Life / Catholic "Telewizja Trwam" from Poland - your thoughts? [98]

Better to trust what actually happened. And 'trwam' as well as radio maryja have a documented history of spamming the airwaves as well as other malfeasance. Plenty of posts on here about it over the years.

News / Don't go to Poland ... because you could end up coming back in a coffin [313]


Rather more of a clue than you have. Do you really want me to cite a long list of complaints made by visiting international football players? Quite a few on this forum already over the years.


Pretty well true. The provinces here in PL are jerk central, especially where football is concerned but most people are quite normal and as I've said before, the police will come down like a ton of bricks on any troublemakers.

Life / Catholic "Telewizja Trwam" from Poland - your thoughts? [98]

Would you trust a parliamentary commission here?

News / Don't go to Poland ... because you could end up coming back in a coffin [313]


Either you go around with your eyes close or you're deliberately ignoring some of the complaints made over the years by visiting football teams. Well reported in the media too.

Life / Catholic "Telewizja Trwam" from Poland - your thoughts? [98]

Any links?

Plenty of posts here over the years - if I remember you feature in some of the threads yourself, and plenty of material in the Polish media.

Life / Let`s compare prices of services and products in Poland [359]

It's always been like that. Wealth created in the North and flows down South. When I was a kid I remember visiting the South and seeing mile after mile of nice houses but no mills, pits etc and wondering where the hell they all worked and where the money for all the posh houses came from. Of course it came from us in the North.

Compared to Poland, there's some parallels. So much of Poland's income comes from food production and light engineering however the wealth flows into Warsaw.

News / Don't go to Poland ... because you could end up coming back in a coffin [313]

Personally, I suspect the police will stay on top of things here. Dunno about Ukraine though.

News / Don't go to Poland ... because you could end up coming back in a coffin [313]


Our European Union may well be right, however you are, as usual, wrong. You're pretending to ignore the fact (and hope nobody will notice) that London is an Alpha Plus World City (New York is the only other) with all the problems ( but mostly benefits) that this brings whereas the Euro 2012 venues are essentially provincial.

You are doing this to try to lamely avoid the issue in this thread. That football hooliganism and outspoken racism by said hooligans in Poland and the Ukraine has deterred visitors and is a longstanding and unresolved problem.

Life / Catholic "Telewizja Trwam" from Poland - your thoughts? [98]

Any proof? Do you really need to ask that when the then regime gave press conferences to which only 'trwam' were invited and their outspoken support of certain political parties is a matter of public record?

As for the manipulation of prosecutors - it is again a matter of public record.

News / Don't go to Poland ... because you could end up coming back in a coffin [313]


A delusion?

Amusing, but your comparison falls flat on its face, given that the profile of an Olympic city which is one of the world's major metropolises and a backwater partly hosting a football competition are necessarily very different.

I'd like to see you find the statistics for all the cities which will host Euro 2012 matches. I suspect you'll find that between them they can notch up a few more than 99 murders.

News / Don't go to Poland ... because you could end up coming back in a coffin [313]

I think we'll find that the Olympics are a differ kettle of fish - and something more of a success. It's a shame though that a football competition was given to a region with such unresolved hooligan problems.

News / Don't go to Poland ... because you could end up coming back in a coffin [313]

Horrific. But here in Poland governments are always so paranoid about how they look to outsiders that the whole thing will be very heavily policed.

Life / Catholic "Telewizja Trwam" from Poland - your thoughts? [98]

It's entirely so. Freedom of speech and freedom of expression are indivisible.

As for your 'point' about the judiciary, you seem to either know very little about the legal system in Poland or you're hoping people won't know how it works. The judiciary do not decide if someone will be prosecuted or not. The prosecution service - which is not independent - make that decision. And 'trwam' had some pretty influential supporters during the PiS regime, no?

Life / Catholic "Telewizja Trwam" from Poland - your thoughts? [98]

No. Freedom of expression and freedom of speech are indivisible. Whether people are offended or not.

And re. your point about going to jail for spamming the airwaves, don't be so bloody daft. Firstly the penalty is a fine and/or loss of broadcasting licence, not jail, and secondly they weren't prosecuted because the ruling party at the time, the PiS/LPR/Samoobrona coalition were their biggest (indeed only) allies. Of course they should have been prosecuted but the awful Kaczynski twins and their henchmen Giertych and Lepper, despite the bluster, never gave a moment's thought to either law or justice...

News / A Second Look at Poland's Future. [21]

Yes. It is. Capitalism alone never solved any problems. And meanwhile the Polish rich get richer (no problem for me on a selfish level, since I'm one of them, on paper at least) and the poor get poorer. Month on month I see more and more Poles begging on the streets of Warsaw and more and more homeless.

I don't suppose you notice, living so far away from Poland.

News / Why are many Poles anti-Euro2012 [16]

And spot on accurate - the authorities are worried that it will all turn out to be a huge mess. And with 200 portaloos for the fan zone where 100,000 people are expected the mess will probably be prodigious.

News / A Second Look at Poland's Future. [21]

'Eliminated' is a very sinister word.

@Kuba TK, Poland gets on very well indeed without the presence of US Polonia who tend to have an overly romantic and often highly skewed idea of what the country is really like.

Life / Catholic "Telewizja Trwam" from Poland - your thoughts? [98]

There are only 4 in the country. But they want it all. And their record of illegally spamming the airwaves in Warsaw and on cable platforms suggests they don't care how they get it.

And yes it is marvellous that we have a government who favour free speech. The 'trwam' supporting PiS government definitely didn't favour free speech and said so openly. Not to mention that the rydzyk empire have a history of initiating legal action to prevent freedom of expression, including prosecuting art galleries.

As for any research about the ethics of 'tram' and the rest of the rydzyk empire, I refer you to the first paragraph!

News / Why are many Poles anti-Euro2012 [16]


If they boycott, nobody will care except bar owners. If they protest they'll quickly find that the police will ensure at all cost that things go smoothly and there's no tv footage that will make Poland look bad.

Work / Advice on Teaching English in Poland [709]


Very much so. People learn in different ways. Some, including myself, just by hearing the language, others by memorising grammar rules. When you actually come here I suspect the grammar you've learnt will fall into place. Especially when you hear what people actually say and how often (or how little) they use certain bits of grammar and why they use (or don't use) them.

If you're teaching one language however, you'll find it easier to learn another.

Life / Catholic "Telewizja Trwam" from Poland - your thoughts? [98]


You're missing the point that 'trwam' will still be available on not one, not two, but three platforms. Unlike the supporters of 'trwam' and the rest of the rydzyk empire, the government actually favour free speech. Unlike the trwamists who would be quite satisfied if theres was the only tv station on air.

History / Which countries are Polands friends, which are Polands enemies? [75]


The wonderfully named president of Gabon, Ali Bongo and his late father President Omar Bongo have been cooperating with Polish businessmen and technologists for decades.

News / Marion Barry insults Polish people calling them "Polacks" [33]

Don't be so silly

News / Poland's Economy Is Booming! The EU's Success Story? [711]

Very hard to use the phrase 'average Indian' and worth mentioning that back in the days of Empire most Indians had no contact with the British. Nevertheless there is a lot of goodwill there towards the British, and a significant amount of Anglophilia.

There's a parallel between Gdyniaguy's comments and Adam Zamoyski's hypothesis about Poland. Although Poland was never, ever an economic powerhouse it could have emerged from the difficult times of the early Nineteenth Century very differently.

Life / Let`s compare prices of services and products in Poland [359]

It's 15 in some places in Warsaw - more than that in the big hotels.

Food / Where to buy British mature Cheddar Cheese and salted butter in Poland? [289]

Tyramine's ok. Almost all cheese, whether farmhouse or factory has it - it's what gives the flavour. As far as I know it's the natural result of the cheese making process and isn't an additive.

I'll probably be getting some more cheddar tomorrow so I'll get back to you on the label.

Food / Where to buy British mature Cheddar Cheese and salted butter in Poland? [289]

It's to do with the amount of tyramine. The Mlekovita one that I buy (perhaps they do a mild as well) is somewhere between medium and mature. Almost all Polish yellow cheese is very low in tyramine and white cheese has none.

History / Early 80s - Could just anybody come stroling on in? [11]

A typo. June 83, not 82.

History / Early 80s - Could just anybody come stroling on in? [11]

You needed a tourist visa which they usually gave and for a while anyway, you needed to change a certain amount of hard currency at the official rate but unlike some of the Eastern Bloc countries tourists were not expected to be in an organised party and informal visitors were not escorted or followed. Nor were people on business trips and there were always (marshal law excepted) foreign people living in and visiting Poland for work, study, sport, culture, family visits, leisure etc.

Having said that, quite a lot of tourism in those days was connected to organised groups and if your screenplay is set during the marshal law period between Dec 81 and July 82 you should take into account that most foreigners who didnt have permanent residence had to leave the country.

UK, Ireland / Transfer Money from UK to Poland [36]

Be careful with PayPal in Poland. If you open the account from here it won't have full functionality. Western Union is everywhere here, though they are of course more for emergencies.