AP Photo

A Polish friend, who grew up in south London, laments that the recent wave of Polish migrants to Britain has played havoc with his morning commute. Not, he says, because of the sheer numbers of Poles now using public transport, but because “10 or 15 years ago, you used to be able to sit on a bus and listen in on the most intimate conversations between Polish people. They would share all sorts of indiscretions and talk in loud voices because they thought nobody else could understand them.