Bangkok Barry

Most murders, and sexual assault of kids often by teachers, is committed by Thais. not Brits. Someone was murdered for 20 baht last week. Be careful out there.

If you haven't used Windows for over a decade then perhaps you are not the best qualified to comment on it. During that 10 years I've had zero problems with it. In that time it's improved, same as any IT product.

I have done a Wise transfer from HSBC UK to Bangkok Bank on this Saturday morning, and the money arrived in 10 seconds, according to them. So, business as usual. For me at least.

I've been to 35 countries and never found the build up a bill you might be unable to pay system. The nearest is Dubai, where I am asked when I order my first drink if I'll be ordering more, and if so they start a cc tab in their system. Otherwise I pay there and then. And this is about bars, not restaurants. Would you expect to be charged for each course as it came? Of course not. That's an entirely different environment. Some do get drunk in bars, some do lose track of what they are spending. Not so in restaurants. If staff can't be motivated or can't be bothered to collect money for drinks served then perhaps they are in the wrong business. Not taking money takes laziness to an extreme. I mean, it's so hard, isn't it.

In the past week in the land of smiles, among other incidents we've had the son of a family known to us attacked by a neighbour because smoke from stuff he was burning blew into the neighbour's garden, a teacher of Buddhism killing because of noise from cutting the grass, and another killed because he wouldn't give the killer 20 baht. Just saying. Absolutely anything can get you killed here.

Okay. The rest of the world has it wrong, as staff collecting payment is a waste of resources.

Why do I suspect that the Thai economy is in dire straits? Taxing expats pensions, talk of raising VAT, taxing goods coming into the country, bringing in the tourist tax. Signs of panic, methinks.

What the heck does that mean? Can you translate for us who speak 'old' English.

So, so many posts in this thread that have absolutely no relevance to his court conviction.

It isn't a case of being vindictive. It's repeated contempt of court and the legal process. He was already warned, I think, 10 times during the trial, and there are penalties for not recognising the authority of the court.

Sentencing is going to be very interesting. Trump has hardly endeared himself by accusing the judge of being corrupt, calling his trial rigged and a witch hunt, refusing to accept the verdict of the jury who agreed his guilt so quickly it caught everyone by surprise, continuing to refuse to acknowledge that he did anything wrong at all. No humility, no apology, only ranting against the American legal system and the judge that will sentence him. He just can't keep his ignorant mouth shut, and he is going to pay for that.

I have no idea what 'eat the headline' means. I read the headlines, and then I read what follows, and in this case what followed was a report that after leaving the bar one friend pushed the other and he fell into the road. It may have been in fun. We don't know as the witness doesn't say. But pushing a friend in jest isn't unusual, and in this case the injured man lost his balance, possibly helped by the fact he was drunk. There was a reported altercation at the bar, but that did not lead as the headline says to the victim being hit by a car in the street. They were two separate incidents involving quality tourists that Thailand is so skilled at attracting.

Interesting that some on this thread say that, although he knowingly broke Thai law, they should just let him go. Says a lot about some of the readership.

Because he had broken the law perhaps?

There is no difference. Just repeating exactly the same. When they originally posted the story I said we now had to be prepared for weeks of delay waiting for anything from overseas as we can be sure they won't employ more customs officials for the added checks and paperwork, and planning to get private businesses to use their resources to be unpaid tax collectors is a non-starter. The Post Office does that now, but they are part of the government. Another idea dreamed up by someone with the mind of a child, unable to think things through.