retarius

No, simply a question of preparedness and timing. When compulsory insurance was announced for people on long stay visas several years back, there was a lot of confusion about who it would apply to. I thought it might apply to me, so I checked out the cost of insurance. I was horrified at the prices and poor coverage (I have a lot of pre-existing conditions and lots of expensive meds). It turned out in the end that compulsory insurance did not apply to non O visa holders who sought annual extensions, only to non O-A visa holders. To be clear I self insure, I use private hospitals and shell out whatever they ask for in payment. I buy medicines online to try to save a bit of money as private hospitals often charge a fortune for drugs that can be obtained elsewhere at significant discounts. Understand?

I understand my wife's Thai really quite well and in general my understanding is much better than my speaking or writing. When I first came here I took lessons and learned too read and write (I was advised to do so). It was not difficult, as I can speak other languages EU and Asian. What I found difficult was the pronunciation, and therefore speaking, maybe as my hearing has declined as I have aged. This doesn't pose a problem in the family setting as they are used to me mangling their language, but in shops and other settings my speaking begets zero comprehension from Thais and is useless. Note I tried two different teachers....and part of the reason is that one is taught Bangkok, hi-so Thai, whereas I live in Issan where everyone has strong accents which are difficult to follow.

Sort out the pollution in your own country, instead of trying to deflect the issue and dragging Cambodia into it. Sort out the problems here and jail vile polluters and field burners to stop the problem then, and only then, talk to Cambodia.

This is not a healthy sign. Although folk rant on about tourism and agriculture and whether Thailand is the top rice exporter, quietly the manufacturing sector employs only about 10% of employed persons, occupies over 50% of GDP, and is the main driver of GDP growth, or lack thereof. The outlook isn't good, and diversifying into other low wage paying sectors isn't going to help much. How many Chinese tourists does it take to make the same profit as an exported car?

Reminds me of the old saying attributed to Cardinal Richelieu to someone saying that such and such was a tragedy, and he replied, 'No, it's a mistake". Whatever the rights and wrongs here, the decision of the authorities is a huge mistake. They will never mollify the people who feel they have been robbed and that their vote has been nullified if they proceed with this vindictive campaign against MF.

The only count that matters is nuclear warheads.

I don't think their is a best policy for ex-pats. Individual ex-pats will have different needs and different financial positions. Some, like myself, do not need insurance because we can self-insure. Insurance companies are in business to make a profit. The best thing about them is their accepting premiums from you...their service is great there. The worst thing about them usually is paying out in full when you have a claim. None of the insurance companies here offer what I'm looking for, which is a policy for older folk who have pre-existing conditions at a reasonable price. I don't mind a large deductible, but I don't want a large deductible and small per diem allowances for in-hospital stays, which is what all policies I reviewed offered.

I can't help feeling that people in positions of authority who abuse the trust placed in them, need punishing much harder than kids who smoke dope or deal it, or ordinary citizens that pick mushrooms in National Parks. Surely this fellow will be moved to an inactive post or transferred. He should be publicly flogged and put in prison for a decade with monsters, as should all corrupt officers and public servants and abusers of power.

No, I don't miss being young. I do miss the simplicity of the 60s and 70s, and find I am out-of-place in the modern tech world. I have pretty much zero interest in modern tech and was happier when none of this stuff was available, when you could phone a company and speak to a person, when you could go to a bank and speak to a person, when you could get help for your problem from people. Customer service has nosedived, imho, in the last couple of decades, since companies, banks and other institutions decided they could let computers handle to calls and not to satisfy them with any solutions to their problems. AMEX seems to be the last bank with any people answering telephones these days.

I'm old already. I'm not aware that I attack older posters. I certainly attack the stupid, the bigoted and consumers of propaganda, and am not ashamed of that at all. I don't know how you can know what age posters are. I have never supplied such information as my age to AN.

I don't think so. What I think is that people who post non-mainstream ideas or 'devil's advocate' positions tend to get criticised for their posts. I noticed it the other day, when a lady posted that we live in the 21st century now and that the behaviour described in the article was no big deal for their age group....it referred to the arrest of a 20 year old boy who offered porn videos of him and his 13 year old girlfriend for sale on the internet. There were a lot of nasty posts, from presumably grump old men, referring to the lady's comment. I often attract negative replies to my stances on the war in Israel and the war in Ukraine where I don't buy into the mainstream narratives. I could easily stop posting and save myself the negative comments, but I don't feel like doing so. Cussedness, I suppose. The forum has a wide range of people posting from the highly educated and informed to base low people. A bit like people who were shocked about the Red Wall in UK politics. You only have to visit a pub in the northern half of England to understand how white working class people, former Labour voters, feel about immigration....it was only champagne socialists down in Islington who misunderstood this.

True, emissions numbers for countries need to be amended to include emissions from countries where products like steel are actually used.

Oops a Harley rider I just saw it.

Good idea, that will promote good will and create harmony in the country won't it?

RIP. I'm so glad there was no suspicion of foul play...perhaps a sudden illness or a mistake in the water.

On the internet.

Yes, so do rats apparently. We feed the dogs (we have 6) a cooked meal in the evening of rice and meat, but during the day have commercial hard dog food in various locations around the property. My wife saw a rat eating in the dog bowl during the evening.

I have many pleasant memories of Jomtien Beach. This is a crying shame. It's what happens when you let peasant type tourists invade your country.

I expect when they come, the strikes will come thick and fast and accompanied by thousands of drones to defend against local air defences. Welcome to WW3 brought to you any NATO.

The tip of the iceberg. US is the Titanic headed for catastrophe by supporting this nazi ship of fools.

Xi is an astute man. He will see that this is an attempt to use him as PR. I don't think he will fall for it. What is the concept off these PR 'peace talks'. Zelensky's formula for peace is complete capitulation of Russia and giving up all their recently acquired land, reparations to Ukraine and tribunals. What leader in a commanding position on the battlefield, with the enemy in disarray trying to fire the head of the military, who just had a failed counteroffensive that achieved nothing, and with conscripts running away rather than sigh their own death warrants, would wish to sign up to such a peace formula so divorced from any sort of reality. The more the west encourage this blithering idiot, Zelensky, the closer with move to NATO troops in Ukraine and WW3

Do I miss British food.....yes I do. I miss good pies and black puddings, I miss regional cheeses, I miss Sunday roasts sat around the table as a family, I miss smoked salmon and tinned red salmon, I miss decent hearty bread with no added sugar....would I like to live there again after 40 years away? Not a chance, high crime, terrible weather, horrible tattooed bald headed men and youths, ugly women, football fans.....a truly vile place. I don't even like visiting.

Strange survey.....Italian food in Italy is pretty marvellous....Italian food outside of Italy is insipid and indifferent. Any survey not putting Japanese food in the top two in the world, is mistaken, imho. Belgian food is fantastic....do you really think the EU would put the HQ in Brussels if the food were not magnificent? Thai food rated so highly? Yuck it is inedible, imho. Thai's GDP per capita $20,000 US dollars? I think not.

The secret to all this is what changed in the west (US and UK) to make drunk driving socially unacceptable. Clue: the change in attitude did not happen by accident, but was a campaign by a group of people who had been hurt by drunekn drivers.

Throw them out. Deport them anywhere else if the Russians don't want them back.