UK, Ireland / No Poles Allowed! - Latest Polonophobic Outrage Out of Britain [660]


Dunno where you've been reading that, but the PRL government made it pretty easy for most people with a connection to Poland to visit. They were a valuable source of hard currency, especially with mandatory exchange of currency and hotels / other services priced in hard currency. Pilgrimages in escorted groups were pretty popular, especially among the US Polonia, and the authorities loved them because they were herded from place to place while paying over the top.

The majority could easily get visas after Stalinism ended, and the authorities didn't hassle ordinary tourists. The real problem for tourists was the abysmal quality of tourism services, not tourism itself.

News / Hungary Veto on Poland Sanctions may not happen [108]


Which means Poland, with an economy relying on cheap exports and services, is instantly in deep trouble.

News / Hungary Veto on Poland Sanctions may not happen [108]

And you think the EU would just let Poland leave without paying?


Hungary is not to be trusted, the Czechs don't trust and won't ally with Poland against the EU, Austria won't ally with Poland over Germany, and Italy will want Poland to take migrants to share out the burden. Remember that populism also means doing what is best for themselves, which is usually not in Poland's best interest. What happens if the Italians demand that Poland either accepts refugees or they will block making fiscal transfers to Poland?

As for the Baltics, they don't have populist governments - the Estonian government is centrist, the Latvian one is centre-right, and the Lithuanians are centrist too.

Poland has everything to lose from populism in the CEE region. The government has no real allies except Hungary, and even the Hungarians will do what's best for Hungary and not for Poland.


Indeed. The devil is in the detail, and the detail is that there's no sign whatsoever that these countries will support Poland over the EU. A few public statements are meaningless, as the Hungarians showed with Tusk's election.

Feedback / The Notices file [21]

Where can the file be found, Admin?

Edit: I see it! Great idea!

History / How come Poles like Russians but not Germans? [216]


There's a hell of a lot of Polish disapora in places like the Ruhr, more than you might think. The difference might be that many of them don't really consider themselves to be of Polish descent. The UK in comparison has plenty of actual Poles, but not that many Polonia.

Fun fact: the man who announced the opening of the Berlin Wall was probably a member of the Polish diaspora, Günter Schabowski.

News / Poland - Ukraine. Młodzież Wszechpolska against Ukrainians. [180]


Gomułka is a fascinating guy if you want to see this in practice - he was a strong advocate of a specific Polish national communism that was friendly with the USSR, but based on the threat coming from Germany rather than as a slave of the USSR. There was actually a curious situation during his rule - the Church in Poland wanted better relations with (West) Germany while the Communists wanted the Vatican to appoint a bishop for the ex-German territories and to actually help them in the recognition of the post-war borders.

This is well worth a read - cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000575483.pdf - it's a fascinating insight into how Gomułka actually treated relations with the Church, and how the German question was dealt with.

News / Poland - Ukraine. Młodzież Wszechpolska against Ukrainians. [180]


Isn't that basically what the PZPR did? They pushed a single Polish identity at the expense of minorities, after all.

Love / So I got a call yesterday from those Polish teens who tried blackmailing me [22]

Hmm, interesting thread.

One has to wonder if birds of a feather don't flock together, so to speak.

News / Polish-German Reconcilliation Seminar [491]


What about Russia? Why aren't we demanding repatriations from them?

Law / Question about Polish public nudity law [54]


Game on.

Donate the cash to a children's charity though :)

Law / Question about Polish public nudity law [54]

Likewise :(

Worst thing is, there's plenty of dreadful employers out there who won't even do a basic background check before letting him near kids.

Love / So I got a call yesterday from those Polish teens who tried blackmailing me [22]


Probably not - academic networks tend to be quite misleading with location. I don't know for certain, but I'd guess that many educational places in Warsaw use the same network.

It's more likely that he's enrolled at some university or szkoła policealna and he's logging in using an account provided to him. A lot of them have access points in public areas in cities, especially those on the eduroam network.

Law / Question about Polish public nudity law [54]

CYBERPRZESTĘPCZOŚĆ

Informacje, które mogą okazać się przydatne w zwalczaniu cyberprzestępczości należy przesyłać na adres poczty elektronicznej:

cyber-kgp@policja.gov.pl

We can give his real name to Admin and he can report it with details of the IP addresses used and the time of posts.

Love / So I got a call yesterday from those Polish teens who tried blackmailing me [22]


Not the brightest chap.

ipinfo.io/AS1887/148.81.0.0/16-148.81.198.0/23

This is linked to an academic network, which will require a login to use. Therefore, it will be simple to tie the post on PF to his personal login, and thus lead the police straight to him.

Not very bright, are you Mike?

Law / Question about Polish public nudity law [54]

You want to invite teenage girls over and just get naked in front of them?

You really should remember that we know your real name and that Polish prisons are no place for a child sex offender.

Work / Cost of living Warsaw, Poland for family of 2+1 (7 month baby) [13]


Depends on his income and what the court thinks. Usually a minimum of 500-600zł though, and as it's only a baby, they're unlikely to award ridiculous amounts as there's no private schools/kindergarten/etc to pay for.

She should start the bidding at 2000zł and accept no less than 1000zł.

Love / So I got a call yesterday from those Polish teens who tried blackmailing me [22]

IP address please, Admin?

History / De-communisation in Poland? [38]


Some of them were really not a big deal, for instance, dates connected to the liberation of the individual city. Some of them were kept on demand of the residents too - like this one just outside Poznań - czerwonak.pl/mieszkaniec/pl/samorzad/osiedle_40lecia_prl_w.html - even though it's a weird name because the PRL didn't exist for 40 years!

Real Estate / Buying/Building a house in Poland/Wroclaw metro area [12]

How much are you willing to spend is the question?

Law / Can gambling loss be claimed as a tax benefit in Poland? [4]


No, but gambling wins are also not taxed - gazetapodatnika.pl/artykuly/podatki_2018_kolejne_zmiany_ws_pit_i_gier_hazardowych-a_23048.htm

Be warned that this only applies to legal gambling in Poland. Essentially, you can't claim losses, nor do you pay tax on winnings.

By the way, steer clear of non-licenced games in Poland.

News / Poland versus Greece in economy [175]


He actually found a picture of Wrocław!

How it actually looks, by the way - upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Sedesowce_Wroc%C5%82aw.jpg

Life / Right-wing events in Poland [13]


Exactly. These groups are very much on the fringe of society. If you think that they could only pull 60,000 to Warsaw on one single day when everyone is on holiday, then it shows just how miniscule their support is. Their candidate in the 2015 Presidential election only got 77,000 votes as well.

Still, the idea of nationalists actually working together is hilarious. The ONR even protested against Ukrainians stealing 'their' jobs (not that they work) once they realised that no-one cared about anti-Muslim protests.

Law / Maintenance Claim From Mother - Poland [19]

Essentially, what you can do in this case is request for the richer siblings to take on the burden. It should be pretty straightforward - your lawyer will petition the court to chase them for the alimony instead, because they live in the UK and have considerably higher incomes as a result. However, it's also a wise idea to gather as much evidence as possible that she's not struggling for cash.

It's all detailed in the links that I gave. However, it might be a good idea to talk with the siblings and agree a common defence against this claim - they've got more to lose, so they should cooperate.

And yes, the court will take all the siblings into account. You can't just demand cash from one sibling and not another, as it's for the court to decide who pays how much, not the one making the claim.

Law / Maintenance Claim From Mother - Poland [19]


It is crazy, but the way of thinking is that the parents paid to bring up the child, so there's now responsibility in reverse to maintain the parents if needs be. I've heard some real horror stories, including children being forced into paying to maintain a drunken parent for many years.

infor.pl/prawo/alimenty/inne-alimenty/77873,Czy-dzieci-maja-obowiazek-placenia-alimentow-na-rzecz-swoich-rodzicow.html

(wasn't me that told her to go hang :P)


You need to get a legal opinion on this, I'm afraid. The courts may see it as an artificial attempt to separate your income in order to avoid paying the alimony payments, so you'd be be best to get someone to tell you definitively as to how the courts would perceive it.

Yes, the court can force you to sell assets if you don't make the required payments. What would normally happen if you fail to pay is that the court would appoint a balliff, who would then seize your assets accordingly to pay the debts. However, if there has been limited contact with the mother prior to the case, it's possible to apply to the court that the parent had no interest in the child until it was seen that there was cash to be had.

So, the first step is to find a female lawyer with a reputation for being nasty. Is your wife an only child?

I'd also read this, point 4 is particularly relevant:

finanse.wp.pl/alimenty-na-rodzica-jak-ich-uniknac-6114358255581313a


Even if they were married in the UK and lived in the UK, the mother in law could still sue in the Polish courts to get the alimony payments and to enforce the payment through European systems.

Life / Sending a document by Train Post (Poland) [6]

No, it's very official. You'll get some sort of receipt for it.

Check the link above, it explains all.

Life / Sending a document by Train Post (Poland) [6]


Easy. Make sure that the envelope is addressed with the name of the recipient at the other end, and give them 30zł. You need to be quick (if it's a mid station) - but normally there's enough time to find the conductor and get them to take it. The person on the other end will need their ID to collect the envelope, too. The other thing is to make sure that you have exactly 30zł for the fee, because they might not have time to fool around looking for change.

It's all here - intercity.pl/pl/site/dla-pasazera/3052/przesylki-konduktorskie.html

If you can be bothered, there's a stationary point in Gdynia where you can leave it so you don't need the hassle of meeting the train, and it's 11zł extra for that service.

Life / Going to Poland in a hijab - Polish people and Islam [154]


The best one I've ever eaten in my life was from a Serbian place in Trebinje. It was huge, came with lepinja, onions, kajmak and peppers and was truly fantastic.

Isn't it your national dish, Crowie? I've tried others in Croatia, but it just wasn't as good as that one. I also had a decent one in Valjevo.

Life / Giving Birth in Poland [6]

szpital.medfemina.pl in Wroclaw, for instance.

Poznań doesn't have one, but you can always pay for a private doctor and midwife to attend to you in Polna.

News / Poland versus Greece in economy [175]


You've just given the perfect reason why there should have been no bailout. Let the Greeks starve and drown in debt as long as they continue to bully a small country that simply wants peace and quiet.

Macedonia is a lovely little country - poor, but people are very friendly and helpful.

Life / Giving Birth in Poland [6]


It's the most well equipped hospital for maternity, but it's a factory - they want you in and out as quickly as possible.

If you don't want to go to a private maternity hospital elsewhere in Poland, then Polna is the best you'll get in Poznań.