Poland in the EU

Due to the economic crisis Poles and other Central Europeans are no longer flocking to work in the UK.

The latest numbers from the Home Office show that in the first three months of 2009 23,000 new workers arrived, half as much as the previous year and 1/3 of the records from 2006 (all data here). This is of course not nothing, but obviously the big wave is over.

I have to say, this was a phenomenon which in my opinion changed Poland and Poles for the next decades. So many people versed in British culture, in the English language has got to make a difference. Places like Scotland or Wales used to be far away and unknown. Now they have Polish papers, Polish radio stations etc.

I hope we copy some of the great things about the UK: political culture (minus the latest scandals), journalism and media, universities. And of course that we manage to avoid some of the bad ones: food, teenage pregnancies and excessive drinking (yes, statistics and street observation shows the Brits drink much more than the Poles).

Hey Brits, thank you for having us, you were great sports about it.