the POLSKI blog

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, [...]

Another Polish city is about to pump some serious money into an international TV campaign to promote itself. Poznan, one of the oldest Polish cities, for decades recognised as an important trade centre favoured by many Polish entrepreneurs, will be showing a series of ads across a number of TV channels in Britain and elsewhere. [...]

My job here is done. Well, not really. But I’m glad to report others have also started discovering – and sharing – Poland beyond its sad history and stereotypical perceptions. I just got an email from a production company inviting me to watch a video series about Poland called “From Poland With Love”. Yes, it [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

It’s a strange thing. My first ever visit to the UK years ago brought me to Birmingham, as my family lived in Worcestershire and I had to change there. My first impression? “God, this place is as ugly as Katowice!” Katowice is a big city in the south of Poland and it’s the capital of [...]

Can’t believe it’s already been twenty years since Communism in Poland collapsed. I was still at school, had just a year or so to go till my matura (final secondary school exams) and couldn’t quite believe it when my literature teacher asked us to start reading  The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. You what?! Solzhenitsyn? [...]

Ahead of June’s European elections, BBC’s Jonny Dymond visits several European states to ask votes about the EU and find out what their expectations are. Today’s report comes from Poland, where Dymond speaks to people who’ve directly benefited from the EU expansion – either by expanding their existing businesses or by travelling abroad, acquiring news [...]