There happens to be a national railway company in Hungary called MÁV. As one could guess, it takes care of the passenger railway traffic in Hungary. But in addition it has ability to provide some added value to its customers. I have been using its services almost every month during these two years. So, let me share some of the highlights.

I start with the quality of the tracks. Not only some of the tracks are wobbly and therefore prevent trains using their full speed, but the power lines have also some issues. On Friday there was a black out after Hatvan so we had to change train. The second train had a diesel engine and we were able to continue traveling towards Miskolc. I was lucky as I used normal fast train because afterwards I was told that the next Inter City train was stuck for more than an hour and the conductor was not able to inform customers at all.

Last year I had similar experience while traveling towards Budapest in the late evening. I don't know whether train's engine broke down or was it a problem with power lines. In this case people were sitting in the pitch black train around half an hour until they decided to take a bus. I had no clue how far we were from Budapest but finally I ended up to my flat. In these both cases I received information from fellow passengers who were able to speak English or German - thank you once again. There is no announcements in the train at all in such cases.

But there is at least one thing which is taken care by MÁV. Heating works very well in train cars. No matter whether it is sunny summer day or cold winter - heating works. In some cars there is also air conditioning but the heating is still happily warming freezing people. Because of this heating dilemma windows are all the time open and naturally this causes train cars are very noisy. Ear plugs recommended.

Then once I had a problem getting out from train. But this problem was not because of MÁV. There was a man blocking a doorway with his drunken and passed out body. The sliding door was simply stuck and I had to push and kick that door with some serious effort. So, if you happen to be Hungarian alcoholic who has habit to pass out in train - now you know how come you received those bruises.

But instead of just suffering one can experience heroic moments, too. On the way to Miskolc I was waiting at the doorway and there is a toilet next to the exit. A man went in to that toilet and after some time I started to hear banging. First I though that poor sob has had too spicy food lately but then I saw the real reason as the handle of the toilet fell on the floor. I took the handle and I opened the toilet's door. Poor guy could not get out and he was really happy when I let him out.

This book got my attention at the book shop immediately. Immigration is interesting topic and raises plenty of opinions. I am sort of an immigrant myself as I relocated to another country to work, this was rather a must to buy book.

Author tries to take an objective view point when he explains reasons, history and consequences of immigration. As the topic suggests, he is telling how benefits of immigration outdo disadvantages in long run. Most of his proofs are economical data and research. This gives credibility to his claims but on the other hand some pages were boring when filled with financial data.

The book covers many aspects of immigration. Brain drain, decline of wages, illegal immigration, border control, cultural conflicts etc. As the book was published in 2007 it also covers recent events in the UK and elsewhere. Despite of the conflicts he remains to keep his optimistic viewpoint. But we can read from news that there are open issues for which he does not provide instant solution.

Naturally, he emphasizes the importance of integrating immigrants to the society. But, interestingly, he also recommends that countries should make it easier for immigrants to come and leave. Because in many cases immigrants cannot return easily if they return to their home country, they are sort of forced to stay. And if they are not able to integrate in to the society, there will be problems. If not caused by them, then by their children who become rootless and they wont find their place.

One of the countries he uses as an example is Canada. This came to me as a surprise because I have not heard any immigration related news from Canada. From USA we hear about border control and new laws, Sweden has its own ghetto cities and France with its burning cars. But somehow Canada has managed to absorb good number of immigrants without having such problems. Another successful example was Israel as they suddenly received huge number of jews from ex-Soviet Union.

If I take a look in the Finnish news and public opinion about immigration the picture is somewhat mixed. Most of the people are welcoming immigrants if they are hard working and behave nicer than finns. But any other kind of immigrants or even worse - asylum seekers - are not seen anyhow useful. Actually, I do not know for sure whether it is possible for refugees to work in Finland. But Finland is not really attractive place for immigrants either. Difficult language, cold weather and culture are typical factors repelling skilled professionals.

I found this book interesting despite having sometimes a lot of numerical data. The book is clearly supporting less stricter immigration laws and immigration itself. The author has optimistic but realistic approach to this topic and he is not trying to make everybody happy. I can recommend this to people who want to see one more view point.