Kinnock

The environment is so last year .... do try to keep up.

Just back from a trip to Vietnam. No visa needed for me or my Thai Missus. Queue system at the SGN airport was a bit confusing, you don't go to the e-visa, visa on arrival area, you just join the (long) queue for passport control. No need for any hotel details etc, just your passport. And the nightlife in District 1 is great - new, stylish bars and restaurants, and about half the cost as Bangkok.

I don't think there's any link from the airline booking system passport details to the immigration system, so your passport number is only needed to link to the booking in the Thai Airways system? So they'll just need to use your name rather than your number. I've flown Thai to my home country several times to get a new passport, and that means on my return journey my new passport will not match my booking, but never has an issue. I just carry my old passport, but was not asked for it until arrival at immigration.

Yes. If his troops can fight and die for their country, he can swallow his pride and at least pretend to listen .... that's just diplomacy, common sense and personal sacrifice. He must have had a briefing about the two big egos he was meeting, but he was unable to play the game .... so now it may be game over for Ukraine.

Not directly relevant to Zelensky's mission .... if no hope of getting a deal as Trump had sold out, why did he meet him? If hope of a deal, why did he not behave?

While not a fan of Trump, my view of the interview was different to the opinions expressed in this thread so far. Ukraine is totally reliant on foreign aid to survive as a nation, and the US is a major donor. Zelensky had one job .... to secure ongoing US support for the war, and he failed. All he had to was make Teump look good on TV, and as someone with experience in the entertainment industry, he must have known that. But he let pride and emotions get in the way. He was meeting the school bully and his sidekick, so he needed to show respect and listen before making his points, but he ran his mouth so now has to resign as president.

Skype was a good, low cost option to call the UK pension department to listen to 45 minutes of hold music. What alternatives are there to call official landlines such as government departments and banks?

Could you do the same thing with Google translate using 'Conversation mode" using your phone?

Maybe because it's anti-social, inconsiderate, unhealthy and just plain nasty.

You're trying to apply common sense to a troll who just wanted to make a nasty comment. Don't waste your time with sad trolls.

Yes .... they need a war to distract the public from the miserable performance of the last two governments, and they are heading that direction.

They're not going to admit they went to get a lucrative job scamming their fellow countrymen and women.... so claiming they were trafficked is a good excuse. Lock them all up.

Some countries used to have a points system to determine if an immigrant is allowed to stay .... Europe should adopt this system ... Valuable, technical profession - 10 points Doctor or nurse - 20 points Misogynistic viewpoint - minus 10 Only associate with people of the same religion - minus 5 Wears inappropriate Middle Eastern clothing in Northern English cities - minus 20 Tendency to use cars, trucks or aircraft as murder weapons - minus 30 Grows a beard but no moustache- Minus 50 points

This is exactly the type of feeble-minded lunacy (or should that be Llamacy) that drives people to the extreme right wing. All Tommy or Nigel need to do is to start saying they'll keep men out of women's toilets and Llamas out of politics and they'll be able to form the next UK government. Glad I'm in Thailand where men are men and women are ...... oh wait.

Except there is one .... https://www.who.int/news/item/02-10-2023-who-recommends-r21-matrix-m-vaccine-for-malaria-prevention-in-updated-advice-on-immunization#:~:text=The R21 vaccine is the,have high public health impact.

Yes .... malaria is one of the biggest killers of children, with number 1 being be a wide catch-all category of 'diarrhoea', so malaria is probably the real number 1 .... but it has such a complex lifecycle it's been challenging to develop an effective vaccine - although there's some promising ones on trial now.

A statistical quirk in a non peer reviewed paper that panders to the fears of the anti vaccination brigade. The two groups are not comparable .... in general the group of people who get vaccinated will have a higher proportion of people with reasons to do so .... poor health, overweight, high risk group etc .... the same people who have a higher mortality rate. Also, vaccination is targeted by health professionals on higher risk groups. There's so many papers published every day that it's possible to find one that reinforces a particular belief. Flat earth, check .... MMR causes autism, check, All Thai girls are hookers, check.

Pricey for an uncomfortable 250, and the sports bike position is not good for visibility in traffic. I'd rather have a 400cc Triumph for less money and with more comfort.

I'm struggling to imagine how much of a ripple would be created by downsizing a self-serving bureaucratic organisation. The international private schools will lose some business, a few drivers may lose their jobs, business class to Geneva may have a few empty seats, buffet lunches for the endless talking-shop meetings will reduce ..... but the planet will keep spinning

The British Embassy hasn't had a clue about anything going on in Thailand since about 1972.

So with all the dramatic cuts in US aid, the only serious impact so far was a chronically I'll, bedridden 71 year old?

His incoherent rants sound like a toddler's temper tantrum after being told he can't have more ice cream.