Kinnock

He finally gets Britain off the hook for India. Well done that man! And if you just look at a globe and imagine you were playing a strategy computer game - then both Greenland and Ukraine makes some sense. Although I suspect Trump hatched his plans looking at a map rather than a globe, and he might feel short-changed if he gets his hands on Greenland.

That was such a brilliant serial .... the acting, the fascinating plot, the music, the mounting anxiety, the plot twists and the amazing ending. One of few things I've watched that draws you in like reading a good book.

Unfortunately it was more than 12 days. The first laboratory reported case was on 1st December 2019, and 'whistleblower' doctors were also making reports of unusual cases around the same time. The WHO did not start to act until the 'official' report from China on December 31. I work in public health, and we were discussing the strange Wuhan outbreak via online groups throughout December, so there's no way the WHO only became aware of the issue at the end of 2019. Politics prevented prompt action and they delayed until it became a pandemic and then it was too late for containment. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7153464/#:~:text=The illness onset of the,%2C China (Table 1).&text=Initially%2C an outbreak involving a,least 41 people was reported.

I think marriage should be illegal .... for everyone. As for gay or straight marriage .... it's none of my business if people want to formalise their relationship.

I think AC can help with reducing indoor pollution .... at least that's my understanding from the refrigeration engineers I used to work with. Recirculating air over the cold (and therefore wet) evaporator coils helps to remove fine particulates from the air, and they are then either flushed out the drain or left on the coils. To be effective you need to have the ac cleaned regularly. I'm sceptical about the HEPA filters in some ac units and in the domestic air cleaners .... I don't think the fans have the required pressure to force air through a very fine filter. Electrostatic precipitation (EP) is what's really needed, and I've not seen a domestic EP air cleaner. I'm also a bit skeptical about the pm 2.5 meters on the air cleaners .... mine always starts at around 120 then gradually falls to 15 or so when the auto fan cuts off ..... reassuring, but it even does this if I put it outside, so apparently it cleans all the air in Bangkok. Impressive! The pm 2.5 meter also goes crazy if I'm cooking - shooting up to 250, and during pest control treatment it hit 300, so what's it really measuring?

Nobody honestly believes man didn't land on the moon. It's just that total losers who've never achieved anything have found that spouting nonesense conspiracy theories and denigrating one of man's greatest achievements can get a reaction on social media that they could never hope to get by posting about their own lives. Don't feed the trolls and let them slip back into the darkness of their little cave of ignorance.

WHO advice from January 12th 2020 based entirely on false reassurances from the Chinese Government and issued weeks after the true extent of the risk had been highlighted by Chinese doctors. "WHO does not recommend any specific health measures for travellers. In case of symptoms suggestive of respiratory illness either during or after travel, travellers are encouraged to seek medical attention and share travel history with their healthcare provider. Travel guidance has been updated. WHO advises against the application of any travel or trade restrictions on China based on the information currently available on this event." Within days we had a global pandemic with the first cases being in Thailand then more in other countries. Flights of tourists out of China should have been stopped before Chinese New Year, but the WHO, using suspect advice from China, did nothing. How many deaths and how much economic damage was caused by this failure of the WHO to give effective, timely and honest advice?? https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2020-DON233

That does not show any effective action by WHO after several weeks of reports of illnesses within China .... I don't know why you're trying, and failing, to defend this corrupt and useless organisation with your highly selective and inconclusive links .... do you work for the UN?

That's some very selective reporting .... late 2019 the WHO was aware of a novel virus spreading rapidly within China, and into early 2020 the WHO was quoting Chinese official reports about no need to cut travel or close borders. Only after China had infected the whole world and were therefore safe from being singled out for travel bans, did global travel restrictions start.

Forcing a change in the online narrative is easier than catching foreign grooming gangs.

With the massive wealth inequality here, plus the 'flexibility' of laws for those with money and influence, I'm sure somebody with no sense of style or moral backbone will be driving one around Chidlom soon.

A useless toy for the terminally gullible.

Bangkok is a better option to meet Thai women who are not just looking for a sponsor - but those old style values that us foreign men appreciate all come at a price. She will be caring, look after and spoil her man, make an effort to look and dress cute, be feminine and will not try to compete with you, and can cook too. She will look after you, spoil you, devote her life to you (and her Mother of course) ... but in return you are expected to look after her. She may have a decent job, but most Thai salaries are low, so she'll expect you to pay for the big ticket items. But if you want a totally independent woman who pays her own way but treats you like garbage - go back home.

Ooooh .... someone got triggered into a Googling fest! Still struggling with statistics I see. At least for the next few years the UK is still predominantly white. But what % of the Pakistani population in UK has been convicted of grooming offences compared to the % of the white population I wonder? Nobody could realistically deny that their religion denigrates women, which has an impact on their view of women's rights.

Most Thai men can't grow a beard due to low testosterone. When we grow a beard it asserts our superior masculinity and gives a unique debonair style. It also makes us look like a Premier League football star.

.... and most lottery ticket winners in Thailand are Thai, and most people who like Marmite in Bulgaria are Bulgarians .... ain't statistics fascinating. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

What's with ageism? Remember us boomers own most the property back in the home country and we're largely debt free as we bought our houses for pennies. So we can afford a 3000 THB sandwich 😀

Yep .... same long-running symptoms, and maybe it's just a seasonal virus, but I used one of the new triple test (RSV/Flu/Covid) and was negative for all three. China and India have the perfect conditions to brew up a new virus variant (large rural population living in poverty, close contact with domestic animals and a tendency to eat the wildlife) - and anything China or India brews up will always end up in Thailand due to the visa-free virus spreading service.

Us foreigners make up a tiny % of their customers, so all the complaints in the whining OP are customer service requirements for the majority of their customers. With the limited product warranties here, Thai customers will expect the staff to set up and test electronic items so they can see them working. This even applies to smaller items like light bulbs - and in a Homepro they have a lighting board ro test the bulbs. If you don't want your new mobile or TV deboxing and setting up, just tell them. I just say "mai Tong krap' when the reach for the Stanley knife to open a box. The high staff numbers in Homepro is no problem to me, and there's usually a department specialist amongst all the general 'light bulb testing' sales staff who can offer real advice .... but you'd need to be able to speak Thai. The magnetic sign in the gas stations serves a safety purpose .... unlike in most of the West they are not self service stations, so the sign is to stop you driving off with the pump nozzle still in your tank. And I've just sold my 6 year old high km car - and the paintwork still look new with no scratches on the hood .... so that's not even a real issue. I also picked up our new car recently, and the Missus had a lucky day and time to collect the car .... and she expected a bit of ceremony for the big day. So no, Thailand is not like the grey, miserable West .... and it's all the better for it's unique customs.

True .... May have been symptomless, but with all the testing we needed to do at the time I didn't get a positive. But while this latest 'man flu' wasn't serious, it went on for weeks, which seemed unusual. Maybe the latest gift from the people of China is an HMPV variant?

If you access AN by viewing the latest posts, rather than going to specific forums (as I think many people do as they want a general view of what's new) then most of what you see is Trump related .... which is odd for a Thai site. By volume of posts and replies, this has become a Trump discussion board. There may be many other posts, but it's the Trump related ones (plus, I guess, ones about Thai girls) that get all the replies, and so dominate the new posts view. Yes, I could just focus on the farming or scrabble forums, but I used to like seeing an overview of what's happening in Thailand, now I just Americans scrabbling.

Anyone else having what feels like a cold, but it drags on and includes extra symptoms? I'm normally pretty healthy, rarely get a cold, avoided COVID .... but for the last few weeks have had a lingering and annoying minor illness. Dry cough, slight temperature, aches in joints, rash on feet and arms, runny nose, ... and it dragged on for 4 weeks, just recovering now. I was wondering if this could be the HMPV virus that's been in the news, as it doesn't feel like a cold, but it's milder than flu? Anyone else had similar, or am I just getting old?

I've been impressed with Asus ... used them at work for years.

Concerns about the growing inequality in Thailand will prompt the Government to promise a 3000 THB handout to everyone who can complete an on-line claim form. The on-line claim form will crash before anyone can make a claim. New ways to tax the poor will include congestion charging, diesel tax, salt tax, sugar tax and a crackdown on expat pensions. Tax relief for Mia Noi's will help hard-up billionaires. At least 5 of the 580 Chinese car companies entering Thailand last year will pull out of Thailand. Suzuki and Subaru will quit Thailand leaving only Toyota, Isuzu and the new Honda/Nissan partnership. Russian will become the official language of Phuket. Dual pricing will extend to public transport. Anutin will become P.M after an investigation into the unusual wealth of the current PM. People claiming they are going to leave Thailand for the Philippines will increase 200%. People actually leaving Thailand for the Philippines will remain at zero.