rayw

The EU reforms should be primarily based on restoring TRUE DEMOCRACY to the EU and ensuring ONLY elected MEP's make the rules by democratic majority voting in a totally legally binding EU parliament, rather than the dictatorial unelected EU commission of failed ex politicians who cannot even  be replaced by democratic means !!!!!  That is to me the main reason why I and many others opted for Brexit.   It should be the EU commission who should be a solely advisory body to the MEP's and certainly NOT in any true and real democracy the other way around as it is now.  This should be the main point to be hammered home in talks on EU reform and only then can all the problems start to be fairly and rightfully sorted out truly by abiding with the exclusive democratic will of the people !!!!!! 

On 28/07/2016 at 9:24 AM, brewsterbudgen said:

Those of us who want to watch football on the telly and not through the internet care.

You can with an Android IPTV box. Best is to get one from a supplier who knows his stuff and sells suitable boxes converted from the kludgy and slow Android OS, with all the resource hungry Android bloatware, to an efficient and fast Linux KODI system like EmbER, then KODI on these boxes really flies.  All of course as long as you have a reasonable internet connection then yes you can and do watch it on your main big TV.

Oh dear totally the wrong emphasis. As I keep saying wearing crash helmets and seat belts will NOT reduce or stop road traffic accidents of course. In fact if you want to be pedantic then consider that in fact you have slightly less peripheral vision wearing a helmet so if anything at all it will actually increase the chance of having an RTA. Never should be a legality to wear crash hat or seat belt (except for children of course who are too young or unable to make such a decision for their safety) as that is only affecting the level of injury when an accident occurs, and of course the only one to suffer extra injuries are the idiots who were not wearing a crash hat or seat belt. Such a silly law wastes police time where they could be spending their time and efforts clamping down on the real causes of RTA's e.g. those riding down the wrong side of the road, jumping red traffic lights, having no front and/or rear lights at night, 3 or more on a motorbike, bad lane discipline and cutting across traffic incorrectly at road junctions, and yes of course making telephone calls while mobile on a motorbike !!!! ect etc. Surely this should be absolutely obvious to everyone !!!

So they cannot be that serious about reducing accidents with the so wrong emphasise on the easy police action of simply nabbing folk on motorbikes without crash helmets. Dare I say though could be good for some easy tea money if there are indeed any police here who would do that sort of thing

Tesco don't need a PIN for a transaction with any cards, don't understand that..

Good thing as some years ago when I was asked at a nameless shop to input my pin into their machine my card was apparently cloned and then they get your pin. Fortunately I check my account very regularly via secure internet access and quickly spotted some rogue transactions and reported it to the bank concerned. Of course I was immediately reimbursed by the credit card company who confirmed it was a clone so they had to cancel my card and reissue me with a new one which took over 2 weeks to arrive so a bloody nuisance and a lot of hassle. Sure it may still have happened without me using my pin but with them having my pin too it made things even more dangerous and indeed banks state that you must keep you pin secret as divulging it will mean they cannot indemnify you.

So I just will not use a pin and if asked to do so then I just go elsewhere, way too dangerous with so many cards cloned. So you see there is also a big down side to using pins.

Students do this in the UK, nowt to be ashamed of, especially not here in the land of gash for cash.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and it is something to be ashamed of. How can it ever be acceptable that students are becoming prostitutes to pay for their education? And what about the people that are pimping them out under the guise as an agency? These girls are suppose to be attending university to earn degrees for their future careers and then working their way up to success, otherwise if they prefer to earn money by laying on their backs, then what`s the point of attending University? They may just as well graduate from school and go straight into the bars or become escorts.

Sorry, but this can never be acceptable.

So you are advocating that high level education for a better career should only be available for those from wealthy and elite families who can afford it hmm ?? That is unacceptable my friend and why ALL education in ALL countries should be state run and for vocational education supplied totally free for all based ONLY on each student's ability and their willingness to put in the effort learn. With the current system here, and in the US, UK and many western countries too, you are restricting the much needed and fair striving for social mobility and giving little or no opportunity to those not from the privileged and elite families. That in my considered opinion is unacceptable, immoral and completely unfair, irrespective of any political doctrines.

Of course those girls do not want a life as a bar girl and are trying to better themselves so if they can only afford to do so by selling sex (which they may even enjoy as quite a few I am sure do) then all credit to them IMHO. Time prostitution was fully legalised between consenting adults but the pimps and crap a'holes who steal form these girls should be aggressively arrested and locked up for a long time. If prostitution was properly and sensibly legalised then you would probably not need these protectionist pimps and other associated leeching low life.

Government hospitals charge a fraction of the extortionate private hospitals, I use them, and never fail to pay the final bill.

Why doesn't the Government, or a company within Thailand, introduce an insurance for people restricted to using public hospitals only ?

I am sure the premiums would be a lot more affordable for people here.

With regards to making it compulsory for arrivals to have insurance, this would be impossible to police. With modern technology, it is not rocket science to forge a bill head,from an overseas insurance company, quoting a blag policy number, indicating that the person is insured. Proving that every document people show on arriving is genuine would be impossible.

Well with most insurance policies depending on your plans level of cover, there is a limit for any one illness treatment. So if you go to an expensive private hospital then expect that limit to soon be exceeded and you will get the bill for the excess, or portion of the excess, of course. So go to a state hospital and your insurance is more likely to fully cover your treatment.

Also insurance companies have the right on most policies to move you from a private hospital to a state hospital private ward if the hospitalisation is going to exceed more than a few days.

When I moved to Thailand as a retiree in 2003, within one week I made a point to take out a medical insurance plan with a well know reliable company who have served me well for 13 years now. As I took out my first insurance plan with them before I was 60 then they guarantee to continue cover for me until I finally peg it. I am 70 years old now so the premiums will start to rise next year though up to now only inflation rises and premium banding rises every 5 years. There are various levels of cover at vastly different annual premiums and with my plan I can even pay monthly in arrears and all interest free which is a great help. Nothing but praise for my BC/BUPA insurance plan, they are most helpful and accommodating when the need arises, and of course there are alternatives available too.

Personally I think anyone coming to live in Thailand is plain idiotic not to ensure they have adequate health insurance cover, it is an essential part of your cost of living here. Same with tourists they really must have suitable travel insurance cover for any hospitalisation.

IMHO only total eclipses are worth the time and effort to view, and you will need to go to specific areas of Indonesia as the nearest place to see this eclipse as total. I was going to plan a photography trip to go to see this total eclipse there but being old and forgetful I damn well forgot all about it. Now too late to plan and book it and anyway too late to save the much needed money to go there as I just could not afford it straight out of my current limited available money, as I am like most pensioners relatively poor these days though with enough to live okay here in Thailand :-).

All very good if implemented BUT where is the serious traffic offences that DO cause the most accidents and those serious offences, which IMHO are :- .

1 Riding or Driving down the wrong side of the road.

2 No rear lights or worse no lights at all at night.

3 Jumping red traffic lights.

I think it is total stupidity to include seat belts and crash helmet rules in that list of 10 traffic offences !!! Why ? Well not using seat belts or crash helmets DOES NOT cause accidents or cause injury to others, as it only endangers the life of the driver or rider if they do not wear them, and that surely is simply their own stupid fault. So the seat belts and helmet wearing laws are really not protecting anyone but nanny protecting the driver/rider from their own stupidity and making, dare I say, a possibly easy way for collecting police tea money donations. Never agreed with seat belt and crash helmet wearing being enforced by law, but sure it should be highly encouraged by TV and hoarding campaigns and viewed and socially established as a very nasty face losing stupid action for those not using them.

Only 62, not even old enough to qualify for his pension.

Having seen too many of my colleagues succumb before retirement, I decided that I could afford to live comfortably and retire at 55.

There is much more to life than just working till you drop.

I could not agree with you more jacko. I retired at 57.5 years old on a slightly reduced final years salary based pension (and made sure my final year was a well paid one). Now I am 70 and for 5 years now have my UK state pension too. I have absolutely no capital, just my Thai house (in a company name with my Thai wife as equal shareholder. so all legal with no more nominee shareholders) and my car, motorbike and household/personal possessions. I live from pension pay day to pension pay day each month and have enough to qualify for my Thai retirement visa.

I NEVER regretted retiring a few years early with a reduced work pension. I loved my job but I love retirement far more now being able to do exactly what I want when I want within the accepted limitations of my financial ability, but the freedom more than makes up for that. My only regret is that I did not retire at 50 as I always had planned, but I could not remotely afford it then and especially after two UK divorces (the second wife was and still is an honest decent human being and did not stitch me up like so many greedy selfish women do to their poor ex spouses and as my first wife tried to and partly got away with it !!) .

I never have nor never will chase money and have to pay for it with being a prisoner to the greed and avarice until you are too late to enjoy your much earned retirement to the full. You did the right thing Jacko and a lesson many folk need to learn. However you do need plenty of rewarding and satisfying hobbies of which I already have too many to fit all in with the awake hours in my life. I am overall short of money for all the things I would like but really do not need, but I would not swap that for what I now have which makes me very happy overall.

Another statistic I saw somewhere is that generally the earlier you retire then the longer you live, fol who wait till 65 to retire on average do not live to see 70 but those retiring at 50 generally live well into their 80s, well that is the statistics for most western countries I understand.

RIP to that guy and very sad indeed to die so young and alone like that though at least he probably did not know much about it and passed away very quickly, at least let us hope that was the case. My sympathies go to his family and friends.

Yes agree with many comments here that the Thai press are totally disgusting with their thoughtless reporting and bad taste photographs and yet in Thailand they censor out beautiful things like kissing on the TV, and also real to life items are not shown uncensored like guns and cigarettes (neither of which I like or would have myself) which are facts of life and not in bad taste of course like those horrid dismembered bodies accident photos and similar.

Generally it is NOT speeding that is the main problem but often the opposite, slow riding with little or no concentration and being unaware of what is going on around you.

Main reasons I feel for motorbike fatalities and injuries are:-

No rear lights or even no lights at all !!

Riding down the wrong wide of the road.

3 or more on one motorbike.

Jumping Red traffic lights

Bad riding skills at road junctions particularly when turning right

Using telephones whilst riding

Under aged and totally untrained riders without licences who should not be on the road

Yes I will include inappropriate speeding too, but no not generally fast riding as most of the best and safest riders I know ride pretty fast, fully alert and awake, and of course sensibly.

These are the areas that the police should actively and very aggressively work to stop with hefty on the spot fines for those above listed offenders. This could also be helped by a national TV campaign teaching drivers and riders to check their lights regularly, and comply with the sensible road safety laws that are designed prevent the above list of accident causes. IMHO it is totally pointless the police wasting their valuable time over the wearing of crash helmets, or seat belts, being worn as that DOES NOT cause the accidents but only the serious injuries and avoidable deaths purely to those totally stupid enough not to wear them !!!

So yes to add to the list of course, as far as serious head injuries and deaths are concerned, due to NOT wearing a crash helmet (though IMHO this should NOT be illegal as in itself it does not cause accidents or injuries to others by not wearing one. Purely the crass stupidity of the riders pointlessly risking their lives, so that should be down to them and NOT a police time wasting law IMHO. We are as drivers and riders supposed to be mature people so should not need nannying like children over the wearing of crash helmets, but just strongly encouraged to wear them of course for your personal safety. This can also be effectively done through TV campaigns (like we had Clunk Click Every Trip seat belt campaign in the UK back in the 60's or 70's and it was very effective too) using clever catchy little videos broadcast along with the advert breaks during peak viewing time on the popular TV channels.

I hope these points are taken into the utmost serious and urgent consideration if they are REALLY serious about reducing accidents, injuries and road deaths in Thailand.

Anyway purely my two pence worth.

No condoning drink driving, but locking someone up for what appears to be at least 58 hours without communication or counsel is just wrong.

If caught for drink driving you should be banged to rights, but you also have a right to due process as well. Along the lines of arrested, taken to local police station processed and released with a trial date. It should not take almost 3 days and possibly cost someone their job.

Absolutely spot on Pomthai. I do believe, though correct me if I am wrong, that it is normal international human rights law to be allowed communication and/or proper counsel when arrested and most certainly when locked up on remand. This is what is so wrong with this case and why it has caused so much unnecessary trouble and thus to make the new, and indeed a fair cop. But come on now, EVERYONE MUST HAVE THE BASIC RIGHT TO COMMUNICATION AND / OR COUNSEL as that is a basic and fair common sense human right.

If any of you are arrested you must ask for, no DEMAND, this right of communication and/or counsel, and if that does not happen then ASAP make sure the guilty police involved are brought to justice for abuse of your legal human rights and of them abusing their position unjustly too. IMHO those police involved in this case, by not allowing communication and/or counsel, are just as criminally guilty of an offence as the drunk driver arrested. Come on it really is not that difficult surely for every police officer to know and honour this, so what is their problem and why do they not realise by not honouring this basic right they end up causing so much more waster police time and that of the authorities, let alone friends and relatives ??

As long as the police ensure this right is fully respected for everyone arrested then the police have my and indeed most folks full support in upholding the law. Thus ensuring proper justice prevails by the RTP with their handling of arrested individuals (Falang or Thai as same / same in law) is something I would love to see PM Prayut doing whilst he is still in power and able to do so, as he is known to be a good man for upholding responsible prosecution of the law and anti-corruption.

snip

It is why we see voltages like 132,000 V or more on grid power transmission lines often high up on pylons, as a lot of power can be transported with little current needed at these high voltage pressures, so thus the cables can be relatively small gauge for such a massive electrical transmission need. But that high voltage is massive pressure and thus very dangerous and why pylons are so high and usually protected from idiots getting killed. What they want to avoid is lost power in high currents heating the transmission cabling thus higher voltage is used to be more efficient for grid transmission of power. ​

Well that is half the story, hence why transmission at higher powers is even more effective beyond 66kV especially with coreless bundled transmission lines. No point wasting all that metal in the cable when it is simply not conducting at all, so multi conductor bundles do a fine job and that is the reason small gauge cabling is possible. This maintains good field stability and cost effectiveness by not wasting money on useless metal and the thermal effects that deadweight causes.

However that really doesn't mean the gauge is smaller really,since they are a strand in the bundle.

Why was attention brought to left index finger? Had a dog once pee on an electric outlet Saw an arc from outlet to pecker dog never peed inside again but that only 110 versus 220 here. But judging by photo pole is cement not a conductor unless this guy had 20 inches or was peeing from top of a ladder no way he could of had this happen, so must have leaning on pole to steady himself either or not a good idea.

110 volts is more dangerous than 220 volts ;

it's because of that it was abolished about 50 years ago in France

It is not the amount of voltage that results in a fatality but the amount of current. Currents between 100 and 200ma are lethal.

But voltage is PRESSURE and the more pressure the more the current that will be able to flow through a given item (in this case urine and the human body). So for dangers of lethal electric shock actually 110V is quite a lot safer. Why we use higher voltage in most of the civilised world is that it is far more efficient to transport through wires as less current is needed for a given wattage of power output. And current causes heat and loss of power in the wire conductors so to eliminate that you need thicker wires for the same power requirement. All simple Ohms law.

Take say 1000 Watt load like a small kettle or an iron say. At 110V that would require a current of 1000/110= about 9 Amps, whereas the same 1000 watt load at 220V would require 1000/220 = about 4.5 Amps of current thus requiring much lighter thinner cable to feed it. So with 110V there is much more risk of cable heated fires than with 220V and thus the need for heavier gauge wiring, but the risk of death by electrocution is far less.

It is why we see voltages like 132,000 V or more on grid power transmission lines often high up on pylons, as a lot of power can be transported with little current needed at these high voltage pressures, so thus the cables can be relatively small gauge for such a massive electrical transmission need. But that high voltage is massive pressure and thus very dangerous and why pylons are so high and usually protected from idiots getting killed. What they want to avoid is lost power in high currents heating the transmission cabling thus higher voltage is used to be more efficient for grid transmission of power. ​

I think what some folk confuse with is that it was the original early DC electrical supply was what was so dangerous and was changed to AC which is easier to generate too of course. With DC it seizes the human muscles meaning you cannot let go of the source of the shock, whereas with AC you are thrown off as the voltage falls and is reversed and the muscles react by immediately reflexing of course.

220V overall is considered the best these days and why 90% of the world use it. There are not many places outside of North America that use 110V nowadays, but it is wrong to say that 220V is safer as it truly is not but it is far more practical as long as safety measures are utilised.

Does this mean that the UN are giving their blessing to the perpetrators of the Military coup

I hope so I really do. It is exactly what this country needed at the time it happened and now the road back to democracy is being laid out and IMHO honourably too. Personally I am far happier living here now than before the coup and that is for sure and many I speak to feel the same. So lets stop the silly bickering and let Thailand slowly heal its wounds and pave the way for recovery. We all need to be more positive and less cynical for sure.

This is some good news surely. Rather wait until 2017 that it be rushed through now with too many flaws as before.

At least I would rather live where we have what we have got here than in what WAS once a great place the USA where it is now corruptly run almost entirely by the unelected fat cat corporates who care only about their almost immeasurable wealth rather then the well being of the people and the nation. Proper and true democracy has surely been dead in the USA for some time now, and add to that the UK and many other US vassal nations too.

Oh once and for all I am NOT anti US folk at all, quite the contrary in fact, but I do feel sorry for them with the corrupt corporate controlled mess they have over there. I AM though very anti Washington and I believe many US folk share that opinion now too, which is refreshing to know. High time for a major change over there from the awful in bed with the 1% elites Republicans to the nowadays not a lot better Democrats. Time for the US folk to form a new and honourable centre based peoples' political party, which I gladly see an opinion poll showed that about 70% of US citizens agree with that view now. So surely it is high time that the apathy ceased and they got on with it.

Looks to me that the US is well shut of you.;

I think the word is shot not shut jesimps, but anyway irrelevant. Thanks for the response but what an odd unfounded thing to say anyway. Why do you say that when it seems 70% of US citizens in that recent opinion poll agree with the view I expressed here. It seems they now very much mistrust Washington, and feel that they are very corrupt and agree that there is a dire need for a new 3rd political party is the USA. A new political force that is centre based and honourably for the people not the 1% pond life elites who rape your country and clearly milk it to the bone . Anyway I want to say genuinely sincerely that I am an honest, fair, open minded and always been hard working person (now long retired), who has many faults too like all of us, but simply speaks out frankly about what I feel is right and what is wrong. I support people's well being and happiness and certainly DO NOT prioritise money over people's well being, by never making money the be and end all of everything in life. So if that makes me a bad person and an undesirable or stupid one, then I will have to be satisfied with being just that, and you can be happy that you must be dead right after all then hmm.

As it turns out I must say that you clearly know nothing about me, as I am not a US citizen at all but a Brit. Though that is nothing to be proud of these days as the UK Government is not a lot better than Washington IMHO, as it is also a Government controlled and run by the fat cat corporates and an undemocratically minority elected one too. The disgusting and unacceptable unelected corporate control of so many of the Western Governments is clearly no longer just heresay or conspiracy theory either, but pretty much a known fact to anyone who has a modicum of intelligence and has been staying awake and opening their eyes and ears in the past couple of decades or more.

I do not want to flame you, as that is immature and not my scene and being way to old for that crap too. Of course you are fully entitled to expressing your free views, whether they are right or wrong. Though clearly what you say would surely more apply to you as to "the US being well shot of you", as it seems to be you rather than me who is going against the views of 70% or more of your US compatriots if the opinion poll is to be believed, and I see no reason why it should not be and underlines what I have heard from other US contacts.

Anyway I fully stand by what I said in previous posts.

This is some good news surely. Rather wait until 2017 that it be rushed through now with too many flaws as before.

At least I would rather live where we have what we have got here than in what WAS once a great place the USA where it is now corruptly run almost entirely by the unelected fat cat corporates who care only about their almost immeasurable wealth rather then the well being of the people and the nation. Proper and true democracy has surely been dead in the USA for some time now, and add to that the UK and many other US vassal nations too.

Oh once and for all I am NOT anti US folk at all, quite the contrary in fact, but I do feel sorry for them with the corrupt corporate controlled mess they have over there. I AM though very anti Washington and I believe many US folk share that opinion now too, which is refreshing to know. High time for a major change over there from the awful in bed with the 1% elites Republicans to the nowadays not a lot better Democrats. Time for the US folk to form a new and honourable centre based peoples' political party, which I gladly see an opinion poll showed that about 70% of US citizens agree with that view now. So surely it is high time that the apathy ceased and they got on with it.

"Prayut must be judged by Thais, not outsiders"

So have an election then and see how he gets on??

Sorry I have no intention or wish to flame you my friend as that is not my way as I accept other folk's views, even if I believe they are very wrong. However I have to say that our statement is as daft and ignorant as those hegemonic imbeciles in Washington, and indeed London and Berlin and other US vassal nations too, who have clearly no real knowledge and understanding of the situation here and should thus maybe simply mind their own bloody business until they do. Why do we want a return to the turmoil and near civil war we had before ?? As that is exactly what would happen if we had elections now under the flawed FPTP based electoral system that was in place here before ?? Please get real on that score as we should all know that it is exactly the truth on this score.

Be patient as elections WILL come when the time is right and when Thailand has a constitution in place that in future does NOT allow minority elected Governments to prevail, which clearly and understandably cannot gain the respect, recognition and acceptance by the majority of the Thai people. In Democracy the minority must NEVER prevail or it simply isn't democracy, and there can be no valid arguments acceptable on that point. Democracy WILL return here but only once they have an agreed new sound constitution in place. If, as it seems, they are proposing to go down the path of a German style PR electoral system, then maybe Thailand can at last have TRUE democracy, where the majority will reigns supreme. If that results in a coalition Government, then that would only be if that is how the people voted, and as such the participating coalition parties simply HAVE to agree on consensus policies overall acceptable to both sides involved, and that would importantly imply acceptable by the majority of the Thai people. Sure the excesses of either side cannot then prevail and neither should they of course. Now that IS TRUE democracy.

Once again I repeat that Proportional Representation (PR), or at least AV as they have in Australia, is the only way to true majority will democracy, which they clearly do not have in so many corrupt places like the USA and UK. You can see the distorted and democratically wrong results when you look at the UK election earlier this year, when Cameron and his right wing Tories attained just 36.7% of the popular vote, and yet disgustingly and unacceptably got into exclusive power control of the UK Government with a small but workable overall majority of just 8 seats in the house. You have to realise that this is despite 62.3% of the people not wanting his right wing Tory crap to prevail unopposed, as such personally I do not recognise the current UK Government at all as that is worse than the temporary and needed so called dictatorship here which probably has more percentage people support than the UK Government does!

So once again, we must all wait patiently until we have the new constitution in place and accepted by referendum, then and ONLY then will it be correct and intelligent to return Thailand to democracy. Prayut is intelligent and sensible enough to know that, so maybe the Thai people should all put their efforts into helping him achieve that honourable aim, with the final referendum acceptance by the Thai people. In the mean time I personally think Prayut is doing a great job overall, despite a few very necessary temporary controls. To me Thailand has right now the best stability and governance I have seen since I arrived here to live in 2003, and I truly mean that too. Whatever, my personal, and I am sure the majority Thai folk's wish, is for the Thai people to truly get the Government that they elect by a TRUE DEMOCRATIC majority will, or if that is how the people vote then a consensus coalition Government which should also then be acceptable as it will still respect the overall majority will. But please no more 500 Baht vote buying and other such electoral corruptions, which IMHO the guilty should be heavily punished by long jail sentences, as electoral corruption is inexcusable in a democracy.

Elections and the charade of Thai democracy are irrelevant. The rich and powerful will not allow any changes to 0.1% of the population controlling more than 50% of Thailand's wealth.

You are probably dead right there khunianb as that is certainly what it is like in the USA and UK to name but two. At least with a PR or even second best AV electoral system, that has far less chance of happening as the peoples will prevails and no longer minority elected Governments which simply feeds the whim of the 1% corrupt and pond life elite.

"Prayut must be judged by Thais, not outsiders"

So have an election then and see how he gets on??

Sorry I have no intention or wish to flame you my friend as that is not my way as I accept other folk's views, even if I believe they are very wrong. However I have to say that our statement is as daft and ignorant as those hegemonic imbeciles in Washington, and indeed London and Berlin and other US vassal nations too, who have clearly no real knowledge and understanding of the situation here and should thus maybe simply mind their own bloody business until they do. Why do we want a return to the turmoil and near civil war we had before ?? As that is exactly what would happen if we had elections now under the flawed FPTP based electoral system that was in place here before ?? Please get real on that score as we should all know that it is exactly the truth on this score.

Be patient as elections WILL come when the time is right and when Thailand has a constitution in place that in future does NOT allow minority elected Governments to prevail, which clearly and understandably cannot gain the respect, recognition and acceptance by the majority of the Thai people. In Democracy the minority must NEVER prevail or it simply isn't democracy, and there can be no valid arguments acceptable on that point. Democracy WILL return here but only once they have an agreed new sound constitution in place. If, as it seems, they are proposing to go down the path of a German style PR electoral system, then maybe Thailand can at last have TRUE democracy, where the majority will reigns supreme. If that results in a coalition Government, then that would only be if that is how the people voted, and as such the participating coalition parties simply HAVE to agree on consensus policies overall acceptable to both sides involved, and that would importantly imply acceptable by the majority of the Thai people. Sure the excesses of either side cannot then prevail and neither should they of course. Now that IS TRUE democracy.

Once again I repeat that Proportional Representation (PR), or at least AV as they have in Australia, is the only way to true majority will democracy, which they clearly do not have in so many corrupt places like the USA and UK. You can see the distorted and democratically wrong results when you look at the UK election earlier this year, when Cameron and his right wing Tories attained just 36.7% of the popular vote, and yet disgustingly and unacceptably got into exclusive power control of the UK Government with a small but workable overall majority of just 8 seats in the house. You have to realise that this is despite 62.3% of the people not wanting his right wing Tory crap to prevail unopposed, as such personally I do not recognise the current UK Government at all as that is worse than the temporary and needed so called dictatorship here which probably has more percentage people support than the UK Government does!

So once again, we must all wait patiently until we have the new constitution in place and accepted by referendum, then and ONLY then will it be correct and intelligent to return Thailand to democracy. Prayut is intelligent and sensible enough to know that, so maybe the Thai people should all put their efforts into helping him achieve that honourable aim, with the final referendum acceptance by the Thai people. In the mean time I personally think Prayut is doing a great job overall, despite a few very necessary temporary controls. To me Thailand has right now the best stability and governance I have seen since I arrived here to live in 2003, and I truly mean that too. Whatever, my personal, and I am sure the majority Thai folk's wish, is for the Thai people to truly get the Government that they elect by a TRUE DEMOCRATIC majority will, or if that is how the people vote then a consensus coalition Government which should also then be acceptable as it will still respect the overall majority will. But please no more 500 Baht vote buying and other such electoral corruptions, which IMHO the guilty should be heavily punished by long jail sentences, as electoral corruption is inexcusable in a democracy.

Proportional voting system?

The current system simply doesn't work. Time for a change

On the first quoted point above well of course and YES YES YES as anyone who understands even remotely how PR works and supports democracy HAS to agree with that being the best and most sound democratic choice !! The last thing we want is a return to First Past The Post, with the resulting usual minority elected Governments, which is a deeply flawed and quite undemocratic system unless there are only two political parties allowed to contest elections and that is only one more than in a one party dictatorship.

On the second point I fully agree and why this charter is essential and needs to be just right and allow true and unarguably honest democracy to prevail.

"I wish it would pass because this charter will really empower the people unlike anything before it."

Cat out off the bag. The whole exercise has been selflessly undertaken by good and well-intentioned martyrs earning only 1.7 million baht a year plus perks for self, unjustified employment for rellies and mia-noys, and maybe even tea-money too. All solely in order to benefit the common people of the country.

Did I get that right?

I'm really glad my IQ is over 80.

Really ??? 1.7 million Baht is just £35K p.a hardly excessive or fat cat salary for such a high profile difficult and thankless job. Whether anyone uses some of their income for a mia-noy is totally irrelevant as we can all spend our money on whatever we legally want to (wish I could afford a mia-noy but not on my small pensions !! )​. So very cynical folk are here. Give the new proposed charter a chance and let us all see if it is as good as originally promised with the early proposed fully democratic PR electoral system being the pivotal part of it. At the end of the day it is of course the Thai people who will have to agree to it in a referendum.

I do not know of course the full details of the draft charter as it stands now, but whatever the most important thing for Thailand is that they no longer use the deeply flawed undemocratic First Past The Post electoral system as that truly rapes democracy as we see else where in the World with minority elected Governments (the UK is a classic example where the peoples will does NOT prevail in most elections and certainly this year's deeply flawed one) . If as the NRC stated some months ago that they plan to introduce a sound PR system similar to that used in Germany, then how can that be undemocratic as some are saying ?? With PR any fully exclusively in control political party can only Govern with a minimum of 50% or more of the popular vote, which after all is unarguably what democracy means i.e. majority will of the people.

Be interesting to see what happens now as future minority elected Government's in Thailand will be a mandate for understandable disharmony and rightful discontent. Any party earning a true over 50% of the popular vote has a right to be in power and must be accepted by all no matter what their political allegiance is, as that is what democracy is about. Of course after it serves its term then they need to seek re-election by a further true majority vote or hand the reigns to a party who does or a consensus coalition that between them have a collective majority vote.

Still want to know which parts of the proposed charter is supposedly undemocratic and if there are any such clauses then it cannot be true PR being proposed. The Australian system of AV where every elected member of the new Parliament HAS to achieve a majority support of the electorate before they can be pronounced elected and voting is of course compulsory. Only flaw in the Australian system IMHO is there is no Abstention box to tick on the voting papers for folk that cannot support any of the candidates and yet are I believe rightfully forced to have to vote. The PR system does statistically produce a more accurate result as to the percentage of seats to public votes.

CM your brief seems a little contradictory as you said you want to send and receive payments but then you say you do not need internet. How are you going to make payments (other than telephone banking which would be more expensive)?

Have you looked at Barclays International or Lloyds International - both of which would have much lower thresholds I would think?

My UK Sterling account is subject to the same in and outbound transactions every month, none of which require my intervention. Additionally, my UK Barclaycard is drawn on my UK account, a requirement of the card. Infrequently I also make one off transactions and whilst it would be nice to be able to make these via the internet, they can be made by telephone. The nice part about the HSBC account was that it didn't cost me anything and didn't require me to keep a minimum balance, ever since I ditched Premier in favour of a regular ordinary bank account, plus it still had internet facilities.

I will look at Barclays and Lloyds.

Yes indeed I have been with Barclays for over 40 years and with their excellent secure and easy to use Internet Banking service I can pay all my UK based outgoings easily and use my Barclaycard to buy all my groceries, petrol, phone and internet bills here as well as most other items like clothes and electrical goods and simply pay them using my Internet Banking. I find this far cheaper overall than paying the high flat rate charge to transfer money here and with a credit card you can get up to 7 weeks free credit too of course. I have not lived in the UK for over 12 years as a retired Expat here and no problem keeping my account with Barclays onshore normal bank, but then again as I still pay UK tax I am in effect still treated for that as a UK resident.

Worst bank in the world IMHO is HSBC as despite my never having a bad debt and always having a top clean credit rating they are charging me 25% APR on a credit card debt despite UK bank rate being close to 0% that is absolute fraud and criminal and I detest them for it. I only ran up the debt unavoidably during the post 2008 period when the pound collapsing cost me 35% of my UK based pension income and was only for a couple of years before my UK state pension came on board. I was sure that that credit card interest would drop from the then 14% APR in 2008 to about 8% APR making such temporary needed debt easy to clear. With the collapsing bank rate as always Card interest rates have run about 7% or so above bank rate for decades, so thus I was sure the Credit Card rate would drop accordingly to about 8% APR. I did not ever dream that these banks (which were before fairly well respected) were true low life criminals and fraudsters who I strongly believe should have all their disgusting CEOs behind bars, as we now know they put UP their interest rate charges and continue to do so !!! Absolutely inexcusable and disgusting and making it difficult now for me to clear that debt as always fighting with the exorbitant rip off interest charges at 25% APR ad I know many millions are in the same boat as I am here thanks to being cheated and ripped off !!! HSBC SUCK BIG TIME, they are total criminals and fraudsters !! It is poor folk and struggling pensioners, myself included, who bear the brunt of their theft as we can do little to get out of their clutches.

I will be glad if Corbyn gets into power in the UK (he talks a lot of sound common sense and is anti austerity measures applied to the poor too) as he will rightly nationalise at least the one bank, probably RBS. It will be in clean competition with the private banksters who will simply then lose all their customers if they continue with the fraud and rip offs !! I know I would immediately transfer all my banking to a safe and well run nationalised bank and pay realistic fees and related to bank rate interest charges. Thumbs up to Corbyn as he talks the most sense, and I say that even though strangely enough I am not a Socialist but very much a centre ground man who puts people always before money but respects that we need both.

Jeez you guys are never happy. They're looking for further suspects that they've identified from CCTV. Give them a chance. You know, they may actually be doing a good job behind the scenes this time.

Absolutely spot on. Congratulations to the RTP for this arrest, good work indeed.

It seems here in this forum so many will just always put down the Thai police no matter what they do. I applaud this arrest they have just made as that would have taken a lot of good police work to make it possible, and it really does seem pretty sure they do have one of those truly responsible. So I ask folk to stop just knocking the RTP all the time and it seems whatever even good work that they do they are proclaimed wrong and incompetent. It seems in so many folks eyes that they just can never do right, so unless there is solid real evidence to support that conjecture then best to shut it IMHO. Sure there is always some incompetence in ALL police forces even within the what are generally considered the best in the World UK police too and for sure certainly seems plenty of it here too, but how about some praise when they do get good results form good work.

Sure in cases like the Koh Toh murders there is some apparently solid evidence of police incompetence and/or corruption, but still nothing proven yet so all is still only conjecture there too. All I hope is that with insufficient evidence and all the cock ups, that those Burmese guys if truly innocent or no real proof of guilt are not sentenced for something they likely did not do, whilst the guilty one gets away it through what is considered by many as serious corruption.

I saw nothing wrong with the last Constitution, it was voted on and passed by "the people" .

This makes me laugh "....(name any financial market)...... is expected to .....(fill in the blank).... because of......(fill in the blank)".

The future direction of any financial market is completely unknowable. Everything someone can list as a possible reason why something "should" happen, is already known by the market and is already "priced in" resulting in the current price. There are billions of $, Baht whatever being traded by people whose business it is to trade currency markets. These are serious people. If they thought for one second that the current price was in some way "wrong" or that others had failed to consider a certain key piece of information or data, they would place their bets and rake in a fortune when they were proved right.

The current price is there as a result of all the people who have already placed their bets on the direction based on all known data / information / forecasts.

The only thing that will move markets one way or the other is if new news or data becomes available which differs significantly from what was expected. This data / information is by it's very definition "unknown", hence the future direction is also unknown.

But these economists will know: if you forecast the direction as "up" or "down", which ever they choose there is about a 50-50 chance of being correct. Then they can heap praise on their own shoulders for being so clever!!

Flip a coin, you have about as much chance of being right.

And there is the big problem and reason the Capitalist system in the 21st century is now deeply flawed.

It is all one betting shop and countries economies are "played" with by selfish and low life gamblers. Exchange rates in the old days of more true economies were almost exclusively effected, as they very much should be, by a country's balance of payments for goods and services in and out, not by low life a'hole speculators trying to make a quick free buck on the backs of the poor folk in the economies they falsely effect and often ruin. This world is currently totally crazy and grossly unfair to the the 99% of folk who are ordinary decent people simply trying to earn an honest living and have a happy and comfortable rewarding life but all of that is being ruined by the fat cat selfish pond life whom Governments allow to get away with it !!!!!!!!!!

Silly fraudulent manipulations by very corrupt and evil Governments like Washington and much of Europe too, who are a major part and main cause in fact of the problem. Falsely making the what should be a very weak US dollar stronger by fraud and deceit, and gold weaker (which is very strange as physical gold is highly in demand that exceeds supply!!), manipulating oil prices to help demonise Russia in punishment for them being independent and refusing to bow down to the hegemonic US domination as most World wide vassal states are having to do these days.

NOW before anyone starts the stupid jumping on me as usual on this point, I will say now that I am NOT being anti American as I have many US based friends and generally love most US folk and the beautiful country, though some are sadly it seems a bit apathetic and lacking in real knowledge of the truth. However I am really very much currently very anti the corrupt and simply evil corporate run Washington and indeed anti UK Government too for similar reasons as they are very much a US vassal nation now. There lies the problem that affects us all and time we all did something to rid ourselves of this blight on society IMHO.

Almost ALL of us here are ordinary decent folk and we are being totally stitched up by corrupt Western Governments and fat cat corporations that are controlling us and still too many of us seem unable to see the truth in that. This we must stop and get back to normality if it is at all possible. Unfortunately we are still being brainwashed and mislead by the Washington controlled Western media.

All just my honest two pence worth and I am not up to any debate on it as I am happy that it is all the truth and many or even most open minded ordinary decent folk can now see that too and agree !! So silly flamers who are unable to hold a serious sensible debate will as usual be ignored as they always should be.

Are you saying a SOCIALIST system will work? Think again. People are GREEDY no matter what Utopia you want to have

Actually I am saying that surprisingly I believe a Socialist system would actually work much better than the stupidity and flawed 21st Century Capitalist system which is absolutely for sure currently failing all of us but the 1%. I am however not in favour of Socialism either, but I am in favour of the many good people friendly aspects of BOTH Socialism AND Capitalism run and properly controlled as it used to be, under a centre based more honourable Government of the people and for the people.

Thanks for your input and indeed I agree and of course we all know that people are Greedy, but such greed only benefits usually the odd 1 or 2 percent of society who are powerful enough already to be able to succeed in their greed to the enormous cost to the rest of us. Utopia is by its very definition something we should all of course want to aim for although likely never achievable, but at the very least we should be heading in that correct and desirable direction surely rather than letting the 1% drive us headlong into the social abyss. It is why we need Governments accountable ONLY to the people and centre based of course and fairly work to ensure levels of greed are controlled as to how much it can be exploited. So yes we MUST have fair honourable Government controls wit either Socialism or Capitalism as without control it is like a company heading for failure as it does not have a good management board of directors.

Nothing wrong with ideals BTW as long as they are held alongside realism too. Ideals at least give us the direction in which we as a society should IDEALLY be heading as any steps in that direction should be good for the vast majority of us and if not then hardly ideal hmm !!