Prickly to a fault

摘要

Poland is a country that foreigners criticise at their peril. Even the mildest mention of habitual unpunctuality, brusque telephone manners or bad roads can prompt a lengthy and emotional review of the outside world's insensitive and ignorant attitude to the country's tragic history. Never forget that the country was divided up between three foreign powers (in the late 18th century, admittedly, but the wound remains livid). Remember that Polish heroism in blocking the Bolshevik advance into Europe, in the 1921 battle known as the "miracle of the Vistula", stopped communism marching westwards.