A Member

Publicity is bad enough at the moment without this nonsense

What a stupid piece of advice from our Embassy. How can someone be cautious of dancing on a beach and anticipating a gun fight or infact any situation in any location.

In fact I cant think of one thing that anyone can do to "be cautious" as they put it. There is danger everywhere which cannot be anticipated and for sure one cannot prepare for all the time. And what will "checking travel advice" do ?!! after an event like this. Is the travel advice that Brits should not go to that beach, not go to that island, not come to Thailand or are they saying wear bullet proof vests !!

Just a cheap punchline from what I think is a terrible Embassy for more than one reason. A comment that does no help whatsoever to either the current event or to protect against future events.

What they should do is their duty towards a deceased British national and not giving bad or undefined advice to the rest of us or potential tourists.

The people behind this sort of thing probably think they are oh so clever yet are only making fools of themselves and the country. However I doubt that is ever a consideration given how petty Thai politics can be and non-Thais don't understand or matter in any case.

Goodness, someone has dared to criticize Thailand. Of course the Thai public will react, well when some politician tells them to

Police identified the suspect as Ekkapun Klaewkla. Police said he confessed to killing Stephen Ashton, 22, a city trader, during an exchange of fire with another group of men who allegedly fired at his group.

Police quoted Ekkapun as claiming that his group was outnumbered during a fight at about 5am on January 1, so he decided to use his homemade gun to protect himself. Ashton was hit accidentally.

Dry that one out you can fertilize the lawn. Bullshit. And he thought of this himself or with a little help from the BIB - disgusting.

Amazing Lieland.

This is a dumb post.

The police have the gun, the bullet, and the DNA. A few simple tests and the accused can be linked to the death of the tourist. The accused is no rocket scientist, so don't expect any sensible explanation from him.

The Royal Thai Police did a great job in tracking down this man in the first place, so pull your head in and stop bagging them out!

Simple tests cover it, will have to be for the boys in brown to get it right. Hard to believe they moved so quickly, stopped collecting the monthly payments and did their job. The arrested person hasn't been convicted yet.

If "carrying a gun in public" is an offence then more prisons will be needed especially for the politicians, VIPs and "would be"s" who do

The "investigating officer" did not collect spent shells, he collected spent casings, big difference, and indicates an automatic was used. Shoot drug traffickers, tourists, each other and now a police station. Why was a "drunken, disgruntled police officer" involved, not getting enough from the monthly bribe take ?

"Road Safety" campaigns are a very bad joke. Every year at Songkran my local municipality sets up a 24 hour campaign tent in the same location and every year, irrespective of the time of day or night, the staff sit under cover eating, reading, chatting or sleeping (of course) whilst the youngsters beside the tent do their very best to knock motorcyclists off their machines. I suppose the staff are on O/T for "working" on public holidays and I'm not sure who funds the farce as it's a waste of money but looks good

My Thai neighbours have said many times that the country is awash with guns especially amongst youngsters as can be seen in the battles between technical school students. Let's not forget the 2,000 plus dead when Thaksin cracked down on drugs and all the dealers were "killing each other", well that was the official line anyway

"Head down" is the best advice anyone can give or receive, especially when "face" is involved and that can arise so easily

As soon as the holiday period is over the Ministry of Propaganda will issue the usual ridiculous statement to explain it's not as bad as it seems. I seem to remember during the "real" Thaksin administration they cut down the number of days over a Songkran to reduce the terrible statistics so days that had been named as holidays were but they were not either. Lies, damned lies and Thai statistics !

Great comment which I fully support. It'd bad enough that Thai officials will say anything but really sad they EXPECT to be believed ans so often are

The Editorial headline said it all "the government needs to get tough" but that covers so many issues and Thai politicians have so much on their minds to worry about serious matters.

On the introduction of breath testing in my area a friend was one of the first to be caught, he spent 18 hours locked up, went to 2 different courts was fined and that was it. In no time flat the police were issuing on the spot "fines", no receipts and no one went to court. It doesn't matter how drunk a driver is as long as money changes hands the driver is on his way.

Over the years how many governments have promised to deal with corruption ?

Another amazing year for Thai tourism !? The only amazing thing is no one in the touism and hospitality industry can find all these visitors

Of course an amnesty law suits. Who can forget red shirts leaders in Bkk saying things like "when we go we will leave the city in flames' ? Faults on both sides to be fair but most definitely politics Thai style. The claim it will affect all colours is only valid depending on who the government of the day is.

Right on cue the government announces that tourism is rising. I live in Isan and regularly visit Khon Kaen where friends have businesses in the tourism and hospitality sector, hotel, bars, restaurant etc.

Tourism news cracks them up as no one can ever find these extra visitors ! Thai government has an active creativity department to handle things like the budget, exports and tourism on the rise etc. Dr. Goebbels must be spinning in his grave out of sheer jealousy