Poland is surrounded by countries with nuclear power plants, warns the Catholic conservative NASZ DZIENNIK on the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

The daily counts that there are six reactors in the Czech Republic, nine in Slovakia, fifteen in Ukraine and sixteen in Germany, not forgetting one which is being built by the Russians in the Kaliningrad enclave bordering Poland, and which is expected to feed the power grid by 2015. The daily writes that since the Fukushima blast in Japan, governments, such as Germany’s, are starting to turn their backs to nuclear power, while Russia is going full-steam ahead with its Baltic nuclear ambitions. Currently Russia has 33 reactors, with six under construction. According to NASZ DZIENNIK, however, one third should be shut down, as their construction is faulty and could result in another Chernobyl.

DZIENNIK GAZETA PRAWNA writes that this year Poles will spend almost 9 billion zloty (2.3 billion euro) on making their gardens look pretty. And not without reason, as the daily believes that for every zloty spent on the garden, the return could be over twice that amount when it would come to selling. Poles have taken to gardens, terraces and balconies by storm, with gardening now being seen more as an investment, not a pastime. In Japan, a well-tended garden can increase property sales by as much as 24 percent, the daily informs. DZIENNIK GAZETA PRAWNA writes that in Poland, there are around 4,500 privately-owned garden centres as well as 280 large-area DIY and gardening retailers, with a further 80 planned to open this year alone. With over 3 million detached housing units across Poland, the average Pole spends around 76 US dollars on making their surroundings look pretty. This is still far behind the Swedes, French and Germans, however, who spend an average of 250, 221, and 162 US dollars a year on their gardens. This is balance out soon, however, as the gardening retail sector in Poland is growing at 4 percent, while in the global average stands at 1.8 percent.

GAZETA WYBORCZA announces the arrival of funeral planning in Poland. Want to choose the music for your ceremony? No problem. Only want vegetarian food at your wake? Leave it to us. Or rather to 25-year-old Marek Zmysłowski from Wroclaw, who received 678,000 zloty (172,000 euro) in start-up capital from Trinity Adventure, an incubator in the south-western city, to get his business going. The company is online, and to make sure your funeral goes to plan, all you have to do is fill in the relevant boxes and upload some photographs. You can pay up front or in instalments, writes GAZETA WYBORCZA, adding that for as little as 10 zloty (2.5 euro) a month you can even choose your burial plot in the local cemetery. The company is active in most major cities across Poland, and follows on from trends already seen in the USA, Germany, the UK and France, where personalised funerals have become all the rage, the daily writes.

Polish banks are not striving for customers, writes the daily PULS BIZNESU, which publishes a poll by PBS/DGA. The survey reveals that over the past 12 months, 57 percent of Poles have not been contacted by any bank with offers for accounts, mortgages, and other products. 67 percent of those polled did not have any loan taken out, while 24 percent of respondents only held one credit. Furthermore, writes the daily, 25 percent said that they did not have a bank account at all. PULS BIZNESU writes that the banking sector is already saturated, and banks are concerned with stealing clients away from other banks, rather than concentrating on new ones. Figures show that people without bank accounts have a low income anyway, so there’s nothing much to gain from these new clients, the daily remarks. (jb)