News / Poland's democracy defenders in Brussels turned out to be EU employees. [62]

It's open season for them really - they know fine well that Duda will pardon any PiS member before they get near the courts, so they've got 4 years to commit as much fraud and corruption as they want. It also gives them plenty of time to cover up what they've done before vanishing into the night.

News / Poland's democracy defenders in Brussels turned out to be EU employees. [62]

Exactly. There's no motivation for anyone to do anything because they won't want to be subjected to a witchhunt (if they're not PiS members), so they'll keep their heads down, they won't use any initiative and the country goes back to the bad old days. Entirely what PiS want, of course - because it means there's no effective opposition.

News / Poland's democracy defenders in Brussels turned out to be EU employees. [62]


The problem is that once we're finally free of this menace, removing all these puppets and undoing all the mess is going to cause even more problems. I've already spoken to one friend that has a fairly senior (but not senior enough to be affected by the change in the law) civil service position, and she says that the general atmosphere can be described as "sod it". Everyone knows they won't get promoted to top jobs without being friends with PiS, so they're simply going to do the bare minimum and not a thing more.

News / Poland's democracy defenders in Brussels turned out to be EU employees. [62]


All of which are designed to put power solely in the hands of PiS and to remove any independence that those institutions have.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


It's quite amazing to read, until you realise that most of them don't actually live in Poland or don't have Polish citizenship.

I think it says a lot that the pro-government supporters are staying firmly away from taking full part in the life of this country.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


That's simply not true. Your agenda is very obvious Polonius - just like you did back before 1989, you're trying to discredit the opposition to the government by linking them to things that are simply made up. If you want to talk about PZPR members, why don't you talk about PiS and the way that they appointed an ex-PZPR public prosecutor to lead the human rights commission?


That's because the bank tax isn't credible.


What a strange way to talk about two of the biggest Polish businesses - PKO and PZU.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Au contraire, I don't think so. The party is controlled by two types - ex-PZPR members and younger individuals who see public service as a way of enriching themselves. Both groups have a common interest - making money at the country's expense.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Absolutely. The whole point is to draw attention to what this government is doing.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Notice how the pro-Government supporters use traditional PZPR methods such as anti-semitic insults, suggest the use of the legal system/police/water cannons/etc against demonstrators and blame them for all the problems that Poland has?

It's frightening how their methods are identical, and how this government uses former PZPR mouthpieces to spread their hatred.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Notice how yet again, the PiS supporters react with rudeness and contempt. Entirely in line with their origins as PZPR nomeklatura.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Lying again, Polonius. The whole KOD movement started when PiS attacked the Constitutional Tribunal by attempting to pack it with their goons.

As I keep saying, PiS could end these demonstrations tomorrow by getting the puppet Duda to swear in the three legally appointed judges by PO and allow the Constitutional Tribunal to do the job.

As for being undemocratic, what's not democratic about demonstrating legally on the streets? You seem to be very very afraid of KOD - why?

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Perhaps no government has ever acted in such a blatant anti-democratic way straight after a election. It's unthinkable in Europe that a government would simply ignore the law of the highest court in the country because they didn't agree with it.

Still, I'm sure tomorrow's newspapers around the world will report how Poles took to the streets in 44 different demonstrations today.

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]


Of course it's crap because it is crap. Anyone drinking that stuff might as well just drink Tesco whisky. Try Jura for a start.


Not really. Of course, there are brands that are among the best in the world - but Polish vodka is nothing special by itself.

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]


Yep, I notice that too. I don't have much time for the pretentious clowns drinking Johnnie Walker, but plenty of others are discovering good wine and good whisky. I've also noticed that people are becoming much fussier about what vodka they drink.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Indeed. The hardest part is over - now Saturdays are firmly established as the day of opposition in Poland and abroad, we can expect them to keep reminding everyone elsewhere in the world exactly what this government is doing to Poland.

Incidentally, I notice that there's the beginnings of a boycott of TVP as well.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


No, Polonius. It's the actions of the government that caused S&P to downgrade Poland. Likewise, the European Union also started with the measures against Poland based on the actions of the government.

The fact that you're writing yet again your Party propaganda against KOD shows that you're deeply afraid. Over 40 simultaneous demonstrations today very much reminds the world of what we're dealing with here - a deeply corrupt party in which personal connections and loyalty stand for far more than ability to do the job. Fortunately, we have KOD to tell the world exactly what's happening in Poland.

News / World's 'most wanted man' (a Pole) found working at British Subway restaurant [43]


One of the few countries to let Poles in freely in 2004, that's all. By the time 2007 rolled around, they were well established and so it continues to attract them.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

And how can it be proven?

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


We don't have compulsory military service here.


For what? Not sure I get what you want to bet here...

News / PiS to impose blanket retail tax in Poland [291]


We have no entitlement here, except in some defined circumstances. For instance, every child is covered one way or another. But hypothetically speaking, Jimmy the builder from the UK turns up here - he has no automatic right to any treatment without paying ZUS or joining the NFZ as a private patient.

Poles in the UK need to contribute too, but because the UK has a complete mess when it comes to organisation, they simply aren't checking whether EU citizens are entitled or not.

News / Referendum in Poland about so called refugees. [56]


It's a waste of time. The voters made their feelings clear on the issue, as PiS ran on a clear xenophobic anti-refugee platform.

Still, we should take them. The EU will pay, and when the EU cash runs out, they'll vanish to Germany, France or Calais anyway. We look good, but in reality, a blind eye can be turned. And of course, we absolutely shouldn't waste our time patrolling the Western border - if they want to go, they can go.

Having said that, Poland missed a golden chance here - we should have sent people to Greece and picked out doctors and other highly skilled people and offered them a 3 year work/residence permit without any restrictions. No-one wants the morons that threw water and food away, no-one wants the morons that get violent when they don't get what they want - but we do want the refugees that can help us.

News / PiS to impose blanket retail tax in Poland [291]

You're right, PiS couldn't care less about...

- policemen, firemen, doctors, nurses, teachers, bus drivers, tram drivers, priests, waiters, bar staff, hotel receptions, hotel cleaners, taxi drivers, all staff on trains, all staff at airports, pilots and cabin crew, TV staff, journalists, power station and transmission network staff, anybody who works in production facilities that can't be shut down once a week, teachers on school trips, teachers working with weekend students, mountain rescuers, builders (many projects work 24/7), radio workers, breakdown/recovery drivers, chefs, those working on ships, border guards, customs officers, zookeepers, ticket sellers, lifeguards, animation staff, cinema workers, entertainers, customs agents, those working in currency exchange offices, those that work in 24 hour post offices, petrol station workers, system administrators, helpdesk workers and many, many more?

They only care about a single niche group of workers. Why does the above group not get Sunday off as well?

If you were at least logical and suggesting that *everything* non-emergency should be closed, then at least it would be consistent.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


A better question might be to ask if there are any native Poles living in Poland that posted on here. So far, nope.


Nope. We choose to stay and fight for our country.

News / PiS to impose blanket retail tax in Poland [291]


Indeed. The plan to force shops to shut on Sundays is really going to hurt a lot of them, especially those working for employers known for their flexibility such as Auchan. But PiS doesn't care about them - when you look at their candidates for elections, they're all high flying doctors, lawyers, etc. For some reason, they don't tend to give the "ordinary man" a chance.

News / World's 'most wanted man' (a Pole) found working at British Subway restaurant [43]


I reckon the UK probably has plenty of Polish speaking interpreters available, given the amount of criminality among the post-2004 Polonia there.

crimestoppers-uk.org/misc/other-languages/#Polski - and crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/how-to-give-information/

What's interesting among the new Polonia is how strange their crimes really are - I was reading one local rag (Bristol, I think?) where the Poles had been doing odd things like driving around naked when drunk. Not boring people, that's for sure!

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Essentially, there was no mention whatsoever of their intention to block the Constitutional Tribunal or to change the law about the civil service.


Are you denying that Gazeta Polska, niezalezna.pl and TV Republika are controlled by PiS? Even PiS themselves are hardly bothering to conceal that, given that Srebna is renting property next door to Jarosław!


Indeed, it's not really newsworthy. There's already a tonne of evidence online about how TVP has become completely biased - it's quite ridiculous really.

News / PiS to impose blanket retail tax in Poland [291]


Likewise. I get paid a salary and can't dodge taxes, so I'm not helping others to do so!

News / PiS to impose blanket retail tax in Poland [291]

Quite. Many "patriotic" Poles see no harm in this sort of behaviour and regard it as their duty to avoid as much taxes as possible. One of the best things that PO did was introduce the "receipt lottery" - which has encouraged a lot of people to ask for receipts from industries traditionally associated with tax dodging such as hairdressers, beauticians and so on.

Travel / INFORMATION ABOUT TOURISTS ARRIVAL IN POLAND [15]


Croatia loses in terms of food, but good accommodation is cheaper and the weather is far more predictable. Montenegro is also worthwhile, but it's a two day drive as opposed to a single overnight drive to most of Croatia. I was seriously considering going to Croatia for a week now - I found nice apartments for 500zł for a week, and it was 15c in Split last week. Petrol is ridiculously cheap right now, so if I was doing it on the cheap, I could go shopping here in Auchan and be able to go for a week for less than 1500zł.


Bulgaria is quite nasty apparently, but I don't have any personal experience. The problem with Bulgaria is that you can't really drive there, whereas someone going from Warsaw can easily make most of Croatia in one overnight journey. I've done Wrocław-Zagreb before in 9 hours for instance - you can easily be in Zadar within 11. In comparison, someone from Wrocław going to Kolobrzeg or other nasty Baltic 'resorts' will spend about 6 hours getting there - it's pointless

As for the Baltic - quite. I can't figure out why anyone would swim in the Baltic, especially further to the east where Russia is pouring who-knows-what into the sea!

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Which free media? I've already explained several times how Gazeta Polska, TV Republika, TVP et al are all under the direct control of PiS. The genuinely free media in Poland will certainly report such events, because simultaneous demonstrations in over 40 cities is newsworthy.