Life / Polish culture versus rotten West [279]


I think the simple reason nothing like this has happened in Poland is because it wasn't allowed to happen. The worst of the abuses took place between the 1930's and early 1990's - so really, it would only have been a few years at most, but the culture had no time to take hold here. After WW2, the Communists would have had a field day with child abusing priests (and it would've been used as a pretext to eliminate the Church further) - so they wouldn't have had the chance. By the time the chance came for child abuse to take place, society had moved on and wasn't willing to turn a blind eye to any widespread systematic abuse.

The only thing I wonder is whether or not abuse took place in the 1930's - but most potential victims are long gone, especially as church-run schools (such as those run by the Jesuits) would have been among the better in society back then.

The mystery to me is why the Church finds it so difficult to deal with. Surely anyone suspected of child abuse should simply be immediately prohibited from having any contact with children until proven innocent?

News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]


Dream on. The V4 group is only united at the minute over a single issue. There's too much historical animosity for it to ever be an effective group - Slovakia and Hungary don't get on at all (not least because of the Fidesz Greater Hungary ambitions), the Poles and Czechs don't really see eye to eye on many things and the Slovaks are still very resentful towards the Czechs.

Life / Polish culture versus rotten West [279]


Oh, absolutely. Many parents don't even talk about it with each other! It's surreal - how can these families exist if they don't even know each other?

Life / Polish culture versus rotten West [279]


Modern research shows this pretty well - unstructured play time is finally being recognised as having a lot of benefit.

Oh, the arguments I've had over this...

Law / Car Market in Poland? Aftermarket car parts? [22]

Alas, I'm not very familiar with shipping costs from Germany. But quite a few big online shops are based there and ship to Poland cheaply/for free - so it should be quite possible. Furthermore, if they come from Germany, you could advertise as being a German shop and not British - which would give you more credibility on the Polish market.

My suggestion would be that in the beginning, to establish a system of sending out parts once a week (for instance, on Monday morning) on a truck and have them re-sent from within Poland. Anything sent Monday morning should be here by Wednesday morning, meaning delivery on Thursday morning, which would be quite acceptable for online delivery here.

Law / Car Market in Poland? Aftermarket car parts? [22]

First thing I'd say - there's no way Poles are going to pay 15 quid minimum for delivery. You'd need to set up a local base here to have any chance on the market. Normal delivery costs for small items are no more than 2 quid, so you can see the first obstacle.

Are your parts made in the UK?

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]


...then you'll realise that the land comes with some very angry locals who are hellbent on making sure that you can't use it.


You do realise that it was routine for Poles to deny Ukrainian self-determination in the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for their own political purposes? If you don't understand how the Ukrainian self-identity was deeply discouraged by the occupying powers, you've got no hope for understanding the region.


Which would then open up the massive German can of worms in Poland. There's a very good reason why Poland is firmly against such claims in foreign countries.

Life / Cyfrowy Polsat... NC+ - which channels can you watch in English? [25]


I used to use unblock-us.com/ which works a treat.

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]


That's revisionist bollocks, to be frank.

Western Ukraine was always the heart of Ukrainian nationalism, which is why Poland (and Austria) did so much to keep a lid on it. Suggesting that they should 'relearn history' is straight out of the book of fascism.


That's economic and nothing to do with national identity.


That's a nice bit of revisionism. In fact, it was a very mixed place. Stanisławów Voivoidship for instance - Poles only made up around 20% of the population. A quick look shows that self-declared Ukrainian speakers were just short of a majority in that province.


Hahahaha. That's a nice attempt at revisionism, but the oligarchs were never particularly interested in Ukrainian nationalism. The current President is the first one, really.


That's just not going to happen. Ukrainians would rather starve than let Poles anywhere near them again.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]

It's very common for people to have businesses registered in the UK or the Czech Republic to avoid Polish taxation. Why isn't Polonius going after them first of all, given that these are Poles screwing Poland?

News / Polish magazine causes outrage with cover showing white woman being sexually attacked by 'migrants' [57]


And you'll still be utterly dependent on EU cash. Notice how the grand economic plan relies on the EU for 50% of the funding, which is a huge number.

News / Polish magazine causes outrage with cover showing white woman being sexually attacked by 'migrants' [57]


PiS recently held a 2 day convention at a luxurious countryside resort, paid for by the taxpayer. Likewise, PiS ran up a large bill when Kaczyński met Orban privately, also paid for by the taxpayer.

News / Polish magazine causes outrage with cover showing white woman being sexually attacked by 'migrants' [57]


Notice how the usual suspects completely ignored the point here - that yet again, the stench of corruption around PiS.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]

Could you perhaps provide hard facts as opposed to propaganda?

Jeronimo Martins (owners of Biedronka) paid a considerable sum in CIT last year, for instance.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]


Indeed. But because of the reckless spending policies of PiS, there's no chance for central government to put up the cash.


You honestly think that big corprorations are going to risk getting involved with large cash-intensive projects in Poland when PiS are displaying such a hostile attitude towards big business? You're living in dreamland Greggy, big business is only going to invest that cash if they're guaranteed a return and guaranteed that the government won't try and take their cut for their friends.

I'm all for many aspects of the Morawiecki plan, but I cannot see how his words about promoting Polish business reconciles with the reality on the ground - that PiS are making life much more difficult for private business.

Work / Popular expat jobs in Poland [14]

Never met a kindergarten teacher yet that would do such a thing. Most nurseries in Poland don't accept kids that are still wearing them, and if it has to be done, it would be done by an assistant, not a teacher.

Work / Popular expat jobs in Poland [14]


The ones advertised do. The good jobs pay much, much better, but they simply aren't advertised most of the time.


Someone, please tell the insufferable twats in Kraków that they aren't expats.

Anyway, there are plenty of other jobs.


Sales - easy to get if you know what you're doing. Companies are pretty much open to anyone that is willing to build a market for them, especially in the UK or Ireland. I spotted one post a while ago that offered a starting salary of 10k + commission for the right candidate.

Management - always doable if you have the right skills, though the days of people being hired in good positions just because they're a foreigner with an MBA are over.

Marketing - plenty of people work in this, myself included. I've taken a step back this year, but I've worked with quite a few clients on freelance marketing projects as well as doing it at work.

Pharma - likewise, there are jobs for people that are actually qualified.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]

It's straight from the Morawiecki plan. Surely he knows what's in his own plan?

Just for Greggy :


money.pl/gospodarka/wiadomosci/artykul/plan-morawieckiego-w-ogniu-krytyki-znanego,15,0,2021135.html

Indeed, it's very puzzling as to where this money is going to come from. Forcing the banks to hand over the cash would be straight out of the PRL, and any 100% private business being forced to participate would cause capital to run out of Poland as quickly as possible. That leaves raiding the cash reserves of KGHM and so on - which also decreases their competitiveness internationally.

The article goes on to explain that while the Morawiecki plan relies on half a trillion of EU funding, that also relies on the Polish budget coming up with cash to support the EU funding. There's not much money in the Polish budget to play with, so where's the money coming from?

Likewise, what I mentioned above about Morawiecki not actually having the competence to deal with certain things is mentioned.


This is entirely my point. Morawiecki can make all the great plans he wants, but PiS are busy reimposing heavy controls on private businesses in other ministries. For that reason, the plan is doomed to failure.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]


Well, Morawiecki's plan includes a commitment to reduce the barriers to business and to make it much easier to start and operate a business. Fine, it's always a good idea to lower barriers. It's not even about taxation (Polish taxation isn't much of an issue, except the crippling social insurance contributions for businesses), but about the general business climate. He's made all the right noises - we should focus on tech, we should be more mobile and dynamic - all of this, I agree with.

But at the same time, PiS are busy giving extra powers to government agencies. For example - let's say we have a Polish entrepreneur who wishes to invest in a very large organic blueberry farm. He sees the price that they sell for in the West ($5 for 150g of organic blueberries) and spots the potential for export. Unfortunately, PiS have changed the law, so that he can't buy agricultural land if he doesn't live in the neighbourhood and isn't already a farmer. OK, so he approaches the biggest farmland owner - the agricultural property agency. They offer him a mere 5 year lease as the law also prohibits them from offering longer leases.

What does he do? He walks away.

Our entrepreneur then decides to open a factory producing a relatively obscure (but in demand) piece of IT equipment. He finds a suitable factory, makes a great deal, etc etc. He goes to the bank for funding, only to discover that commercial loan rates have gone through the roof because of the tax on assets held by the bank.

What does he do? He can't fund the factory entirely by himself, so he walks away.

Finally, he decides to open up a small clothing factory producing high end lingerie for the Western market using skilled Polish seamstresses. The initial investment isn't large, so he self-funds it. After 6 months, an employee demands a large payrise. He refuses and lets her go, but she decides to report him to PIP - the workplace/labour inspectorate. The law has been changed by PiS so that they are allowed to act as judge and jury, and they give him the maximum 30,000zł fine for various small breaches of the law.

What does he do? He sells up, takes his capital and opens in another country where the business environment is friendlier.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]


I think that sounds like a splendid plan. Perhaps the government could set up a special e-mail address where such theft could be reported and acted upon?


It won't happen. Anyone that follows the economics of Kaczyński knows that he believes strongly in the large industrial Gierek-era economics, not modern high-tech economics. Morawiecki's plan is fine and well, but anyone that follows PiS knows that they'll never implement it in any serious way. Furthermore, stealing the private finances of businesses to pay for such a plan is always going to lead to ruin.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]


It's straight from the Morawiecki plan.

News / How would Poland change for the better (or worse) under a PiS government? [257]


Have you noticed how a lot of the anti-PRL rhetoric suddenly stopped after they got elected? We haven't heard a thing about lustration or their other favourite topics, and the only anti-PRL action seems to be this act to try and harass Wałęsa some more.

I wouldn't be terribly shocked if their next move is to dramatically increase alcohol prices, which was another PRL trick.


Couldn't agree more. I'm a social democrat, but any social democrat with a brain knows that you cannot enact socialist policies without having the money/social agreement to pay for it. The best way to have the money is to develop an advanced economy first, then use the proceeds to look after people that need it - Denmark being a good example. The pure socialism shown by PiS is a one step ride to wrecking the economy.

Incidentally, I noticed plenty of posters up about this retail tax - no wonder they're backing off when a lot of small businesses are openly protesting.

News / Poland's Prime Minister Szydło keeps American bulldogs on short leash [36]


Not much, except to behave in the way expected of a NATO member.

I've always thought that there's a degree of altruism with America and NATO - it would suit the Americans perfectly to have the Europeans self sufficient when it comes to defence, meaning that America can go back to being isolated and they won't have to worry about war.

History / Why is the Diary of Saint Sister Faustina Kowalska still unknown to Polonia and other countries? [29]


Pretty much. Rural Hercegovina was (and still is) a pretty poor, tough place to live - these children were, to put it politely, not very well educated or travelled. It would've been obvious that once the benefits of their visions started coming in, they would have been 'encouraged' to continue, especially as it would have been a source of a lot of hard cash in the very economically difficult times of the 80's in Yugoslavia.

I've never visited any other Catholic shrines, but Medjugorje is incredibly odd.


One of the most absurd things I've ever read on PF, to be fair.

Real Estate / Real Estate current condition in Sopot area (checking the market) [21]

Not really.

seatemperature.org/europe/poland/mielno-july.htm - Mielno is an average of 17.7c in July
seatemperature.info/july/darlowo-water-temperature.html - It never went above 18c in July last year in Darlowo
seatemperature.org/europe/poland/sopot-july.htm - 18.5c average in Sopot (but you have to deal with all the pollution in the Bay of Gdansk)

Meanwhile, you can go to Croatia and enjoy crystal clear warm waters. 22-23c water temperature is quite normal there. No contest!

History / Why is the Diary of Saint Sister Faustina Kowalska still unknown to Polonia and other countries? [29]


Medjugorje is horrific. I went there a couple of years back, and it was about as bad as it gets - the whole town was all about money, money, money and the entire place was incredibly kitsch. The only good thing was that car parking was free outside the ridiculously large (for the size of the town) church. When you read into the whole story, it's pretty obvious what happened and how easy it was to create the entire hoax. The Vatican were supposed to make a judgement last summer, but nothing materialised. The worst for me was watching some very clearly mentally ill guy getting dragged towards the church - he clearly needed hospital treatment, not religion.

Always meant to go back and watch one of the apparitions live, because they're still coming every day.

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]

Indeed, the loss of further coal areas really dealt a hammerblow to Germany post-WW2, especially as it was combined with Germany only keeping control of the Ruhr if she agreed to combine her coal/steel resources with France.

History / Why is the Diary of Saint Sister Faustina Kowalska still unknown to Polonia and other countries? [29]


And still do. There's the ongoing apparations at Medjugorje, for instance.

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]

Good luck with that one. Western Ukraine is as nationalist as they come, and any attempt to take what they consider to be the heartland of Ukrainian culture would almost certainly result in full on war.

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]

Most Poles also don't care about it. They know fine well that integrating a large, ruined piece of land with a large hostile population would be an economic disaster.