Law / Lloyds TSB International rejects Polish residents [8]

Jon's obviously got out of bed on the wrong side and has decided to bite anyone he talks to.

Their website says it's open to EEA residents. I could list the countries in the EEA for you, if you wish.

Work / Study ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) in Poland [6]

The BPP coursebooks are certainly in English, but I'mnot sure if all the tuition is. Phone and ask.

News / "Plebs Out!" Roman Kuźniar, presidential advisor on educational matters talks about uni [14]

With 4 working class grandparents I went to private school and university. I guess you think I somehow didn't deserve to get there because I didn't fulfil cultural requirements? Now it makes sense to me why I was labelled a leftie at school.

News / "Plebs Out!" Roman Kuźniar, presidential advisor on educational matters talks about uni [14]

"widzimy ludzi, którzy zdecydowanie nie powinni oglądać uniwersytetu, nawet na wyciecze szkolnej, bo nie spełniają kulturowych i intelektualnych warunków, żeby otrzymać tytuł magistra"

News / "Plebs Out!" Roman Kuźniar, presidential advisor on educational matters talks about uni [14]

Sorry - I come from a bit of a pleb background and I take offence at people who got where they are today by toadying up outrageously to the Soviet lackeys of yore. You, obviously, don't approve of the lower classes - perhaps you don't say that openly in public places, but reserve your class-hatred venom for the anonymity of the internet.

News / "Plebs Out!" Roman Kuźniar, presidential advisor on educational matters talks about uni [14]

David 18

Some people shouldn't even go to university on school trips because they don't qualify culturally or intellectually.

Wow!

Try saying that to anybody in education. As a teacher I would blanch at anyone saying that in a pub! Actually, coming to think about it, nobody would ever say that in a pub because he'd get his face smashed in.

News / "Plebs Out!" Roman Kuźniar, presidential advisor on educational matters talks about uni [14]

Well, he was talking about cultural values at university.

Anyway, what is a rabid, frothing at the mouth anti-American doing alongside a major Polish politician?

I don't know the guy personally - I just know his stance in former years.

Perhaps someone else can supply details on how he is now as pro-West as he used to viscerally hate the decadent, bourgeois West and everything it stood for?

Real Estate / Rural places to live near Warsaw and other housing questions. [9]

Best idea is to get anywhere near a railway line. Preferably walking distance. The buses are overcrowded and slow, whereas the trains are overcrowded and fast - and the roads jammed. There are various nice places to the west of Warsaw, and even the much derided Pruszkow is fine unless you have kids' schooling in mind.

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2971]

Rozumiemnic

I find your views bizarre. Perhaps you do actually think that young unmarried mothers have a whale of a time and experience no troubles whatsoever and require no help from society. Or perhaps you think that married mothers don't have it tougher than women who don't have kids. Or perhaps you think the vast experience of professionals in the field counts for nothing.

The whole area of abortion rights and wrongs is a minefield. As is young single parenthood - I was brought up in a single parent family by the way. People like to sound off with kneejerk reactions. Like you. I think that abortion on demand, which is the practice (not the law) in the UK has been a disaster resulting in mass abortions on a scale that was never dreamt of back in the 60s. I think personally a blanket ban on abortions is unwise on the grounds of public health - illegal abortions etc - and I think that moral issues are always important in terminating life.

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2971]

Rozumiemnic

No - just the typical experience of my cousin who runs a sexual health clinic in north London and an acquaintance who was a social worker in Croydon. Getting emotional and - oh oh offended - is a neat cop out from confronting unpalatable situations.

Being a single mother is very tough - being a young single mother even more so. Add to the equation the common scenario of very low educational achievement and you have a wonderful recipe for misery. I have a good friend who is a successful, well-educated single mother - but she is an exception and had her child after getting her education.

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2971]

2 examples:
a. The girl opposite my house got pregnant aged 18, gave birth and lives with her parents. The father did a runner. Now aged 24 she's got a bloke and is planning to get married.

b. I've just been to a "shotgun wedding" - the girl was young, radiant and rotund ... people smiled a little nervously but it happened.

Compare that with the UK's 2 usual options:
(i) the girl goes ahead with the pregnancy, gets emergency accommodation (sharing a building with some unsavoury characters) and social worker support; eventually she gets a council flat. She discovers 18 months on that she can't cope on her own and kid goes into care, life ruined.

(ii) the girls kills the baby.

Life is tough and crises happen. Crises like unwanted pregnancies. But there are always things that can be done. Unmarried mothers always attract comment, but they are not shunned. Poles are not monsters. Perhaps the UK way ahead is actually harder for the woman and child. Killing them with kindness.

And let's face it, having kids is always going to limit you in certain respects. My wife would have done so much better professionally in England and Poland if she'd stayed childless.

Deformed foetuses though - that is a much harder issue to deal with. I have no answers.

Food / Confusion over flour names in Poland [46]

My wife bakes a lot - cakes and bread (bread machines are good news). You have to look carefully at the number, as that gives you the info you probably need. Names can be confusing.

Food / Problem to find "cream" in Poland [23]

Seeing's believing.
Also homogenized though ...

Food / Problem to find "cream" in Poland [23]

Poland has yet to discover commercially available cream.

Whipping is virtually impossible and the taste isn't what you're aiming for - a big problem is the homogenization mania. When the fat globules get that small, you simply can't do a right lot about it - no matter how high the fat content is. Banoffee, for example, has to be prepared the moment before serving.

Food / Are frozen chips a cancer risk? The UK's NHS responds. [21]

Acrylamide is a low-level carcinogen. Fried potato products contain it. However, the cancer risk appears low. Naruszewicz et al. Warsaw Medical University 2009 however highlighted the risk of artherosclerosis from chronic ingestion of acrylamide-containing potato chips causing oxidative stress and inflammation.

Crisps (potato chips) are bad for your heart. Factor in trans fatty acids and you have a super-bad food. Nibble nuts instead - just cut down your salt intake elsewhere.

History / Lusatia allied with Poland? [19]

With the exception of folk dances and half-remembered snippets of language, Slav culture had probably died there already. History is littered with failed states that have faded out of living memory. Ever heard of the Kingdom of Elmet?

History / Welcome to Lemmingrad! [59]

Buzz term!
What a lemming turn of phrase!

Lemming was coined in a light-hearted article. Certain people are devoid of humour and voiced their total and utter disgust at the outrageous lack of respect (while earlier some other people cracked jokes about zimny Lech and mad old grannies at church ... which was alright).

Food / How natural is food in Poland? [25]

But Barney, there are sensible limits. TFAs are generally bad news and should be minimised.

Food / How natural is food in Poland? [25]

Polish processed food is more "chemicalised" in terms of trans fatty acids than in western Europe. A study by Stender et al. appeared recently in BMJ Open showing that, in foods surveyed, TFAs decreased substantially in western Europe 2005-2009, while they remained 5 to 10 times higher in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

So - avoid microwave popcorn, cakes and biscuits. Bake at home.

News / A new AWS (Poland Solidarity Movement)? [54]

Yeah well. I don't have to agree with everybody on everything. Catholic teaching I tend to get from priests, not people I can't see on the internet. Hopefully, he'll learn one day.

There again, I do sometimes feel the gay lobby overcooks it a bit. I find some people hard to understand. I mean, take civil unions - now not good enough for some gay activists in the UK - they want to abolish the institution of marriage and legal use of the words mother and father. All a bit bizarre, sorry.

Christians should be delighted at gays wanting to settle down in something approaching monogamy.

Right-wingers (by that I mean low tax, pro-small govt) should be pushing for civil unions too - any excuse to keep money away from govt wastage.

The last people you'd expect to see being pro-gay are the ex-Commie bunch who outlawed and persecuted them for decades. They only do it to annoy the Church.

And every tax payer should be pro-Church because it saves the country a fortune on the social front. Scroll forward 20 years and Poland socially becomes present-day UK. Not a pretty sight - and very expensive on the breakdown of society aspect.

Life / Poles' atttiude towards broken Polish [9]

Fantastic.
Even my local village drunks show an understanding approach to my wooden Polish.

News / A new AWS (Poland Solidarity Movement)? [54]

Being homosexual makes life tougher, but it is not a disability. Seriously bad choice of word.

History / People the Soviets planted in Poland [75]

polonius - don't take it personally. Your adversaries are just doing their job. That's why they can stay on the internet all day and trot out the same old lies in the same old way, day after boring day. Kaczynski pere was a commie, the whole of Eastern Europe fell in love with Communism (just at the same time as millions of Soviet soldiers arrived), you're an anti-semite ... ad nauseam.

I occasionally share my posts with a mate or two and take guesses on what "the crew" is going to come up with in the next few posts.

History / People the Soviets planted in Poland [75]

Yep - it's official, Jon says the KGB are as thick as 2 short planks. Phew! That's a weight off my chest. I think I'll take up knitting now.

History / People the Soviets planted in Poland [75]

Arek Aardvark ...

History / People the Soviets planted in Poland [75]

The opening post is far from fantasy.

The KGB / FSB was/is not a pathetic little operation, staffed by amateurs. They had/have truly intelligent people there and Poland is right slap-bang in the middle of Russia's vital interests.

Despite Russia's superb connections in Communist Poland, your thesis Harry is to say that the Russians were devoid of strategic thinking, had no Plan B and were simply caught with their pants down in 1989.

Interesting. As Delphi says - "Prove it"

History / People the Soviets planted in Poland [75]

It's true what you say.
Never mind - head down and keep your nose clean. It doesn't matter in the long run.

History / People the Soviets planted in Poland [75]

Nasza-Klasa - I have never looked at it, though I chickened out of what went on to become Szkolne Lata (which sank without a trace!).

As for proof - I actually have a job I need to keep, as do other people I know and talk to.