News / Poland: In Top First 15 Countries in the WORLD by the number of CRIMES [286]


Chairman of some committee or other, probably the highest profile Indian in politics I think?

News / Poland: In Top First 15 Countries in the WORLD by the number of CRIMES [286]


Keith Vaz?


It's the same Brits that choose to go and buy cigarettes and alcohol in France rather than in the UK, then they complain about the country using cheaper foreign labour. It's okay to embrace the EU to buy your cheap Stella, but not okay to embrace cheap labour? Can you say...double standards?

(the same people, incidentally, complained something rotten when HM Customs used to seize goods and cars by the tonne)

USA, Canada / REFUSED A HOLIDAY VISA TO THE U.S CAUSE IM POLISH [323]

The UK approach, in other words. I'm surprised the USA doesn't have the same requirements actually - place the emphasis on the employer and problem solved.

News / Poland - Third World Country?? [300]


And you think it's a common practice in Norway, Germany, the USA and the UK?

Hah.

News / Poland: In Top First 15 Countries in the WORLD by the number of CRIMES [286]


Rubbish. Newspapers love a story, and what sells newspapers more than a scandalous story about the murder of foreign nationals?

News / Poland: In Top First 15 Countries in the WORLD by the number of CRIMES [286]


Wouldn't it still be big news regardless if three people ended up murdered?

(I find it incredibly hard to believe that consulate staff would be aware of something like this but not the Polish press)

News / Poland: In Top First 15 Countries in the WORLD by the number of CRIMES [286]

I don't either. I'm struggling to see how three foreign nationals could get murdered in Poland (big news) and yet not be reported publicly.

UK, Ireland / Leaving the UK. Am I entitled to any UK benefits from NI contributions if I move back to Poland? [9]


Yes, you'll receive something if you do nothing with the contributions. It won't be that much, but it'll be something.


No. How it works is that you can either keep the money in the UK system, or transfer it to another country depending on if there's a social security agreement betwee the UK and the country in question. In the case of Poland, it's quite straightforward to transfer the contributions here, though ZUS will be awkward and difficult, as is to be expected.


Why not? They paid NI, they're entitled to a pension if they leave the money in the UK.

Food / Alcohol Prices for Wedding in Warsaw - Advice needed [19]


I've got a funny feeling Van Gogh has it for some reason...

UK, Ireland / Recently beaten up in England by 3 Polish guys [93]


Being realistic, if you gather a group of hardmen to kick the living daylights out of these guys, it's very unlikely that they'll try and gain retribution. What would they gain, knowing that you'll always be able to round up racist morons who wouldn't mind beating up some Poles?

Life / Computer stores and computer prices in Wroclaw [12]

Nope. There was a comparison published in a Polish newspaper not so long ago, and prices are about the same price here as in the UK - which are low by European standards. Still expensive compared to America, but Europe is in general.

Law / Using a foreign-registered car in Poland [13]


All EU countries base it on residence - you shouldn't be driving a car on foreign plates in another country if you're legally resident there for tax purposes. This is pretty much universally defined as being resident in the country for more than 185 days a year.

Ireland is *very* tough on this, and Denmark is following - but Poland, like the UK, isn't particularly bothered. It's a lot to do with the tax upon registering a vehicle for the first time - Ireland and Denmark have huge taxes associated with this, but Poland (like the UK) have such low fees that it's not worth chasing up.

UK, Ireland / Brits to protest against foreigners in the workforce, including Poles. [289]


There's actually quite a lot of links between Scotland and Poland, even extending to some Polish names being of Scottish origin.

USA, Canada / Do you speak English? Have you lived in America? New LOVE/HATE list......... [144]


Shh, this thread is under HIS RULES!

Then again, what do Americans know about foreign policy? Even a fearsomely well educated friend of mine is clueless when it comes to foreign policy.

UK, Ireland / Brits to protest against foreigners in the workforce, including Poles. [289]

Wise up, threatening people on the internet is extremely childish when we all know that nothing's going to happen to him.


There's clearly not plenty of work though, otherwise they wouldn't be protesting.

I bet the vast majority voted Labour in 2001. In which case, they can't complain - they voted for a party which admitted Poland into the EU.

I'm sorry, but no-one has the right to work. If you're good enough, you'll get hired - if you're not good enough or inflexible, then you won't. It's pretty damn simple.

USA, Canada / Do you speak English? Have you lived in America? New LOVE/HATE list......... [144]


At least I don't have to beg the Polish government every year for the right to stay here ;)


Admit it, it's just one big conspiracy against America, isn't it?

Work / Salary, holidays - questions to employer during a job interview in Poland [47]


In this case, I recommend waiting the 3 months, then hitting them with a "either pay me what I deserve or I walk" - if you're good and they need you more than you need them, voila - they'll pay.

UK, Ireland / Polish woman in the UK gives birth then leaves the baby in hospital [28]


I must admit, the liberal in me goes out of the window where this is concerned. EU citizens are one thing (and much easier to trace) - but where non-EU citizens are concerned, I'd fully support the refusal of entry of anyone pregnant unless it was obvious that they didn't intend to bail. I've seen a couple of cases in Aberdeen of Africans coming in, having the baby on the NHS, then being given a bill upon leaving. Fine and well - but do you think they paid? Of course not.

UK, Ireland / Brits to protest against foreigners in the workforce, including Poles. [289]


Aye, exactly. People didn't complain when the building sector was booming - yet now the rainy day has came, they've probably spent everything earnt then and didn't put anything aside. I'm struggling to feel sorry for such people to be honest - then again, maybe it's just the canny Scot in me ;)


It's tough though - if there's no work locally (look at the devastation in South Wales and Scotland over the virtual ending of the coal industry) - should others really subsidise them just so they can stay where they always lived? If anything, you can see huge social problems caused by subsidising people to stay local.

If I'm right, Poland has the same problem in those random ex-communal farming villages. There's an osiedle on the road to Kostrzyn nad Odra, in the middle of nowhere, that clearly has huge social problems. These people will never move, yet there's nothing there for them - should we subsidise jobs there for them?


Agreed completely, they played on people's fears and ignorance and Hitler exploited that. Mind you, I can't stand the "Unite Against Fascism" mob either - so called socialists, yet they do absolutely nothing to assist the people who they should be helping rather than opposing.


No no. I meant the "English is our language" part - with a thread title of "leave if your not happy" ;)


To me, I'd simply strip translation services from all but essential services and back it up with a massive investment in ESL. Of course, the current government has somehow bizzarely decided to invest in translators/interpreters and to massively cut ESL education. Makes no sense at all :/

UK, Ireland / Brits to protest against foreigners in the workforce, including Poles. [289]


The problem is that they've known about the issue for 6 years now - certainly, many of these people will have been "Labour till I die guv" types who blindly voted Labour in 2005 because The Sun told them to do so.


I dunno, if the choice was between benefits or working, wouldn't anyone with half a brain work? I was never going to get a good job in what I wanted to originally do in the UK (marketing - it was really London or nothing, and I didn't want London) - so I moved.


Nothing on their site yet, but I did find this gem...

bnp.org.uk/groups/muslims-leave-if-your-not-happy

Which contains this rather excellent quote -



It's true. It might be horrible work, but it's out there. For instance, you're allowed to make a certain amount of cash (20 quid, I think) a week on jobseekers allowance. Yet people would rather sit at home and moan about "bloody furriners" rather than getting out there and making that 20 quid a week that they can make without affecting their benefits.

Ultimately, it's not a communist society, you don't have a right to work in the job that you want to work in.

dnz on this forum was telling me a story the other night about a particularly nasty job he did when he was younger - the work is there, you just have to be willing to do it.

UK, Ireland / Brits to protest against foreigners in the workforce, including Poles. [289]

There's always work for good workers. If you spend your time stuffing your face, whistling at Polish girls, drinking tea and reading The Sun, is it any wonder that management will hire Polish workers instead?

UK, Ireland / Polish woman in the UK gives birth then leaves the baby in hospital [28]


And you wonder why no-one gives you a job in Poland?

By the way, I've heard on the grapevine that there's driving jobs going if you've got an HGV licence. You'll have to spend up to 6 weeks away from home, but that's no issue for a hard working Brit like yourself, is it?

UK, Ireland / Brits to protest against foreigners in the workforce, including Poles. [289]


No wonder they're protesting, most of them are clearly thick as ****, vote BNP, complain about "bloody foreigners" and then demand that their (equally thick as ****) wife cooks them "chikkin tikka masala innit" for dinner.

I'd be surprised if any of them have ever seen, let alone read a proper newspaper in their life.


Why don't they take jobs abroad? There's plenty of menial jobs on offer in Poland.


Cheap, probably. But poorly skilled? Given that the typical British builder comes round, takes a month to do a job that should take a week and spends half the time drinking tea and going "cor blimey take a butchers at those knockers", is anyone surprised that they can't find work?

I could be wrong, but I've got a feeling that at the minute, the Italian and Spanish minimum wage is actually higher than the British one, such is the weakness of the Pound.

Still, blame anyone else but yourselves, such is the BNP way.


Poorly skilled, lazy, overpriced and stubborn. I'm not surprised contractors are hiring foreigners if they realise that the foreigners will actually get the job done, rather than sulking about it being cold or refusing to come to work because "there's snow on the road guv".

UK, Ireland / Polish woman in the UK gives birth then leaves the baby in hospital [28]


Standards at the BBC really have gone down the drain!

Pretty obvious that in this case, she couldn't/wouldn't get an abortion and decided to give birth and flee instead. Sad, but it's a sign of what Polish social attitudes are like.

USA, Canada / Do you speak English? Have you lived in America? New LOVE/HATE list......... [144]


No sign at all of it in Wroclaw or Poznan, except in overpriced speciality shops - and - nicely, available for 7zl a bottle in one pub.

Work / Salary, holidays - questions to employer during a job interview in Poland [47]


Could the same job be done by a Polish person? If so, it's a fair salary (I assume it's netto, not brutto?) for what it is. But still - you could get 50zl an hour for teaching, and only need to teach 32 hours a month to make the same money...

USA, Canada / Do you speak English? Have you lived in America? New LOVE/HATE list......... [144]


When you can stay in Poland without being subject to immigration control, then we'll talk.


It's not the barrel itself, but rather the lines to the barrel. I know someone who owns a bar who explained it all very simply for me - basically, you need to clean the lines once a week. This is costly - the bar in question was losing 10 litres a week per line, but it meant a way, way, way higher quality of beer. That's why sticking to bottles is the 'safe' bet in Poland - I very much doubt that most places are cleaning the lines even once a month! It's also a lot to do with the quality of chemicals used - once you've been to my friend's bar, you can really, really taste the difference.

Incidentally, the Ukranian Obolon isn't bad at all for a mass market beer, though it's tricky to find in Poland.

USA, Canada / Do you speak English? Have you lived in America? New LOVE/HATE list......... [144]


I don't, but was it on the same level as the infamous Castlemaine XXXX or McEwans?


Yup, agreed. There's Lech Pils here, which seems to fit that ground nicely - and I think Bosman also does a good job of it in/round Szczecin - but apart from that? Some of the Dolnoslaskie 'local mass market' beers are truly vile, though.

Law / Bring your business to Poland! [56]


Not really a surprise, is it?

"Bitter Pole leaves Britain to become unemployed in Poland; too many immigrants cited as reason"

Could be a nice American headline!

USA, Canada / Do you speak English? Have you lived in America? New LOVE/HATE list......... [144]

Compare like for like though, mass produced stuff is worse than Polish beer solely because most of it is dishwater weak. Isn't the micromarket Polish stuff supposed to be quite good too?

The interesting thing I find in Poland is that you see some places selling their own beers rather than the branded stuff - Brovaria in Poznan being an example. I remeber settling down for one drinking session there last summer and being pleasantly surprised at them only charging 7zl for a half litre of their own stuff - which isn't bad either.