http://www.4ni.co.uk/industrynews.asp?id=46820

12 December 2005
Polish national remanded on driving charges



A Polish man has been remanded in custody in relation to a series of driving
charges.
Adam Piwowarczyk, 25, of no fixed address, was charged with causing death by
dangerous driving, causing grievous bodily harm and driving while under the
influence of drink or drugs.
The charges relate to a crash near Ballynure on the Larne Road on December
2.
One man, 33-year old Matthew Johnston, was killed and three other people
were injured in the collision. One remains critically ill, one seriously
ill, and a third has since been released from hospital.
Mr Piwowarczyk was remanded in custody to appear again on January 9.
(SP/KMcA)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/12/12/business/strike.php

For Irish, Latvians fill role of bogeymen
By Brian Lavery International Herald Tribune

MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2005


DUBLIN When nearly 100,000 people took to the streets of Ireland to protest
the hiring of cheap East European labor for Irish Ferries, they gave voice
to old familiar fears about job security that many thought had been
forgotten.

The last time similar crowds demonstrated here over industrial issues was
1979, when young people left the country in droves to find work and
Ireland's unemployment rate hovered around 20 percent.

Today, the Irish economy is no longer expanding at the double-digit rates of
the 1990s, when it was dubbed the "Celtic Tiger," but it is still the
fastest-growing in Western Europe and enjoys nearly full employment.

But the emotional outpouring of support for more than 500 unionized workers
of Irish Ferries who will be replaced by new workers, mainly from Latvia and
working at less than half Ireland's minimum wage, is raising questions about
whether the tolerance for globalization that helped bolster the Irish
economy is waning.

"We have been a major beneficiary of outsourcing for the last couple of
decades," said Jim Power, chief economist at Friends First, an Irish
subsidiary of the Dutch financial services firm Eureko, "and now people are
starting to see that it's a double-edged sword."

Sean Barrett, a professor of economics at Trinity College Dublin, said, "The
Latvian sailor will become like the Polish plumber in Paris." He was
referring to the jack-of-all-trades bogeyman invoked by French politicians
to try and keep the labor market closed to foreign workers.

That prospect is starting to worry immigrant support groups, who say that
the ferry dispute comes at a critical time for newly arrived foreigners
here. Bobby Gilmore, chairman of the Migrant Rights Center, a Dublin-based
nonprofit organization, said the dispute threatens to damage communities
that are trying to settle into a life in Ireland and seeking a new identity
for themselves.

"They're beginning to see and understand that they're as vital to the Irish
economy as anyone else," Gilmore said.

When the European Union expanded last year to include 10 new countries,
mostly from the former Soviet bloc, Ireland, along with Britain, proudly
kept its doors wide open to new immigrants while other countries, like
France, sought to stem an influx of new, competitive labor. Of the 96,000
people who entered the Irish work force last year, 40,000 were migrants,
mostly from Central and Eastern Europe, according to the government
statistics office.

Young Poles and other East Europeans, most of whom are well-educated, man
construction sites, wait tables and work cash registers across the country.

Up to now, that influx has not caused any local resentment, because the
newcomers have not taken Irish jobs. The tens of thousands of people who
marched to the gates of the Irish Parliament on Friday, however, were
demonstrating against the perception that that era may be coming to a close.

Plans by the shipping and passenger ferryboat company to register its ships
in Cyprus so that it can replace its seafaring staff with Latvians who will
work for 3.60, or $4.30, an hour triggered a nasty dispute that started
three months ago. Passengers have been repeatedly stranded at sea as
sympathetic dock workers in Ireland and Wales refused to handle Irish
Ferries' ships. In a gesture of protest, four crewmen locked themselves
inside one ship's cabin three weeks ago, and have been there since. The
company sent undercover security officers onboard posing as passengers but
denied reports that it had considered using tear gas against staff who
refused to leave the boats.

The movement was reminiscent of a labor standoff in France in October that
triggered strong protests among unionized ferry workers and garnered the
support of the French public, which was already concerned about high
unemployment and outsourcing. The government's effort to privatize SNCM
Ferries, which would have resulted in laying off about a fourth of its 2,400
employees, ultimately ended with a compromise that left the French state
with a 25 percent stake in the company.

As the ferry dispute unfolded in Ireland, it began to generate widespread
public sympathy for Irish workers. Thousands of people lined the protest
route last week to applaud the demonstrators - a showing of support that
union activists said they had never seen before. The prime minister, Bertie
Ahern, who is known as a skilled negotiator in labor disputes, condemned
Irish Ferries' decision as "deplorable."

But unions are concerned that public support may be for the wrong reasons.
"The sad thing is that some of it may be racist," said Paul Smyth, the docks
and marine branch secretary for Ireland's largest union, SIPTU, which is
currently in negotiations with Irish Ferries. "That's a huge issue of
concern."

On radio call-in shows, and in hushed conversations on the fringes of the
protest marches, there were signs that people support the Irish Ferries
workers because they are Irish.

Barrett said: "We've let the racist genie out of the bottle. It can create a
lot of trouble, and we haven't seen it before."

Gilmore said he feared that migrants in other industries, and in Ireland's
growing black economy, would suffer worsening conditions if Irish Ferries
successfully employs cheap labor from Latvia, and if other employers become
tempted to follow the company's lead.

The dispute may also have implications for Ireland's 20-year-old "social
partnership" model of industrial relations, which uses broad pacts among
unions, employers' bodies and the government to guarantee modest annual wage
increases in return for promises to refrain from the strikes that often
cripple other European countries. The current pact expires next year, but
SIPTU says it will not negotiate a new deal if the Irish Ferries situation
is not resolved.

"Social partnership seems to have come up short," Power, of Friends First,
said. "This dispute does not send out very positive signals about the
industrial relations climate in this country."

That climate remained positive while Ireland enjoyed the benefits of
globalization. In the last decade, its economy has lost tens of thousands of
manufacturing jobs to cheaper locations overseas - destroying the storied
Irish textile industry in the process - but the arrival of international
services and technology companies far outweighed any losses.

Now the docked ferries are highlighting the negative side of being a part of
the interlinked world economy. The difference between Irish and Latvian
wages is "the most visible manifestation" of globalization on the Irish
economy, Power said.

DUBLIN When nearly 100,000 people took to the streets of Ireland to protest
the hiring of cheap East European labor for Irish Ferries, they gave voice
to old familiar fears about job security that many thought had been
forgotten.

The last time similar crowds demonstrated here over industrial issues was
1979, when young people left the country in droves to find work and
Ireland's unemployment rate hovered around 20 percent.

Today, the Irish economy is no longer expanding at the double-digit rates of
the 1990s, when it was dubbed the "Celtic Tiger," but it is still the
fastest-growing in Western Europe and enjoys nearly full employment.

But the emotional outpouring of support for more than 500 unionized workers
of Irish Ferries who will be replaced by new workers, mainly from Latvia and
working at less than half Ireland's minimum wage, is raising questions about
whether the tolerance for globalization that helped bolster the Irish
economy is waning.

"We have been a major beneficiary of outsourcing for the last couple of
decades," said Jim Power, chief economist at Friends First, an Irish
subsidiary of the Dutch financial services firm Eureko, "and now people are
starting to see that it's a double-edged sword."

Sean Barrett, a professor of economics at Trinity College Dublin, said, "The
Latvian sailor will become like the Polish plumber in Paris." He was
referring to the jack-of-all-trades bogeyman invoked by French politicians
to try and keep the labor market closed to foreign workers.

That prospect is starting to worry immigrant support groups, who say that
the ferry dispute comes at a critical time for newly arrived foreigners
here. Bobby Gilmore, chairman of the Migrant Rights Center, a Dublin-based
nonprofit organization, said the dispute threatens to damage communities
that are trying to settle into a life in Ireland and seeking a new identity
for themselves.

"They're beginning to see and understand that they're as vital to the Irish
economy as anyone else," Gilmore said.

When the European Union expanded last year to include 10 new countries,
mostly from the former Soviet bloc, Ireland, along with Britain, proudly
kept its doors wide open to new immigrants while other countries, like
France, sought to stem an influx of new, competitive labor. Of the 96,000
people who entered the Irish work force last year, 40,000 were migrants,
mostly from Central and Eastern Europe, according to the government
statistics office.

Young Poles and other East Europeans, most of whom are well-educated, man
construction sites, wait tables and work cash registers across the country.

Up to now, that influx has not caused any local resentment, because the
newcomers have not taken Irish jobs. The tens of thousands of people who
marched to the gates of the Irish Parliament on Friday, however, were
demonstrating against the perception that that era may be coming to a close.

Plans by the shipping and passenger ferryboat company to register its ships
in Cyprus so that it can replace its seafaring staff with Latvians who will
work for 3.60, or $4.30, an hour triggered a nasty dispute that started
three months ago. Passengers have been repeatedly stranded at sea as
sympathetic dock workers in Ireland and Wales refused to handle Irish
Ferries' ships. In a gesture of protest, four crewmen locked themselves
inside one ship's cabin three weeks ago, and have been there since. The
company sent undercover security officers onboard posing as passengers but
denied reports that it had considered using tear gas against staff who
refused to leave the boats.

The movement was reminiscent of a labor standoff in France in October that
triggered strong protests among unionized ferry workers and garnered the
support of the French public, which was already concerned about high
unemployment and outsourcing. The government's effort to privatize SNCM
Ferries, which would have resulted in laying off about a fourth of its 2,400
employees, ultimately ended with a compromise that left the French state
with a 25 percent stake in the company.

As the ferry dispute unfolded in Ireland, it began to generate widespread
public sympathy for Irish workers. Thousands of people lined the protest
route last week to applaud the demonstrators - a showing of support that
union activists said they had never seen before. The prime minister, Bertie
Ahern, who is known as a skilled negotiator in labor disputes, condemned
Irish Ferries' decision as "deplorable."

But unions are concerned that public support may be for the wrong reasons.
"The sad thing is that some of it may be racist," said Paul Smyth, the docks
and marine branch secretary for Ireland's largest union, SIPTU, which is
currently in negotiations with Irish Ferries. "That's a huge issue of
concern."

On radio call-in shows, and in hushed conversations on the fringes of the
protest marches, there were signs that people support the Irish Ferries
workers because they are Irish.

Barrett said: "We've let the racist genie out of the bottle. It can create a
lot of trouble, and we haven't seen it before."

Gilmore said he feared that migrants in other industries, and in Ireland's
growing black economy, would suffer worsening conditions if Irish Ferries
successfully employs cheap labor from Latvia, and if other employers become
tempted to follow the company's lead.

The dispute may also have implications for Ireland's 20-year-old "social
partnership" model of industrial relations, which uses broad pacts among
unions, employers' bodies and the government to guarantee modest annual wage
increases in return for promises to refrain from the strikes that often
cripple other European countries. The current pact expires next year, but
SIPTU says it will not negotiate a new deal if the Irish Ferries situation
is not resolved.

"Social partnership seems to have come up short," Power, of Friends First,
said. "This dispute does not send out very positive signals about the
industrial relations climate in this country."

That climate remained positive while Ireland enjoyed the benefits of
globalization. In the last decade, its economy has lost tens of thousands of
manufacturing jobs to cheaper locations overseas - destroying the storied
Irish textile industry in the process - but the arrival of international
services and technology companies far outweighed any losses.

Now the docked ferries are highlighting the negative side of being a part of
the interlinked world economy. The difference between Irish and Latvian
wages is "the most visible manifestation" of globalization on the Irish
economy, Power said.

DUBLIN When nearly 100,000 people took to the streets of Ireland to protest
the hiring of cheap East European labor for Irish Ferries, they gave voice
to old familiar fears about job security that many thought had been
forgotten.

The last time similar crowds demonstrated here over industrial issues was
1979, when young people left the country in droves to find work and
Ireland's unemployment rate hovered around 20 percent.

Today, the Irish economy is no longer expanding at the double-digit rates of
the 1990s, when it was dubbed the "Celtic Tiger," but it is still the
fastest-growing in Western Europe and enjoys nearly full employment.

But the emotional outpouring of support for more than 500 unionized workers
of Irish Ferries who will be replaced by new workers, mainly from Latvia and
working at less than half Ireland's minimum wage, is raising questions about
whether the tolerance for globalization that helped bolster the Irish
economy is waning.

"We have been a major beneficiary of outsourcing for the last couple of
decades," said Jim Power, chief economist at Friends First, an Irish
subsidiary of the Dutch financial services firm Eureko, "and now people are
starting to see that it's a double-edged sword."

Sean Barrett, a professor of economics at Trinity College Dublin, said, "The
Latvian sailor will become like the Polish plumber in Paris." He was
referring to the jack-of-all-trades bogeyman invoked by French politicians
to try and keep the labor market closed to foreign workers.

That prospect is starting to worry immigrant support groups, who say that
the ferry dispute comes at a critical time for newly arrived foreigners
here. Bobby Gilmore, chairman of the Migrant Rights Center, a Dublin-based
nonprofit organization, said the dispute threatens to damage communities
that are trying to settle into a life in Ireland and seeking a new identity
for themselves.

"They're beginning to see and understand that they're as vital to the Irish
economy as anyone else," Gilmore said.

When the European Union expanded last year to include 10 new countries,
mostly from the former Soviet bloc, Ireland, along with Britain, proudly
kept its doors wide open to new immigrants while other countries, like
France, sought to stem an influx of new, competitive labor. Of the 96,000
people who entered the Irish work force last year, 40,000 were migrants,
mostly from Central and Eastern Europe, according to the government
statistics office.

Young Poles and other East Europeans, most of whom are well-educated, man
construction sites, wait tables and work cash registers across the country.

Up to now, that influx has not caused any local resentment, because the
newcomers have not taken Irish jobs. The tens of thousands of people who
marched to the gates of the Irish Parliament on Friday, however, were
demonstrating against the perception that that era may be coming to a close.

Plans by the shipping and passenger ferryboat company to register its ships
in Cyprus so that it can replace its seafaring staff with Latvians who will
work for 3.60, or $4.30, an hour triggered a nasty dispute that started
three months ago. Passengers have been repeatedly stranded at sea as
sympathetic dock workers in Ireland and Wales refused to handle Irish
Ferries' ships. In a gesture of protest, four crewmen locked themselves
inside one ship's cabin three weeks ago, and have been there since. The
company sent undercover security officers onboard posing as passengers but
denied reports that it had considered using tear gas against staff who
refused to leave the boats.

The movement was reminiscent of a labor standoff in France in October that
triggered strong protests among unionized ferry workers and garnered the
support of the French public, which was already concerned about high
unemployment and outsourcing. The government's effort to privatize SNCM
Ferries, which would have resulted in laying off about a fourth of its 2,400
employees, ultimately ended with a compromise that left the French state
with a 25 percent stake in the company.

As the ferry dispute unfolded in Ireland, it began to generate widespread
public sympathy for Irish workers. Thousands of people lined the protest
route last week to applaud the demonstrators - a showing of support that
union activists said they had never seen before. The prime minister, Bertie
Ahern, who is known as a skilled negotiator in labor disputes, condemned
Irish Ferries' decision as "deplorable."

But unions are concerned that public support may be for the wrong reasons.
"The sad thing is that some of it may be racist," said Paul Smyth, the docks
and marine branch secretary for Ireland's largest union, SIPTU, which is
currently in negotiations with Irish Ferries. "That's a huge issue of
concern."

On radio call-in shows, and in hushed conversations on the fringes of the
protest marches, there were signs that people support the Irish Ferries
workers because they are Irish.

Barrett said: "We've let the racist genie out of the bottle. It can create a
lot of trouble, and we haven't seen it before."

Gilmore said he feared that migrants in other industries, and in Ireland's
growing black economy, would suffer worsening conditions if Irish Ferries
successfully employs cheap labor from Latvia, and if other employers become
tempted to follow the company's lead.

The dispute may also have implications for Ireland's 20-year-old "social
partnership" model of industrial relations, which uses broad pacts among
unions, employers' bodies and the government to guarantee modest annual wage
increases in return for promises to refrain from the strikes that often
cripple other European countries. The current pact expires next year, but
SIPTU says it will not negotiate a new deal if the Irish Ferries situation
is not resolved.

"Social partnership seems to have come up short," Power, of Friends First,
said. "This dispute does not send out very positive signals about the
industrial relations climate in this country."

That climate remained positive while Ireland enjoyed the benefits of
globalization. In the last decade, its economy has lost tens of thousands of
manufacturing jobs to cheaper locations overseas - destroying the storied
Irish textile industry in the process - but the arrival of international
services and technology companies far outweighed any losses.

Now the docked ferries are highlighting the negative side of being a part of
the interlinked world economy. The difference between Irish and Latvian
wages is "the most visible manifestation" of globalization on the Irish
economy, Power said.

DUBLIN When nearly 100,000 people took to the streets of Ireland to protest
the hiring of cheap East European labor for Irish Ferries, they gave voice
to old familiar fears about job security that many thought had been
forgotten.

The last time similar crowds demonstrated here over industrial issues was
1979, when young people left the country in droves to find work and
Ireland's unemployment rate hovered around 20 percent.

Today, the Irish economy is no longer expanding at the double-digit rates of
the 1990s, when it was dubbed the "Celtic Tiger," but it is still the
fastest-growing in Western Europe and enjoys nearly full employment.

But the emotional outpouring of support for more than 500 unionized workers
of Irish Ferries who will be replaced by new workers, mainly from Latvia and
working at less than half Ireland's minimum wage, is raising questions about
whether the tolerance for globalization that helped bolster the Irish
economy is waning.

"We have been a major beneficiary of outsourcing for the last couple of
decades," said Jim Power, chief economist at Friends First, an Irish
subsidiary of the Dutch financial services firm Eureko, "and now people are
starting to see that it's a double-edged sword."

Sean Barrett, a professor of economics at Trinity College Dublin, said, "The
Latvian sailor will become like the Polish plumber in Paris." He was
referring to the jack-of-all-trades bogeyman invoked by French politicians
to try and keep the labor market closed to foreign workers.

That prospect is starting to worry immigrant support groups, who say that
the ferry dispute comes at a critical time for newly arrived foreigners
here. Bobby Gilmore, chairman of the Migrant Rights Center, a Dublin-based
nonprofit organization, said the dispute threatens to damage communities
that are trying to settle into a life in Ireland and seeking a new identity
for themselves.

"They're beginning to see and understand that they're as vital to the Irish
economy as anyone else," Gilmore said.

When the European Union expanded last year to include 10 new countries,
mostly from the former Soviet bloc, Ireland, along with Britain, proudly
kept its doors wide open to new immigrants while other countries, like
France, sought to stem an influx of new, competitive labor. Of the 96,000
people who entered the Irish work force last year, 40,000 were migrants,
mostly from Central and Eastern Europe, according to the government
statistics office.

Young Poles and other East Europeans, most of whom are well-educated, man
construction sites, wait tables and work cash registers across the country.

Up to now, that influx has not caused any local resentment, because the
newcomers have not taken Irish jobs. The tens of thousands of people who
marched to the gates of the Irish Parliament on Friday, however, were
demonstrating against the perception that that era may be coming to a close.

Plans by the shipping and passenger ferryboat company to register its ships
in Cyprus so that it can replace its seafaring staff with Latvians who will
work for 3.60, or $4.30, an hour triggered a nasty dispute that started
three months ago. Passengers have been repeatedly stranded at sea as
sympathetic dock workers in Ireland and Wales refused to handle Irish
Ferries' ships. In a gesture of protest, four crewmen locked themselves
inside one ship's cabin three weeks ago, and have been there since. The
company sent undercover security officers onboard posing as passengers but
denied reports that it had considered using tear gas against staff who
refused to leave the boats.

The movement was reminiscent of a labor standoff in France in October that
triggered strong protests among unionized ferry workers and garnered the
support of the French public, which was already concerned about high
unemployment and outsourcing. The government's effort to privatize SNCM
Ferries, which would have resulted in laying off about a fourth of its 2,400
employees, ultimately ended with a compromise that left the French state
with a 25 percent stake in the company.

As the ferry dispute unfolded in Ireland, it began to generate widespread
public sympathy for Irish workers. Thousands of people lined the protest
route last week to applaud the demonstrators - a showing of support that
union activists said they had never seen before. The prime minister, Bertie
Ahern, who is known as a skilled negotiator in labor disputes, condemned
Irish Ferries' decision as "deplorable."

But unions are concerned that public support may be for the wrong reasons.
"The sad thing is that some of it may be racist," said Paul Smyth, the docks
and marine branch secretary for Ireland's largest union, SIPTU, which is
currently in negotiations with Irish Ferries. "That's a huge issue of
concern."

On radio call-in shows, and in hushed conversations on the fringes of the
protest marches, there were signs that people support the Irish Ferries
workers because they are Irish.

Barrett said: "We've let the racist genie out of the bottle. It can create a
lot of trouble, and we haven't seen it before."

Gilmore said he feared that migrants in other industries, and in Ireland's
growing black economy, would suffer worsening conditions if Irish Ferries
successfully employs cheap labor from Latvia, and if other employers become
tempted to follow the company's lead.

The dispute may also have implications for Ireland's 20-year-old "social
partnership" model of industrial relations, which uses broad pacts among
unions, employers' bodies and the government to guarantee modest annual wage
increases in return for promises to refrain from the strikes that often
cripple other European countries. The current pact expires next year, but
SIPTU says it will not negotiate a new deal if the Irish Ferries situation
is not resolved.

"Social partnership seems to have come up short," Power, of Friends First,
said. "This dispute does not send out very positive signals about the
industrial relations climate in this country."

That climate remained positive while Ireland enjoyed the benefits of
globalization. In the last decade, its economy has lost tens of thousands of
manufacturing jobs to cheaper locations overseas - destroying the storied
Irish textile industry in the process - but the arrival of international
services and technology companies far outweighed any losses.

Now the docked ferries are highlighting the negative side of being a part of
the interlinked world economy. The difference between Irish and Latvian
wages is "the most visible manifestation" of globalization on the Irish
economy, Power said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Poland_War_Damages.html

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Poland_War_Damages.html

Monday, December 12, 2005 · Last updated 12:00 p.m. PT

Polish party wants tally of WWII damage

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WARSAW, Poland -- A far-right party called Monday for the government to
calculate the damage Poland suffered under Nazi occupation in World War II,
a move which could irritate relations with neighboring Germany.

The League of Polish Families filed a draft resolution Monday with
parliament calling for the government to have "experts come up with an
estimate" of material losses that Poland sustained between 1939-45, Mateusz
Kotas, a party official said.

He said the intention is to "settle accounts between Polish and German
governments and close that chapter in history," Kotas told The Associated
Press.

It was unclear when parliament might consider the resolution or if all of
Poland's main right-leaning parties, who triumphed in recent elections,
would support it.

In October, Warsaw city officials released a report estimating the capital's
wartime damages at US$54 billion (euro45 billion). Then-mayor Lech
Kaczynski, who ordered the report, has since become Poland's
president-elect.

Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz was vague in response to a reporter's
question last month about whether his government would take up some
lawmakers' demands for reparations.

"It is very important that the truth is put on the table," Marcinkiewicz
said in an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper. "All
unresolved problems must be cleared up."

Polish lawmakers regularly cite losses at the hands of the Nazis to counter
any suggestion that ethnic Germans expelled from Poland at the end of the
war might reclaim their property.

The German government rejects restitution claims by Germans against Poles.

However, Poles remain wary of German expellee groups, who are campaigning
for their suffering to be remembered with a Center Against Expulsions in
Berlin.

Some 6 million Polish citizens were killed in the war, half of them Jews.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/2a44a960-6b3b-11da-8aee-0000779e2340.html

Friction with UK causes Poland to look for new allies
By Jan Cienski in Warsaw, George Parker in Brusselsand John Thornhill in
Paris
Published: December 12 2005 18:21 | Last updated: December 12 2005 18:21

Friction between Warsaw and London over the British proposal for the
2007-2013 EU budget, which could see as much as €14bn ($16.5bn) cut in funds
for new member states, is forcing Poland to look elsewhere in Europe for
allies in the negotiations.

Britain won a positive image in Poland by being one of only three EU members
to fully open its labour markets to the 10 countries that joined in 2004.

Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Poland’s the new conservative prime minister, made
London – seat of the rotating EU presidency – his first foreign trip after
elections in October.

But Britain’s hardball negotiating tactics over the budget are leaving
bruised feelings in Warsaw and the French government has been making
strenuous efforts to improve relations with the new Polish regime.

The Polish foreign ministry said the London visit was “not an anchor for all
eternity. It was a logical visit but it is not the case that we will stick
only with the British position.”

“As a principle we should not tie ourselves to a single partner, even if the
partner in this case controls the presidency of the European Union,” he
said.

Poland’s bruised feelings are likely to fade after the budget debate recedes
and other common interests are reasserted.

Mr Marcinkiewicz has often talked of Poland’s ideological compatibility with
Britain, stressing that the two countries share a positive view of the US
and have a similar ideas on the importance of free markets and of the
preservation of national interests in the EU.

The Polish government has made an effort to form alliances, first with the
Visegrad Group of  Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary and then
the wider grouping of all new EU members.

Poland has also found new reasons to co-operate with France as both
countries are significant beneficiaries of the EU’s Common Agricultural
Policy, leading to what the Polish foreign ministry called a “micro-alliance
with France”.

Jean-Dominique Giuliani, chairman of the Robert Schuman foundation, a
Paris-based European think tank, said the Franco-Polish relations were
improving. “The climate is a lot more relaxed,” he said.

“On the EU budget debate the Poles are close to the French position,
especially on agriculture and the structural funds. This is a good
opportunity for a rapprochement,” Mr Giuliani said.

For Poland, Britain’s view of the EU seems to have been captured by a
controversial e-mail sent by Charles Crawford, the British ambassador in
Warsaw, to his superiors in London.

He denounced the “hypocrisy and absurdity” of the budgeting process and
criticised the “rudeness and ingratitude” of the EU’s new central European
members.

Mr Crawford’s office explained the leaked e-mail was a joke. The Polish
foreign ministry plans to invite him over to discuss the differences between
Polish and British senses of humour. But Polish officials in Brussels were
aghast at Mr Crawford’s “joke memo”, saying it would only fuel concerns in
eastern Europe about Britain’s reliability as a partner.

“This will do dramatic damage to Britain’s image in eastern Europe,” said
one official. “It will be difficult to persuade people to trust the Brits in
future. Tony Blair will have to pay more now to allay those concerns.”

“It was always absurd for Polish politicians to talk about building a new EU
based on relations with London. That’s why I’m grateful for Crawford’s
letter because it’s a lesson on Britain’s views of the EU,” said Marek
Sarjusz-Wolski, editor of the Unia & Polska, a monthly focusing on European
issues.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1920075,00.html

Our man in Warsaw



CHARLES CRAWFORD, Britain’s ambassador to Poland, is not your regular,
stiff-upper-lip career diplomat. The football-loving official has a
down-to-earth style and an “off-beat sense of humour”, according to
colleagues.



The ambassador doesn’t serve Ferrero Rocher chocolates, but he knows how to
treat his guests. Earlier this year, he had 240 pots of Rodda’s Cornish
clotted cream flown out to serve at a tea party in Warsaw to celebrate the
beginning of the British presidency of the EU.

While serving as ambassador in Belgrade two years ago, he sent a coach to
rescue some Newcastle United football fans who were being held under armed
guard in a city centre hotel by Serbian police and invited them to a
reception before kick-off at his house. (He kept a signed photo of the
footballer Paul Gascoigne in one of the loos).

His own preferred team is Spurs, but the 51-year-old official lists other
hobbies as music and chess. One of his family treasures is a chessboard
given to him by the world grandmaster Gary Kasparov when he was working in
Moscow. It is inscribed with the words: “Good luck in the chess game of
diplomacy”. After his injudicious email is disclosed today, he may need all
the luck he can get.

According to colleagues, this is not the first time he has sent a frank
memorandum back to London early in the morning. “Charles is very
hard-working although he does have an off-beat sense of humour. He is a very
funny guy, trying to do his best,” said one friend yesterday. “The email was
probably an expression of his frustration.”

His diplomatic career spans nearly a quarter of a century, joining the
Foreign Office in 1979 after training to be a barrister.

By his own account he has had a “fascinating” career, serving in the embassy
in South Africa just as the apartheid regime came to an end in the late
1980s. “I recall vividly my own private meeting with Nelson Mandela soon
after he was released from prison,” Crawford says on the foreign office
website.

Then in 1991 he was “plunged into the drama” of the collapse of the Soviet
Union. In 1993 he went to Moscow as counsellor in the embassy. He says that
highlights there included the first black tie dinner at the Kremlin since
the Russian revolution and the attack on the White House, the parliament
building in the city. The fighting occurred only a few hundred metres from
his flat. He keeps a videotape of his children playing in the yard with the
noise of gunfire in the background.

From Moscow, Crawford was moved to post-war Sarajevo to take forward the
Dayton peace accords. He describes the posting in Bosnia-Herzegovina as
“exhausting”.

Afterwards he took a year’s “career development” sabbatical to Harvard
University in America, which he says “I used mainly to learn how to use the
internet”.

He returned to London in 1999 to run British policy towards the former
Yugoslavia, working closely with Serbian leaders to bring about the downfall
of Slobodan Milosevic. A posting to Belgrade to re-open the British embassy
followed.

Crawford began his current job as ambassador in Warsaw just over two years
ago, and in a recent interview described Britain’s relations with Poland as
“terrific”.

He is married to Helen and has two sons and one daughter, signing off his
droll career notes by saying he and his “long suffering wife” are hoping his
time in Poland “will be rather calmer” than what he went through in the
Balkans. That may be hard now.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1917543,00.html


The Sunday Times - Britain



The Sunday Times December 11, 2005

British ambassador in Warsaw's leaked email in full



From: Charles.Crawford
Sent: 08 December 2005 05:36
To: KDarroch; Nicola.Brewer
Subject: LOOSEN THOSE EU BUDGET TALKS - LET'S END THE MISERY



Kim/Nicola,

This Budget thing is already dragging on too long. So here is a draft speech
for the Foreign Sec or PM to use next week to bring it to a rapid and
successful conclusion:

"OK, partners, here is my Budget final offer (Puts a large naff kiddies
alarm clock on the table).

We all know that the hypocrisy and absurdity of this process are passing any
reasonable limit.

I am being asked to give more UK taxpayers money to an EU which for years
can not produce properly audited accounts. Mon ami Jacques with the support
of most of you is nagging me to give the EU more money while the refusing to
surrender an inch or even a centimetre on the CAP - a programme which uses
inefficient transfers of taxpayers money to bloat rich French landowners and
so pump up food prices in Europe, thereby creating poverty in Africa, which
we then fail to solve through inefficient but expensive aid programmes. The
most stupid, immoral state-subsidised policy in human history, give or take
Communism.

As for the new member states, we like you so much that we are proposing in
the Budget a huge new transfer of funds to you on a scale which will give
your people the greatest boost in 1000 years. I will be attacked by my scary
new teenage Tory opposition for building roads and hospitals in Poland and
Hungary, rather than in poor areas of the UK. We - unlike most other old EU
MS sitting here - have opened our labour markets. HMG have created more jobs
for Poles in the past year than the Polish Government. Yet not one of you
nor a single newspaper in any of your capitals has expressed a single word
of gratitude or appreciation for the UK position in all this. So much for
solidarity.

Shame on you all. Enough is enough.

In a moment I will press the button on this vulgar clock, made cheaply and
well in China. It will ring loudly in exactly an hour's time.

At that point I will ask everyone round the table whether they accept our
current offer. Yes, or No.

If anyone says No, we end the meeting. The EU will move on to a complete
mess of annual budgets. Basically suits us - we'll pay less, and the rebate
stays 100% intact. My ratings will go up.

However, despite the rudeness and ingratitude of the new member states as
expressed here today, we in London do want to help them So if the Budget
deal does end in an hour's time, we will take action alone.

I have here with me a draft press release which says the following:

Following the failure of the EU Budget talks today because most EU member
states refused to accept a generous, innovative new budget proposed by HMG,
the UK Gov announces that it is going to set aside a good chunk of the money
it was prepared effectively to deduct from its rebate under the current
proposals, 5 billion pounds, to set up a new Strategic European Development
Fund - the Mother of All Know How Funds, but on steroids.

This Fund will be accessible for those of the V4 plus Balts who agree to
join its programme - if they all feel too humiliated by our lack of EU
solidarity to join, that's great - we'll keep the money for ourselves. If
only some of them join, that's great too- those who do will get
proportionately more.

The Fund will cut out all the bollocky EU bureaucracy which comes with the
current spending round, which means that for every pound we pay into the EU
pot for Structural Funds for new MS about a [make up a suitable percentage]
goes in sticky transaction costs, local and Brussels corruption, overhead
and other rubbish, and so does not benefit the intended recipients.

The Fund will go for any sensible strategic development idea that comes
along, with emphasis on R&D and Innovation, plus reform of the region's
abysmal legal systems, the main Communist - era legacy problem in Europe.
But if you want to build some new roads, that's OK too.

The Fund will be managed according to state of the art transparency and
efficiency:



Internet procurement


90% money spent to require matching private sector funds, so as to encourage
new private investment on a vast scale

top-level auditing


explicit buy-in by recipient governments to compensate the fund on a 'triple
damages' basis for any losses proved by independent auditors to be due to
official local corruption, and to prosecute the people concerned

up-front urgent action by recipient partner governments to set up their own
streamlined procedures and new laws to allow this money to be spent fast


oversight by independent all-party experts and bankers/business leaders in
each country to ensure scrupulous honesty and agree national priorities


hard targets set for spending with regular public updates


hundreds of short-term fellowships to enable the brightest and best from
these countries to see EU best practice in action in the UK


[Aside: PM Marcinkiewicz: you asked me recently to help with ELT in Polish
schools - spend 100 million of the Fund on this, so that every kid learns
English, plus save money by shutting down French and German language
classes!]


and so on

This Fund mean that the UK's money goes much further, much faster and much
more efficiently into the regions concerned than it possibly could under any
EU programme.

Five billion pounds spent this way equals far more than 10 billion spent
through the EU, by building in good incentives at every level to encourage
openness, free  enterprise, creativity and honesty.

The Fund will give the UK and British expertise and the English language
together a dominant economic, political and intellectual position in the
most dynamic region of Europe for decades to come, forcing legal and
business reform on a huge scale according to the purest Anglo-Saxon
principles.

And it will be incredibly popular in the countries concerned, since it will
force the region's governments sitting shiftily round this table to be far
more honest and accountable than they are at the moment.

More! The roaring success of the Fund will set in motion the accelerating
downsizing of all EU-level spending and a fundamental rethink of global aid
philosophy. UK voters and voters all across the EU will love it because it
spends their money well, plus highlights the wastefulness of what the EU is
doing at the moment and cuts out completely the blathering European
Parliament. Wider public pressure for reforms along UK lines will become
irresistible.

Basically, a terrific deal for the UK, for the modern European ideal of
well-coordinated light-touch integration, and for the populations of the
countries concerned.

End of draft press release.

We nonetheless remain willing to sacrifice all that in the interests of
discredited, inefficient, socialistic, EU 'solidarity' - if that is what you
really all prefer - to sign up for the latest offer for the
Budget which is on the table.

Over to you, mes chers amis!

(Presses button on alarm clock. Silence. Broken only by loud ticking)

I have a suitable alarm clock if that helps.

Charles


Charles Crawford
HMA Warsaw

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1920117_1,00.html

Crikey! FO speaks truth about Europe
David Cracknell, Political Editor



A SENIOR British ambassador has lambasted our European Union partners in
undiplomatic language, blaming them for farm subsidies that “bloat” rich
French landowners, “pump up food prices” and create poverty in Africa.
In an e-mail to colleagues seen by The Sunday Times, Charles Crawford, the
ambassador to Poland, mocks “mon ami” Jacques Chirac and the Poles for
selfishly blocking Tony Blair’s attempts to secure a face-saving deal on the
European budget.



His sardonic tone will embarrass Blair as he seeks to reach agreement this
week at a key summit. Some will see his exasperation as revealing what
ministers privately think.

Crawford says that Britain has created more jobs for Poles in Britain than
the Polish government since EU membership was extended to another 10
countries last year. He visualises Blair or Jack Straw, the foreign
secretary, telling the new member states that the UK wants to help them,
despite their “rudeness and ingratitude”.

“We like you so much that we are proposing in the budget a huge new transfer
of funds to you on a scale which will give your people the greatest boost in
1,000 years.”

In a jibe at David Cameron, the new Conservative leader, the ambassador
imagines Blair or Straw saying: “I will be attacked by my scary new teenage
Tory opposition for building roads and hospitals in Poland and Hungary,
rather than in poor areas of the UK.”

The memo was sent last week to Kim Darroch, Blair’s European policy adviser,
and Nicola Brewer, head of EU policy at the Foreign Office.

Much of it represents Crawford’s blackly humorous opinions on what Blair
should tell other European ministers. He suggests putting a children’s alarm
clock on the conference table and giving delegates an hour to accept
Britain’s offer.

If it is not accepted, he suggested, Britain would be able to walk away with
its rebate intact. It would then be able to use money that it was prepared
to deduct from its rebate to fund projects directly in former eastern bloc
countries.

Crawford estimates that it would be equivalent to twice as much spent
through the EU and that Britain’s help would go much further, faster and
more efficiently to the countries concerned. There will not be the loss of
money in “all the bollocky EU bureaucracy” and “sticky transaction costs,
local and Brussels corruption, overheads and other rubbish”.

Crawford describes the common agricultural policy (CAP) as “the most stupid,
immoral state-subsidised policy in human history, give or take communism”.

The e-mail lays bare the frustration in the British government at stalling
by France and Poland ahead of this week’s make-or-break EU summit.

Failure to reach a deal on the budget will be disappointing for Blair, who
has little to show for Britain’s six-month presidency. The prime minister
has offered to give up part of the annual £3.8 billion British rebate in
return for France and other nations agreeing to reform the “unfair” CAP
which benefits their farmers.

Chirac and Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, the Polish prime minister, have shown
little sign of compromising on the budget proposals for 2007-13. Blair said
on Friday that hopes for a deal were fading and such a failure would “cast a
real shadow” over EU enlargement.

Crawford’s e-mail, sent at 5.36am last Thursday to officials at No 10 and
the Foreign Office, displays his frustration.

Colleagues said that Crawford, who keeps a signed photograph of Paul
Gascoigne, the former footballer, in his lavatory, was renowned for his
“off-beat sense of humour”.
The note is headlined “Loosen those EU budget talks — let’s end the misery!”
and reads: “Ok, partners, here is my final offer. (Puts a large naff
kiddies’ alarm clock on the table). We all know the absurdity of this
process (is) passing any reasonable limit.



“I am being asked to give more UK taxpayers’ money to an EU which cannot
produce properly audited accounts.”

When first contacted Crawford said: “No comment. I’m getting on with my
job.” Later, in a statement, he added: “Everyone had been working very hard
and this was meant to be a joke. No offence was meant and I hope none is
taken.”

Straw came to his defence. “Charles Crawford is an excellent ambassador who
has served with distinction in Sarajevo, Belgrade and Warsaw,” Straw said.
“I am glad that he has a sharp sense of humour and uses it from time to
time.”

http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200southlondonheadlines/tm_object\
id=16465808&method=full&siteid=50100&headline=passengers-watched-the-knife-go-in\
-name_page.html#story_continue


Passengers watched the knife go in Dec 9 2005




South London Press


A DRIVER who chased a pedestrian on to a bus and stabbed him to death in a
horrific road rage attack has been jailed for life.

Peter Kelly, 28, knifed Bartosz Dlugowszewski in the heart in front of
horrified passengers on the double-decker.

He had become enraged after the 24-year-old remonstrated with him for nearly
knocking him over in a busy Bermondsey street.

Kelly pulled up and ran after the Pole wielding a heavy metal chain "howling
with anger".



He was heard asking: "Do you want to die?" before plunging the blade upwards
into the victim's chest.


Kelly at first denied the murder but changed his plea on the third day of
the trial.


Judge Geoffrey Rivlin sentenced him to life imprisonment and said he would
spend at least 12 years behind bars before parole could be considered.


Southwark Crown Court had heard how the attack was triggered by an angry
exchange of words between the two men in Jamaica Road at around midnight on
March 27 this year.


Prosecutor Michael Worsley told the court: "The victim and two of his Polish
friends were crossing the road when a red car drove extreme-ly close to
them.


"An angry exchange ensued and the driver of the car stopped a little further
up the road.


"He parked, got out of his car and reappeared wielding a chain."


Mr Dlugowszewski and his friend attempted to get away by jumping on the bus
but Kelly followed wielding the knife.


Mr Worsley said: "He is seen getting on the bus seconds after the Poles and
the bus driver hears him say 'Do you want to die? I'm going to kill you'.


"He then stabs Bartosz through the heart in full view of the driver and
passengers.


"CCTV footage seen just before the incident shows the defendant was clearly
in a great rage with his mouth wide open seconds before the fatal blow was
delivered."


Pausing to pull the nine-inch blade out of his victim's heart, Kelly then
got off the bus and ran down a nearby street where he discarded the weapon.


He then walked to his grand-mother's house and drank a bottle of whisky.


Kelly, of Chalfont House, Keatons Road, Rotherhithe, admitted murder.

http://www.pendletoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=10&ArticleID=1279706

Stabbing: 10 more arrested
TEN people have been arrested on suspicion of violent disorder as part of
the police investigation launched after last week's serious stabbing
incident on Rainhall Road, in Barnoldswick.

The 10 people, four Polish, six English, were arrested early Wednesday
morning and taken to local police stations to be questioned by detectives.
Of those arrested, nine live in Barnoldswick and one in Skipton. Three are
aged 17, two are aged 15 (including the one from Skipton), one is aged 16,
two are aged 26, one is aged 25 and the other is aged 28.
The arrests follow a number of incidents in Barnoldswick on Friday November
25th, which concluded with the stabbing of Jarastow Wrzalik, a 26-year-old
Polish man, outside the Crunchy Chicken & Ribs Shop shortly before midnight.
Surgery
A murder-style investigation was launched immediately as it was initially
feared that Mr Wrzalik's injury could prove fatal, but following emergency
surgery, he went on to make a good recovery and was discharged from Burnley
General Hospital on Friday.
Commenting on Wednesday's arrests, Chief Insp. Richard Debicki said: "That
investigation looked not only at the stabbing but also at a number of other
incidents alleged to have taken place that evening. As a result of that
investigation, 10 people have today been arrested on suspicion of violent
disorder. I would like to take this opportunity to reassure our local
communities that violent behaviour will not be tolerated in Barnoldswick or,
indeed, anywhere in Pendle."
All 10 people arrested have been bailed to reappear at various dates this
month and next while police continue their investigations.
l As we reported last week, a 26-year-old Barnoldswick man, Ricky Lee
Walling, has already appeared before magistrates charged with wounding with
intent. He was remanded to appear at Burnley Crown Court on Monday, March
6th.
09 December 2005
« Previous PageNext »

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=311247
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=311247&imageindex=1


20 RESCUED FROMBLAZE
Published on 10/12/2005


Inferno: Firefighters pulled residents through windows in the burning
building during the dramatic rescue. Officers now say the building has been
gutted and is in real danger of collapse
PAULA PAISLEY
By Anna Richardsonand Kelly Eve

AROUND 20 people were evacuated after a major fire engulfed a building in
Carlisle in the early hours of this morning.

Eleven people, believed to be Polish workers, have been taken to hospital
suffering from smoke inhalation.

Firefighters received the call at around 3.30am. They arrived at Chatsworth
Square in the city centre to find all three stories of the building alight.

People in nearby properties were evacuated to the Sands Centre as the fire
began to spread to two adjacent buildings.

A breathing apparatus team tried to enter the building through the front
door, but were beaten back by flames.

Cumbria Fire Service watch manager Judith Tauber said: “We have got
everything under control but we will be there for quite a while. It was
quite an extensive incident.

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5279609

Europe's commendable migration from east to west
Dec 8th 2005 | VILNIUS AND WARSAW
From The Economist print edition



THE Oxford Belfry is a typical modern British hotel: big, bland and
strikingly lacking in native staff. Among the multinational workforce, the
cheerful, omnipresent Poles stand out: at the front desk, in the bars and
restaurants, cleaning and (while reading an economics textbook) supervising
the gym and pool.

“It's the work ethic. Many British people think the service industries are
about servitude,” complains John Cotter, a senior manager. Since Poland
joined the European Union last year, his staffing headaches have largely
been over. “We are inundated with applications from Poland,” he says.
Indeed, the new reservoir of good, cheap labour is a boon for many employers
in Britain, Ireland and Sweden, the only old EU countries that have fully
opened their doors to workers from the new members. But now some central
European countries, especially Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, are worried
that too many of their best people are leaving for higher pay and a better
life.


   Big migrations in Europe are not new. After the collapse of communism,
millions moved abroad for political reasons: Jews to Israel, ethnic Germans
home from the Soviet Union, Russians back to Russia. Others were refugees
from wars, or migrated illegally. But, says Ali Mansoor, a World Bank
economist working on a study of post-communist migration due to be published
next year, this one is different: driven by economics not politics, and
largely legal not illegal.

One of his biggest problems is measuring the scale of the new migration.
Official statistics underestimate the numbers, perhaps hugely. In Britain,
where central Europeans are supposed to register before seeking work, but
often do not, there are (supposedly) only 95 Polish plumbers. A tabloid
newspaper managed to find that many in a day, using a postcard-sized
advertisement in a Polish-populated part of west London. The total number of
workers registered in Britain from the new members is supposedly only around
175,000. But by some accounts, there are 300,000 Poles alone (and another
100,000 in Ireland). Latvian officials think at least 50,000 people, or 2%
of the population, have gone abroad to work; Lithuania estimates more than
100,000, or 3%.

These departures leave labour-thirsty industries such as construction and
retailing short of workers at home. Either they must import labour from
farther east, or they must raise wages. Some poor rural regions are visibly
depopulated, with so many adults gone that children and old folk feel
abandoned.

Yet most of the moans are overdone. For a start, the era of migration is
likely to be temporary. “We have ten years before the demographics kick in,”
says Mr Mansoor, “after which there just won't be the young people to
emigrate.” That is not wholly good news: most central and east European
countries face the nasty combination of a rich-country age structure with a
poor-country economy. But it highlights the biggest cause of migration now:
a big pool of unemployed, underpaid or under-appreciated people for whom
going abroad makes a lot of sense.

If pay and prospects in a Latvian village are dismal, it is probably better
to pick mushrooms in Ireland (a popular choice), at least for a while. It is
drudgery, but it brings cash, and the chance of something better, either
abroad or at home. “You have to look at the whole life-cycle,” argues Willem
Buiter, a former chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD), who is now at the London School of Economics. “Young
migrants pick up skills, networks and funds.”

Brain drains can aggravate a bad situation, with so many people leaving a
poor country that its problems worsen. But central and eastern Europe is a
long way from that. For a start, returning home is cheap and quick. Booked
in advance, budget flights between Britain and Poland can cost just a few
pounds. That makes migration more efficient: people can choose easily how
long they go for, and where.

Second, the new EU members are well placed to be a “brain factory”.
Migration sends a signal that should—if education and training are working
properly—stimulate greater supply of the skills that the outside world
wants. The big demand for Polish bus drivers in Britain offers an obvious
incentive for Poles with related skills (driving lorries, for example) to
adapt.

Third, there are plenty of brains to drain—up to twice as many doctors per
head of population, for example, as most developed countries think
necessary, says Libor Krkoska of the EBRD. The collapsing birthrate means
there are plenty of spare teachers too.

Migration could, however, be made more efficient. Heikki Mattila, of the
International Organisation for Migration's Budapest office, highlights
“brain waste”: well educated migrants doing menial jobs because their
qualifications are not recognised. Despite EU rules, this happens all too
often. Tony Venables of European Citizen Action Service, a Brussels
think-tank, argues that complex (and often illegal) barriers that such
countries as France and Italy put in the way of migrants encourage abuse and
bad practice.

For the countries that export brains, there are two big challenges. One is
to consider why people are leaving. Low pay in the public sector is one
reason; rigid or corrupt institutions may be another. Revealingly, many
central Europeans say they are especially attracted by the relatively
flexible and unbureaucratic British way of life—such as a one-page quarterly
tax return for small firms. Mr Mansoor's work highlights the link between
emigration and the quality of life in the source countries. “The demand is
known and given. The difference is in the countries that supply it,” he
says.

The second task is to make returning home a case of “when” rather than “if”,
by removing bureaucratic obstacles and maintaining ties between diasporas
and the homeland. The authorities in Vilnius hope that sponsoring new
Lithuanian-language schools in places like Dublin will remove a barrier for
émigré families who are considering returning: keeping children's language
skills honed makes parents less worried about disrupting their education if
they go back.

For money isn't everything. Mantas Adomenas, a star Lithuanian classical
scholar, studied at Oxford and Cambridge in the 1990s, writing a doctorate
on “Plato's reception of the pre-Socratic philosophers”. But after eight
years as a Cambridge don, he went home, taking a 75% pay cut to teach at
Vilnius University and campaign against corruption. His friends, he says,
chide him as a big fish in a small pond. He responds by quoting Plutarch,
who 20 centuries ago refused to join the brain drain to Athens “lest my
small city should become even smaller.”

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=672159
First human trafficking case in Ulster


By Deborah McAleese

09 December 2005
The first person to be charged in Northern Ireland with importing and
exploiting illegal immigrants is due to appear before Coleraine Magistrate's
Court today.

The 22-year-old man, believed to be Polish, was last night charged with
acting as a gangmaster. He was also charged with kidnapping, false
imprisonment and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

The charges are related to the alleged abduction and assault of another
Polish man in Co Antrim last week.

Two other 22-year-old men, also believed to be Polish, will also appear
before the court charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment and grievous
bodily harm with intent.

The men were arrested after a man was forcibly taken from the Bridge Bar
outside the town of Dunloy at lunchtime on Sunday, December 4.

A short time later, after police received a report of a disturbance at
Linenhall Street in nearby Ballymoney, officers "rescued" the alleged
victim.

The 22-year-old victim received a broken arm and several cuts during the
incident. He was then taken to the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine to be
treated for his injuries.

Following the attack police arrested three Polish men at a house in nearby
Victoria Street in Ballymoney.

Interpreters were brought in to question the men about the abduction and
assault.

On Tuesday, Inspector Noel Mitchell of Ballymoney PSNI said police have a
car in their possession which they believe was used by those involved in the
abduction.

He added that police did not believe the attack was sectarian or racially
motivated.

This is the first time anyone in Northern Ireland has been charged with
acting as a gang master.

Gang masters organise groups of itinerant workers for poorly paid and
hazardous jobs, often supplying poor accommodation, deducting wages and
charging for their services.

Last year the UK parliament introduced a new act to tackle gang master
operations.

The problem came under scrutiny following the death of 21 Chinese cockle
pickers who drowned in Morecambe Bay in north-western England last February.
Three Chinese people were charged with manslaughter and related offences.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/business/news/2005/12/08/38f0f870-36dd-478e-a93b\
-97f046c6f3c4.lpf

Migrant workers playing key role

MIGRANT workers contribute about £360 million annually to the economy of the
East of England and many businesses would struggle without the skills they
bring.

That was one of the key findings raised at a conference in Cambridge - but
delegates also heard many migrant workers lacked access to basic information
and services.

Between 50,000 and 80,000 migrant workers have arrived in the region in the
past five years, ranging from seasonal labourers to the highly educated,
according to research commissioned by the East of England Development Agency
(EEDA).

But their skills are not always fully utilised. One example is Jurij
Sverkov, a language teacher in his native Lithuania, who moved with his wife
and two-year-old son to Thetford.

He said: "I work as a night loader at a distribution depot near Newmarket. I
load lorries with parcels. But my profession is as a teacher. This is a
friendly country and everywhere I've worked I was treated well.

"I want to get a permanent position as a teacher and interpreter. I speak
Lithuanian, Russian and Polish."

He sees his future here but Adam Skwierawski, a 23-year-old Polish
university student, is less certain. Adam has a year out and is working in a
meat processing plant near Bury St Edmunds, while completing his master's
thesis.

Though attracted to the area as his mother studied in Cambridge, he said: "I
hope to develop myself whether it is in England, Poland, New Zealand or
Russia."

Ana Margarida Da Paz, living in Kenny Hill, near Mildenhall, said she
overcame some "bad experiences" with people being rude to her when she first
arrived from Portugal.

But the 35-year-old is now married and with a job as a cashier at
Mildenhall's American air base, and she is not intending to leave.

Many migrants work seasonally in the agri-business sector but patterns are
changing, according to Martin Collison, whose family firm near Wisbech makes
floral bouquets.

Also an EEDA rural policy adviser, he said: "Most migrant workers are
staying longer, taking on supervisory roles, making a career and bringing
over their families.

"Some have been with us three or four years and perform very well. But not
all employers treat them well."

He said pressure on supermarkets to show they were trading ethically, and
new legislation, should help address the problems.

Key objectives outlined by EEDA include improving access to information and
services such as education and healthcare, tackling the under-utilisation of
skills and carrying out more detailed research in sectors such as tourism
and catering, where migrant labour is clustered.

Zjednoczenie Polskie w Wielkiej Brytanii
Federation of Poles in Great Britain

Centralne Kolo
Cz³onkow Indywidualnych

zaprasza na spotkanie

z dr Janem Mokrzyckim
sroda 14 Grudnia
godz.19.30

Sala Bryd¿owa POSKLUBU

POSK, IV pietro

238-246, King Street, London W6 ORF


Wstêp: wolne datki

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=2359832005

Addicts warned as deadly morphine batch hits streets
ALAN MCEWEN
CRIME REPORTER
POLICE today warned that a batch of morphine thought to have been brought to
the Capital from Poland risked killing drug addicts.

Officers have discovered that ampoules of morphine hydrochloride are being
sold by drug dealers in the city.


The ampoules are designed to be injected, unlike most morphine dispensed in
Scotland, which is normally given to seriously ill cancer patients to drink.

The batch of the powerful drug is thought to have been smuggled into the
country from Poland.

They may originally have been issued for military use in the former Eastern
Bloc country.

Police are urgently trying to trace the rest of the morphine and issued a
warning that its effects could prove deadly.

They said the availability of morphine on the city's streets is highly
unusual and addicts looking for a fix may be unaware of its strength.

These ampoules bear the inscription Morphinum Hydrochlorum, WF2 POLFA,
20198, 1ml/20mg. The ampoule may also have a blue stripe around the neck.

Polfa is the name of a Polish pharmaceutical firm which specialises in
manufacturing morphine.

Officers from the Lothian and Borders force have yet to recover any of the
full ampoules and no overdoses have been reported so far.

But a police spokeswoman warned that injecting the doses of morphine could
prove deadly.

She added: "We have information that these ampoules are available in the
Edinburgh and surrounding area which is highly unusual as it's not common
for this drug to be in circulation.

"We are trying to trace where they have come from but would urge the general
public, especially drug users, about the potential dangers of taking these
ampoules including fatal overdoses."

The Polish population in the Capital has rocketed since the country joined
the EU in 2004 and it is estimated that around 8000 Poles are now living
here.

In November, a direct air link between the Capital and Krakow in Poland was
announced by budget airline SkyEurope.

The flights will operate twice a week from April next year. Edinburgh had a
thriving Polish population from the time of the Second World War, when the
defeated Polish army fled its homeland and many servicemen ended up in the
UK.

In April last year, a batch of heroin sold on Edinburgh streets was thought
to have killed three people and left a teenager seriously ill in hospital.

The first victim, a 20-year-old man, was discovered by his friend at a home
in Fort Street, Leith. Paramedics were called but it is understood the man
was declared dead at the scene.

The other two deaths, of a 41-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man, took
place in separate homes in Leith.

Detectives suspected the batch was either contaminated or is so pure that
addicts overdosed on what would be a regular amount.

Police said drug users should contact their GP if they have any health
concerns.

Related topic

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1910903,00.html

Road rage 'led to knife killing'

A driver chased a pedestrian on to a bus and stabbed him in the heart after
a road rage clash, a court was told.

Peter Kelly, 28, attacked Bartosz Dlugowszewski, 24, in front of passengers
and the driver last March, it was claimed at Southwark Crown Court. Mr
Dlugowszewski, from Poland, bled to death. CCTV footage showed that Mr Kelly
was “clearly in a rage” when he dealt the blow with a 9in knife, said
Michael Worsley, QC, for the prosecution. Mr Kelly almost hit the victim as
he drove in Bermondsey, South London. Mr Kelly then got out of his car and,
“howling with anger”, ran after Mr Dlugowszewski, who was boarding a bus. Mr
Kelly confronted him and said: “Do you want to die?”, Mr Worsley added. Mr
Kelly, from Rotherhithe, South London, denies murder. The trial continues.

http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200southlondonheadlines/tm_object\
id=15365883%26method=full%26siteid=50100-name_page.html#story_continue

Man killed at bus stop is named Apr 5 2005




South London Press


A POLISH man stabbed to death as he boarded a bus has been named.

Bartosz Dlugoszewski, 24, died from a knife wound to the chest after the
alleged attack in Jamaica Road, Bermondsey, on March 28.

His parents have since been traced to their native Poland and informed of
his death.

Detectives have charged jobless Peter Kelly, 27, with murder.

Kelly, of Chalfont House, Keeton Road, Rotherhithe, appeared at Tower Bridge
Magistrates' Court on Thursday and was remanded in custody to appear at the
Old Bailey on April 7.

Mr Dligowszewski, of Lawrence Road, South Tottenham, had been waiting to
catch a number 381 bus towards central London.



http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200southlondonheadlines/tm_object\
id=15649175%26method=full%26siteid=50100-name_page.html


Bus stabbing man in court Jun 21 2005







A JOBLESS man has denied stabbing a Polish man to death as he got on a bus.

Bartosz Dlugoszewski, 24, was about to board a 381 bus to central London on
March 28 when he was attacked. He was knifed in the chest at the bus stop in
Jamaica Road, Bermondsey, and died from his injuries.

Peter Kelly was charged with the murder of Mr Dlugoszewski, of Lawrence
Road, South Tottenham, and appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday by a video
link from Brixton jail.

The 27-year-old pleaded not guilty to murder and was remanded in custody by
Judge Christopher Moss. Kelly, of Chalfont House, Keeton Road, Rotherhithe,
was ordered to stand trial on December 5.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/333d3e72-66a1-11da-884a-0000779e2340,dwp_uuid=d4f2ab60-\
c98e-11d7-81c6-0820abe49a01.html

Unions in attack on EU’s draft services directive
>By Tobias Buck in Brussels
>Published: December 6 2005 21:42 | Last updated: December 6 2005 21:42
>>
Trade union leaders from eastern Europe on Tuesday attacked a plan to open
up the European Union’s services market to more cross-border competition,
arguing that workers in the new EU member states had as much to fear from
“social dumping” as their colleagues in the rich countries of western
Europe.

Their voice adds to the already powerful chorus of opponents to the EU draft
services directive, as the law moves closer towards final adoption.

Trade unions in western Europe have long been opposed to the plan, as are
some member states such as France. They fear that tearing down national
barriers to service providers will lead to an influx of cheap labour from
eastern Europe, and undermine social and labour standards.

The European Trade Union Confederation (Etuc), which claims to represent 60m
workers, said yesterday that such concerns were widely shared in both new
and old EU member states. Janusz Sniadek, president of Polish trade union
NSZZ Solidarnosc, said: “We would not want to introduce unfair competition
and social dumping in their host countries.”

He called on EU member states to raise social and labour standards
everywhere, rather than back a directive that would lead to “social
dumping”. Mr Sniadek added: “Any short-term profit that would be achieved as
a result of social dumping would be a long-term loss.”

The EU services directive seeks to dismantle the many obstacles to
cross-border trade faced by plumbers, consultants, hair dressers and
thousands of other professions. Business groups support the drive, claiming
it would raise economic growth and job creation in all EU member states.

The draft law was backed by a key committee of the European parliament last
month, paving the way for a vote in the full parliament early next year. The
services directive will then need the approval of EU member states before it
can take effect.

“If the law is adopted in its current form, far from creating a
level-playing field for service providers and raising standards across EU
member states, it will encourage unfair competition and undermine existing
workers’ rights and conditions,” John Monks, Etuc secretary-general, said on
Tuesday.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1c8dd4c6-6362-11da-be11-0000779e2340.html

UK seeks to keep working time opt-out
>By Sarah Laitner in Brussels
>Published: December 2 2005 18:52 | Last updated: December 2 2005 18:52
>>
Britain is to launch a fresh attempt at striking a European Union deal that
preserves its right to a culture of long working hours.

It is expected to call for member states to keep exemptions from a law
imposing a maximum 48-hour work week when EU employment ministers meet on
Thursday.

Britain, more than any other member state, allows employers in all sectors
of the economy to take advantage of the sensitive “opt-out” to the EU’s
working time directive, and considers it vital to protecting its economic
competitiveness.

But Britain faces opposition from domestic trades unions and other member
states, with France and Sweden leading calls for guaranteed exemptions to
end within 10 years of any agreed revision of the directive.

Britain is trying to reach a deal on the wide-ranging directive amid fears
of court challenges over the law.

The European Court of Justice has consistently found that “on call” hours
worked by employees such as doctors count towards the working week, even if
staff are not working.

Many countries flout the finding because of the extra costs and recruitment
it could demand. But fear of workers launching more legal challenges has led
to the latest attempt at a deal.

Some European officials also say that if there is no agreement on the
directive it could get caught up in fractious negotiations on the EU’s
budget.

Poland, which fears it could lose out under the budget deal, is one of the
UK’s strongest backers on working time. Tony Blair, the British prime
minister who is seeking to broker a budget deal, will be keen to retain
Polish support on working time.

Britain won its exemption to the directive, which is part of EU health and
safety laws, more than 10 years ago but there has been an inertia among
countries over change.

Jack Straw, British foreign secretary, last month told the European
parliament: “The working time directive is justified as being about health
and safety, and in part, it is. But rigid limits on total hours worked are
not the answer.” The European Commission in June called for opt-outs to end
by 2012, with countries to reapply to the EU executive for permission to
continue them.

The European parliament, which would have to approve any changes to a
British-led deal, has voted in favour of scrapping all exemptions.

>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,1656017,00.html

Poland's small farmers fear for the future

Expansion is the key to survival as subsidies rise but prices and profits
fall

Nicholas Watt in Krakow
Friday December 2, 2005
The Guardian


Stanislaw Wojcik has a secret he finds acutely embarrassing. Casting an eye
over rows of carefully-laid tomato plants on his windswept holding north of
Krakow, the farmer admits that he was far better off under the Communists.
"I earned enough money to build my house six times over," Mr Wojcik, 46,
says with an awkward smile as he recalls the mid-1980s, when Polish
vegetable farmers were free to sell all their produce on the open market
without outside competition. "I worked much less in those days - around six
months a year - and made much more money."

Poland's small farmers fear for the future

Expansion is the key to survival as subsidies rise but prices and profits
fall

Nicholas Watt in Krakow
Friday December 2, 2005
The Guardian


Stanislaw Wojcik has a secret he finds acutely embarrassing. Casting an eye
over rows of carefully-laid tomato plants on his windswept holding north of
Krakow, the farmer admits that he was far better off under the Communists.
"I earned enough money to build my house six times over," Mr Wojcik, 46,
says with an awkward smile as he recalls the mid-1980s, when Polish
vegetable farmers were free to sell all their produce on the open market
without outside competition. "I worked much less in those days - around six
months a year - and made much more money."


Article continues

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr Wojcik's admission goes to the heart of the debate among farmers - who
account for 18% of the workforce in the largest of the EU's new recruits -
about how much the country is gaining from the union. Brussels would like to
believe that Polish farmers, who have been showered with €2.6bn, are lining
the streets with the union's flags to express their gratitude.
Even Britain, Warsaw's historic European ally, is hoping new prime minister
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz will accept smaller EU structural funds when leaders
meet in Brussels this month to hammer out the next budget. Warsaw's
rejection this week of this proposal will please Poland's traditionally
Eurosceptic farmers, who still have ambivalent feelings about membership of
the EU.

Farmers agree that the common agricultural policy, which will dominate this
month's summit when Tony Blair demands a cut in subsidies in exchange for
reforming Britain's EU rebate, is a mixed blessing. The presence of John
Deere tractors, America's finest, in practically every farmyard around
Krakow shows Poles have benefited greatly from the aid offered to help
modernise the industry ahead of EU membership. "Several years ago I said I
would not take EU subsidies because I was afraid they would dry up," says
Marian Sleczka, 57, a pig farmer. "But I was able to buy the best tractor
because I got a 50% refund from the EU. It is a great deal."

But farmers insist there have been downsides to joining the CAP. Their chief
complaint is that they only receive 30% of "direct payments" - the cash
handed out per hectare of land - that go to farmers in older EU members.
Polish farmers will have to wait until 2013 to receive the same level of
"direct payments" as those in Germany.

This cuts little ice with Poles, who resent the way in which Germans are
free to flood Polish markets with cheap goods. Rafal Dudek, who farms 220
hectares (550 acres) in the shadow of the Communist-era Tadeusz Sendzimir
steel plant east of Krakow, blames cheap imports for a collapse in the price
of wheat.

"Before we entered the EU we could sell wheat for 550 zloty (£96) per tonne
with help from the government," he says. "Now the average price is 350 zloty
and the only support you get from the EU is 400 zloty a year for each
hectare. When I turn on the TV I am told I am making lots of money, and yet
the cheap imports mean I am losing money."

Small farmers, concentrated in the poorer east, are suffering, says Marian
Sleczk. "If you don't accept subsidies you will go bankrupt, because you
will not be able to compete with farmers who do. "This will eliminate small
farms because the EU only provides 50% of the funds in many cases, which
means you have to take out a bank loan to benefit."

The plight of small farmers, a real force in Poland where the average
holding is 7.5 hectares, may already be having a political impact. Lech
Kaczynski, winner in the recent presidential election, swept the board in
the east where small farmers lapped up a eurosceptic campaign. Donald Tusk,
his moderate opponent, came top in the west, where large farmers benefit
from the CAP.

Mr Wojcik, the guilty farmer who was richer in Communist days, says small
farmers are being forced to expand in order to survive in the CAP. In the
past three years his greenhouse space for tomatoes has grown from 2,000 to
8,000 square metres with the help of EU aid.

"I have doubled the production of tomatoes but my profit is down 20%. The EU
forces you to be big in order to survive." But he does not pine for a return
to Communism. "Of course it was easier in Communist times. But I am pleased
to be competing today, though we would would be much happier if we were
treated in the same way as the Germans, French and the Dutch. We are not
afraid of fair competition."

To the horror of Jacques Chirac, who regards the CAP as one of the EU's
greatest achievements, most Polish farmers would gladly do away with
subsidies. "Tony Blair is right," says Stanislaw Wykurz, a pig farmer near
Krakow. "We should all operate in a free market with no subsidies for
anybody."

Case study

Stanislaw Wojcik, 46, grows tomatoes in 8,000 sq m of greenhouses north of
Krakow

"My income has increased but my overall profit is down by 20% because of the
fall in the price of tomatoes, thanks to cheap German imports. I am also
having to pay off bank loans which paid for extra greenhouse space. I had to
expand to survive in the CAP."

Before EU membership

Average tomato price (zloty*/kg) 3.3

130 tonnes made (zloty) 429,000

After EU membership

Average tomato price (zloty/kg) 2.7

200 tonnes made (zloty) 540,000

*Zloty/sterling rate: 1 PLN = £0.17

http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1655754,00.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/01/db0101.xml&sShee\
t=/portal/2005/12/01/ixportal.html

http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=306609

Publican may face legal action over immigrants
Published on 28/11/2005

A PUB owner has been threatened with legal action in a bid to stop him
housing Polish immigrants in his basement.

The owner of the Lancastrian in Grange, Tony Entwistle, has been served with
an enforcement notice by planning chiefs.

He has five weeks to comply with the notice or face legal action.

The action follows claims Mr Entwistle has been housing 10 immigrants in a
basement under the pub in Fell Road, Grange.

But planning bosses say Mr Entwistle is breaching planning law by housing
the 10 men.

Mr Entwistle is understood to be considering applying to SLDC for planning
permission for the room to be used as a hostel.

He said: “These Polish nationals are hard working, legally employed, and pay
taxes — they spend money in the community and can’t afford to live anywhere
else in Grange.”

They are believed to be housed in a room with no windows, a single light,
but with facilities such as a microwave, a TV and a kettle.

The basement is understood to have once housed a swimming pool.

http://www.teesdalemercury.co.uk/teesdale-news/story,995.html

Last-ditch effort to save jobs at engineering firm
29 Nov 2005


MANAGEMENT, unions and staff are working together towards an 11th hour bid
to salvage jobs at an Evenwood company.

The Tinsley Group, better known locally as Evenwood Engineering, announced
last week that it is to shed 85 of its workforce in the week before
Christmas.

Now a last-ditch bid to secure at least a small number of those jobs lies in
the hands of overseas businesses whose contracts have been in the pipeline
for a number of weeks.

It is hoped some of those deals could be signed and sealed before Monday
next week.

Management and the GMB Union were due to meet today (Wednesday) to discuss
the job losses, possible voluntary redundancies, and to pinpoint exactly
which areas of the business could be affected.

Operations Director at the company, Duncan McDonald, said he was hopeful of
securing the deals, but wouldn't like to build up false hopes.

"By Monday we hope to mitigate the 85 losses by securing the contracts.

"These would be small but hopefully on-going contracts," he said.

And he emphasised that the losses by no mean pre-empted the closure of the
business.

"That quite simply doesn't appear in the company's plan. Every job is
important," he added.

The losses, being implemented so close to Christmas, will be felt greatly by
the local community, according to Teesdale District councillor John
Armstrong, who knows a number of families which would be affected.

"We are all very concerned about the situation. The jobs losses will have a
massive impact on the community.

"The district council is not in a position to help out financially, but we
will support the workforce in any way possible," he said.

"The broader outlook on the job losses in Teesdale, is a loss to the
community."

His concerns were echoed by staff and shopkeepers nearby.

During break-time, worker Alan Bailey said: "I think it has been on the
cards for the past two years and it's ever since Polish workers came to work
in Evenwood.

"Some people work 68 hours a week and we are being told to prepare for a
pay-off.

"It's not fair, whatever way you look at it, but we will just have to wait
and see what names come up."

Wendy Sword, from Lifestyle Express thinks business in the village will be
hit without trade from the workers.

She said: "Every day, most of the workers come into the shop and buy food
for their break but I think if they are making cuts it will have an effect
on us.

"Most of the workers who I have spoken to have been middle-aged lads, they
are not happy because it’s just before Christmas and they have families to
support and mortgages to pay."

Speaking for the GMB union which represents 100 of the workers at the
factory, Stephen Thomkins is aware that uncertainty over the next few days
could prove to be a difficulty on the site.

"This is a massive blow, just before Christmas. No individual knows who is
going to lose their jobs, neither do they know which departments will be
involved.

"As a union, we will protect them through thick and thin with a view to
securing their jobs and to gettting the best deal for them.

"People are in shock, but they are working round it," he said.

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=16425963&method=fu\
ll&siteid=50082&headline=scandal-of-the-polish-rapist-freed-to-rape-again-in-wal\
es---name_page.html

Tomos Livingstone, Western Mail

Polish rapist freed to rape again Nov 29 2005


THE Home Secretary is being asked to investigate after a Polish man with a
rape conviction travelled to Wales to look for work, and raped again.

Josef Zygmunt Kurek, 41, was jailed for life yesterday after the judge at
Swansea Crown Court described him as a danger to women.

The court heard he was left with a serious antisocial personality disorder
after being left chained to a wall for eight hours a day by his father when
he was a child.

Kurek left Poland after serving a nine-year sentence there for raping a
policeman's daughter, having also served four years for another sex offence.

After settling near Llanelli he brutally raped a terrified 25-year-old woman
in her own home.

In court yesterday Judge Christopher Morton expressed exasperation at
difficulties in getting details of Kurek's past sex offences.


He asked the prosecutor for details of Kurek's offending in Poland but was
told the Crown Prosecution Service had been able to get few details from
Interpol.


Politicians said last night the case raised questions over the level of
vetting of immigrants from states such as Poland, which joined the EU in May
last year.


Tory MP David Jones said, "The difficulty is that the more freedom of
movement, the more likely it is this sort of thing is going to happen.


"We didn't impose any threshold in terms of time before people were allowed
to come here from Poland. It's inherent that the bigger the EU becomes the
more of a problem this becomes.


"If someone has a criminal record there ought to be a mechanism in place to
ensure he is kept tabs on in this country. This is an absolutely horrific
case."


The Clwyd West MP last night wrote to Home Secretary Charles Clarke asking
him to investigate and explain what safeguards there were to monitor sex
offenders from new EU states.


Mr Clarke - or, more likely, his successor - will have to decide whether
Kurek is deported after serving his sentence.


Plaid Cymru AM Helen Mary Jones said, "If we can have economic co-operation
surely we should also have co-operation over the safety of women and
children.


"In this country people who have committed sex offences and who want to go
to other countries have to inform the police who can then inform the country
of travel.


"I would like that arrangement to be mutual throughout the EU. This offence
sounds horrific and it is very, very worrying that the authorities knew
nothing of this man's past."


Bearded Kurek admitted rape and was jailed for life yesterday.


Swansea Crown Court heard that, as well as serving a jail sentence for the
rape conviction in Poland, Kurek had also served a four-year jail term there
for an attempted rape.


Mark Spackman, prosecuting, said Kurek arrived in Wales in September 2004,
hoping to make enough money to buy a house back in his native Poland.


He got a job at a plant hire firm run by businessman Dudley Prosser and
rented a cottage, Brooklyn, at Capel Seion.


On August 19 last year he began drinking heavily at a party thrown by Mr
Prosser, then went to a disco in nearby Cross Hands before briefly returning
to the party.


But Kurek left the party once again soon afterwards and it was then that he
attacked the woman in her home.


Mr Spackman said yesterday, "In the early hours of that following morning
Kurek broke into a house where a woman woke to find him standing in her
bedroom doorway.


"Kurek went downstairs and the woman followed, thinking he had left the
house and hoping to lock her doors.


"But he was still downstairs and subjected her to a terrifying ordeal,
attempting to strangle her and banging her head on the floor as well as
raping her."


The woman lost consciousness but came round to find Kurek had taken off the
nightclothes she had been wearing.


She spent 10 days in hospital recovering from her injuries.


Dyfed Thomas, Kurek's barrister, said his client had been diagnosed as
suffering from an antisocial personality disorder which, he said, was
difficult to treat.


Between the ages of nine and 15, he added, Kurek had suffered at the hands
of his father who kept him chained to a cellar wall for eight hours a day.


Judge Morton said Kurek was dangerous and would remain so for some time. He
ruled that Kurek could not apply for parole before serving at least five
years.

http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1650025,00.html#article_continue


I picked up a review of a fictional account called "Churchil's Triumph"
in the Guardian whichmay prove interesting reading to some of our members.


Poles apart

Michael Dobbs's Churchill's Triumph proves that Britain's war time leader
makes a fine literary hero, says Edward Pearce

Saturday November 26, 2005
The Guardian

Churchill's Triumph
by Michael Dobbs
341pp, Headline, £17.99
How do you delight the profit-maximising big retailers while at the same
time writing something dark and moving? Michael Dobbs knows how. The
creator, in House of Cards, of the notorious fictional villain Francis
Urquhart, has completed his tetralogy about a fictionalised hero, Winston
Churchill, with Churchill's Triumph

We are in Yalta for the February 1945 conference of victors. Roosevelt is
demonstrating his country's familiar mastery of a foreign policy rich in
high technology and low understanding, brightly conceding conqueror's rights
in Poland to Stalin, believing that undertakings on paper will govern tanks
on streets. Stalin squeezes, cajoles and explodes, but chiefly flatters the
dying Roosevelt as a fellow anti-imperialist. Churchill, despite the
euphoric counsel of an FO lordling bubbling with Blairish rapture at Stalin,
the man of power, sees only calamity.


Article continues

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Though sparing novel readers a bibliography, Dobbs knows his sources
(Milovan Djilas's incomparable Conversations with Stalin is here, right down
to the pepper vodka and the dictator's white-spotted Dunhill pipe). But the
dialogue is his own: good, clean, moving briskly and underpinned by the
record, it conveys historical truth. Churchill blusters and writhes, deeply
unhappy, while Roosevelt, as limp as lettuce towards the millionaire of
murder across the table, is sanctimonious and aggrandising by pitiful turns.
If they didn't talk like this, they should have.
Yalta takes its wretched course. Poland was probably lost anyway, Stalin
holding the nine points of possession. But Roosevelt, pursuing complacency
at Yalta to the point of abjection, indicated the ease with which the whole
of eastern Europe might be dropped into the People's Democratic sack. As for
Poland, it suffered all the horrors. Dobbs writes about the country with
tight passion, transferring to his fictional village, Piorun, the rape,
murder, and savage enforcement by Germans and Russians which, so far away
and so little regarded, actually happened. The old women weeping, the houses
burned down, the bodies left promiscuously on the street are history set out
for the attention of novel-readers, memorable instruction in human grief.

More tricky is the fictional Marian Nowak, survivor of the Katyn massacre of
Polish officers, who turns up as a plumber at the Vorontsov Palace (bugged
British HQ) to win the vital compassion of Frank Sawyers, Churchill's
real-life valet. Nowak's adventures, escapes and masquerading are not
far-fetched. Wars are scattered with the free-range valour (and luck) of
brave men moving amid the slaughter. He is a well-realised character,
fearless, unreasonable, impossible, very Polish (an exasperated Churchill
begs him to be "the first Pole in history not to jump to conclusions"). But
he is also a narrative mechanism. Nowak is there to chronicle ordinary
people's suffering and relay intelligence about Russian and American
purposes. Depressed by the miserable drift of the conference, Churchill
listens and is alerted.

So far, so furiously told and compelling. But the novel concludes with the
Pole turning up, 18 years later, on Churchill's yacht. This is one survival
too many, an improbable ghost come to reproach the old man and provoke him
into a defence of his conduct. This is the "triumph", arguable history and,
after such fine story-telling, oddly didactic. But no matter, Churchill's
Triumph is a thinking man's bestseller; not many of those.

Edward Pearce is editor of Charles Greville's Diaries (Pimlico).

· To order Churchill's Triumph for £16.99 with free UK p&p call Guardian
book service on 0870 836 0875

The economy can only benefit from eastern European labour, writes Heather
Stewart

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1651451,00.html

Migrant workers: don't we love them?

The economy can only benefit from eastern European labour, writes Heather
Stewart

Sunday November 27, 2005
The Observer


From Polish plumbers to Slovak nurses, almost 200,000 of Europe's newest
citizens have seized the chance to work in Britain since May last year. But
a report by Labour's favourite think-tank, the Institute of Public Policy
Research, says that, far from being overrun by a tide of workers from the
east, we may find there will be too few low-skilled immigrants to meet the
economy's needs.
The Home Office announced a radical shake-up of the immigration system in
July, amid a flurry of tough language, and is expected to publish its final
plans in February. The central proposal is a new points-based scheme to
select higher-skilled workers, with a skills advisory board to help to
determine the sectors where there are particular shortages.

At the bottom end of the pay scale, however, the government believes Poland,
the Czech Republic and the other accession countries will prove a plentiful
source of staff. In a report obtained exclusively by The Observer, the
institute says the Home Office may be wrong.

Its criticisms of the points system echo those of a strongly-worded report
from the Royal Society of Arts last week, which said the planned points
system was 'strangely reminiscent of South Africa's apartheid regime, with
skill level replacing skin colour'. The RSA's Migration Commission said the
government's policy 'imposes intolerable levels of abuse on migrant
workers'.

The institute suggests the Home Office may have shyed away from opening
channels for low-skilled workers, for fear of a political backlash.

'Highly-skilled migration is generally politically popular, and has been a
relatively easy policy for politicians to "sell" to electorates. Immigration
of low-skilled workers is often opposed because it is believed that they
present an extra source of competition in an already low-paid part of the
economy.'

Danny Sriskandarajah, the institute's head of migration policy, says that is
not necessarily true. Early evidence from the agricultural sector, for
example, shows that so far there has been increased job growth since the
accession countries joined the EU, accompanied by only slightly slower wage
growth.

Britain has been more generous than its continental neighbours in granting
members of the new European states the right to work here, under the
'Workers Registration Scheme', in exchange for a £50 cheque. The many who
have arrived have spread widely across the country, and are employed in a
far broader range of jobs than the stereotype of the Polish plumber
suggests.

But, despite screaming tabloid headlines about the influx of immigrants from
the former Soviet Union, the institute says that, for two reasons, there may
not be enough arrivals from the accession countries.

First, the stream of migrants from the new member-states could slow down.
Analysis by the institute shows - perhaps not surprisingly - that the poorer
the country, the more likely are its citizens to head west in search of a
better life.

But for many of these economies, the future is bright. City investors and
economists point to the leaps and bounds achieved by Greece, Spain and
Portugal since their own accession to the EU the 1980s. As the economic gap
narrows in the years ahead, the supply of footloose workers willing to
uproot themselves and head for the UK is likely to slow.

Second, the institute does not agree that low-skilled workers will be any
less necessary in the shiny new hi-tech, knowledge-based, service sector
economy which the government hopes is Britain's future.

Research does suggest that those at the low end of the skill spectrum, with
less education, struggle more as the economy develops towards hi-tech
production. Many firms have already acted to slash their cost base by
outsourcing some of the less hi-tech parts of their operations to cheaper
countries such as China and India - but not every menial task can be
outsourced.

'Certain jobs, such as cleaning, are not directly affected by technological
progress because they are non-routine. Equally, while many low-skilled jobs,
such as those in manufacturing, can be exported, others cannot - it is
impossible to provide nursing care, cut someone's hair, or clean an office
remotely,' the report says.

And the risk of ignoring the economy's need for a flexible, simple entry
route for low-skilled workers is that it could create a 'vicious spiral' as
employers go to the black economy to find staff, creating a false perception
that there is no shortage of low-skilled workers, and at the same time
increasing public suspicion of immigration.

'Unsatisfied demand for low-skill domestic workers will, in the absence of
legal channels, be met by undocumented workers.'

A Home Office spokesman said that the new system would be flexible enough to
allow low-skilled migrants to come to Britain, but Sriskandarajah said that
was unrealistic. 'I don't think we can expect the local café owner to say,
"I can't find a waiter" and approach the skills advisory board.'

Labour Home Secretaries are always keen to sound tough on immigration. But
the institute's analysis suggests that unless Charles Clarke is willing to
open the gates to the poor, as well as the rich, he may actually be
increasing the chance of a thriving black market in illegal workers.

http://www.blackpoolonline.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=63&ArticleID=126559\
4

Unions seek out immigrant staff
EASTERN European workers across the Fylde are being helped to get the same
rights as their British counterparts.
Amicus, the county's largest private sector union, is recruiting dozens of
Polish workers in the North West to ensure they are employed under the same
terms as British colleagues.
As revealed in The Gazette earlier this month, it is estimated there are
around 3,000 former Soviet Bloc workers in Blackpool, with some working 120
hours a week and others earning just £2.50 an hour.
But union leaders are now speaking to Polish workers on the Fylde to try and
get them union recognition so their pay and conditions will match that of
the thousands of other workers here.
The total number of Polish migrants arriving in the North West over the last
two years was more than 5,000 and this figure is expected to double over the
next five years.
Many have headed to Blackpool and this summer season saw thousands manning
stalls on the Promenade and taking seasonal posts at attractions.
Tomasz Laskowski, a national organiser from the Polish Trade Union,
Solidarnosc, is helping Amicus regional officers to identify pockets of
Polish workers on the Fylde who are not represented by trade unions,
encouraging them to join Amicus.
Kevin Coyne, Amicus' North West regional secretary, said: "We're here to
support Polish migrant workers and ensure they are not faced with problems
such as pay below the agreed hourly rates within industries and poor terms
and conditions.
"Our commitment to organise in these sectors will encourage migrants to gain
confidence to challenge exploitation in their workplaces.
"It will also prevent employers using migrant labour to undercut hard fought
pay and conditions and health and safety standards in the UK.
"We're pleased with the excellent assistance we have received from Tomasz
and we believe his interaction with polish workers will help to protect
migrant workers in North West companies.
"We're confident this will encourage more migrant workers to join Amicus and
become part of the workforce."
24 November 2005

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a3ca5906-5d8a-11da-be9c-0000779e2340.html

Union urges end to exploitation of Polish migrants
>By Andrew Taylor,Employment Correspondent
>Published: November 25 2005 02:00 | Last updated: November 25 2005 02:00 -
>Financial Times
>>
The head of one of the biggest unions has written to Kazimierz
Marcinkiewicz, the Polish prime minister, detailing illegal wage deductions
and other abuses against immigrant Polish workers by employers and
recruitment agencies.

Union leaders have be-come increasingly concerned that some employers are
using foreign workers to undercut British wages.

Tony Woodley, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union,
yesterday called on Mr Marcinkiewicz to put pressure on the UK government to
extend controls on gangmasters to the food processing industry and to give
temporary workers the same employment rights as full-time staff.

The T&G wrote to Mr Marcinkiewicz ahead of his visit yesterday to Tony
Blair. The union said: "Too many employers seem intent on denying workers
from Poland, and elsewhere, their rights and systematically exploit them to
lower business costs."

Polish workers account for almost 60 per cent of the 293,000 east Europeans
who have applied to work in Britain since their countries joined the
European Union last year. Mr Woodley said: "Although they are working in the
UK legitimately, we are finding that they are being denied the basic
employment rights fellow citizens across the EU are supposed to enjoy."

In one case, 10 Polish workers were paying £50 each a week for a seat on a
minibus to take them to a food plant, even if they had no work that day,
said the union. The gangmaster was making £500 a week just for getting them
to work.

In another instance, 10 Polish agency workers were charged £40 a week each
to share a two-bedroom house. The contract with the agency was terminated
after the union intervened and the employer, a meat pro-cessing factory,
employed the workers directly.

Mr Woodley said: "The lack of enforcement of the law by the appropriate UK
authorities means that the abuse and mistreatment these workers . . is
widespread yet undetected and certainly unpunished."

>

TOPAZ members are invited to a meeting organised by the Polish Media Issues
Group
with Aleksander Kropwiwnicki., the Press attache of the Polish embassy
Saturday,3.12.05 at 4.00pm.  in POSK.
probably in the Federation of Poles Offices.



>From: "Jan Niechwiadowicz" <jan_niechwiadowicz@...>
>Reply-To: Polish_Media_Issues@...
>To: Polish_Media_Issues@...
>Subject: [Polish_Media_Issues] Re: Meeting with Aleksander Kropwiwnicki.,
>the Press attache of the Polish embassy
>Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2005 13:28:46 -0000
>
>Andrzej,
>
>Please invite along other TOPAZ members.
>
>Current Andrzej, Halina Szulakowska, Chris Dziadul, George Matlock
>and me will be at the meeting with Jan Mokrzycki hoping to make it.
>
>Regards
>
>Jan Niechwiadowicz
>
>
>

ITV1 Friday 25 November 2005, 20.00 hours

http://www.itv.com/listings/Programme.aspx?itvregion=london&itvpackage=dt&itvgen\
re=0&prognum=181&episode=791151&scheduleid=7237382&channeldate=25/11/2005&channe\
lid=LON

Tonight with Trevor McDonald

       Linda Duberley reports on how Polish immigrants, who helped solve
Britain's plumbing crisis, are now filling thousands of other job vacancies,
and meets the East European graduates who are moving here to become bus
drivers, porters and cleaners

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1648574,00.html

Poles top list for work applications in Britain after EU expansion

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Wednesday November 23, 2005
The Guardian


More than 290,000 eastern Europeans have applied to work in Britain since
Poland, the Czech Republic and six other countries joined the EU in May last
year, according to official figures published yesterday.
The latest figures on the workers' registration scheme for migrants from the
new EU states show that a further 59,000 applied to work in Britain this
summer. But nearly half are in temporary jobs and are expected to leave
Britain.

Nearly 170,000 of the 293,000 who have applied to work in Britain come from
Poland, 40,000 from Lithuania, 31,000 from Slovakia, 20,000 from Latvia and
17,000 from the Czech Republic. More than 80% of registered workers are
earning between £4.50 and £5.99 an hour. Most of them are single men aged 18
to 34 and they fill labour shortages across Britain, with fewer than
one-fifth based in London.
Most are in low-skilled manual trades, with the largest single group
described as "process operative" (or factory worker). The other most common
jobs are kitchen workers, packers, warehouse operatives, cleaners,
farmworkers and waiters. Only 110 Polish people gave their occupation as
plumbers when they registered.

But the immigration minister, Tony McNulty, said that the new European
workers were already contributing to the success of the UK economy, paying
tax and filling key jobs.

The statistics also show that removals of failed asylum seekers rose by 12%
in the last three months, but Home Office ministers admitted they would miss
the deportation target. Mr McNulty said yesterday that he expected the
target would be met in February, two months late.

Iranians are now the largest single group of new asylum seekers in Britain,
followed by Eritreans, Chinese and Somalis.

The shadow home secretary, David Davis, said that the figures showed that
the government was not delivering on asylum despite its repeated promises to
sort out the "shambles".