nausea

I have to say the words "placebo" and "paper exercise" spring to mind. It does, apparently, reduce the risk of serious iliness and death, and that's all good for the people of Pattaya, but I'm failing to see how this makes the place more fit for tourists, especially international ones. I'm assuming that is the main focus. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it all now about the transmission of variants?

I wouldn't get your hopes up too much mate, re the "weakening" baht. The sterling TT buying rate (as per Bangkok Bank 1/9) is now just hanging on at 44, after looking like it might break 46. And there was I thinking we were possibly heading back to the pre-Brexit 50. What's changed to cause this resurgence is beyond me, I'll leave that to the economic gurus.

I'm sorry but, for me, knowing that the police get a cut of the assets seized as a bonus kills all credibility. Â propos - I remember reading about a bona fide, lottery winning, Thai couple being falsely convicted on drug charges. Luckily, that one came to light eventually, hence me reading about it, but I'm sure many don't.

Not really, the defacto rule here not to get involved lest you get roped in as a contributory factor to cause of injury or death, especially if someone thinks there's money to be extracted. Heartless and counterintuitive I know, but there it is. Á propos - this nearly happened to a Farang aquaintance of mine who took a pulse at a road accident scene. He managed to extricate himself from the situation after some hard questioning, and was subsequently warned by Thai friends not to to do anything so stupid again.

Just to be clear on what this is about: “I have filed a complaint to prosecute Mr Sittha for defamation and violation of the Computer Crime Act after he accused me of trying to blackmail the former chief of police at Muang Nakhon Sawan police station,” he (Decha Kittiwitthayanun, a lawyer) said. Decha also had a copy of the tape but didn't release it. So it's not about the tape being released on social media. Incidentally, I would've thought bringing a case of defamation is not the wisest move, just publicising the allegation even further, but I suppose it's a face thing.

To be honest, I'm not surprised by thr result, it's pretty much confirms the already existent common perception, I am rather amazed, though, we've got anything negative coming out of China.

CLMTV = Ministerial Confererence on Labor Cooperation among Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam. You'd think it was basic journalism to explain less familiar acronyms but there you go.

Redundant time warp report, not worth the paper it's printed on.

Interesting, given how things transpired, and on another thread we get an article about the sponsored lip service by celebs re stopping cheating; the dichotomy between reality and facade is really rather striking.

Well, they were asking for it, so no surprise they eventually got it - stupid is as stupid does. On a side note, I get the impression the equivalent of, what in the UK we used to call, pub lock-ins with limited attendance are fairly ubiquitous, with only a few high profile cases being busted; so I guess the less stupid are doing it speakeasy style with minimal risk.

Awareness isn't really the problem, is it? I'd say every Thai is well aware of the corruption problem that permeates all levels of Thai society.

That, indeed, was a hole thst needed to be plugged - not from a spreading perspective (unlikely the bed-ridden/housebound are gonna be spreading it around much), but certainly from a death rate/severe symptoms one, as I guess a lot of these guys would be in a vulnerable category.

If most "tourists" are just returnees looking at a convenient way of entering the country it's actually no surprise that a true tourist related initiative would fail miserably.

Aren't rising prices a sign of supply side shortages (in the absence of a monopoly, e.g. the infamous taxi mafia); fixing prices is no solution to shortages as demand (at the fixed price) outstrips supply, resulting in empty shelves, whereas higher prices tend to have a self-correcting effect - demand is reduced and there is a financial incentive to provide more of the higher priced goods.

Wonder what else they might've "accidentally" missed,

Yeah, thanks for that, googled it, the article kinda makes sense now. There seem to be some potential disadvantages, so probably OK for a highly skilled doctor to use on one occasion, but maybe not for mass vaccination where less skilled health workers are are running a vaccination assembly line.

I don't think it's retrospective, there's no compensation for time already served as I understand it, more about not keeping people in jail under a law that's no longer on the statute books; sort of makes sense, and I can see how not releasing them in a timely manner might give rise to a claim for compensation.

Mixing vaccines not accepted by UK (England only), you still have to quarantine. Thailand is on the UK "amber" list for now, so being fully vaccinated negates the need to quarantine. Incidentally, Pfizer is on the UK approved vaccine list, Sinovac is not.

I guess the real tragedy for these girls is the loss of prime income generating time. No doubt others will replace them if the scene should return, and income disparity in Thailand remain such as it is, but for them personally, they're lost years. As for online stuff replacing the scene, I don't see it. The Pattaya, Sukhumvit soi 4, soi Cowboy, Bangla, etc., "Hangover" style experience, was a package, with partying and real personal contact being an essential part, for both the customers and the girls, giving your average western bloke and Thai girl a taste of the "playboy" lifestyle, usually reserved for the very rich or beautiful.

Hence some of the donated Pfizer being controversially allocated to Thais who intend to travel abroad.

Seems like we're entering a period of realpolitik. Wow! Flattery will get you everywhere.

A decree too far.

Not really. It's commonly used where i live, for tasks involving prolonged physical labour; haven't tried it myself, but it appears to give a sustained energy boost; only real negative is the downer that inevitably follows; isn't cultivated as such, just grows wild on neglected land, I suppose that might change now.

I personally think the death rate (for obvious reasons) and cases requiring hospitalisation (because of medical services being overwhelmed) are the key figures here, not overall infection rates, as many are asymptiomatic or have mild symptoms.

Conflating medical staff and politicians seems to be an obvious blind; in any case, I doubt medical staff have anything to fear, as they're just following best practice, in so far as they are aware.