Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]

Ok, well, I will throw it in the bin then - It starts to get cold anyway.

>^..^<

M-G (takes a menthol pastille to calm his stomach down)

Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]

Do you want it as TM obviously doesn't want it?

>^..^<

M-G (next time I will be offering sth for free)

Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]

No, it's actually grease from out of the motor of a car...OF COURSE IT'S REAL BUTTER! Otherwise I would've said it was margarine. Do you want it or not, and ask me one more question and I'll just dump it in the bin, ok?

>^..^<

M-G (darn women!)

Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]

Darn you bunch of old women! You get it for free! And still nagging?

It's deep-fried haddock on a bun. No mayo, no onions, just fish and a little butter on the bun. I'm not gonna eat it as my stomach is acting up weirdly at the moment.

>^..^<

M-G (so, who wants it?)

Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]

Anyone for a fish-sandwich?

>^..^<

M-G (bought one but doesn't feel right enough to eat it - I didn't touch it, it's still in the package!)

Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]


And what makes you such a specialist, eh?

Go chasing rabbits :)

>^..^<

M-G (and smoking catapillars for that matter...my my my what was Grace beautiful back then)

Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]

I think you should go ask Alice; I think she knows about the logic and the portion.

>^..^<

M-G (woah, else go ask Grace)

Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]

That can't be, my natural dad is dead. I killed him myself. Spent 12 years in prison for that. Tsk!

>^..^<

M-G (imposter! grmbl! didn't kill my dad for nothing, eh!)

Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]


So you are my neighbour too? And my neighbour's dog?

>^..^<

M-G (if true and you are in fact my neighbour's dog; does it still hurt?)

UK, Ireland / Why English do not like Polish? [417]

Of course I know it's not all the British, but unfortunately those with the beerbellies, the purple bald heads and their slutty gf's are the types you usually notice first as they don't seem to manage to behave themselves and are loud. The ones enjoying culture and being polite and all, you don't notice them that quickly as they, you've guessed it, don't make much racket and don't bother bypassers with the allmighty "are you Bri-ish?" or the even more legendary "fancy a shag?"

>^..^<

M-G (they seem to like Amsterdam though)

UK, Ireland / Why English do not like Polish? [417]


I really don't understand what it is with this pierogi. I ate them a few times and I really didn't think they were special. No offence meant. To me they are just like bigger Ravioli without the tomato sauce. I like Gowabki (?) - those rolled cabbage leaves with some stuff in it much better than pierogi. And I like Zurek a lot :)

I mean, I liked pierogi, but I really didn't think they were special. Maybe if they would add some tomato sauce to the pierogi, it would improve a bit, but that's just my opinion.

But on topic: you shouldn't hate anybody. Because if you hate ppl it eventually will always come back to you. Period. But it's a bit like with Brits abroad: they even manage to hate the native ppl of the country they're visiting :) Experienced that a few times when I lived in Amsterdam.

>^..^<

M-G (could be woken up for a decent bowl of Zurek any time)

Real Estate / TRESPASSING ON MY LAND IN POLAND....what can i do legally...? [119]



>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]


Don't ask that question again - the door is too open with this one :) Instead, write isn't it so? This leaves the door hardly open and avoids quirky answers.

Just a tip :)

>^..^<

M-G (always glad to help ZY)

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]


Also the Jews played a big part in it and yeah, you've reminded me a few times already, so it's my place and time here to remind you that NL took most Belgian refugees in WW1 (over a million) and as a thank you after that war it got slapped in the face by weird claims by the Belgians for Dutch territory.

But I won't go down that road either :)

I like the Flemish as they are very much alike the ppl from the area where I come from in NL. And even though you had perhaps bad experiences with some Dutch, not all Dutch ppl are the same - some of us do know how to behave when visiting your nice little country :)

Anyway - Low Lands is Low Lands :)


Yes - I did read Neighbours. Gross is indeed a bit over the top at times, but he gives a fair overview of things and he is a brave man as well, imo.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]


Oh for sure there are better historians than Norman Davies. I don't know what he was thinking (money perhaps?) when embarked on this populistic-historical path. But that doesn't matter now since he went down that road. I ordered last night two books by Adam Zamoyski "Poland" and "Warsaw 1920" :) Both got good reviews and my book-budget allowed me their purchase. Now I just have to wait for them to be delivered.

Let's call Norman Davies a "home-writer". Sobieski, you as Flemish (yes I've said it again:) ), surely remember this American Historian who wrote about the Dutch (and Flemish, after all, the Low Countries) in the same manner that Norman Davies writes about Polish history? His name is Simon Schama, rings a bell? But instead of adoring him like the Poles adore Norman Davies, nearly all Dutch and Flemish historians just laughed at Schama for his obvious inaccuracies and glorification of the Low Countries. They knew it wasn't as glorious as Schama wrote. You remember that?

>^..^<

M-G (wonders)

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]


Actually, yes :) Britain's force at the time wasn't by far strong enough to withold the German troops entering Poland. The only thing that would've happened is that the battle for Poland would take longer. And given the fact that the SU attacked Poland 2 weeks later, it would not have made any difference at all if the British were to send a corps. And: how could they send troops? The waterways to Poland were all firmly guarded by the German navy and pass Germany for a substantial part. If they would send troops over water, I doubt if they would ever make it to any of the Polish harbours.

But you were right in one sense and that was indeed that Poland was the first to fight. Memel, earlier in 1939 was the last bit of territory Germany would get without violence.


True, but diplomacy was still in its infancy after the long 19th century and one can regard failures like this as "child diseases". Britain kept at least part of her agreement with Poland: she declared war on Germany. Like France did. And the "phoney war" phase as ZY mentioned was mainly due to Hitlers attempts to seduce Britain back into peace with Germany as he didn't want to go to war with GB - he considered them a fellow Germanic ppl.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

News / Newsweek's The World's Best Countries (Poland ranked 29) [128]


...And NL before Germany...Grin.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

UK, Ireland / The slow, whiny death of British Christianity [86]


True, we have come to the conclusion that we don't need religion anymore. And I don't care about it. They're not in my way, but I wouldn't mind as well if it were to disappear as a whole.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]

Ah, narrative history writing. Love that! Too many ppl think that history should be a dry recapitulation of even drier facts, dates and figures, but Braudel showed the world, and with him others, that it doesn't have to be that way. I for one whole-heartedly support this stream within (post-) modern history writing.

Sobieski, as a Flemish, I am sure you are familiar with the works of Midas Dekkers, the famous Dutch biologist. He writes entertaining books that yet teach you everything you need to know about certain animals hence making it accessible to ppl of all stature. To say that history should be written like that, is maybe a bit over the top, but it sure is one big step in the right direction. After all, history is about ppl and their deeds and imo it should be accessible to everyone, not only a handful. However, I have no objections to handbooks that give a general overview with all the dates, facts and figures, but in order to reach a wider public and generate interest in the field of knowledge, it's advisable to take the narrative path.

I read that Warsaw 1920 got great reviews, will check if my book-budget for this month has not been exhauted yet, else I will buy a copy next month.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]


Can you recommend any works of him? Can't seem to remember having read anything from him. Does he write in English?

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

History / Norman Davies - the Brit who loves Poland and becomes one of Us [250]


Second that. The main critisism towards Norman Davies is that he is one-sided, biased and, like sobieski said, he "forgets" things. He seems to write solely from a Polish perspective in that sense that it merely adds up to the glorification of Poland. If you want an objective view on Polish history, Norman Davies is not the historian you'd be looking for.


This is uncalled for. Harry merely writes down the main opinion of Davies within historian's circles. I know you can't stand any critisism, but you went a bit overboard there.

>^..^<

M-G (likes the Moorhouse suggestion)

UK, Ireland / Ive been in the UK for 6 days to relocate and im going back to Poland. [281]


Well, my stance on a nucleus EU of the original founding states is well known. Difference will be in that case that the EU will be excruciating rich and all those countries which are now complaining the hardest will find out that it wasn't so bad after all.


I am not sure if that single market weighs up to the massive contributions they make every year. And they have another handicap: they're Germany. They cannot complain about things as everybody will start saying: Germany is back up to her old tricks. Compare the remark Kaczynski made a few years ago towards Germany. As for NL, you may or may not believe this, but our biggest market is still agricultural. I seem to remember that Denmark, as any other small country surrounding it, exported mostly to Germany, for NL 80 per cent of her export goes to Germany, and this has always been like that, even before the EU and Flanders basically pays the price for the gains of Wallonia, so it's not a real wonder that there is massive discontent between those two parts of Belgium. The Flemish pay the most per head, followed by NL, Lux and actually Wallonia.

In all, the EU is not that bad at all for the less rich member-states.
But you're right, removing agricultural subsidies and funds and so on, would basically remove the basis on which a lot of countries joined in the first place, not only PL.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

UK, Ireland / Ive been in the UK for 6 days to relocate and im going back to Poland. [281]


If you really want to talk in terms of "Losers" with regards to the EU, then I would say that would be NL, BE, SE and DE and to a much lesser extent the UK. The rest has all majorly benefitted from the EU. The Republic of Ireland is a good example: even though it has been the richest country of the EU for the past 5 years or longer, it still received massive contributions from the EU, in Dublin, in an aweful lot of places you still see signs that some project is co-funded by the EU. Well, as per 2012 that will be over as they have to pay back 8 bln a year to the EU, which is the only correct and just thing to do. But it will mean the bancrupcy of Ireland as such. The country's not doing well at the time and made the mistake not to put up some reserves as even a blind man could've seen that the EU at some point would say - guys, you're rich now and are still a NET receiver, we can't have that, now, can't we? And so it went.

Of course, there's gonna be mass protests in Ireland and the voice to leave the EU will become big again, as it was a few years ago - ppl were openly talking about that it was time Ireland leaves the EU: they were rich and why would they have to pay for poor countries? Hereby conveniently forgetting that it's that very same EU that created the circumstances in which they could become rich in the first place. But the general populace looks no further than their nose is long, as we say in NL, so I guess there will be mass unrest when the shyte hits the fan in 2012.


But in the end the number of unemployed remained grossly the same, so no real progress was made, except for consumerism. And one could question whether that is real progress at all.

>^..^<

M-G (but by then)

UK, Ireland / Ive been in the UK for 6 days to relocate and im going back to Poland. [281]

Ok, ex aequo then :)

>^..^<

M-G (gee, I wonder why all those conservatives think Thatcher was actually a good PM)

UK, Ireland / Ive been in the UK for 6 days to relocate and im going back to Poland. [281]


If she was so good, why was the unemployment rate much higher than it was before she came to power? Why was there so much social unrest? Surely not because her politics were so equal towards all Brits, small and large. I think her symapthies went more to the large ones than to the small ones.

@Avalon: yeah, she stimulated entrepeneurship, however, she pushed too many into the abyss and over the whole her domestic policy has to be viewed at as being bad. Just like her foreign policy for that matter. A lot of ppl were glad when she finally left the stage. I remember that as I happened to be in London at the time she fell - ppl were really happy the biatch (their words) was gone :)


Well, the UK has to start paying in full now, eh? This rebate was about the biggest blunder ever made in the EU and a shame for the unity of Europe as a whole. It's ridiculous to have all the benefits, but not willing to pay the full monty like everybody else. There were plenty of ppl who were in favour of the UK leaving the EU at the time, including myself.


Yep, she didn't do much good for the country as a whole - for the upper class she did, but not for the much bigger middle and lower classes.

In all we can evaluate Thatcher as one of the worst PM's the UK has ever had.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

UK, Ireland / Ive been in the UK for 6 days to relocate and im going back to Poland. [281]


Like I said, it worked until 1983 - and the great miner's strike played a catalyst role in it. After that it went downhill, as became clear that only a handful of Brits enjoyed materially what Thatcher was doing. And in the end it was as bad, if not worse than it was before she came to power. This unprecedented wealth and the clearing of debts was only a temporary effect, felt by only a handful.

Unlike what you conservatives think, some left-wingers do know their stuff.


And what Thatcher did was exactly the same, with the difference that the group who had always been richer than those spongers, became richer and those spongers became even more poor and more in debt than they already were. Thatcher didn't care about the lower class. Don't pretend she did. That mortgage plan of hers was only to reach a hand to the property developers, the guys who owned. They earned loads by this policy and those poor fcukers who fell for it, had to pay the bill in the end. Not that much difference with the current crisis, I would say.

>^..^<

M-G (now really off to bed)

UK, Ireland / Ive been in the UK for 6 days to relocate and im going back to Poland. [281]

Thatcherism was only good for those who already had money. Not for those who didn't. And then this horny dance with Ronald Reagan. Virtually made me sick. We in the rest of Europe didn't shed a tear when she left the stage.


You're referring to the great miner's strike of 1983-1985? That was during the Thatcher years and eventually caused her politics to go downhill. After that it became clear that everything was based on hot air, a bubble, just waiting to burst. That it eventually did was only due to the fact that the Poll-Tax showed Thatcher's true face.

>^..^<

M-G (off to bed)

UK, Ireland / Ive been in the UK for 6 days to relocate and im going back to Poland. [281]


Don't say that to me again. Just because I don't buy that conservative nonsense doesn't mean that I don't know, ok? I'm getting tired of all those conservative nitwits who think they have all the knowledge. And then they copy my lines. Weak.


Yeah, it was so wealthy that all those ppl who bought their houses under her reign, nearly all had to sell it again after she was gone as they couldn't afford it anymore. Up until 1983 it went well with Thatcherism, after that it went downhill and the UK is still suffering from that consequence. In 1991 it was a country on the verge of bancrupcy. And it has never fully recovered from that.


The Poll Tax was a welcome error, at least the UK was liberated from Thatcher since it burst the bubble of what Thatcherism really was.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

UK, Ireland / Ive been in the UK for 6 days to relocate and im going back to Poland. [281]


What about Thatcher? She ruined the country pretty much at the end of the 80's. The crisis in the UK started much earlier. And you know that very well, wildrover!

>^..^<

M-G (darn, always blame everything on the Left!)

UK, Ireland / Ive been in the UK for 6 days to relocate and im going back to Poland. [281]

It's amazing how conservative you are, it's nearly disgusting. Forgotten yet that Thatcher, a conservative, brought the UK nearly to bancrupcy? Forgotten yet that that same Thatcher wanted everybody to own their homes, even when they could not afford it, with the result that after she had gone, the vast majority of those houses were for sale and the country fell into a crisis hardly ever seen before? That things are going bad in the UK is not the fault of Labour, it's the fault of the Conservatives. Never forget that.

Edit: Labour did a pretty good job cleaning up the mess the Conservatives left behind in the 90's. Now that a new crisis is spreading, which is normal in economics, those silly Conservatives are the first to blame Labour. But what they conveniently forget that the crisis caused by the Conservatives was much bigger than the crisis we've had in the last few years. For the UK, that is.

>^..^<

M-G (gee, those conservatives have all the easy answers ready: blame Labour, but at least Labour tried and the conservatives did not)