and very often, they're often retired people working part time anyway - and so, cost very little. And also - this 100PLN is during school hours.

There's no way that it costs a school 100PLN an hour to actually rent a hall. And we don't mention how schools will rent entire classrooms at a very low price to 'friends'. Or in Poznan, how several school directors took kickbacks from a certain language school ;)

As for the school not being worried about poor kids - if they actually believed in education, they'd be hiring the place at cost price.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


With pleasure.

The electoral mathematics mean that no matter what, the losers are going to be badly educated people living in rural areas. The PSL are a middle class party for the countryside, the SLD are from the cities, Palikot is from the cities and PO are only dominant in Western Poland. Therefore - when it comes to "who loses out" - all these parties are unlikely to support the people that support PiS. Therefore - we're likely to see reforms that hurt such voters the most.


Kaczynski's father being a prominent example.


I maintain that we could see Kaczynski and his loyalists overthrown in order to produce a PO-PiS coalition. Stranger things have happened in Polish politics...

PiS should be worried, however - their support is sticking stubbornly at 30% and no more. That's not going to win the election.

Life / Expats/Immigrants in Poland: Needy, Greedy or contributor. Which one are you? [118]


Not that, simply just the Polish mentality - people will either sell or give unwanted things to someone that needs them - no need for the middleman.

Life / Expats/Immigrants in Poland: Needy, Greedy or contributor. Which one are you? [118]


Yeah, the access to sport is really dreadful if you don't have money here. It's partially the fault of the schools - where I am, you're looking at around 100zl an hour to hire a school hall - which is utterly ridiculous. You're effectively looking at having to make 200zl an hour to make it profitable to run a class - which means charging around 20zl an hour - utterly unaffordable for poor kids.

There's plenty available for middle class kids, but for poor kids? Forget it. The culture is all wrong too though - many PE teachers are from the Communist mindset of high performance - and simply don't have any interest in kids who try hard but don't perform well.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


Yup.

It's devastatingly simple - and PiS have no retort to it.


Well, when Palikot took to offending PiS repeatedly, they howled, cried and demanded all sorts.

I think one thing is certain - after this election, PiS voters are likely to be punished.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


Well, that would require them to score the highest ever in a modern Polish election (as far as I can see - the record is held by PO's 2007 result - 41.5%) - and nothing is showing any possibility of it. But you are right - if Palikot, PJN and the PSL all fail to get 5%, we could see the ridiculous situation of both PO and PiS winning a large percentage of seats, while the tiny SLD would be able to play kingmaker.


But will PiS really tolerate 3 years in the political wilderness? This election is their "last chance" so to speak - there's now nothing until 2014 - which would be a very long time in opposition.


See - maybe it's just me, but looking at Polish politics since 1991, it seems that parties doomed to opposition tend to fall apart quickly. I just can't see many of the rank-and-file tolerating Kaczynski staying the leader after another loss - they will want someone that can win elections, not someone who comes constantly in 2nd place.


Undeniably so. They've done a fantastic job of getting around 25% of the population to be firmly behind them no matter what - much more so than any other party.


haha ;)

No, in all seriousness - one major failing of PiS was to not put a stop to these people quickly and effectively. I still cannot understand why Kaczynski embraced them - they were/are one big obstacle to PiS ever winning power. A tiny minority of football fans and extremists will bring few votes - but will lose plenty of centrist voters who could be swayed into voting for PiS.

My prediction - we will see a 'new' PiS thrive after this election. They'll lose again, people will get sick of Kaczynski and his sycophants - and we will see a takeover by more 'centrist' PiS types who will follow a more peaceful path. The policies won't change, but the battle talk and extremism will go. Poland desperately needs a strong "Catholic-Socialist" type party - not one that spends its time indulging in stupid witchhunts and suchlike. I hope, for the sake of Polish politics, it will happen.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


The possibilities are endless - my own feeling is that we'll see Palikot deliberately abstain from the vote of confidence on the Prime Minister - thus giving PO the victory while allowing Palikot to claim the moral high ground.

My own feeling is that even if PiS manage to hit 40% somehow (unlikely, their support is going nowhere - they've sat at around 30% for ages) - we'll see the other parties agree to keep PiS out of power, even if they win the most seats. Can you honestly see the SLD and Palikot allowing Jaroslaw Kaczynski to take power? It would seem more likely that we'd see them agree to return Tusk to the Premiership in exchange for some legislation being passed.

But I still think there's a possibility that Kaczynski will quit (or more accurately, be pushed out) in exchange for PiS regaining some power. I just cannot see him surviving this election.


What do you mean? (I don't know the story)

It'll be interesting to see if the electoral silence law is enforced this time round - PiS especially should be careful considering Palikot's past history of pulling them up on it.

Interesting PO advert here -

(English : it's a video showing football hooligans and the "Defenders of the Cross" using violence - and reminding voters that those people will vote - in essence, linking PiS to violence, which is true anyway)

Life / Expats/Immigrants in Poland: Needy, Greedy or contributor. Which one are you? [118]

Is that the taste of bitterness?

Just because you work for a faceless multinational corporate doesn't mean we all do.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]

No words?

Tell us, do you think PiS would actually fire them? Hahahaha.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


PiS themselves aren't village idiots - their supporters are. Actually, it shows that their supporters are manipulated by the educated elite who have no interest in actually empowering them - but we knew that already ;)

"Stole" money? Nothing was stolen - the contributions to the OFE scheme were cut.

As for the increase in public administration - so what? It's resulting in better public services.

Nothing for employers? No, they just provided a stable platform on which to do business. Nothing much, no.


Yawn. The money is there if you're willing to work for it. Of course, most PiS voters want the flat screen televisions, the cars, the foreign holidays, the houses, the lot - without actually working for it.


No clue? Given that he's gone from 2.5% to 9% in the spate of a few days, anything is possible.

At the end of the day, we're going to laugh in your face repeatedly next Sunday/Monday after PiS loses yet again. I look forward to watching Kaczynski's humiliating resignation.

Life / Expats/Immigrants in Poland: Needy, Greedy or contributor. Which one are you? [118]

Yawn.

And what have you done for Poland, apart from sit in the United States and whine about Jews?

(directed at ShortHairThug)


Ugh, I can't imagine living such a lifestyle. The utter detachment that many of them have - yuck.

Food / Coffee in Poland: cheap and undrinkable / expensive and good [89]

Strangely enough, it doesn't effect me as well - it just doesn't work. I remember once trying to drive back from Warsaw to Poznan late at night when really tired, drank about 4-5 coffees on the way and didn't feel a difference at all.

Life / Expats/Immigrants in Poland: Needy, Greedy or contributor. Which one are you? [118]


That's me.

I run the local Language Exchange Club (all totally free), I work for a business that puts the community first (if I was interested in solely money, I'd do something else) and I'm just about to start a campaign for access to sport for all after discovering just how utterly dreadful the provision is in Poland for young people who want to get involved with sport.

(an example - where I work, to hire a local sports hall - 80zl an hour. Ridiculous)

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]

Something I've just seen - what about the possibility of a PO-PiS coalition?

If the current poll is right, that means PiS and PO would have around 59% of the vote. Obviously, hardliners would never go into coalition with PO - but there are *plenty* of ordinary PiS members in local councils and suchlike who would have little to no objection to this.

Kaczynski and his sycophants would have to go - but that would still leave them with enough seats. Even in the Sejm, there are plenty of people who would much rather share power than sit in the cold for another 4 years - so - what about it?

History / Did British public protest against the sell out of Poland to the Soviets? [286]

Ah, let's just quote something...


Poles were even at the level of murdering Polish priests. Sorry, but no matter how hard you try, it doesn't change the truth - Poles murdered Poles

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


I doubt it, to be honest - PiS, despite their claims of being for the workers, the poor, etc - have never really involved such people in any sort of decision making. Look at them even on local levels - it's all the educated elite that actually do things. I had a quick look through the PKW site for the education of their candidates in the last elections - and even in poor areas, it's all people with "higher" education.


Or because...there hasn't been an election to analyse such things? There was analysis after all the elections last year - what more do you expect?

And I never said that young people don't vote PiS - there are plenty of angry, uneducated young people who think that the world owes them a living. They have, and always will vote for such parties.


Are you sure they're PO voters, or are they perhaps PiS voters who won't admit to voting for them? Quite a few of them in Poland.


Strangely enough, you've just described PiS. PiS won't touch public workers (the State is Good, remember?) - they won't touch any corporations who support them, and they're all about stealing from workers to give to unproductive PiS voters. If they were so pro-business, where are their proposals to reform pensions to make them fairer to the current generation?


Ah yes, that's PiS in a nutshell - their support of big, inefficient State owned enterprises is exactly that.


If so, why do I know several people under the age of 30 who earn just under 10k a month working in finance? Why do I know plenty of people earning ridiculous good money in Warsaw under the same age? Heck, I know several guys who started their own business not so long ago who are pulling in 6-7k each a month - and I know several young people who earn 4-5k in "normal" jobs. Then again, they've all got one thing in common - they're willing to work for it instead of complaining that the State isn't providing for them.


It'll be funnier to watch PiS disintegrate after Kaczynski has his 14th electoral loss.


If they genuinely think PiS will protect them - they need to look at who makes up PiS. Where are the uneducated people? Where are the poor people? Eeemmm.


The anti-PiS opposition has 70% of the vote. Still a loss.

One thing is certain - the centre-left is going to win big in this election.


The way he's going, he could easily take up to 15% in this election - which would be shocking, but also a sign that many young people are fed up of "Solidarity moustache" politics. I know quite a lot of people who are thinking about voting for him, simply because they're sick of the same old Solidarity/PZPR dinosaurs.

History / Did British public protest against the sell out of Poland to the Soviets? [286]


The fact remains that there were plenty of Poles who were perfectly happy to work with Stalin in the post WW2 era. I don't think it's any surprise that much of the Communist elite came from poor peasant backgrounds - people who saw their chance and seized it with both hands. They were Polish, nonetheless.


So 33% of them were Polish of presumably Catholic background. As I said - plenty of Poles were happy to go along with it.


Doesn't matter why they were there - they were still Polish, working for an enemy power to enslave their fellow countrymen.


What has that got to do with anything?

Don't forget, Poles killed Poles in most cases - not Russians or (gasp) Jews.

History / Did British public protest against the sell out of Poland to the Soviets? [286]


Ah, gotta love the insults - you simply can't admit that Poles enslaved Poles, so instead, you choose to insult me. Typical.


Of course not, but would they have managed to rule if Poles simply refused to work with the Communists?

As I said - there were a hell of a lot of people dependent on the Party - and they didn't object.

Work / The demand for English language learning in Poland is at an all time low [41]

Funny thing is, it seems quite a few foreigners come here and then get surprised that people aren't falling at their feet for private lessons.

For instance - I know two well-educated female native speakers in Poznan with very nice accents - why the hell would anyone bother to hire some Scottish guy from just outside Glasgow who can't even write properly?

Work / The demand for English language learning in Poland is at an all time low [41]


Oh, there can be - but it also requires effort to progress. For instance, there's always university jobs, or you can work part time in a public school and go on the "work path" if you want. But most native speakers aren't interested in progression, they're just interested in the money.

But one thing that I keep seeing - Polish students simply aren't willing to pay for someone who speaks with a heavy accent and who doesn't know a thing about teaching.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


Depends on whether you're talking about pre-89 or post-89 - I can think of quite a few cases where they've been utterly morally bankrupt in recent times, usually involving large sums of money.

History / Did British public protest against the sell out of Poland to the Soviets? [286]


It's much easier than admitting that Poles (and nominally Catholic ones, at that) were the ones who kept Poland in captivity.

Communism would never have worked in Poland if it wasn't for the masses of ordinary collaborating Poles.

History / Are Poles grateful to the Russians for winning the war? [120]


Oh yeah, don't get me wrong - I think the speed of the Russian advance was incredible, especially when you consider the beatings they took in places like Kostrzyn and Poznan.


It's very much a "what if" scenario - there's always the possibility that the Russians would have given up the "prize" of Berlin and simply concentrated on giving Poland a hiding instead. If they had wanted to, they could have destroyed Poland at that point.

History / Did British public protest against the sell out of Poland to the Soviets? [286]


Well, for a start, who were the legitimate Polish representatives? There was no elected authorities, nothing - just two sets of rival groups, both claiming to be legitimate.


But Poland wasn't under the control of the Polish authorities, so how could they build such an alliance?

All this talk is nice, but the reality on the ground was that the Russians were always going to be firmly in control.

History / Did British public protest against the sell out of Poland to the Soviets? [286]


So, tell us what Britain should have done with limited resources and little bargaining power at the top table?

Come on, tell us - as you know the British position so well, I'm sure you can present us with a viable plan for Britain to present to the Big 2.

Poland's last chance was extinguished with the stupidity of the Warsaw Uprising. In fact, given that the Allies knew that Poland was finished at that point - what was the point in heavily pushing things? There wasn't much to deal with, and the Communists already had organised in Poland.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


They're only hurting themselves by getting involved in politics to such a degree - especially as even PiS are showing that they will only respect the part of the church that agrees with them. Hardly the recipe for a bright future.