History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]


I very much doubt that you are German for the simple reason that any German would know that Germany didn't exist until 1871. You could argue that it possibly started in 1815, but as far as I know, modern Germany takes 1871 as being the start of the modern German nation.

News / There is no Poland without the Church! [178]

What you can do is simply conduct all discussions in front of their car. It'll be recorded on video and on microphone, so if you make a complaint - it's ball-chopping time. The police are quite terrified in Poland of being accused of corruption, and the anti-corruption chaps are always quite keen to get involved in these kinds of situations.

For what it's worth, I've never had any issues with my PO plates and police - it even worked to my advantage when pleading stupidity in the Czech Republic as to why I didn't understand them :D

News / There is no Poland without the Church! [178]


Opened a business recently, have we?

The "one window" is alive and working very well indeed. These days, you can even do everything online - all you have to do is turn up at the office, give them a code, sign one document and voila - your business is open and ready.


No, you can't. If they make such a threat - take their badge number and report them. They can only fine you 50zl per missing document - and all they can do is make you park the car until the documents are produced. They certainly can't impound the car for merely not having documents.


There is one purpose - because of the system of insurance, anyone can drive a car provided they have a licence, the registration document and the insurance document. It would be a nightmare if anyone could drive a car and could claim that they've got permission but the documents are at home. It is weird for us, but I've never really been bothered by it - everything fits into my wallet nicely anyway.


It's coming bit by bit.

Having said that, we all know that PiS would immediately employ endless civil servants to make sure that everyone feels guilty. That tax office where you previously had a decent relationship? Well, Paweł, son of the local PiS leader now has the job - and he knows that you're guilty.

Work / Is it difficult to make a living playing Soccer (football) in Poland? [54]

I'll be around from Thursday till Sunday only, it's summer holidays for me, so I'm not here at all really :(

His number (at least, the one I used to have for him - if his wife answers, just ask for him) - 502 362 818

(mods - it's not personal data, it's his business number that's published online)

Work / Is it difficult to make a living playing Soccer (football) in Poland? [54]

Ah, man, I'm not here then. But I'll send you the contact details to a Nigerian-Polish football agent based in Poznań. I'm sure he'll be willing to chat with you :)

linkedin.com/in/justino13

Contact him, he's a licenced Nigerian (but qualified and registered in Poland) FIFA football agent. I'm sure he'll be able to sort out a trial for you with a team or two :)

Work / Is it difficult to make a living playing Soccer (football) in Poland? [54]

One thing - I don't know if it's still current, but there was some provision to grant citizenship after 3 years to non-EU players.

Work / Is it difficult to make a living playing Soccer (football) in Poland? [54]

Which city are you in? I can help you if you're in Poznań.

News / There is no Poland without the Church! [178]


The problem is that the Church itself seems to be hell bent on destroying itself. Some of their actions are just crazy - for instance, a building was returned to them by the court. In the building was a school that had been there for many years - and immediately, the Curia demanded a huge amount of money in rent. It was just pure greed - and utter bad will on their part. With these sort of actions, they have no hope in the future.

History / Lech Walesa - Happy Birthday! [54]


Yes, but an AK veteran that went on to study abroad AND managed to get his children on TV is quite remarkable, don't you think?

News / There is no Poland without the Church! [178]

Well done Kaczyński, you're just reminding all those centrist voters that your politics are entirely based around the directives of the Church.

Works for me.

History / Lech Walesa - Happy Birthday! [54]

Yes yes. Of course. He just so happened to be able to continue his studies post-war as well, despite being an AK veteran. And then he even managed to work on the American Embassy. Quite remarkable for an AK veteran, don't you think?

History / Lech Walesa - Happy Birthday! [54]

Care to explain how Lech Wałęsa was corrupt?


Well, duh. He might have been the inspiration to the masses, but there were a lot of great men and women behind him.


What's new? Solidarność was first and foremost a trade union.


That's because the Gdansk Shipyard workers were concerned about themselves, not others. Same story all over Poland, particularly with miners.

Pienkowska was a remarkable woman.


Yawn. You might want to look at more obvious cases, such as the curious case of an ex-AK man who just so happened to be given a very large and comfortable apartment in Zoliborz.

News / Coal-Powered Poland Refuses to "Go Green". EU Ain't Happy. [304]

Slightly different situation.

News / Coal-Powered Poland Refuses to "Go Green". EU Ain't Happy. [304]

Probably because PO have never shown much appetite for public confrontation - it's always been a hallmark of PO to try and come to a consensus rather than facing down the unions.

I suspect that such a tactic would work very well when the workers realise that the management will inevitably take the shares and so they need to take their share. The Unions would howl, but a firm hand is needed at that point.

News / Coal-Powered Poland Refuses to "Go Green". EU Ain't Happy. [304]

Exactly, and this is why I'd like to see the mines privatised and placed into their hands whether they like it or not. Of course, they'd howl and complain - but it would be very hard to argue with "...but we're GIVING you the company" in the eyes of the public. I'd personally like to see them justify why owning shares in their own future is a bad thing - especially given that they're hardly likely to admit that they'd screw it up within months.

A simple carrot and stick approach would be to make it clear that the shares will be given to those that agree. If they don't agree, then they don't receive shares - which would soon divide many miners, especially when it becomes obvious that individual miners could own a substantial amount of shares if they don't all agree.

I'm also sick and tired of hearing about how a few shot miners means that every miner in the country should be entitled to endless special benefits.

News / Coal-Powered Poland Refuses to "Go Green". EU Ain't Happy. [304]

I suppose everything else has failed, so there's not much to lose.

Although I still wish they would just clear the debts of the mines in question, give the shares to the workers (with a clause that workers must control at least 50%+1 of the shares) and sit back and laugh. We'd be rid of the problem within months ;)

News / Coal-Powered Poland Refuses to "Go Green". EU Ain't Happy. [304]


Maybe it's not so silly as it seems. The power companies in particular might not be too happy to subsidise the miners, and this move allows the government to put pressure on the mines indirectly - which is important given the vast amount of fools in Poland that agree with special privileges for miners.

News / Czechs most liked by Poles! [35]

Czechs are colder, that much is true. The culture is much, much more Germanic, which is why they started 1990 way ahead of Poland.

As for the language, it's just because of one thing - everything in Czech sounds like it's a diminutive to Polish speakers. The actual languages are pretty much identical when it comes to complexity :)

But in every day, I've never noticed any hostility to Poles. They can be quite standoffish (particularly in Prague), but it seems to apply to everyone equally, not just Poles. Poles are prone to taking everything personally though, and the Czech coldness might be perceived as a personal insult. For what it's worth, after 2 (or 3, depending on your viewpoint) invasions within 50 years in the 20th century, I wouldn't blame the Czechs for disliking Poles :D

As for language, it's easy to get by in Ostrava, Liberec and so on. It's more difficult in the south of the country, though.

Study / British School of Warsaw in Wilanow [73]


I could share a story or two about international nurseries and very dodgy contracts too

As for this school that's opened, who is behind it?

Law / How do I verify a Polish company's existence? [249]

Looks legit enough, the company is registered in the self employment database.

I'm in Poznań, so if you want something done in person, I could help :)

UK, Ireland / Polish Nazi's humiliated in London - anti-Jewish demonstration [60]

Putin's cash goes a long way.

Study / British School of Warsaw in Wilanow [73]

Be careful with paying for meals - I would avoid "catering" at all costs.

Many private schools in particular see food as a good place to make decent profits, and they often feed what can only be described as slop.

UK, Ireland / Polish Nazi's humiliated in London - anti-Jewish demonstration [60]


You mean he openly lies to his electorate just to get elected?

UK, Ireland / Polish Nazi's humiliated in London - anti-Jewish demonstration [60]

But these were a handful of idiots in the UK representing Poland. No big threat to Poland, I agree. But their kin destroy Warsaw every November 11th, and what's more, plenty of Polish "patriots" support them in doing so.

Edit

UK, Ireland / Polish Nazi's humiliated in London - anti-Jewish demonstration [60]

Hahahaha.

Always knew these Polish "patriots" were on the side of Russia really. All the Russophobic stuff is just a cover act :D

UK, Ireland / Polish Nazi's humiliated in London - anti-Jewish demonstration [60]

It's not exactly a big secret that the Kremlin has been funding organisations with similar ideologies to their own.

UK, Ireland / Polish Nazi's humiliated in London - anti-Jewish demonstration [60]

Without a shadow of a doubt. It's one of the most disgusting things about Europe today that so many of these alleged "patriotic" organisations are very much in the pocket of Putin. Obviously they won't ask questions, but they're definitely there to do Putin's bidding.

Thinking back, wasn't the whole modus operandi of the ZOMO to recruit clueless thugs from villages to ensure their loyalty?

News / Russian criticism of Poland - Soviet war memorial removal [332]

To fallen German soldiers, why not?

Actually, I recall that Poland destroyed a German war memorial too in the past, although that was during Stalinism and therefore hard to say if it was done by Poles or Soviets.

Anyway, there are also plenty of German war memorials in Silesia, so why are we now selectively removing some and not others?

News / Russian criticism of Poland - Soviet war memorial removal [332]


Yes, I'd rather they were left alone regardless of what the intention is behind them. It just seems wrong to remove someone's war memorial somehow - especially when you consider the huge human sacrifice involved.


Wouldn't it be better if no-one removed anything?

If the Polish memorial from Katyń was declared off limits, it would hurt. We might find the Soviet memorials to be tasteless and so on, but it hurts them too.

News / When will Poland take on the EURO? [47]


Exactly. The Americans are against it, yet they seem to forget that huge, huge amounts of USD debt is held by the Chinese.

The real reason why the Americans are against the Euro is because the Euro has a very real chance of taking over as a real reserve currency. We all remember how Iraq switched to selling oil in Euro...