UK, Ireland / Posting mail from Poland to the UK [26]

Just remembered there were two Bank Holidays in the period you refer to, so it's not surprising you didn't receive it yet, even via the courier option.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


Fair enoughski. What do you believe?

Btw, just because I think humans have the potential to live in peace with each other, doesn't mean I believe we should get rid of the nation state. Nor is that what the EU is about. Although if you want to be philosophical about it, the concept of 'nation' is very earthly. We are very limited, primitive creatures and we cannot bear to let go of our national identity. It's like a baby's special 'blanky' or cuddly toy :)) Like I say, the human race is still infantile. We certainly still need nationhood and distinct cultural identities. Look at how much I love Ireland and am always banging on about it. I'm earthbound enough and lacking enough in spiritual development to say that I would be heartbroken to see the Gaelic culture disappear.

" Lives there the man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said
This is my own, my native land"

UK, Ireland / Posting mail from Poland to the UK [26]

How was it sent? The Polish postal service is Poczta Polska. If it was just sent by ordinary Poczta Polska post and it was sent via the economy option it can literally take months. If it was sent Poczta Poksa 'priorytet' but unregistered it can reach its destination within a week or two or it can be stolen which happens quite frequently. If it's sent Poczta Polska registered (polecony) you should have received it by now. If it was sent via courier you should definitely have it by now. Check back on your original order/invoice and see what postal service was used. There might be a tracking number. If you send emails in English to a Polish company you will very rarely, if ever, receive a reply so not getting a response doesn't necessarily mean they ripped you off. Also customer service in Poland can be good or equally non-existent.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


You're a bit behind the times there Dirk. Our financial crisis is well behind us now.

business.financialpost.com/investing/global-investor/how-ireland-pulled-off-an-economic-miracle-that-rivals-china-india

We're a great little country :)) Wrap the green flag round me boys, go on ya boys in green etc :D


Typical American thinking. A century?? You're talking about European history. Those wars span a lot more than a century.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

Yes, but that's a fairly superficial view if you don't mind me saying so Maf. If you go deeper and think about the development of the human race, we're still in very early stages. If you imagine the human race as a child, Western Europe is a like a three year old, where consciousness has kicked in. A two year old generally is incapable of self-control. A three year old can actually make conscious decisions about things. I'm afraid much of the rest of the world is still a 'baby'.

Forgot to say, about peace - the difference is that for the first time with Europe, you have richer countries helping their poorer neighbours to improve their circumstances rather than going to war with them and trying to exploit their weakness. The idea is to get everyone up to the same level. Conquest and colonization is an outdated concept.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


The answer there would be no, the Metropolitan area is not the same thing as NYC. The London Metropolitan area on the other hand is included as the City of London refers only to the ancient Roman part of it which is centred round the financial district - when I was six somebody gave me a lovely illustrated map "The City of London and the 32 Boroughs" and the info contained therein has stuck :)


I suppose that's our ultimate destiny. Wouldn't that, after all be God's plan? That human beings should overcome our divisions and hatreds.

Look, unfortunately what you have, is a world divided into different stages of human development. In the years since the end of the second World War, Western Europe has elevated itself to the highest ever level of civilization in that we have stopped killing each other and have learned that by being friends and co-operating with each other, we will achieve much more. We have more peace and more prosperity than we ever had, even with the rash of terrorist attacks.

HOWEVER, Europe now has to contend with a sector of human society that hasn't reached that point and is still mentally living about 500 years ago. They're not the only ones either. Look at Africa, it's just as bad, nothing but wars. South America is no picnic either, a very mixed bag. And quite frankly some European countries and Russia (which is still basically the Soviet Union under another name in my opinion, bloody dictatorship) are hungry for conflict, would love a crack at opening up old wounds and having another excuse to go to war with their neighbours. But in time, not in our lifetime, but in time, that may change.


And with good reason. Historically, it's always lead to war.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


The population of London and NYC are almost exactly the same, only a couple of hundred thousand in the difference with London having the slightly larger population.

Delph's original comment was that the UK is a safer place without guns and your answer was

"Really? The religion of peace has just struck again in Paris."

I know this will come as a shock to you but Paris is not in the UK :)) You Americans and your 'Yurp' thang :)) It's not all one country my love.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]


Or freedom of movement either except for when they manage to chew through their restraints and get to a computer before they're apprehended and put back into their padded cells - it's for their own good :)

Law / Climate change/environmental businesses or NGOs in Poland [66]


I've answered you in off-topic.


Gumishu as I said earlier, if people are that concerned about the 'killing of the unborn', then they can get off their collective arses and vote. Otherwise it's pure hypocrisy. If they saw a child being murdered in the street would they just shrug and say 'oh there's nothing I can do about it, no point in calling the police, the child will be dead by the time they get here'. Would they?? I don't know. But I don't accept the old not politically motivated nonsense. It basically translates as 'can't be arsed' 'oh, I care, but not that much'. So, like I say, if that's the case you get the result you deserve.

Law / Climate change/environmental businesses or NGOs in Poland [66]

Well, you have a point. I was forgetting about the low voter turnout for elections, not much more than fifty per cent of the electorate so I suppose there's no reason to think it would be any higher for a referendum. Still I do think that if people genuinely give a toss about something they will take the trouble to vote, and if they don't then I have no sympathy for them if the outcome of such referendums is not to their liking. I hardly ever voted in Ireland in elections as when push comes to shove, most parties are much of a muchness, but I DID vote in the divorce referendum and in the Anglo-Irish agreement one. Nowadays though I would vote in Irish general elections just to stop Sinn Féin from getting any more seats!

Law / Climate change/environmental businesses or NGOs in Poland [66]


Yes ,that's what we had in Ireland, a constitutional referendum. We have another one coming up in May on abortion. They're not common in Poland because the government doesn't require the consent of the people to change the constitution whereas in Ireland it does. The Polish constitution only provides for referendums in relation to certain articles but personal rights and freedoms of citizens is one of them. The wording is a bit vague but there's no reason why you couldn't have a referendum. I'm a bit puzzled as to why PIS doesn't have one on abortion as it's caused such a furore lately. No need for all that protesting and demonstrating by either side, just let the people vote.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


I never mentioned anything about guns. You're not paying attention - what's new..........you must have driven your teachers demented. You constantly speed read your way through material, don't listen properly to what's said and then comment, having got the wrong end of the stick.

Anyway.............I'm not asking for the thread to be brought back on topic, I'm saying that it veered off ages ago, long before my comments, which were actually in response to yet another one about Muslims and migrants, that time from Sig Sauer (but he's not nearly as bad as you, he's quite rational).

Like I said there is nothing of value left to discuss in this thread which pertains to the original topic.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


I never said they did. You're speed reading again. I know quite well where the Mormons live and the Amish too, Pennsylvania isn't it? And I think everybody knows about Salt Lake City and Utah. And yes the Mormons are a cult but quite a rich and powerful one. They pretty much control an entire state of America. And it's a fact that in Bible Belt states, education is impacted by extreme forms of weird Christianity. Plenty of teachers in state schools there are already unofficially teaching Creationism alongside mainstream science but as I say, if they had their way.............

independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-states-texas-creationism-science-teacher-state-law-evolution-religion-a7632931.html

As for the KKK it makes no difference to an outsider like me what their politics were, I'm sure they were all nominally Christian.

@Mods, re going off topic, that ship sailed some time ago and it's not coming back to harbour any time soon as far as I can see. Maybe it's time to close the thread as it's run its course. Do a word search for Muslims, migrants, black, Latino, UK and America/USA. The thread hasn't been about carrying a concealed handgun in Poland since the first few posts.

Work / A predictable "Is my salary high enough post" - Krakow 13,500PLN GROSS Month [30]

Yes, that's more than enough to live on. Just for your information though, if you were a Polish national you would be getting around double that amount as a software project manager. So be aware that they're getting your services very cheaply. Just see as it as a way to get European experience on your CV if you don't already have any. Then you can look at moving on to better paid work in other European countries in the future.

UK, Ireland / Ireland and Poland - ways of struggling for independence [43]


If you mean me personally, I call them the British Isles, I don't have any problem with that. I just see it as a geographic term. The official term these days is "These Islands" but nobody uses it in ordinary speech. Most Irish people say 'Ireland and England' or 'Ireland and the UK'.

I agree with you about the interpretation of success, yes it was successful in as much as the aftermath was so clumsily handled by the British authorities that it turned public opinion very much against them and in favour of the rebels paving the way for the War of Independence. I think people tend to forget or just not be aware that by that time in Irish history many Irish people accepted being British in the same way as the Scots and the Welsh. They might have preferred to have a sovereign, independent nation but being British citizens was 'normal'.

Regarding conscription, the Brits passed the conscription law in 1918 but it was never enforced. Typical of their insensitivity considering that so many Irish had volunteered and indeed given their lives. Of course there were already a lot of Irish in the British army anyway at the outbreak of war.


Yes, their contribution was huge. In fact if you read the witness statements from the Irish Bureau of Military history there's one from Dan Breen who was a key figure in the War of Independence though his name is not well known perhaps outside Ireland. Breen said that it was his mother who imbued him with the spirit of nationalism and rebellion and that it was the women who kept alive the idea of fighting for independence whilst the men just talked about it over a pint. If you look at many of the men who were leaders of the movement, they had all lost their fathers at an early age and were raised by their mothers including Michael Collins, De Valera and indeed Dan Breen whom I just referred to.

Of course Cumann na mBan was an amazing movement and they were very important in the War of Independence too. They were probably fairly unique at the time in Europe. Michael Collins insisted that if they were going to be members of the Volunteers they had to do the same training as the men, military drill, handle firearms etc. and be ready to fight.


Our commemorations have always been very low key, except for the fiftieth anniversary and the centenary year and the vibe of that was quite gentle if you know what I mean. Of course we don't really commemorate the War of Independence at all.

The one big event relating to the War of Independence was in 2001 when they exhumed the remains of 'The Forgotten Ten' who were executed by the British. They had been buried within the grounds of Mountjoy Prison. They were given a state funeral and re-interred in Glasnevin Cemetery. That was a public holiday and the whole thing was televised. There were tens of thousands of people along the funeral route and the atmosphere in the country was very solemn that day. Seeing that long, long line of hearses go by and crowds applauding, saying thank you to those men who gave their lives for us.

UK, Ireland / Ireland and Poland - ways of struggling for independence [43]


There was no 1918 rebellion. I think you mean the 1916 Easter Rising which was unsuccessful. I was talking about the War of Independence which was from 1919 to 1921.

British does not inlcude the Irish.The only people who are both Irish and British are the citizens of Northern Ireland who have dual citizenship.


Britain is more than a geographic term. It's also political. In Ireland when referring to the colonisation of Ireland we generally talk about 'the English' or 'the Brits'. So we use both. We were colonized initially by the Olde English (the Normans), then the English, then of course we were part of the British empire and Commonwealth. So we run the gamut of occupation by 'Britain' in all its incarnations.


The Dal Riada were Irish, not Britons, or at least of Irish descent. Their language derived from Irish because the Irish had settled that part of Scotland centuries previously. The Dal Riada were not 'foreign' invaders but were more like Pol-Ams coming back to Poland :)) There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between the north of Ireland and Scotland and despite fighting and disputes, the two communities shared a connection, which is why you see strange cultural phenomena such as laments in Irish Gaelic for Scottish misfortunes; their woes were ours. The later planters whose descendants live in Northern Ireland today were lowland Scots, not of the Gaelic tradition.

UK, Ireland / Ireland and Poland - ways of struggling for independence [43]

Do you mean the civil war of 1922 or the civil war in the North of Ireland? Because neither has killed as many as the wars and rebellions of 750 years of British occupation.

And no, people don't necessarily become indigenous after 400 years - by 400 years I presume you mean the Plantation of Ulster? Many of the descendants of the planters do not consider themselves to be Irish in the sense that you mean it, they see their heritage and culture as quite separate and distinct and they want to keep it that way.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


How very DARE you? I wear flowery dresses! But they're funky ones :))

Without going too far off the thread topic, Christian fundamentalism certainly has its sinister side.

Firstly you have the extreme groups like those amongst the Mormons who practise polygamy, often involving very young women and there's been the odd sex scandal there too with underage girls. The Amish also have had under age sex scandals. Amongst extreme Christian fundamentalists personal freedoms are very curtailed and women are heavily controlled. Intermarriage with other faiths is a cause to be shunned for the rest of your life and so on. In many cases girls receive almost no education other than basic literacy and numeracy and all children regardless of gender tend to be homeschooled in order to avoid undesirable influences. There are Muslims in the West who have more personal freedoms than that. At least they usually send their kids to school and you'll find plenty of Muslim women working in professions.

In terms of the less extreme, basic Bible belt Christians, homeschooling is still preferred, early marriage is encouraged, college education for girls in particular is discouraged and sometimes even for boys. They may not throw gays off roofs but if they could run America, they'd see to it that every piece of legislation that has liberalized laws would be reversed. There is a strong element of conservatism in certain regions of America where if they had their way, a Fundamentalist Christian state would be their dream. Just bear in mind that America produced the Ku Klux Klan and that certainly DID involve the equivalent of throwing people off roofs, not that long ago either, in living memory.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


Are you seriously saying that if a country is 100% white, there would be no violent crime?? Now that's nonsense.


You've just described a sizeable proportion of American Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christians. Like I say, there's always enough of one's homegrown variety.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]



That's not so in the UK. Actually the UK Home Office stats show that less than 10% of white people are killed by someone of another race. Nationwide across Britain, whites are overwhelmingly killed by other whites.

Most black people in the UK are of Afro-Caribbean origin and those in their teens or twenties now are third or fourth generation Brits, not foreigners. You may not see them as British, but Brits do.

The Indian population in the UK is largely middle class and prosperous, very aspirational and they are mostly Sikh and Hindu.

With the Pakistani community, they are mostly Muslim but identify strongly as British. In parts of the UK, they outperform their white, native British peers in education while in other places, they fall below the average. It's the usual story, the profile is more influenced by the economic and social conditions of the region than by race or religion. It's among this group that there is a danger of young people being radicalized but that has nothing to do with the spate of knife crime across the country. That's a completely separate issue.

Violent assaults largely by young people on other young people are not motivated by religion and in many cases they kill within their own racial group. Those account for the bulk of the killings, whether you want to accept it or not.

Believe me, if there were no 'foreigners' anywhere in Europe or the USA our own natives would fill any gaps left for violence and criminality.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


Yes it is your imagination. The actual figure is around 20%. It's actually the lowest figure apart from two Spanish names.

I posted a link to their photos a few days ago, they are the victims but we can assume the perpetrators had a similar racial breakdown.

On the list you linked to I counted out of the 35:

9/35 were of obvious African origin
7/35 were of obvious 'Muslim' origin
2/35 were of obvious Spanish origin

10 sounded British of, either black or white origin.

The others either weren't named or sounded vaguely foreign but not of 'Muslim' origin. I put Muslim in quotes because Muslims are of many nationalities.

Having lived in London, I can tell you that the neighbourhoods where these attacks took place are all,with the exception of Kensington, places that have historically been considered rough and dodgy, at best very mixed, with the crimes being shared between the black and white youth, blacks maybe a somewhat higher proportion. As property has become unaffordable in nicer parts of London, these areas have become gentrified and more upwardly mobile types have moved in, but the 'local' vibe is still there. Teenagers having their gold chain snatched from round their neck by a gang of their peers was common in Walthamstow or Lewisham thirty years ago, now it's stabbing. It has nothing whatsoever to do with 'Muslims'. Most of this kind of crime is associated with low income but more importantly low aspirations, socially disadvantaged communities.

Muslims in the UK are no more violent or dangerous than any other group, except when they're religious maniacs. Thankfully those are in the minority.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

@ cms, absolutely. The worst youth crime etc was always divided between black and white teens and twenty somethings in London, with the black proportion being higher. Asians as those from the Indian subcontinent are called in the UK, barely featured. Until fairly recently they were always seen as a law abiding and peaceful community. The majority of them still are, apart from a few religious nutters.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


But Joker it isn't Muslims who are doing the stabbings. It's a mixture of black, white and Indian, Pakistani, Middle Eastern etc. with black being the largest group in London and white elsewhere in the UK.

This is an interesting read:

theguardian.com/membership/2017/dec/03/how-scotland-reduced-knife-deaths-among-young-people

@maf, well I don't think you should get rid of kitchen knives, I was just saying that it's not a recent idea.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

Actually Joker, the UK is a highly individualistic culture, far less conformist than America. As for taking knives out of the home, what do you mean already? That's old news. About fifteen years ago, that was looked at but not literally removing them, rather redesigning them. The reason is that most deadly assaults are carried out with ordinary kitchen knives. Apparently most kitchen tasks don't require such a sharp knife and other less dangerous designs would do the job perfectly well.

History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [945]


No, no, no! The correct saying is 'and if only me auntie had boll*cks, she'd be me uncle'.
Watch and learn:
youtube.com/watch?v=0VNFi1DLGHE

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


Yes, but my point was that it's not Muslims who are responsible for the crime wave which is what Joker was suggesting. Anybody knows that most violent assaults are perpetrated by young men against other young men and that the pepetrators and victims often know each other. I would say that in the parts of London where those crimes have been committed, the rates of knife crime are probably shared about equally between the black and white communities, with the black stats being a bit higher and the Muslim ie Middle Eastern Indian sub-continent not being especially high.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


Well here are the victims:

bbc.com/news/uk-43640475

Knife crime spans all ethnic groups as do the victims.

In one of the more recent attacks the attacker shouted 'death to Muslims' and 'go back to Syria'.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

Here's a well balanced assessment of the stats for America:

channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-black-americans-commit-crime


If you mean from the former colonies, no. It's been subject to restrictions since the 1960s. Nothing to do with race or violence though, it's more to do with the fact that you don't have an automatic right to live in the UK because you were born in a Commonwealth country. Obviously you couldn't continue to have unrestricted immigration on that basis.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


Dolno, it was you who said 'ethnic groups' in London and as I say, there's only three main ones to choose from, of which the Afro-Caribbean community would be the one most associated with guns and crime out of the three. I don't know the exact stats for gun crime committed by black people in the UK or America but I would say it's mostly concentrated in urban areas and the gun crime rate amongst white people in those areas would run pretty high in those places too. Economically and culturally deprived urban communities in the developed world generally have a comparatively high crime rate.

The fact is that most Polish women who marry a black guy won't be choosing a gun toting gang member. If he's American, the Walmart manager is nearer the mark.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

No, I'm not saying it, I thought you were saying it :))


Apart from the odd lunatic Islamic fundamentalist, I don't think people from the Indian sub-continent or Middle East have a greater reputation for gun crime, so I took it to mean black people.


Dolno you're being a bit daft. Are you doing it on purpose? The biggest gun culture of all is America, you can't deny that. Do you want to cap the number of Americans allowed in Poland?

The fact is that it's a question, not of targeting specific groups or nationalities but of deciding what percentage of foreigners you consider to be enough, in order to preserve your Polish culture. But that doesn't address the fact that some Polish women in particular (not so many men), want to marry foreigners from very different cultures and if you have quotas in place, if that quota is filled, at some point a native Pole will be denied the right for their spouse to live with them in Poland - that would violate their human and civil rights.