After about five years of running this series, I have a feeling that I keep writing about the same things over and over again. Sometimes I lose motivation to write: “if I am boring with the same shit, would my readers in the Czech Republic be willing to read about it again?” – I think […]
Author: Tomasz Oryński
Leftist Drivel on Scots and Haggis (Guest: MizLiot)
This is an English version of our polish-language podcast. Burns night is coming. On that day Scottish people sit to the table to enjoy their national cuisine. The most important moment of the evening is cutting the haggis and loud reading of the one of the most famous Scottish poems by their national bard Robert […]
You are not so great, Britain. Chapter 9: Hey ho, hey ho, it’s off to work we go.
People from all over the EU until recently were coming to the UK in their thousands to look for work. People from other parts of the world still find Britain an attractive destination. But is the British work market a good place to be an employee? Was it ever? Are salaries really good and workers’ […]
Perhaps re-thinking of our visa politics towards “ordinary Russians” is long overdue?
A sticker with Ukraine appeared on my car just after Russia began its new wave of invasion into Ukraine. I know, it’s just an empty gesture, but I simply wanted to express somehow my solidarity with the victims of Russian imperialism. For the 6 months of 2022, I still lived in Scotland, this sticker was […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 226
The police is not having a good time recently. Everyone is still talking about the chief of police blowing his office with the grenade launcher, and now Gazeta Wyborcza informs about his brother facing five different changes related to a tax scams. Usually, people accused of crimes of that scale are arrested, but in this […]
You are not so great, Britain. Chapter 8: Trains, buses and everything.
One of Elisa’s English language students said that “Britain is the country where everything is organized and buses are always on time”. Oh, how wrong she was. With the bus and rail strikers, the government accuses trade union leaders for “making the public transport unreliable”. But perhaps they should go on strike, because it can […]
You are not so great Britain. Chapter 7: British Universities. Are they really so good?
We invited professor Jan Čulík, lecturer in Czech from the school of modern languages and cultures at Glasgow University today. We decided to ask him if the British universities, so famous around the world for their teaching quality, are really as good as their places in the rankings show. Turns out, not everything is […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 225
The Christmas season started with a bang this winter. The bang was big and loud, and took place in the Police National Headquarters. Luckily nobody died, but the explosion caused significant damage to the building. Luckily despite there being through holes between two floors, there was no structural damage, but the cost of repair will […]
You are not so great, Britain. Chapter 6: Trucking hell!
Our guest today is Mat Ireland, driver, podcaster, and writer. We discuss the topic of the infrastructure for truckers in Britain. You can find Mat: – on youtube – on Facebook – the Truck and Driver podcast is here and you can find his book here Related posts: You are not so great Britain. Chapter […]
You are not so great Britain. Chapter 5: British bureaocracy.
This week Elisa and Tomasz discuss why British bureaucracy is so dysfunctional and what can be done to improve users’ experience in contact with the government, banks, and other institutions. To illustrate problems when talking to automatic voice recognition systems, we used a fragment of a clip from a TV show Burnistoun: https://youtu.be/HbDnxzrbxn4 Related posts: […]