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Correct, Starmer this week or next is due to to announce defence spending to rise to 2.5% of GDP, it is about 2% now and under Sunak who said it will be rising to 3% of GDP within 5 years, this alone will add billions a year to the tax payer, unless they can cut billions else where,

Simply wrong, Zelensky won his election on making peace with Russia, the US and its allies wanted war, they wanted Ukraine to be in NATO and they wanted the resources of eastern Ukraine (it is a proxy war with the west using Ukraine manpower) Russia always said it would not accept NATO nuclear weapons in Ukraine. The US and NATO have spent billions on this war so far and Russia has destroyed the Ukrainian army, make no mistake all those high tech weapons are not fired by Ukrainians, they are fired by the western allies using western satellites and information, the info input into the targets is done by the western allies, we in the west have been at war with Russia from the start, and it is not going very well for the west, Ukraine. IF the info is true and the west are now going to target points deep in Russia then you are simply at war with Russia and how are the Russians to know if the missiles are nuclear or not? they will assume they are, and we all will know what happens then. Remember the lies we were all told about the weapons of mass destruction that Iraq had, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and the billions the defense industry is making out of the never ending wars, why not spend all that money on the health service and invest in your countries infra structure

The bulk of the £40 billion tax increase will be shouldered by businesses. Starting in April, employers' national insurance (NI) contributions will rise by 1.2 percentage points to 15 It will not be shouldered by business, they will pass these costs down to the employees wages and conditions and the end users of their products, they will see future price rises, failure to do this by business will see their share price fall or simply move their business else where.

I am not aware that there is any standard let alone robust checking of organic food for pesticides etc, either as stated above grow your own or buy imported products from countries that do have checks ( this will be pricy), i have noticed huge amounts of Chinese produce that is repacked in Thailand, Chinese produce i simply avoid

I am considering it using the soft power way, though i am waiting to see what changes they make later this year or early next year to the retirement visas, one thing that dose concern me using the DTV visa is at the 180 day point trying to extend for another 180 days is what are immigration going to want to see ie do they want there to see 500 000 in your account or if working are they going to want see bank statements showing activity or tax returns etc etc

The UK is getting rid of all physical immigration documents by the end of 2024 (Brp/Brc/Paper documents/ stamps in passports etc, everyone who does not have a UKVI account will need to get their info transferred online https://www.gov.uk/guidance/online-immigration-status-evisa

There has been a change for the timing of 90 day reports in Bangkok (CW) online can only be done 15 days before up til 7 days before the reporting date it used to be 15 days before up to the reporting date. you are then given 7 day grace period to do it in person not sure about other offices https://bangkok.immigration.go.th/en/tm47online-manual/

Nothing has changed yet it is still 3 million baht coverage needed, there is supposed to be a change back to 400 000 baht inpatient cover/ 40 000 baht outpatient cover, earlier in the year they said the time frame for introduction was Sept -Dec they are also looking at the requirements of the retirement visas

You do not need to exit Thailand at the 5 year point, you can get the second 5 year stamp at immigration

Yes it can not be done, i use CW. for the O-X you need the medical certificate and a police clearance certificate from your home country i tried agents and they all said no, one did quote me 40 000 baht but then said no. I received mine through embassy in home country, now remember the O-X visa is a 10 year visa, 2x5 years, and it gets worse the MFA website states 3 million, but after 1 year can go down to 1.5 million, immigration say no must be kept at 3 million, also the MFA website states that an O-X can be converted in country to another type of stay, i was told no, i questioned it, showed the printout from the MFA website, they simply said those are not our rules, ask your embassy why they wrote it and that was the end of conversation. when i went to get my second 5 year, they said i needed to update all the documents that i used for the initial visa. I can imagine all sorts of issues later on with the DTV visa as the holders will not be dealing through the MFA, but with the rules immigration decide to use

The 3 million in the bank is what is required for an O-X visa, and it is not available inside Thailand

I was at CW a few months ago to renew my O-X visa, i was told by one of the supervisors, just to wait, as the retirement visa system was being changed and will be made simpler in early 2025, she also suggested that i would not be able to get health insurance for the visa, i have no doubt that this particular visa will no longer be available

Plenty of exercise and a good diet are needed as a first step, cut out the salt, i found cooking my own food the best remedy.

Sounds like she is depressed, does she have friends? there maybe Thais about but many are bargirls, she may not want to be involved with them. What level of english does she have? no work in a foreign country, different culture not many would be happy in those circumstances