Everyone has those few memories from childhood that stick out. One of mines is the day, when I was about 12 years old and for the first time become witness to serious discussion on the topic of foreign politics. My distant uncle, a prominent Slovakian politician, visited Poland somewhere in 1992. The adults – my […]
Great Britain
Is London Council really banning commemoration of Polish Battle of Britain pilots?
On the polish right wing portal wprawo.pl an article was published. It was entitled “Allies? London council prevented laying flowers at the Polish War Monument”. This text tells a dramatic history of Polish War Veterans who were forced to leave their flowers at the padlocked gate after “annual Polish celebrations” were banned due to complaints from local residents […]
“Driving in the snow is impossible. Period”
I always loved winter driving. When I lived in Poland, I was taking every opportunity to drive out of the town, or to have some winter fun on the empty supermarket car park. But since I live in the UK, I do it less and less often. And it’s not even because there is rarely […]
Britons: give me a blowjob* and translate correctly!
Let’s state the obvious: there is an elephant in the room. Britons cannot into languages. Of course, there are many who speak more than just English, but in general, Britain is all about English. Average Briton can live all his life with virtually no contact with foreign languages. There is virtually no foreign music on […]
Scotland allows Poles like me to have our dream lives
The internet nowadays is full of people who are happy to tell you how to have a good life. One group urges you to join them in leaving the rat race, drop everything and retire to some exotic country where life is cheap and beaches are beautiful. Another group includes motivational speakers who urge you […]
I’m dreaming of a Polish Christmas, not those from Coca-Cola ads.
In the last days of November, I switch my British radio off for good after hearing the voice of George Michael for the first time. The fact that a heartbreak song became a Christmas anthem says a lot about how shallow Christmas became in Anglo-American culture. In Britain you want it all, and you want […]
Losing a friend helped me find my roots in Scotland
Western customs and traditions usually settle well in Poland. Especially fresh after the fall of the Iron Curtain, we were thirsty for all that we could so far only see in American movies. But while Valentine’s Day and other commercial holidays took root almost instantly, there is one tradition that is having a rough path […]
Scotland is one of the best countries to be Polish nowadays
In recent months we have witnessed a significant rise in hate crime against foreigners in England. Many of the victims were Polish. What has escaped the attention of England-centric media (both in Poland and in the UK) is the fact that Poles in Scotland still feel welcome and safe and such acts are almost unheard […]
How anti-Muslim hysteria is being spinned up in Poland
It turns out that you don’t have to do much. It’s enough just to place a suggestion, slight reticence, perhaps even without any wrongdoing in mind, and the shit surfaces immediately. Let’s see how it works on the case study of a news story on the Polish portal onet.pl regarding an event that has happened […]
Is Brexit yet another outgrowth of British throwaway culture?
The dust after Brexit is slowly settling down. Of course, though, everyone still discusses it. My pro-Brexit friends still use every opportunity to point out the flaws in the European Union. It’s usually just a few things — mostly about migration and limiting sovereignty. Some, when pushed, admit that “actually the European Union is not […]