Kinnock

The politics of brown envelopes?

I rented a condo in Central Bangkok, then after I'd paid the deposit a major construction project started next door. According to my building management, the developer was restricted to daytime, weekday working only, he would sheet the sides of the site and use water sprays to suppress dust. All lies of course. 24/7 noisy work and dust everywhere. I moved out after months of no sleep.

.... or maybe they fear that naive journalists will just use the Hamas propaganda as their 'news reports'? There's no right and wrong in this conflict, Israel have a history of wrongs and so does Hamas .... and two wrongs just make a double wrong, but Israel knows that the Wrstern media will use starving baby images (AI and real) to drive clicks, as media is a for profit business like any other.

.... but the suffering of their own people is the most effective weapon used by Hamas.

Is it different versions, or is it different weather conditions? On a full charge - could go 400 Km in warm weather with a following wind, but only 200 km on a colder day or with a head wind? So in practice you'd need to limit trips to 200 km ..... which would not get you to the Moto GP.

We're gonna need a bigger jail ...... for tha Albanian gangsters and Pakistani grooming gangs.

200-400 km range? Nice concept .... but that's a wide range of ranges ...... so you set off to fly from Bangkok to Buriram but have to put down in Saraburi for a charge?

True, if a bit harsh..... but that's why a transparent bias helps you to devine the 'truth' from the spin. The more subtle bias of some other media channels can fool you into thinking its all 'true'.

I wish I could. There's a real skill to preparing good food, and I don't have it. But as I eat mainly Thai food, either prepared by the Missus or when eating out, I do like to try my hand at simple Italian dishes. It's difficult to mess up pasta with a pesto or tomato-based sauce. My wife sometimes likes to cook her version of Western food, and while it's very tasty, it always has a Thai spin to it. So I try to aim for authentic Italian, but I usually miss.

For US news I watch CNN and Fox, as their biases are so obvious you can see the truth in the middle. For UK news, GB News and the BBC serve the same purpose - reality will be somewhere in between.

What a sad world you must live in.

That may all be true, or perhaps it's the picture the media found most profitable to build. Neither of us know for sure. Maybe the girl had other issues that allowed her to be manipulated by people with evil intentions, maybe those issues were partly to blame for her tragic end .... we will probably never know. My views of Andrew relate to one meeting and his work to help businesses, yours are based on the way some facts are mixed with supposition by the media. All men with absolute power over others do things that can be seen as evil, it's the curse of the male psychology. Perhaps it's fortunate that most of us on the forum do not have such power.

Adding words to the article like 'vile' and 'repulsive' is hypocrisy ... the author of the book and the reporter are writing smut to fascinate their readers and make money off rumours. I'm sure Andrew had way too much fun on his travels, just like many politicians, rock stars and sportsmen .... but this report is largely fake rumours. He was a Prince, not a Saint, and his duties included British businesses overseas. I was at a British Chamber meetings in the 5* hotel next to Erawan where Prince Andrew attended - he did a good job meeting British and foreign businessmen and asked searching questions about business opportunities and he actually sounded like he was listening and trying to add value. I understand he was also briefed by the British Ambassador, who had met with senior Brit business people before the trip, so he could raise some concerns with the influential Thais he was meeting over the next few days. I don't remember seeing any other members of the Royal Family doing anything useful for British businesses in Thailand. And how do I know the salacious details are fake .... ? I met one of the management team through work a few days after the event, and he let slip a few details of the nights entertainment, and it was very tame compared to the 40 girls nonesense.

According to this UK Gov training guide they are ....

Together 15, married 8 ..... I needed a thorough test drive to be sure she performed to spec.