Life / So this question has to be asked: who runs the underworld in Warsaw [18]


@ PolishUltras, what's your understanding of the concept of Omerta?


And his pudgy teenage Consigliore...

Law / Status of Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights [63]

Absolutely. What does he expect anyone here to do? FedEx him a hanky?

Life / So this question has to be asked: who runs the underworld in Warsaw [18]


A third are dead, mostly of natural causes, a third are very retired, a third packed it all in and got honest jobs. Pershing has been dead for two decades.

Life / So this question has to be asked: who runs the underworld in Warsaw [18]

No. Donny Rovers all the way.

Life / So this question has to be asked: who runs the underworld in Warsaw [18]


Ogród Saski, one of the most iconic locations in Warsaw. Beautiful in the daytime, dodgy at night, and the scene of heavy fighting during the Uprising.


Reminds me of Leeds on a Friday night, except on Mazowiecka the people are up themselves a bit, always look like clones of each other. Tygmont is the only genuinely upmarket one, and even that's not what it was. The men in the expensive suits with the real money, together with women with the real knockers still go to ul. Senatorska.

Some of the ghastly boites on Mazowiecka will certainly be owned by 'legitimate businessmen', however if any 'legitimate businessmen' run it, they're Polish rather than Russian.


I seriously doubt this.

Law / Status of Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights [63]


Exactly, a simple matter, and the OP did say he'd lived there for some years. Sounds like we aren't getting the full story here.


So now? The government has always been able to do this - during the Second Republic and the PRL it happened often. Now it doesn't...

Looks like you misunderstand how the law and the concept of citizenship work.

Study / Which out of Warsaw University of Technology CS, Eastern Mediterranean University CE, Maltepe University SE? [6]


The quality is currently improving hugely.

Law / Status of Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights [63]


This seems to be a very particular theme with this discussion about citizenship or lack of it - and that theme seems to be unfocussed talk rather than action (and hard to say what the OP wishes to achieve with that, not that the word achieve seems to figure much with him). Basically a lot of inchoate commentary about citizenship law, a matter that is very precise. It is so so similar to the posts from that guy with several usernames who swore blind that Lech Wałęsa is still president and that Ukraine isn't a country (the entire population of Poland would disagree with the first, and the United Nations with the second).


I very much doubt you know what people's degrees are in. Not that every practising lawyer has a law degree or everyone with some sort of degree in law is or could be a lawyer.

It would be good to be kept informed about the progress of the European case he seems to be implying he can make against Poland. Though I suspect he won't.

News / Polish man tries to sell British mother into white slave trade [128]


A great deal. Nevertheless you've missed the point and not for the first time; the case is in the Italian courts and he was arrested on a European Arrest Warrant.

News / Polish man tries to sell British mother into white slave trade [128]

Justice, one would imagine. If he's committed no crime, he'll be acquitted. If he's committed a crime, he'd better learn the Italian for "don't pick up the soap".

Law / Status of Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights [63]


This, legal eagle, is what we've been telling you all along.

News / Polish man tries to sell British mother into white slave trade [128]

The plot thickens:

"The brother of the alleged captor of British model Chloe Ayling has been arrested, police have said. Michal Konrad Herba, 36, was held on a European Arrest Warrant at an address in Tividale, West Midlands."

bbc.com/news/uk-40951691

Law / Status of Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights [63]


Plus, people who were granted permission to travel abroad and didn't return before the expiry date for that permission were sometimes stripped of citizenship. Those who also didn't return for military service or reservist obligations as well almost always lost it.

I know several Poles born and brought up in Poland who returned and now live there on the basis of citizenship of another EU member state for this reason. They no longer have Polish citizenship due to the circumstances under which they originally left Poland.

Law / Status of Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights [63]


No


Also no.


And a third resounding no.

Don't give up your day job.

Life / Blood donation in Poland [21]


Me too. But they'll have to wait for it, for as long as I can manage - until Philip Morris in a grim reaper outfit sends them the item.


Probably worth just turning up. Snippy receptionists in PL often just make things up off the top of their heads - they like to say no and are used to people who argue with them.

Law / Status of Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights [63]

This is key to it. That or the person's citizenship being stripped for staying out of the country against the terms of their permitted travel abroad. No amount of old passport applications, whether buried in archives or not, can ameliorate that situation.

Law / Law: Alcohol consumption in Poland's Public Transport [3]

Yes, several times.

I don't have a problem with it myself, however the police certainly do.

Work / Any Speed School of English in Poland? [54]

Even then, there are so many suspect posts about 'Speed school' on the internet now that any prospective employee (I won't say Teacher or Trainer) will see both types.

Language / Best book for a language noobie? Learning Polish. [22]


Yes. Basically the inductive approach (them practising examples, working out the rules and having the grammar rule confirmed if necessary) rather than the deductive approach (being given an often large set of rules and being expected to apply them).


Remember that 20% of the grammar is used 80% of the time, and vice versa.

Work / Any Speed School of English in Poland? [54]


These Callan 'schools' are a particularly Polish thing - basically a marketing idea, based on flawed and very outdated theories of language acquisition.

Work / Any Speed School of English in Poland? [54]


This is not written by an English teacher; it is written by a Poles.


Loads of 'em.

This particular school have produced similar posts here a few times - this whole thread is about that. I wonder who they think they're fooling.

And Callan Method is a stain on any CV - it isn't taken seriously as a pedagogical toolkit, and in fact can deter future employers.

Feedback / Access to Off-topic forum / random chat and posting therein [10]


A plus. Would it have that affect if it were just one section? I thought off-topic things didn't show on google.

Feedback / Access to Off-topic forum / random chat and posting therein [10]

Already guests have to click on off-topic to see it, however yes, an opt-in idea is good. Some trashy stuff in there, especially when certain currently banned posters, individuals with very few personal boundaries, are around. It's now done this way for the Random Chat threads.

Work / Polish employer suggests I have my own company in UK [21]


Yes. Any and every branch of the tax office has people working full time on this matter - and they take it very seriously.


Quite. taxes can seem high, however most places without them or another source of national income are very unpleasant for everyone there.

Food / Best place/way in Poland to buy groceries in bulk? [6]


It might work. I just use a friend's duplicate card that he gave me. You tap the card at the gate, going in. It's a really good shop, a lot of stuff from overseas that you don't see anywhere else, and very good for bulk purchases too.

Food / The best tatar in Warsaw [12]



Most of them are too busy eating strawberry Jogobella, going to church and taking babcia's jamnik out for a walk.

Work / Polish employer suggests I have my own company in UK [21]


It does, certainly if he's from within the EU.


I've personally done translations for the tax office about this. The department that goes after people who do this. They are not known for leniency, especially if VAT is involved too.

Any sort of tax fiddle is dodgy, particulalry now that it's easy to prove if someone is actually residing in Poland and issuing bills as if they were abroad.

Law / Status of Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights [63]


The example you quoted (Polanski) did of course have proven citizenship already. had he been trying to assert citizenship without prior records or confirmation, and going through it by descent, he'd have had the same problem as the Canadian lady I knew (in her case minor and a fiscal issue rather than a crime against the person).

Another friend (from elsewhere in continental Europe) had a slightly different problem. One of his parents had been stripped of citizenship (for leaving the country and not returning within the agreed timescale - he'd settled in Germany). He couldn't get citizenship on that basis since citizenship had been revoked. He had to become a citizen via a different route.


The issue is the law in today's Poland. It's very strict regarding citizenship, as the two examples above show.

Law / Status of Protocol 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights [63]


Beyond naive. If the person had a plausible case at all, they'd get on with it, file the court papers and win, in a stellar display of judicial expertise, rather than grumbling on here. It's on a par with those 'freemen on the land' people, or that guy who used to post here (remember him) who was convinced that Lech Wałęsa is still the legal president of Poland. Basically, it comes across as a rather strange delusion.


There are many factors that would disqualify someone from claiming citizenship. You really do have to have every bit of paper in order, and if anything turns up during a claim (whether by descent or naturalisation) that otherwise the state (especially the tax office etc) had previously overlooked, Pandora's Box is opened and all sorts of problems ensue, fines, bailiffs, airport issues anywhere in Schengen etc. I've actually seen this happen to someone from Canada who was claiming citizenship (by descent, as it happens).


In my opinion too. However the immigration and repatriation authorities are not mind readers - how would they know who is attracted to whom, unless there had been a conviction for something? They deal in concrete facts - the most concrete of all being a very clean record re. tax, zus, and any time spent within Poland as well (of course) the possession of full and correct documentation to back up the claim. If a document is missing, they are not bound to search sealed archives for old paperwork that may not even be there and unseal the state archive before the legal date for that just for someone's convenience.

Feedback / Why would Polishforum be banned on a server [24]


That and inexplicable. Doubtless there are good reasons, though it's still a drag if you're on train wifi or at an airport with time to kill and you can't post.