Poles In The North
How many new Polish immigrants are now living in and around Inverness? Well, according to this week's edition of Action Scotland, your guess is as good as mine. The only official estimate is based on the numbers who claimed welfare benifits (about 1900) but those who provide support for Polish people in the Highlands suggest the figure may be nearer seven thousand.
The Action Scotland programme posed a lot of tough questions. Why, for instance, don't more Polish people learn English before they come here looking for work? Why do they choose to stay here when they struggle to make ends meet? Why doesn't the Scottish Executive have a better plan in place to support new immigrants?
Producer Suzy Beaumont - who is based in Inverness - tells me that the programme was difficult to make because she had trouble tracking down any Poles who could speak English. She also had difficulty confirming tales of Polish immigrants sleeping rough in the middle of road roundabouts and other unlikely places.
The programme highlighted the work of Zosia Fraser who has become something of a one-woman lifeline for the Poles who come to the the Highlands because they've been attracted by stories that Scotland welcomes new talent and new blood.
The reality, it seems, is very different.
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