womble

oops.

"Ominous. Hope they don't decide that they like this power trip too much to step away...."

Hmm, wouldn't be the first time.........

I think they won't stay too long tho, they no the people will not accept it. What they will do is try to stick their people in positions of power and rewrite the constitution in a way that will consolidate their position for a long time in the future. They will not want someone like Thaksin being able to dismantle what they have done in the same way that he did before.

I believe this is why they have pushed so hard for Meechai, he is known for doing whatever he is told by those who hold the power.

For a true peoples constitution I believe Purachai would have been a better choice. But for a strong constitution that could keep someone like Thaksin out maybe Meechai is the right choice.

However does that mean we now have the balance of power shifted back to the military and old guard????

Which is worst?

We'll have to wait and see.

She is never going to get in trouble because the buying of Shin without any due dilligence was ordered by none other than Lee Kuan Yew!!!!!

He trusted Thaksin and thought he could never be removed from power.

Oops!!!!

Evidence please

http://singaporeelection.blogspot.com/2006...-corp-deal.html

Thanks.........

thailand 2006=122

thailand 2005=107

thailand 2004=59

thailand 2003=82

thailand 2002=65

A government afraid to let it's people hear the truth is a government up to no good.

She is never going to get in trouble because the buying of Shin without any due dilligence was ordered by none other than Lee Kuan Yew!!!!!

He trusted Thaksin and thought he could never be removed from power.

Oops!!!!

Three cheers for the great face saving conclusion to the alcohol advertising and restriction saga.

Hip hip...... Hoo Ray!!

Hip hip...... Hoo Ray!!

Hip hip...... Hoo Ray!!

One for luck and mind the roof.........

Hip hip....... Hoo Ray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Most of those restaurants in the Poll are average at best.

Fuji is certainly not the best restaurant, the cliff?????? Nice view, but the food? Nothing to write home about.

Magic light, isn't that a hooker bar? So they have a restaurant too, am I missing out on Samui's best food here?

Can't see the point in this poll, we have a sticky already.

Is this what the kids further north will be doing when the alcohol ban comes in?

On a serious note though nearly all media I have seen has been reporting those for these sweeping bans. I have seen next to nothing quoting sources against it.

Why is no one coming out to say drug use will increase as a result of the ban?

Where is all the reporting on the negatives related to the ban?

Tax your claim is not strictly true, your saying that you only rubbish the island to take issue with those that falsely promote the place without admitting it's problems.

Thats just not true, you have from time to time dragged up old issues or any dirt just to create a stir which IMHO is not healthy. By all means debate the problems as they arise, but I beleive your facination with samui is unhealthy.

I'm the first one to admit there are numerous things that should have been addressed months ago that havn't, many of us on here have been waring for the last few years.

There are a few on this forum though that post so negatively with such regularity that it's like hearing a broken record.

And please don't try and make out it's for the good of the island, or to balance the overly optimistic posts from those with business interests.

To me it seems clear that you have a grudge against the island and far too much time on your hands.

and still absolutely no mention of raising taxes on lao kao.

Absolute bunch of retards!

Just come back from Bangkok, the Departures area was so busy getting around in the entrance area was difficult. The problem is the ticket offices, banks and hotel desk.

You could see the looks on peoples faces trying to pass each other with trolleys they were not impressed.

Two new things I noticed which show the corruption and monopolies within the airport. Firstly everything seems to be run by kings power, everything. Hotel sales desks with al the touts, taxi desks with more touts, duty free, restaurants, the lot!

Once again I went for a meal and this is what it cost. A plate of chicken and rice, a cup of tea, a bottle of water and two deserts - 580 baht!!!!

The water was what annoyed me the most, 75 baht, and guess what it said on the bottle, Kings Power water!!!!!! What is the mark up on that??? By the way, the same water was 50 baht two weeks ago........... Not happy!

something else I noticed. The trolleys in the duty free area are sub standard, it seems they have been made by someone who owns a stainless steel warehouse, they were not high quality trolleys as you would normally see in airports. I also noticed the knives and forks in the restaurant were solid stainless and again low quality.

I wonder who owns the stainless warehouse, and how much they were paid for the trolleys???

This airport is a F*&ck*ng joke and Kings power is an absolute disgrace. Not enough for them that they have the monoply on everthing being sold in the airport, they also have to grossly overcharge everyone who uses any of the services without having any choice whatsoever to go elsewhere.

I'm disgusted!!!!!!

I would love to hear from the architects the reason why their designs have ended up producing an airport that has so many obvious design flaws.

I suspect their original idea if followed completely would have resulted in a fantastic airport, Singapore certainly is and never seems busy.

Thai's being Thai's would have changed many things thinking they were making changes for the better and probobally not have consulted with 'experts', or listened to them as they know better.

I think corruption, budget constraints and knowing better than the foriegners has led to a complete embaresment.

I'm shocked how bad this airport really is. From the outside it is impressive, but that's it, the rest is a bloody shambles!

yes it's a shared line, actually the speed you are getting isn't too bad compared to what some get!

Can you believe there is no fire alarm system in the terminal at the moment. None at all!!!

If a fire broke out 1000's could die, a pilot friend told me this.

He also said security is extremely lax, he managed to walk into the central security control room without even boing in uniform or wearing ID, not that it should matter as he's a Pilot, not security personel.

He was extremely critical of this airport.

Chaang Parp is quite right, those are the three things that need addressing urgently if they are serious in reducing the problems of excessive drinking.

If they fail to make any attempt to change the alcohol taxation system in a way that makes Lao Kao and strong spirits more expensive and beer and other weaker drinks cheaper then I will assume they are not serious at all.

Cheong Mon

Alcohol in small to moderate quantities is not harmful. Infact quite the opposite, certain drinks can bring health benefits, also the stress release from socialising in safe enviroments can also bring benefits to the non abusive drinker.

Smoking on the otherhand is harmful in any quantity.

"I strongly suspect that if we look back in a years time on the "alcohol related incident statistics", there will be little change - if any. "

And you think the officially released figures will be accurate and not dressed up to save face?

I expect those who are putting everything up for sale are the same people who pull their $ out of mutual funds as soon as they have a few bad months instead of buying into the fund at a discount.

What Bangkok airways do is find a route with little or no competition. Then make their flight marginally more expensive than flying via another airport, but ofcourse quicker in time and less fluffing around.

"Piyasvasti, an energy expert who quit the Energy Ministry in 2003 over a policy row with the government of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,"

But it's nice to have an energy expert as energy minister. Perhaps he fell out with Thaksin because his expert advice was ignored?

Except for Somkid it seemed everyone else in Thaksins cabinet had no business being there. They were there as a reward for loyalty, not on merit.

At least this time we have qualified people in their respective portfolios.

I believe this is the biggest sports event in Thailand, and possibily the only one close to international levels.

They've shot themselves in the foot again!

That tournament pulls in big big crowds and with it lots of $. The golf crowd are big spenders. It's also a very popular tournament with the hi so. Many of which we're probobally for the ban.

Unfortunatley as usual they don't wait and discuss things properly before making things public. This happens all the time and creates confusion.

One day maybe they will learn to keep their traps shut until they have properly evaluated the possible implications of changing laws and worse still anouncing possible chanegs before they have even been discussed.

This is the damage that can be caused by opening your trap without thinking and trying to rush things through.

I'm sure they'll find something other than logo's that they can put on the uniforms.

Whatever laws they come up with, the alcohol producers will find loopholes.

It's not difficult to check age, thats a really lame excuse, every Thai by law is supposed to carry an ID card, so how hard is it to make them show that for proof?

I'd say there's been some serious lobbying by the alcohol Industry in the last week or two.

"Advertising on TV coud be restricted to late hours only. Say after 22.00 hours."

That is already the case, no advertising before 10pm.

Personally i'm on the lookout for prime land in Phuket or Samui, if any really good plots present themselves at attractive prices i'll snap them up.

If people are prepared to drop their prices enough, i'm prepared to take a gamble, I still think the Thai property market has a very healthy future, those that bail out now may well realise they made a mistake in a few years time.