crobe

4 hours ago, melvinmelvin said:

I can see your 10 years minimum view

but

where does seen Brexit effects

and new UK GE come into it?

 

Just a question of timing.

It is now impossible for a new referendum vote to be held in Scotland prior to the exit of the UK from the EU on 31st December 2020 due to the logistics of organising a vote and agreeing the ballot question. Therefore Scotland will have already left the EU - along with the rest of the UK - before any new vote could be taken. It would seem sensible to then see the ramifications of the Brexit decision which could have a pronounced effect on the way in which people would vote.

There will be elections held in Scotland in May 2021 which may, or may not, give further impetus to the SNP cause, but the granting of a referendum under section 30 of the UK law means that it is unlikely that the current UK government with its majority will accede to this within this parliament which comes to an end in May 2024.

As the current parliament cannot bind a future parliament it would seem sensible that a new referendum date should therefore be 2024 at the earliest.

The main argument against a new Scottish referendum is the quote from Alex Salmond - leader of the SNP at the time of the last referendum in 2014 that it would be a "once in a generation opportunity"

This is cited by many of the people against a new referendum - and they also point to the fact that it was over 40 years between the two referenda on Europe (joining the European Common Market in 1974 and leaving the EU in 2016).

The arguments for a new referendum in 2016 were the many changes in the structure and the relationship with the EU over the previous years which had changed the balance of sovereignty between the parties.

The Scottish argument is also that Brexit is a similar constitutional change made after the Scottish referendum.

In the speech from Alex Salmond where the quote of generational opportunity is cited,  he refers to the "eighteen-year gap between the devolution referenda held in 1979 and in 1997 as an example of the generational opportunity." 

18 years is also the voting age in the UK, so it could be argued that every 18 years there is a whole "generation" which has yet to vote on that specific issue.

It is therefore not a question of "if" Scotland should be allowed a new referendum, but only of "when" - 40 years, 18 years or less.

My own personal view is that at least 10 years should be the minimum time between such similar referenda - and so a vote in 2024 could be a compromise, once the Scottish people have seen the effects of Brexit play out and a new UK general election has been held.

2 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

Not sure how its hypocritical to have a problem with 2-3 major corporations having almost all of the internet market share and imposing their 'views' on it. 

 

The government did the same with AT&T/Bell in the 80's for the same reasons. It becomes a monopoly. 

 

This my friend is the reason the government and the feds exist and republicans have never had a problem with it, other than in that little noggin of yours. 

Wrong.

The Republicans did not have a problem with it until Twitter started labeling tweets of Trump as it does with other posters - who by the way would be thrown off the platform - as has just happened with the British racist Katie Hopkins

That is where the hypocrisy lies

29 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

Facebook is run by lefties, same as Twitter & Google. 

Typical Republican hypocrisy

All in favour of small government and the market, unless of course it does something you don't agree with then it is all regulation and government control

5 minutes ago, DoctorG said:

BLM is just a fundraising arm of the DNC. 

And the Republican party is on the wrong side of history on this

It used to be the southern democrats which were the party of the confederacy, but they changed, now the Republicans are the party of the old south

The Republicans are more and more aligned with the reactionary right-wing, and this will continue after November whoever gets into office.

7 minutes ago, BobBKK said:

Facebook have revealed themselves over the last couple years. They allow 100s SCAM ads daily stating that Thailand loves this device or Thai health minister recommends this supplement.  FULL of scams and they now get involved with politics?  they are a DISGRACE.

If politicians didn't use Facebook for politics than Facebook would not be involved with politics

On 6/22/2020 at 9:07 AM, Ron jeremy said:

Yes there are some expats in pattaya and area that have money, dress appropriately, and eat at finer establishments. Thumbs up to them!????It's nice to dine in their company. 

A couple of weeks ago I went past La Ferme on Naklua and they had a sign up saying closed until 30th August, but on Saturday there seemed to be customers in at least part of it - but it could have been a spillover from La Baguette next door which was packed.

Yes, he will let the singers and musicians return to work - just not let the bars and clubs open

So only "concerts" with limited people or busking on the street then?

2 minutes ago, Leaver said:

If you owned a small hotel or guest house here, do you think you would feel the same way?

 

It has nothing to do with being racists.  Daily rental of condo's is illegal. 

If the small hotels are also booked out with tourists, local Thais from Bangkok etc. they don't care

Daily rental of condos is officially illegal - and many small hotels and resorts are also unregistered - and therefore technically illegal - clamp down on all of them if you wish.

But don't just make a point of those being used by a nationality that you don't like, that is just racism

If you don't like foreigners - go back home

26 minutes ago, bkk6060 said:

Sorry, this is not the case in a newer high story building in north Pattaya where the property is not sold out.

The condo developer has actually hired a management company and provided them offices to facilitate short term rentals advertised on ABNB and other sites.  The short term tenants book, arrive and meet up with a management company representative who gets their information and escorts them to their rooms.

Probably not the norm, but definitely occurring at this property.

 

 

And unfortunately, airBnB , or other such short term rental apps are now here to stay - so it is not possible to buy an apartment in any condo block and guarantee it will only be long-term renters.

But this is not a new thing - I used to live in Cannes and even the most expensive apartments used to be rented out for two weeks over the festival period - where there is a demand people will make money - it is just that now people can do it over the phone

13 minutes ago, Logosone said:

BBC Iplayer has removed the German episode from Fawlty Towers, so have Netflix and Britbox.

 

Now they mess with John Clesse? As a German, I loved Fawlty Towers. Baffling.

I agree, that crosses the line

The point of Fawlty Towers was that it was satire and skewered the British preponderance for harking back to WW11, maybe the slapping of Manuel all the time was a bit much though.

Similarly the brilliant comedy Allo' Allo' skewered all of the characters, German, French and British - and was in itself a satire on an earlier program.

So keep the satire

Not all humour is satire though, and the racial epithets strewn around in "love thy neighbour" just for comic effect now sound cringeworthy

And it is true that Gone with the Wind glorified the myth of southern hospitality and the happy black plantation workers - in itself fake news and revisionism - so I am not sorry to see these go.

I am all for understanding history, satirising the inequities that arose, but not for glorifying them with statues and monuments

There has been a petition organised by the local people asking whether the beer bars should be reopened now (note - I don't think this includes pubs and clubs).

Apparently thousands of signatures and over 90% in favour.

Not sure when this is due to be presented to the Pattaya mayor - probably on Monday - but there is a growing strength of feeling among the populace and some calls for the mayor to be thrown out

Of course he was appointed under section 44 by the last government and there is no sign of a new election yet.

The issue is how are they going to know what amount to put in the bill they send to the foreign companies?

The only way of doing this is for the government to have access to all credit card and online payments -at the level of each transaction, from all Thailand banks, CC companies and paypal etc.

So much for any privacy.

They will probably make more money selling the data to Alibaba than they get from the VAT.

3 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

I suppose if your whole life centers around beer bars etc, it easy to see the sector as being more important and larger than it is.

In reality its a small part of the overall Thai economy and a small part of the tourism economy.

 

Believing the Thai economy will rebound on the back of a few bars that cater for a small percentage of overall tourists, is very optimistic and overestimating the actual contribution to the economy.

 

I really cant see any point in beer bars rushing to reopen at the moment, with no tourists here to patronise them.

I don;t disagree with the percentage of the total economy that beer bars are, but the entertainment industry does disproportionately employ many people coming from the North of Thailand and whose earnings support a larger family. I am not just talking about the bar girls but the whole eco-system of cleaners, waitresses, deliveries, taxis, hairdressers etc. etc. etc.

Yes, the opening up to just locals and expats is not going to be a full "rebound" but at least a start, and a good test to see whether we can cope with a full opening up to tourists (with appropriate checks of course).  

On 6/6/2020 at 10:54 PM, Phil McCaverty said:

Not in Pattaya. Very few bars have mamasans now. Personally, I can't think of one. Even when they did, the mamasan didn't get a cut from the girls earnings from the customer. Quickest way for a mamasan to get sacked.

I think there is a difference between the beer bars and the gogos.

In my humble experience all of the gogos have mamasans, they are responsible for not only keeping the girls in order but in most cases for finding new girls or bringing them down from the North.

Smaller beer bars don't need mamasans as the owners are usually around

Not sure where this boom is coming from, but definitely is not occurring in Pattaya at the moment.

I walked around the centre on Saturday afternoon and still very quiet

Yes, the massage salons seem to be open again, but they don' have any customers, and the main "wet" massage places are still closed.

A few people in Central Festival but nowhere near the usual Saturday afternoon amount 

It will probably be like this until they relax more restrictions

Even domestic tourism wont come back until you open the bars and take away the curfew - who wants to stay overnight if you cannot go out and have to be back in your hotel room by 11?

I believe the last domestic case was on 25th May

A Thai woman whose husband in Phuket was previously infected - a couple of days before that there was a case in Bangkok.

Since then all cases were returnees in quarantine

So 8 days since the last domestic transmission

The most sensible thing to do would be to initiate a G9 - which would be 5-eyes plus a second layer of 4 representatives which also would benefit from enhanced security cooperation.

The existing 5-eyes are US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the second layer would be Japan, S. Korea, India and the EU.

We are heading into a bipolar world where it will be the west against the Sino-Russian block. This currently paralyses the UN security council, and some of the major decision points will be about ring-fencing China (HK, Taiwan, S. China Sea etc.).

Trying to divide allies by bringing in Russia would be counter-productive at this time, and the US needs allies on the Russian borders, and in the Asia-Pacific region.

This G9 would be the only grouping powerful enough to deter China from military adventurism on Taiwan.

Personally, I hope they would hurry up with the Red Line.

Sick of trying to get none-existent taxis out of the government complex in an afternoon