Homburg

...or discover that Thaksin is not even there!

Unfortunately "typical usage" does not cover the unplanned long-distance journeys that most of us have to undertake occasionally, and the Guardian is viewing "real-world ownership" from the POV of owners who have guaranteed access to overnight charging either at home or somewhere where the public chargers never get vandalised, which does not happen in the "real world", so yes, the Guardian's article IS superficial and deceptive.

Those who need their EV for work are entitled to suffer from range anxiety. In the real world one is not always able to find a working charger when one gets home after work and then the boss calls first thing to tell you to travel 300km to an important client meeting to cover for someone who has called in sick. You are correct about chargers needing a phone signal, but no network has 100% coverage and the signal used by the charger may not be on the same network that your cell-phone uses, and your point about installing chargers only where there is a phone signal also explains why it is more challenging to use an EV outside of an urban environment - because there are very few chargers. By comparison my ICE vehicle can travel 1000km between refuelling stops and so, until I retire from work, I am reluctant to switch to an EV.

I read the Guardian article on "range anxiety". I found it to be superficial and deceptive. It suggests that range anxiety is about only two factors: that batteries don’t have enough capacity for journeys and that there is a lack of chargers. It IGNORES the issue of time taken to recharge, the issue of non-working chargers (when was the last time you found a gas pump that did not work?), the issue of cell-phone signal (because the chargers won't work if you can't get a signal), the issue of potentially spending significant time in an otherwise deserted car-park at night-time waiting for the battery to recharge (would you be happy for your wife or daughter to do that?) It ignores the issue of "charge evaporation" when the temperature drops (less of an issue in LOS, but certainly an issue in Europe & much of North America as even Florida gets frosts sometimes). It ignores the issue of unexpectedly closed freeways/motorways with unplanned diversions of tens of kilometres through sparsely populated countryside - with potentially zero charging facilities available. It assumes that every EV will start a journey with a full charge - this can be really challenging for those without dedicated parking who may need to drive to a charging point some considerable time before setting off on any journey, so drivers may need to get up an EXTRA hour or more early to drive to a meeting because of the need to charge the EV prior to setting off. Unlike The Guardian I find that range anxiety is real and completely justified and I suspect that the Guardian is being intentionally dishonest. Those who read the Guardian regularly may not be surprised at this suspicion.

Truthful testimony! Is this an example of Thai humour?

It seems the hedgehog escaped?

"Counterfeit gold ornaments worth 3 million baht found on Chaeng Watthana Road" Really? But no "identifiable gold shop marks"? Surely, in order to be counterfeit, the items would need to have fake gold marks? Perhaps a more accurate headline would be "Worthless gold coloured ornaments found dumped on Chaeng Watthana Road"? But then, no-one would read the story! Clickbait.

Correct & oops! My Bad, too early in the morning? The lights are there westbound, but not eastbound.

Soi Nana is not safe for women OR for men. As in the whole of the rest of Thailand the biggest danger to women, and men, in Soi Nana is the traffic. You take your life in your hands every time you cross the street anywhere in LOS. That said, Soi Nana is rather less dangerous than the "pedestrian" crossing on Sukhumvit between Soi Nana and Soi 3, which has lights for the pedestrians, but none for vehicles on the westbound carriageway!

Anyone out there really believe he'll be going back to prison? No, me neither.

Maybe he doesn't like kids?

"No updates on health of convicted former PM Thaksin" It's strange to have no updates. Surely Thai politics cannot be running out of lies?

So the delay in this case is not down to extended negotiations over the size of the brown envelope?

"....The fourth measure throws open the doors of night entertainment venues in key tourist districts for extended hours, promising a nightlife experience like never before" So not like it was before they stopped these venues from being open 24/7? Those days (and nights) were fun times!

Medical bills? Does that mean that he really is sick, or are the bills fake too?

I guess this means that the Chinese Police in Thailand will have to remain under cover.

Minus the contents of course.

Perhaps he foolishly thought that the BIB were as useless as the UK Police?

RIP whoever you were.

Oh dear, the prawns are looking worried.

One option for those who don't want to get screwed on the US$/Riel conversion is to bring US$ (good condition notes only, and higher value notes really need to be almost pristine) and convert those to Riel at one of the 10,000 or so exchange places in Phnom Penh. (There are many such places because tourists spend US$ and the recipients want to convert those to Riel - so it's big business). There are several such agencies close to Olympia Mall in St 217 (Blvd Charles De Gaulle) and around the south-eastern corner of Central Market so competition is fierce and the rates there are normally above R4,110, but shop around. The same applies if arriving with THB/Euro etc. It is not easy to spend THB outside of the border areas (Poi Pet etc.) If you are spending $, many of the bigger stores have a published US$/Conversion rate between R4,100 and R4,150 (usually a notice at the till) and their computerised tills compute the correct change in Riel and $ when you pay in $. BUT carefully count your change, check both sides of all $ notes that you get back in change and never hesitate to reject a torn, marked or worn $ note. The condition of the note is less important with Riel, but the same applies if the Riel note is in very poor condition. It is also possible to open a local bank account either in US$ or Riel to avoid ATM charges but it costs more in visa fees to get the correct visa for account opening (not a Tourist Visa) so it's not worth it unless you are either a frequent or long-term visitor. Only withdraw Riel from ATM's to avoid the risk of getting a dud $ note - yes, it happens!

Probably 99.99% on that, the rest is just wasted.😉

For Thailand it seems that they may have surveyed the whole of Soi6!

There is apparently no truth in the rumour that the true reason why Mongkolkit Suksintharanon could not meet with Thaksin Shinawatra at Police Hospital was because he was out at the time.

Perhaps he could recoup some of his losses by playing the lead in any forthcoming Van Gogh biopic?