Today’s papers quote the Office for National Statistics which claims that

“Between the year ending December 2003 and the year ending September 2010 the Polish-born population of the UK increased from 75,000 to 521,000″

It also claims that in recent times immigration of Polish people has declined:

Immigration was highest in 2007 at 96,000 Polish citizens, but this declined to 39,000 in 2009. Emigration has also decreased from 54,000 to 29,000 over the same time period.

But what’s really interesting are the employment figures:

In the first quarter of 2011 an estimated 82.1 per cent of Poles aged 16 to 64 were in employment, compared with a rate of 70.7 per cent for the UK as a whole.

Which to me suggests most people still come to work, and not to claim benefits as some would make you believe. I won’t go into detail how various papers decided to interpret the data – those of you who live in the UK can probably guess. Some of them claim that many Poles decide to return to the UK after failing to find jobs back in Poland.

Have you noticed a new influx of Polish migrants? Are the above figures credible - and more importantly, do they bother you?

Image Copyright joellybaby via FlickrTweet

Poland has become the focal point of this week’s edition of The Guardian’s New Europe mini-series, which over the past three weeks has focused on Germany, France and Spain. This obviously makes me happy. This means that Poland is no longer just a supplier of sexy baristas and enthusiastic plumbers. It’s a country people want to explore, get to know better.

So has Poland succeeded in its attempt to readjust to the new reality, to being part of the European Union? How are the Polish enjoying the New Europe? What should the British know about and maybe even learn from the Poles? This, I hope, The Guardian will show us on its pages over the next few days.

Timothy Garton Ash, who knows Poland inside-out, and who has seen it many times before when it was still a Communist country, writes that Poland is getting to grips with being normal and gives countries like Egypt hope. (Coincidentally, he also mentions the widely-used English words I wrote about in February). You can see modern-day Poland through the eyes of a typical young family from Krakow, read about what life is like for young people in Poland and how the country prepares for Euro 2012.

There’s a great gallery of images from Warsaw by David Levene, there is some Polish business, lots about the Polish culture and Polish food. There is also an article on Polish stereotypes. Are Poles really homophobic?

This week The Guardian will also publish podcasts focusing on Poland and football, and Polish literature; there will be a look at how emigration has changed the face of Poland and how new waves of emigration could continue to do so. Also, something close to my heart, a look at the Free Silesia movement (many Silesian people will declare “Silesian” as their nationality in this year’s census – something I should perhaps write about more soon).

The Guardian did a great job. They are even sending someone to Krakow and they will explore the city solely based on tips received via Twitter. (You can tweet your tips to @BenjiLanyado)

A few years ago I set out to write this blog and tell the world a bit more about Poland than a few old stereotypes. I’m glad that in 2011 a major British newspaper does the same.

Spread the word…Tweet

Polityka – despite its title – doesn’t just focus on politics, but is a high-quality liberal weekly whose topics span a wide range: from politics to science, from history to culture.

The publishers admit that the reason why they launched the magazine on Kindle – which has just a handful of users in Poland itself – is to reach Poles living abroad. You can buy just one issue for £2.99 or pay £5.99 for a monthly subscription, which actually doesn’t sound bad. However, when you compare to prices paid in US dollars – $1.99 and $3.99 – the Sterling prices sound like a rip-off. But that’s beside the point.

My suggestion is that – if you’re a fairly advanced Polish learner and own a Kindle – you should give it a go. There’s nothing better than learning a language from relatively well-written, real-language sources like newspapers, magazines, or blogs.

The experience is surprisingly good and user-friendly. There are no ads, almost all articles come with images (yes, there are black and white, but still clear enough) and the whole issue is divided into easily-navigable sections and articles. And the good thing about Kindle is the fact it works on any platform – so even if you don’t have the reader itself you can still use the Kindle app on your PC, iPhone, Mac or Android device.

And if you already own a Kindle, you know that most magazines come with a 14-day free trial, which you can cancel at any time.

It would be brilliant if more Polish publishers followed suit, although if you’re interested in Polish ebooks for Kindle and other readers, there’s already plenty of choice and many of titles are available for free.

A good place to start is ebook.pl (in Polish), where you can download samples and/or whole books (including free ones – click on the “darmowe’ tab). There are also some magazines and audiobooks there too.

The biggest Polish bookstore, Empik, has also launched an online ebook shop.

Password Incorrect is a great Polish blog – partly written in English too – with great resources and links for all ebook fans.

Miłego czytania!

P.S. I guess I should get myself an iPad now and see what’s available in Polish there…Tweet

From today, most public spaces in Poland become smoke-free zones. Smoking is now banned in bars, clubs, restaurants, schools, hospitals, bus stops and many other public places.

Roughly a quarter of all Poles smoke regularly and probably won’t be happy with the ban, which also extends to work places. Although, according to poland.pl, over 31% of Poles support the ban.

A crafty fag in a non-smoking place can cost you 500PLN (which is just over £100 or $170), but the penalties are even more severe if you fail to inform your customers about the smoking ban. Places which fail to display information about the ban can pay up to 2000 PLN (around £430/ $700).

I guess it’ll take a while for people to get used to the ban and I honestly never thought it would happen in Poland.

The people behind the Polska bez dymu (Poland with no smoke) campaign must be really happy today.Tweet

I’ve recently introduced you to a new Polish cultural site aimed at the English-speaking world, and here we have another one.

This time it’s all about the latest news.

thenews.pl is run by Poland’s equivalent of the BBC World Service, Polskie Radio dla Zagranicy. It’s published entirely in English and is mainly focused on Poland or Poland-related issues.

You can also listen to English-language bulletins there and the site also offers Polish press reviews translated into English.

If you are really into all things Polish, you’ll find their micro-site on the upcoming presidential election particularly useful.

I found the new site particularly useful during the recent floods. While the BBC and most British media outlets completely ignored the disaster (American and Middle Eastern news outlets seemed to be more interested), thenews.pl had regular updates on the situation.

And just out of curiosity: HOW MANY of you are actually interested in daily news about Poland in English and is the existence of such service justified? I’d love to read what you have to say.

While Britain is struggling with the volcanic ash again, Poland and parts of Central Europe are hoping that they won’t see a repeat of the disastrous floods which destroyed parts of southern and western Poland in 1997.

Over the past few weeks the weather in Poland, the Czech Republic and other neighbouring countries hasn’t been great, but the past few days have been extremely wet, to say the least. Torrential rain has caused flooding in parts of southern Poland, with Krakow declaring a state of emergency on Sunday.

The Vistula River burst its banks and I’ve seen some pretty dramatic pictures of mudslides. So far four people have died.

According to Poland’s national broadcaster, Polskie Radio,

340 people have been evacuated from areas in the Malpolska province, with an ongoing effort to evacuate 1,500 residents in the Brzesko district. In surrounding provinces, 70 people have been taken to safety in Silesia and 54 have been evacuated in the Podkarpacie province. Over 8,000 soldiers have been put on standby with specialist equipment to help in rescue efforts.

Many roads, railway lines and towns in the mountainous Beskidy region have been affected and the rain keeps on falling. And it’s supposed to rain till Friday.

In July 1997 the “flood of the millenium” killed 114 people in Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. Almost half of the victims were Polish.

I just hope the Polish Prime Minister’s mild optimism is fully justified this time.

When I started this blog, I wanted people to change their view of Poland. Out with the old, in with the new.

Glad things are changing. There are more and more Polish cultural events in the UK, I see more and more people who come to London just to visit – not to work – and 2010 also looks promising for the Polish economy.

Out of all European Union states, Poland was the only country which actually enjoyed a positive economic growth in 2009. And people are beginning (at last!) to look at Poland in a different way:

Outsiders often have fixed ideas of Poland: a big, poor country with shambolic governments, dreadful roads and eccentric habits. Old stereotypes die hard, but the facts paint an increasingly different picture. By the grim standards of recent centuries, Poland has never been more secure, richer or better-run.

This is the beginning of a great article I found in The Economist last week. Horse power to horsepower is a must-read for anyone interested in economy, politics and, er, Poland, of course. I’m not going to quote from it extensively here, just wanted to share the link with you.

But I’ll repeat myself: glad things are changing!

Image of Warsaw © jesuscm via Flickr, used under Creative Commons licence

I should perhaps dedicate this post to everyone who still complains about the Royal Mail in Britain.

Have you ever tried its Polish equivalent, Poczta Polska? No?

I’ve just read a post on one of the Wall Street Journal blogs dedicated to Central and Eastern Europe about the weird experience that is Poczta Polska. And I couldn’t agree more.

Malgorzata Halaba describes her frustrating experience of using Polish post offices, which somehow have failed to notice that the Communism collapsed some 20+ years ago.

Just to clarify, I think that Poland has largely made massive progress when it comes to customer services, something we all thought would never happen.

Every time I go back I am mostly positively surprised by how some places – even within the public sector – have changed and improved their services. There’s still a long way to go, but, unlike even 15 years ago, it’s not unusual to be greeted by a polite smile and served in a nicely lit, clean office.

However, it would seem the Polish Post Office is till trying to catch up. Quite often the service is still bad, and many post offices – presumably to improve their income – have turned into part-time markets, selling everything from stockings to board games and washing powder.

The author of the WSJ post compares her experience of using post offices in Warsaw to a journey in time – back to the 1960s:

It warms my heart every time I have to pick up a registered letter. Usually, after waiting the required 20 minutes, I approach the window and hear an angry bark: “What the does the letter look like? Is it large?”
How am I supposed to know? I wasn’t the one who sent it. I watch the nervous clerk produce three cartons of letters and start to shuffle through them in search of mine – sometimes without success. “Come back in an hour, or better tomorrow,” is what you might hear in the case of misplaced letters.

Yep, sounds like the post office I remember. Although I have to say, I found the post offices in Warsaw particularly bad, so hopefully things have in fact improved elsewhere.

But just like the Royal Mail lost its monopoly in 2006, its Polish equivalent will go through a similar process in 2013. So expect some changes there.

Until then, don’t be surprised if instead of stamps and envelopes your local branch will try to sell you some lovely stockings.

Image of Polish stamps © Florence Craye, Flickr, used under Creative Commons licence

These are his own words by the way. Of all people on this planet Stephen Fry would be the very last person in my opinion to express disparaging remarks about other nations. Yet, quite uncharacteristically for him, he did. Publicly.

How did that happen? Stephen revealed everything today on his blog, where he wrote:

I was asked to appear on Channel 4 news to comment on the Conservative Party and their decision to ally themselves in the European Parliament with the Polish Law and Justice Party, a nationalist grouping whose members have made statements of the most unpleasantly homophobic and antisemitic nature. I usually decline such invitations, and how I wish I had done so on this occasion.

As I always say, trust your gut instinct. But anyway:

Words tumbled from my lips during that interview that were as idiotic, ignorant and offensive as you could imagine. It all been proceeding along perfectly acceptable lines until I said something like “let’s not forget which side of the border Auschwitz was on.”

Ouch. This is quite a stupid thing to say, in the heat of the moment or otherwise, Stephen.

The Polish government has been trying for years to eradicate the tendency of the Western media to refer to Auschwitz as “Polish concentration camp”. Yes, geographically Auschwitz is in the city of Oswiecim, which is in Poland. But that’s it. Everyone knows – and the government in Warsaw has been trying to reinforce that message – that it was a Nazi camp, in which thousands of Poles were murdered.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that any suggestion – intentional or not – that it was a Polish camp will be met by anger. To say the least.

But Stephen Fry knows that and he did realise he’d done something really bad.

Once the interview had been transmitted I started to receive the odd invitation to talk on Polish radio, explain myself to Polish journalists and make apologies to the Polish people in general.

And this is where Fry’s genius lies. He admits the whole storm initially got him riled even more and that he refused to apologise. But he eventually admits it was a rather irresponsible thing to say, bearing in mind the (still) sensitive nature of the subject and the public outcry following his comment. So he apologised today on his blog:

I take this opportunity to apologise now. I said a stupid, thoughtless and fatuous thing. It detracted from and devalued my argument, such as it was, and it outraged and offended a large group of people for no very good reason. I am sorry in all directions, and all the more sorry because it is no one’s fault but my own, which always makes it so much worse. And sorry because I didn’t have the wit, style, grace or guts to apologise at the first opportunity.

I hope my fellow countrymen – used to seeing cynical politicians who get offended and offend on purpose and without any apology – will see Stephen Fry’s post for what I’m sure it is: a genuine apology for a genuine mistake.

After all, as Stephen Fry himself says:

My father and squadrons of school teachers correctly reminded me throughout my childhood and youth, “Stephen just doesn’t think.”

If only all people who offend by mistake had Stephen Fry’s class and style.

Image © chase-me via Flickr, used under Creative Commons licence

To be honest, I had no idea that the Canadian city of London, Ontario was also a popular destination for Poles. But an article I’ve just seen on a Canadian site, the London Free Press claims that:

An estimated 20,000 Polish people call London home. Many came to Canada after the Second World War and more still during the Cold War in the 1980s.

A different country, the same reasons for migrating. And quite a big Polish community, it would seem.

Read how they celebrate the Polish culture in Ontario here.