GarryP

My son, now 36, has never had those problems either. He has both an English first name and my family name. Always been treated as a Thai. Never a problem getting his first ID card and Thai passport.

I hope you are right that the mind set of the newer generals is very different to the old guard. But don't forget who the military is beholden to (and I do not mean the people).

Not something he needs to worry about. If Prachachon wins the next election, they'll probably be either disbanded through Thai lawfare or there'll be another coup. The military wouldn't accept them. However, perhaps the military's support by the general public is continuing to decline so they would need to tread very carefully. It would be nice if Tacky effed off back overseas though, never to be heard from again, divisive tvvat that he is.

The defence offered by the KC is ridiculous - perhaps trying to reduce his sentence but insane. That is not an excuse. Jesus.

Extremist Islamic nation is highly unlikely to be successful, especially when many of its own people hate the regime.

Going back about 38 years ago, I knew a Thai woman that worked in a Japanese bar on soi Thaniya in Bangkok. She had four or five Japanese sugar daddies. If any planned visits clashed, she would make an excuse for one of them to delay tgheir visit. She was making a tonne of money. 80 percent of the year, those guys weren't even here.

They can act as consultants on foreign laws, but not as lawyers.

Teaching English and maths. Taught at a couple of colleges and language schools before I went totally private. Decided I needed a change in my life and more job security (paid health care and sick/annual leave, etc.) so applied for a job with the law firm.

I got that job when I was 30.

I worked for a law firm in Bangkok for 31 1/2 years. Eventually making a department manager position (I am not a lawyer).

Arrived here when I was 19 and I'm 62 now. Been some ups and downs in my life here, but very happy where I am now. Moved upcountry from Bangkok just over 2 years ago and at the end of this month I will have been retired for 1 year. Speak the lingo so am not dependent on anyone, and also understand the local dialect to a good degree so can have a good natter. The visa stuff is behind me now, which is great. Perhaps the only downside is trying to find a couple more things to do, besides cycling and fishing, to keep me occupied now I'm retired. After all the time I have spent here, I don't think I could live in the UK again. I've only been back 5 times in the past forty odd years so am really out of touch with life there. Thailand is my home, and I will pop my clogs here (hopefully not too soon).

I bought a house which was under a mortgage. As I was paying all up front, it was quite simple. The owner of the house had to get the bank which issued the mortgage involved and I paid for two bank drafts. One was for the outstanding amount on the mortgage which went directly into the hands of a bank official who joined us at the Land Department, and the other draft was for the remaining amount which went to the seller. We split the taxes/transfer charges between us. May be a bit more complicated if the new property is also being bought on a mortgage.

So how do you do it. Tie barrels of gasoline to the roof that feed directly to the gas tank?

Bet the pump attendant wasn't happy about that.

No. The Samsung One UI 7.0 update took a bit of getting used to but all good now. There have been complaints about the new update causing battery issues, but no problem for me.

Just the corners are a great improvement over the S24. But I'm still using my Samsung S21 Ultra and will wait a few more years before replacing it.

No idea if there is a ceiling on savings for UK citizens, but all my savings are in Thailand, so not sure they could check up on me anyway.

Sondhi is a former Thaksin psycophant. He invested a lot through his Manager media group in promoting and supporting Thaksin. His press was full of obsequious platitudes, bullcrapery, and fluff pieces. Sondhi was seen all the time with Thaksin too. They were seen together so often it was a bit cringey, sort of like bosom buddies to the extreme. But then Sonteen (sp) would have rimmed Thacky to get the return he thought he was going to get. Unfortunately, when Thaksin got into power, Sondhi did not get the returns he expected (perhaps even promised?), and Thaksin turned his back on him. That's when things got nasty and the hate campaign started and has continued ever since. As to Jatuporn, he has been blowing his own trumpet since the red shirt movement. He is in it for himself and wants to feel important/relevant, but is about as trustworthy as as a scorpion on a frog's back, and as reliable as a punctured condom. These two were probably made for each other.

My parents never taught me religion. The only time we went to church was for funerals, weddings and christenings. I went to a Church of England primary school, and while we did have Friday morning assemblies, we were not taught religion. At high school we had religious education classes, but in that class we learned about many religions, not just christianity. In other words, it was left to me to decide what I believed in but I didn't really give it much thought. That is, I was not force-fed any belief system and I did the same with my son. I left it up to him to decide. His mother was Buddhist but didn't push her beliefs on him either. Years later, in his twenties, he became very religious of his own volition, following catholicism, then a few other groups in Bangkok such as baptist, evangelical, etc. But ultimately he came to the conclusion that it was all a lie. How did he reach that conclusion? The priests, vicars, and whatever else they were, couldn't or wouldn't answer his questions on their faith and some even told him not to ask questions, but just to believe or leave. He also read the bible from cover to cover, and other reading materials, but finally said they did not make sense on a lot of issues (hence his questions which went unanswered). So now, like me, he is an atheist and believes this is the only life we have.

There is life after before death.

Now that's a load of <deleted>. You do not need to believe in any religion to be a moral and good person. When I die, I will be dead. I know that, but that gives me no impulse to do harm to others, steal things, be a tw@t, etc. Look at the extremist muslims who certainly do believe in an afterlife and that killing others is a good thing and will get them a better afterlife than those who don't. Or is their god a lie, while yours is the truth? You can't have it both ways. The only way to do that would be to prove that your god exists, which you can't do. Indoctrination in religious beliefs does more harm than good.

I'll be forgotten in a few months.

Was he Italian too?

Defamation laws here are crazy. They fall under the criminal code and are used to silence others.

He taught me to work hard and save money. Stopped my pocket money for one year when I was 12 to pay for damage when I threw a stone at my brother but missed, and scratched my dad's new car instead (Austin Allegro). Told me to go and get a job, so I did - a paper round. After one year I asked for my pocket money back, but he told me I didn't need it as I was already earning money for myself. Had part-time and summer jobs until I left the UK at 19 and came here in 1982. Been here ever since.