Polish Job Seekers Take (a) Wizz (Air)

The Wall Street Journal is running a great feature today by Dan Michaels on the way that mainly Polish job seekers have helped no frill airline Wizz Air to become a success. Wizz had targeted these emigrants almost from the start, helping it to develop a foothold in Poland and other East European countries before Ryanair and others figured out the game here.


There is one chart in the article I found very interesting. It shows the airline seat capacity between Poland and the UK. Big gains for Wizz and Ryanair, but a drop for the Polish national airline LOT. Sure, state carriers were late to the no-frills game, but in this case it's just another indication that LOT management, loaded with political appointees and weighed down by strong unions, is just not up for the challenge. Sure, it created its own low-cost unit, Centralwings, but it's an also-ran in a crowded field.

Dirty Bomb on a Plane?

This story about former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko is fascinating. My sister Nicole has been on top of this for days. Among the latest twists is the fact that two British Airways planes have tested positive for radioactive elements and have been grounded.

But here's an unexplored angle, at least from what I've seen. Why is it that nobody has detected this before the cops showed up? Doesn't this show how easy it would be for a terrorist to smuggle a dirty bomb with radioactive material onto a plane? And how easy it would be to get tons of people to glow in the dark and spread this around?

Most likely no alarms went off (I hope there were some along the way) because of the minuscule amounts of radiation. I hope.

Of course there should be plenty of alarms going off about Russia and Uncle Vladimir, but that's a different story.

Come to Poland. Bring Your Teeth.

See, so Poland maybe not that bad, Mr. and Mrs. Smith. You might save hundreds of pounds and avoid long waiting lines if you want to get your teeth fixed! Just hop on Easyjet and come on over. Or maybe just ask your new Polish neighbor if he does teeth.

Of course, I must warn you that not all Polish dentists are top of the line. My mom, who will not be happy I am posting this, had her teeth done last time she was in Poland and that didn't work out too well.

Daily Mail Invents "Polish Borat"

Not that the Daily Mail is a fan of Polish immigrants, but the British rag hits a new low with its ridiculous story on "Polish Borat." The paper could have found any idiot who gropes women and makes up ridiculous excuses for it, but for clearly political reasons it chose to write an elaborate story about a Polish one.

You have to be an idiot yourself to believe that in a civilized country, which is now a member of the EU, would allow anybody to grab women's breasts and other body parts because it is simply"cultural naughtiness." The guy is on the verge of being a rapist, people! It's got nothing to do with his nationality.

If you're going to use stereotypes to further some xenophobic agenda, at least stick to real ones. This creep is no Borat. That's an over-the-top satire. Just like this BS article. A satire of a real news story.

Check out these clearly made up quotes:

A neighbour said: "He has been living here for about a year or so. I didn't realise his grasp of the differences between Britain and Poland was so poor. You could say he is the Polish Borat."

Another added: "Truth really is stranger than fiction. Who'd have thought a real-life Borat was living here in Weymouth?"

Polish emigration bad for Europe?

Came across this very basic, and basically wrong, article that insinuates that Polish migrant workers are bad for Europe. Reasons given?

Well, first, Poland is "exporting its unemployment". What a bizzare way of looking at it. Poles that go to Britain or Ireland are usually not taking the kinds of jobs that local were hopping to take. They usually grab the low-paying manual labor tasks or take on positions, such as in the medical field, where there were local shortages in th first place. Has the unemployment gone down in Poland? Yes. Did this bring measureably higher unemployment to other European countries? I seriously doubt that.

Second idea is even more wacky: " Many troublemakers and criminals have left Poland for Western Europe. The crime rate in Polish cities is down." The article has a link in the Irish Examiner, but it's not working, so hard to say what "proof" of this there is. Just saying that the crime rate in Polish cities is down does in no way indicate that this is because "the troublemakers and criminals" are all hanging out in Ireland or Britain. The more obvious link is that there is less crime because the unemployment is down. More work, less need to steal, etc. Are there a few bad apples out there who left Poland for Ireland? Sure, but this is no indication of a wide scale exodus of criminals. For Poland's sake, I wish that were true.

But to play up silly thesis like this is ridiculous and only feeds the nasty stereotypes of Poles spread by the xenophobes throughout Europe. Mind-boggling stuff. Who comes up with this BS???

Reader Comments: More Poles Needed

I appreciate all the great comments I receive related to the blog. Keep 'em coming. Here's a thoughful and upbeat one from Isobel Brookfield, a reader in the UK, commenting on the previous posting.

Yep - some of us have seen that garbage:-(

Fortunately - some of us UK - (dare I say us Lancashire folk:-) - we don't believe a word of it:-)

Polish people have a very good reputation here - honest, reliable, trustworthy and always on time!!

No wonder english employers are so keen to 'grab' this increasing reliable Polish workforce:-)

I don't imagine this will help in the drive to get rid of U.S. visas for Poles. But then again Poles seem to be doing quite well finding jobs in Europe, so perhaps fewer would head all the way here.

I just know that they are very welcome here:-) employers are very happy to recruit such law abiding people, who genuinley want to work - they help also with homes/school/Gp's etc - because they 'know a good thing when they see it' - we don't want to lose them (A message for the mayor (or whoever of) Wroclaw ? unless he comes up with something really worthwhile? then forget it - we want your people!!)

Unlike dare I say so many lazy young Brits:-( who see the nanny state as providers - some of them? sad but true - they can't even be bothered to get out of bed to collect free state benefits:-(

Sad!

American Media on Polish Immigrants in Europe

The new immigrant wave of Poles heading to Britain, Ireland and other EU member states has grown massive enough to be seen, well, in this case heard, across the ocean. Check out this piece on National Public Radio in the U.S.

NPR has strong foreign coverage, unlike most main media outlets here, and seems to be ahead of the curve on this story. But I wouldn't be surprised if other news organization do their own pieces on Polish migration. I'm sure they will be more subdued than some of the garbage running in UK papers.

I don't imagine this will help in the drive to get rid of U.S. visas for Poles. But then again Poles seem to be doing quite well finding jobs in Europe, so perhaps fewer would head all the way here.

Slim Poles Teach Chubby Brits

Well, there's one more positive effect of Poles coming to Britain: They can teach the chubby locals how to stay fit. At least according to this article in The Times.

Poland's Trouble - Living in the Past

I have seen this theme in several articles about Poland lately. Too many Poles linger in the past, keep looking back, keep searching for vendettas. This is especially true with the current government that seems to do very little other than fighting communist ghosts. They're after Kwasniewski and have politically assasinated its own ministers. Now we have the lustration law, which will only bring out more painful memories. It will convict people based on faulty, incomplete secret police records. It will give more power to the blackmailers, to the witch hunts.

It's pretty obvious, the more you look back, the less time you spend looking forward. I am disgusted by the corruption and believe me, I'm no fan of the communists who had ruined Poland before grabbing some of the best property in the messy transition. And I understand there is still a lot of justified pain and resentment. But let's move on. You can't punish everybody and not everything is so black and white. Unfortunately, we might have to wait for a while for the government to concentrate on the future. The Duck Republic is all about revenge.


I think this quote from an article in The Times, quite a conservative publication, makes a great point:

"“We are dismantling the past but we don't believe in a future,"” said the novelist Andrzej Stasiuk, one of many intellectuals critical of the ultranationalist, anticommunist line taken by the twins. "Those who still believe in a future are leaving the country in droves."”

Yeah, two million and counting. I wish this wasn't the case, but PiS may only get stronger with folks of other political persuasions leaving the country.