Survey on life in the UK, Sweden and Ireland

Hi, I would be grateful for all Poles working in the UK, Ireland and Sweden to fill out my questionnaire. This questionnaire concerns itself only with Poles currently working (after May 2004) in the UK, Ireland and Sweden. The results of this questionnaire will be used to write my MA thesis.

ankietka.pl/survey/show/id/15481/zaufanie.html

Furthermore, please could you send this link onto any Polish friends who are also working in these countries or to friends who know of anyone Polish working in these countries.

Many thanks!!

when you finish your MA thesis you can immigrate to britain and clean our toilets along with your fellow countrymen.

Perhaps "noimmigration" by your very apparent lack of understanding between the very simple and yet oh so vast concepts of immigration and emigration are better underqualified than me to clean the toilets that you wash yourself in.

Now, perhaps, you can take your copy of the Daily Mail, BNP newsletter and a dictionary and do everyone a service by increasing your vocubulary ever so slightly?

You are, no less, an oxygen thief.

Good luck with your survey. You are British right? I think the sad excuse for a boy thinks you're from Poland. I'll apologise for him...he doesn't know better.

I hope you get some interesting information to work from, Magzy, but it also just goes to show how no one is interested in the views of the British.

I'm not having a go at you personally, Magzy, but the only research people seem to want to do these days on immigration is how it effects those who move here.

Why do those who lived here before never get asked what they think ? We feel the effects too !

Mister H, I understand what you're saying since it seems a lot of research is about the new wave of Polish migrants to the UK, economic effects etc etc and of course I'm no different in this. However, my particular research is concerned with trust amongst Poles post 2004 EU accession - trust being somewhat lacking amongst the Polish populace, a remnant of Poland's communist past which is still apparent and I'm interested to see if these have altered since Poland's accession to the European Community four years on.

Believe me, I've spent months and months looking at different research reports and the Brits are more than represented in their views :-) I'm British-Polish and for me its quite interesting how much Polish and British cultures clash, something I've come to realise now living I'm living in Poland for the first time.

As I say, not having a pop at you and I wish you all the best with your research, but I disagree that "the Brits are more than represented in their views".

Yes there plenty of newspapers claiming to speak for the majority, but we all know that they do more harm than good.

People like me never get asked anything. We're told to "put up and shut up."

so have I and my research is conclusive.

yes and we are well aware of what your "little" brain thinks .... move on

When people think of what the British think of immigration, they think of people like noimmigration and anyone else just gets lumped in along with him.

It seems to me that you're only allowed to be either for or against immigration and any other view just doesn't exist.

I would argue that there is no British culture. What is British culture ?

Edit - OK, apart from Chiken Tikka Masala.

Ha ha the was good szkotja2007,i like chicken tikka

It has been destroyed by the Labour Government and not helped by an apathetic population.

Too many Brits seem to want a life on benefits, complicated extended families, England footie shirts and Big Brother on the telly.

At times we seem like we're a nation that's about as deep as a puddle and with about as much culture as a yoghurt.

Ah but it depends on what you consider to be culture. The way you behave, the things you think these are also culturally based, the little things and actions that the majority accept as normal in order to get along with others on a day to day basis. For example, standing on the left going up an escalator, eating on the street, greeting strangers, queuing these are also considered to be cultural.

Music, cinema, dancing, these are all leisure activities essentially invented to entertain us in our leisurely time.

When you've lived in a number of different countries, as I have, you really notice how as a foreigner you stand out because you don't automatically do the same things the locals do. You really notice the cultural differences even when you thought you didn't have any.

i think it might be easier to argue of distinct scottish, english, irish and welsh cultures than a british culture. interesting question


could you expand on this please and offer your thoughts on the reasons why this might be the case

Not many visible round here.


Maybe in London but....

Point I am making is that there does not seem to be any common "British" culture.

although we do share common traditions, morals, ethics and values

That's only really on the London Underground, where people not in too much of a rush stand on one side (I think it's the right) so others can dash past and catch their train.


Depends where you are, but when you work/live (or both) in a right chav town (such as somewhere like Crawley), you'll find it's England shirts, baseball caps, bling from Argos and cheap designer knock-off as far as the eye can see.

What traditions would be common in UK and not in EU ?
I would say that morals, ethics and values differ greatly across the UK.

Maybe I am being a bit parochial but it is worth looking into.

Ok, maybe the word "clash" is a bit strong but the cultural differences are certainly different in relation to behaviour.

As I mentioned previously, I'm British born and raised of Polish background. I grew up observing all the important Polish festivities, I know the language, I'd visited Poland a number of times and just grew up knowing some of the quirks of being Polish. However, my Polish upbringing didn't actually prepare me for living in Poland.

I've been here for 10 months and I have only managed to make one Polish friend in Poland and not for the lack of trying. There is no social culture here, people don't mingle in bars or clubs with strangers, there aren't many amateur sports teams for adults or activites where adults can meet others, for example through volunteering. Everyone is very much tied to their family and to friends they have had since childhood. Essentially this is because most Poles have lived in the same neighbourhoods all their lives and aren't used to moving around, the majority of students here opt to go to university in their city or in the city nearest to where they live. Unlike in Britian where the majority move away to university and a small number choose to live at home. As I mentioned previously, communism forced people to be distrust of others. Unfortunately, this is still noticeable in the young generations of Poles who have now lived the most part of their life in a democratic society.

A good example, I recently went to the Heineken Opener Festival and knowing that there would be loads of people from Warsaw there I thought it would be a great place to try to make new friends my age. How wrong I was. My friend and I tried talking to so many people but nobody would let us talk to them, people actually ran away! After three days we managed to get a couple of Polish guys to speak to us and even then that was outside the grounds on the way out. The reason they let us speak to them? Because they had lived in England for a couple of years and they had learnt that to Brits this is a normal part of being out in public. Now they're back living in Poland they're more open to socialising with strangers and say that where they had never previously noticed this public hostility, it was very apparent to them now.

Being British born, I've never experienced what it's like to live in an oppressed nation, I only know what it's like to live in a liberal society where I'm pretty much free to do what I like.

true. im not disagreeing with you - just trying to think this thru


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_the_United_Kingdom

I don't think there are that many really (sadly).

You only have to look at something like 24 hour drinking, where the Government were hoping for European "cafe culture", where we would all sit outside cafes, sharing a bottle of wine over a meal. It would all be very congenial and civilised.

What did we get instead ? Binge drinking yobs and half-naked women puking and copulating in the streets.

With freedom comes responsibility and the Government in the UK is too content to allow people not to accept responsibility for their actions.

I've always got the impression that other European Governments are much tougher and this creates a very big difference between the cultures in UK and elsewhere. They don't have binge drinkers because law and order is enforced.

The British have allowed themselves to be accepting and tolerant of so many other cultures and religions, that the general "identity" of what it is to be British is very watered down as a result.

I don't think we know who we are anymore.

Me too - just thinking aloud.


Me neither, as most folk on the forum know, I am keen for Scotland to be independent. I thought I might shoot myself in the foot with this question but it seems across the UK there is less of a "British" feeling.

Shared commonalities - There are strong military traditions due to the Scots regiments, some shared Annual Holidays (but you get that in the EU ) and a love of curries.

Differences - In order to list the differences in culture across the UK I could write a small essay.

I would be interested in Magzy's opinion on this and how it will be reflected in her dissertation

That's unfair, there are also half-naked, if not fully naked, men puking and copulating in the streets.

Binge drinking is nothing to do with the low cost of alcohol, the Swedes are exactly the same and you need to take out a mortgage to have a drink in Sweden.

When I referred to the "yobs", I was meaning the chaps.

The cheap cost of alcohol is part of binge drinking, but the general attitude to drinking is the bigger part.

You describe this like there is something wrong with it?

sometimes I really think you work for kinda MI5/6 type organizations, you cant be that stupid to get response

Thread attached on merging:
Survey on Polish migrants to the UK, Ireland and Sweden

Hi all Polishforum and other folks of the UK, Ireland and Sweden!

As by popular demand (or maybe just one) this is your chance to give an opinion on what you think of Polish migrant workers to your country.

Could you please spend a couple of minutes completing my questionnaire- there are only 10 questions most of which are multiple choice. The results will be used as part of my MA thesis and importantly participation is completely anonymous. The link is provided below.

surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=b6opuCCz9aRjTRzqqBVRtA_3d_3d

If you could spread this link around to friends, family, work colleagues, employers etc in these countries it would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks!

Ouch ;-)

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to put together a further survey.

I've completed it and forwarded it onto as many people I can think of.

Thanks for listening :-)

There is British working class culture and British middle class culture.Sometimes they crossover.
For hundreds of years binge drinking has been part of this culture.Its not new - historical accounts from 200 years ago report both men and women drunkenly fighting in the streets of Britain.There are plenty of other aspects of british culture besides the yob traditions-go to many villages in England and you will see cricket being played on the village green/the traditional pub etc...