MW72

I cannot find anything to the contrary, but I am willing to be proved wrong. Nowhere does it say that this new ripoff express service will guarantee a visa. Can you imagine paying 600 pounds just to find your application has been denied.....and I bet one will still have to pay in us dollars = an exchange ripoff too

A valid point. The extra cost is just to process the application in 24 hours. It will not guarantee a successful application.

A lot of fuss about nothing.

The vast majority of people plan their trips abroad and will have time to apply for a visa in the normal way. Who is going to use this service? Most likely business men who find they need to travel at a minute's notice. I don't imagine it will be used by many and I don't imagine it will have a detrimental affect on the existing service.

I used a similar service at the Indian embassy in the UK. My firm flew me back to the UK on a Thursday. Handed my passport into the office and their fixer got me an Indian visa by close of business on the Friday. I then flew out to India on the Monday after a weekend at home. It cost a good bit more than the normal process but I didn't pay as the firm did. I'm not aware of any outrage in the UK because this service exists at the Indian embassy or is causing delays to the standard application process.

I hope the police and soldiers who lost their weapons got the sack. Being Thailand I doubt it. It beggars belief that a bunch of thugs can raid an army base and steal weapons. How unprofessional are the Thai army? Someone on the inside perhaps?

Do you call the rice scam that lost 600 billion baht innovation?

Maybe the clean up needs to serve the privileged as they are the clever people that make money for Thailand to subsidise the rice farmers (that cost everyone an arm and leg) in lost revenue. They, the elite, if you want to call them that, also supply a large amount of jobs for Thai's and they must be pretty good as it as Thailand has probably the lowest unemployment rate in the world.

Please tell me how the rice farmers benefit the country as I would be interested to know!!

One other thing, was putting someone who was not clever and with zero political experience in charge of the country for the sole reason to get her brother an amnesty a justified reason. These politicians have had more than a fair crack of the whip and have failed miserably in whatever they have done. Time to let the clever people engineer the way forward and if that means disqualifying the politicians then I'm all for it!!

Goodbye corruption and hello to a cleaner, better educated and honest people that actually know what they are doing.

"Please tell me how the rice farmers benefit the country as I would be interested to know!! "

They grow the food that people eat. It really is that simple. And you talk about Yingluck not being clever?

As growing rice is not profitable in Thailand (you agree with this)? then why don't they grow organic rice or other crops that are profitable and are not a drain on the finances.

Your 'clever' Yingluck cost Thailand 60 BILLION baht, I repeat, 60 BILLION baht from her hair-brained scheme that put Thailand's financial security in jeopardy!!

Most of the losses came from not being able to sell the rice through EXPORTING to other countries - now this is NOT feeding the Thai people, is it.

So growing rice (a majority for sale to other countries) cost the tax payers of Thailand the princely sum of 60 BILLION baht - hardly a sensible thing, is it!!

Why not grow other crops which grow in the climate depending on the region (zoning) and import the rice from Vietnam, India or wherever. Alternatively, get them (the rice farmers) to find new employment that doesn't suck money out of the financial coffers!!

I wouldn't mind so much if the farmers actually benefited from this but they clearly didn't (as all of the suicides prove).

Thank god that Prayuth is coming to the rescue and is creating a constitution that keeps the politicians in check by diluting their power and making it more difficult for a Northern based party to be elected. He has eliminated the Shinawatra's from politics which is the most important thing that he has done.

If PTT do get in somehow in an election and their are no Shinawatra's involved, plus the government will be so much more transparent and unable to commit corruption then they have my blessing. We will see how they perform under the new rules (no unaffordable populist policies to bribe the people with) and see how they do playing on a level playing field!!

You shouldn't assume from my post that I am a fan of Yingluck. As for rice farmers growing other crops you should perhaps read the latest OP on subsidies in Thailand. It seems that there are many crops grown by Thai farmers that are subsidised and some subsidies have increased under the Junta. Farmers are subsidised the world over because they produce a vital food supply for society.

I always used to hold the door open for people, still do when I forget not too. I cant remember one Thai ever saying thank you or someone holding the door open for me.

Funny you should mention the holding the door thing. I was in MBK a couple of months back and held the door open and the guy who I assume was Thai and he said thank you to me in English. That was the first time in the 4 years I have been visiting here.

Sent from my KFTT using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Prince George Louis of Cambridge. Why?

1) looks nothing like his grandfather

2) the only future king with no blemishes on his past (not counting dirty nappies)

3) adored by all humans not just the Brits

4) has not been humiliated by the press

5) has not said a thing controversial

6) comfortable sitting on pippa middleton's lap with no ulterior motive (not yet!)

Hail the future king of England, the greatest Englishman alive.

I don't adore him and certainly don't want him as a king of Scotland. I doubt if there will even be a King of England when he grow up.If there is, it'll probably be a foreigner.

Sorry to disappoint you but if little George ever becomes king it will be of both Scotland and England. You do know that when the crowns united it was the Scottish king that became the king of both Scotland and England? One little minor victory for us Scots. We don't get many so we should gloat about that one.

did my little joke go over your head dear boy ?

You really need to be careful when using such language Soutpeel. You should be safe on this thread but the last time I recall you using the term "dear boy" someone mistook your use of English term of endearment for the more sinister term "boy!" which in another culture would have been used by a plantation owner when talking to a slave.

If I remember correctly he tried to accuse you of being racist whilst voicing his indignation that you may have mistaken him for somone of African decent. To coin a phrase from our American cousins, "go figure".

Suck it up you "Doubting Dolts."

Unless YOU want to go out and conduct your own scientific survey, learn to live with the results of those who do take the trouble...or take a final trip to the nearest airport. Quite simple isn't it?

"or take a final trip to the nearest airport"

Congratulations for the most original post of the year!

"Suck it up you "Doubting Dolts"

What is there to doubt? This poll adds nothing. It states the bleeding obvious. Take the following quotes from the OP.

"the majority of respondents had a feeling that political conflicts within the country had noticeably subsided under the leadership of PM Prayut Chan-o-cha. Compared to the period before the coup, Thai political situation nowadays is more peaceful in their opinion."

No $#it Sherlock. A year ago parts of BKK were at a stand still. Grenades were being thrown and "civilians" were walking the streets with automatic rifles. Of course things are more peaceful now. I don't need a poll to tell me that. Political dissent is crushed and the media is censored that's why the political situation is more peaceful. Not many people want to take a trip to the nearest military base and face a court martial. There is no political situation. There is no politics.

"When asked to comment on the strong and weak points of Thai politics at present, the respondents said the strength of Thai politics is the military government which has the absolute authority over decision-making"

Again, no $#it Sherlock.

"The weaknesses of Thai politics are disunity and corruption"

Will that be the disunity that doesn't exist because of the peaceful political situation?

"As for the role of politicians, most of the respondents observe that politicians have become much less influential due to the emergence of the National Council for Peace and Order"

At the risk of repeating myself, no $#it Sherlock.

What has this poll contributed to our knowledge? I would say the sum of <deleted> all.

Do you call the rice scam that lost 600 billion baht innovation?

Maybe the clean up needs to serve the privileged as they are the clever people that make money for Thailand to subsidise the rice farmers (that cost everyone an arm and leg) in lost revenue. They, the elite, if you want to call them that, also supply a large amount of jobs for Thai's and they must be pretty good as it as Thailand has probably the lowest unemployment rate in the world.

Please tell me how the rice farmers benefit the country as I would be interested to know!!

One other thing, was putting someone who was not clever and with zero political experience in charge of the country for the sole reason to get her brother an amnesty a justified reason. These politicians have had more than a fair crack of the whip and have failed miserably in whatever they have done. Time to let the clever people engineer the way forward and if that means disqualifying the politicians then I'm all for it!!

Goodbye corruption and hello to a cleaner, better educated and honest people that actually know what they are doing.

"Please tell me how the rice farmers benefit the country as I would be interested to know!! "

They grow the food that people eat. It really is that simple. And you talk about Yingluck not being clever?

Priceless. What a great OP.

Karl Pilkington

Blessed and Fiennes are both amazing characters who have achieved so much. For me Attenborough tops them both. One of the most respected naturalists of our era. I am sure more people around the world would know of him than Blessed or Fiennes. Hawking is an inspiration even without being one of the top physicists of the last few decades.

I would add Richard Dawkins to the list.

Never been to Pattaya but a year ago in Ratchada BKK I could get a short trip from one end of the street to the other for 10 or 15 Baht. A ride down 2 or 3 different streets to get to Big C was 25 Baht. Like I say that was a year ago and maybe prices have gone up but it does seem cheaper than Pattaya.

Staying or Leaving? Neither. I am coming! Finish work on the 9th. Arrive in LOS 10th. Party for 1 week , relax for 1 week then it's back to work

I'll be in a smallish village up north so it is pretty chilled. Let the kids soak you a couple of times then after that they leave you alone. Thankfully it's not as crazy as it sounds in the cities where you get soaked whether you like it or not. I still carry the wallet and ciggies in a zip lock bag just in case.

he steals a 6 Baht candy in a store (which...let's face it: we all have done!)

no DM, not all of us have not stolen.

thank you for an indication of your morals.

altho'some of your posts do indicate just "where you are coming from"

imho

It's always good to speak to someone perfect!

Not that perfect. Instead of saying not all of us have stolen oby actually said " not all of us have not stolen". That's a double negative which is really a positive so maybe oby is saying all of us have stolen (I doubt it)

For the record, I stole a few bars of chocolate as a kid. Luckily I never got caught and I don't think I turned into a social monster with no morals. Others may disagree.

I miss long summer days. In the north of Scotland the sky is still light at midnight.

I don't miss the short winter days. I'm happy not to suffer those any more.

I think the most amazing thing about this story is,

"Arsenault, who fled to Thailand last April, was among 16 people charged with running a telemarketing scheme that reportedly embezzled over US$20 million (about Bt700 million) from 290 victims in 46 states and Canada."

That is an average of just under $70,000 per person. My 2 questions are, what were they pretending to sell to their victims and who gives $70,000 away to a stranger after a phone call? Unbelievable. (not the OP but that people would fall for this type of scam)

The alternative was a concentration camp or slave labour camp. I believe only about 10% were actual volunteers.

Exactly

All these comments from people who never saw the war , or had the priviledge to be born of parents who experienced it seperated from the whole mess by seas or Channels

There was virtually no choice for these veterans who would have been mere boys back then , and like the Fins , who came out so badly off by the end of the war , while having been embroiled in it near the start , Stalin was the great enemy , and anyone opposing that monster ( who annihalted 10 million of his own ) was the greatest of enemies to their own small nations

They are peaceful democracies today ( unlike Russia ) and even their own leaders recognize the sacrifices those kids made!

Exactly wrong.

The Waffen SS had a number of non German units made up from volunteers from a surprising number of countries.

Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Galicia, Georgia, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Asian Regiment, Arab Regiment, USA and Britain.

The people sent to concentration camps and slave labour camps would never have been allowed to join the SS as they were considered to be sub human. To say their only alternative to the concentration camp was to join the SS is false.

Only recruits sworn in after 1943 were considered involuntary and were afforded the rights of veterans denied to the rest of the SS who were considered to be war criminals. Strangely enough the majority of the mass killings took place before the end of 1943 when membership of the SS was still voluntary.

Oh that's just freken great, so 80% of Germans should have been executed because they supported their country during a war.

A few other points, The deaths of 6 million Jews + some others is always used to 'prove' just how terrible Germany was during wwii.

Consider this-

* It was not Germany's intention to exterminate jews when they started wwii in order to create an empire (something that Napoleon's France and countless others had done throught history) This is something that happened AFTER the US entered the war and began to carpet bomb Germany. I have talked to 2 people who lives in German occupied Europe during wwii (one was in belgium and one in Amsterdam). They both said the same thing, at the begining of the war things were normal, as the war progressed and Germany started loosing, the situation became dark and there were massive food shortages. In fact the majority of the people that died in the concentration camps died of hunger and disease, not gas chambers.

* The US sent Japanese-Americans to concentration camps during wwii, would they have survived if say, Japan had developed an A-bomb and anihalated many american cities? We can't know that.

* As early as 1942, Germany was willing to negotiate an end to the war, the Allies would only accept unconditional surrender.

* The German Army was professional in the early days of the war when they were winning, ie. Their invasion and occupation of France did not include massive war crimes. Stalin had killed 8 million Ukranians prior to Germany's liberation of that country, I call it 'liberation' because most Ukranians (as Latvians) saw Germany as a liberator, again early on, they weren't so bad, better than Stalin.. and the fact that Stalin had committed these war crimes pretty much gave Germany a PASS to invade the Soviets.. I mean shit, we invaded Iraq and that has killed a million people for WMDs that weren't there and in retaliation for a terrorist attack that was carried out by Saudi Arabians(those people that are currently supporting ISIS).

* Robert McNamera once said that "If we had lost the war, (wwii) we would have all been tried as war criminals." In regards to the US Carpet Bombing of Axis countries during wwii.

* Germany's logic in starting wwii went something like this- The British, French, and even the US were imperialists and were dominating countries all over the world, so who are they to say we can't dominate eastern europe? AND, the Soviet Union was a disaster and was oppressing and killing millions of eastern europeans who wanted to be liberated so were going to bring them our 'better' non-communist system.. When you look at it from their perspective, it wasn't really that insane from a political perspective.

They should of all been Executed for War Crimes, They were Quite Savage in their dealings in WW 2...

Maybe I'm being an Ass@&$%, Mr. Peter

My mum told me the same. They should have been executed in the late 40's and early 50's but 80% of the Germans supported the Nazis and we had over 250,000 members of the Waffen SS and just only 35 were executed.

Merkel of Germany and the rest of the EU will just ignore them.

This is by far the most deluded post I have read.

To say the Nazis never intended to slaughter the millions they did and only started mass extermination after the US started carpet bombing them is utter drivel. You give the impression that it is therefore the fault of the US that this happened. The Wannasee conference was held in January 1942. The US had not started boming Germany at this stage. The US did not even declare war against Germany. They declared war against Japan after Pearl Harbor. It was the German's who declared war on the US.

You claim that things were normal in Europe until the Germans started losing the war. What about the Ghettos in Poland in 1939 when Germany was still at peace with Stalin and the war in the west was known as the phoney war as no one was actually fighting? Thousands of people rounded up and put in ghettos where there was no provision of food or medical care which led to a huge mortality rate. Is this the "normal" conditions you talk about. What about all of the jews rounded up in France before the US joined the war.

Have you heard about Mein Kampf? You really don't think this was insane from a political or moral stand point?

Don't ask the US for money.............We are definitely broke!

Cannot be. Have another round of QE and the dollar would go up again.

This is the crazy thing. The US is printing billions of dollars every month (as did the UK and EU with their own currencies). Money coming into existence out of thin air and yet the dollar is getting stronger? I'm no expert but where is the inflation? Where is the devaluation of the dollar? Something has got to give some day and I don't think it will be pretty when it does.

Can anyone explain the following? I know absolutely nothing of pool maintenance.

The OP says "Every chemical was WAY OFF charts! Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity and Cyanuric Acid.". Basic chemistry from school tells me that acids and alkalis nuetrlise each other. How can you get high levels of both? Is it because they are chemically fixed in the water and not free to react with each other?

That also leads to the question of pH. If there is both acid and alkali in the water how can the pH be off the chart?

It is interesting to know these things. Most people just generally accept that pools in public places or hotels are safe especially when you can smell the Chlorine.

RIP Terry Pratchett.

I can't claim to be a fan of his books although many of my friends were. I am more of an Iain M Banks (another sad loss) man but I respected his stance on assisted suicide.

Respect

Not another BS poll. It is amazing how all of these polls have results that are beneficial to the current regime. I'm not saying that the results are fixed but more like the questions are loaded. Where's the poll on how Thais feel about their PM threatening to punch a journalist for asking a perfectly reasonable question? Where's the poll asking the Thais how they feel about the media being censored and not being able to pass critical judgement on the Country's leadership?

Oh I get it. ..you want more polls...with questions loaded against the countries leadership.....

Not at all. I'd be happier with less polls.

The purpose of a poll should be to gauge the public's opinion on any particular issue regardless on whether its outcome will be positive or negative for the sitting government. Under the current regime it is impossible to have a poll that would negatively reflect on the current regime. That would not be allowed so what is the point in having any polls?

IMHO there is only one poll that really matters and that poll is performed at the ballot box. If the PM truly wants to restore democracy to Thailand he needs to get a move on. Spend less time micro managing the small stuff, holding press conferences where he makes a fool of himself and get on with meaningful reform so that the Thais can choose their own government again.

Wow, so many people on this forum do not seem to like or trust this PM.

Did all of you trust the last PM, and her brother as well when he was the PM?

I know that a lot of Red shirt supporters seem to be on this forum, just

from reading all the comments, since Ms. Yingluck and her bunch were finally

tossed from power. What I do not get is how so many of you feel that the

coup was not necessary! Do all of you wished that the situation would

keep on going until there was a full civil war, before it got stopped by the

coup. Look what is going on in Syria, protest getting out of control, country

going out of control, and now 5 years of civil war, and so much of Syria

bombed beyond belief. Look at Libya, and those other countries where

the peaceful situation has gone bye bye, and replaced by the war in Libya as well.

Maybe Thailand is not a perfect country where the civilians have gotten

a perfect democratic government, but it is sure a lot better off than some

parts of the world.

Just my 2 cents worth on this subject.

I just hope that the Thailand Baht is more like 30 baht to the Canadian dollar by next Winter.

Then I will believe that the Thai currency is not being jacked up for what ever

reason it is now.

Please don't believe that everyone who dislikes this regime is a Red Shirt. I have posted negative remarks about the PM but that in no way makes me Red.

What you say about civil unrest is perfectly valid but wouldn't it be great if there was a strong constitution and judicial system that could keep a government in check if they tried to abuse their position of power instead of coup after coup? I know the PM says he is dealing with all of this for the better of the country but as I said in my previous post, actions speak louder than words. I personally don't believe that having a fully appointed senate is a very democratic thing especially as half will be appointed by a "council of experts". Who are these experts? The other half appointed from previous prime ministers and commanders of the armed forces. Do you reckon that any of the Red former PMs will be invited to join? With the rest made up from the type of people that support the coup I reckon the senate will be pretty biased.

Whether any of us like it or not, a good portion of this country support the side that is currently being isolated and pushed out of the whole process. That can't be a good thing for any future peace. What will these masses of poor people do when their vote will no longer count as the system is rigged against them?