ronnie50

What he says makes sense though. It sounds like Hun Sen was in this charade from the first shot that was fired. He had his reasons (doesn't want casinos in Thailand competing with his) and the hidden Thai hands who have their reasons (change of government).

...and singing 'ere we go, 'ere we go, 'ere we go'! Then another two rows away shoouts 'Oi! Scouser! Shut it!'

Should be standard practise. Need more of that from everyone these days!

Yeah right. Do we know who are the 'big' players in owning/operating marijuana shops? There seem to be hundreds if not a thousand of them. So it's 'highly' unlikely all are sole-proprietors with money to get a lease in a prominent place, kit a place out and stock it - when there doesn't appear to be a big market to sustain all of these shops month in, month out. Of course that leads to suspicions of a shop (many?) existing solely for the purposes of money laundering in some cases. So yeah, business 'groups' - whoever they are, and operating in that latter category - will be trying to figure out how they fake doctor's prescriptions and what happens if raided.

Would losing a no confidence vote trigger an election, or just a change of PM within the same coalition by a vote in the existing Parliament? Everyone knows Prawit wants to be PM... but through a general election, he and his party doesn't have much chance.

No. I'm not sure of the figure of 'bona-fide' Hi-So Thais (whatever bona-fide would be). It's a guess by me, but good idea, maybe AI would have a better guess. By wealth - some of the aristocracy "Na-this, N-that" surnames) are not wealthy, because the name comes from history and historic wealth, and in some cases, that wealth has already been tapped out or frittered away by former uncles, aunts, whatever. So you can't necessarily tell by a 'sakinda' name. Still, many are well-educated even if not wealthy, and have a decent home, and the family name still opens doors - and they know 'extinctively' who they will and won't vote for. The pee-noi system though extends through society and in the upper wealth category the extended families can be quite big, and the patron dishes out the cash via the old Chinese guangxi-type of distribution - or other ways if not Thai-Chinese but still very wealthy. So ultimately it's probably a lot larger than 500 - a guess at the number of ultimate family heads - bigger number is probably in the low thousands - but in a country of 70 million, with the majority earning minimum wage USD 10 daily, or even twice minimun wage, it's still working poverty in comparison to the well-connected, many of the latter scared of the majority with a vote.

Yes, but I seem to manage it.

Practicality I guess comes into it too.

Not rich by any stretch. Just keep my powder dry with basic investments and a pension income. Like you, I've structured things to avoid paying most taxes. That may change of course depending on the outcome of Thailand's tax revisions. If Viet Nam comes up with a similar (minimum) one year retirement visa like Thailand, I would try to add that to the current Thai O-visa-retiree extension. Then spend some minimal time in home country to round out the year. It means being nimble, but it would also means paying for two places.. (two six month leases - Thai - VN back to back). But I'd need to weigh pros and cons. It might be cheaper to just pay the Thai taxes.

Because 'America' is a generic name that refers to a continent (or two). Other countries like Iran and others have their adjectives in brackets that refer not geographically, but politically. UK would be tricky.

Where does all this over-charging happen in Thailand? I did notice it recently when my wife was searching for some medical procedure (30% more on the English webpage than what was advertised on the Thai page), but I don't see this on as regular basis in Bangkok. Is it something that happens a lot in other places, CM, Phuket, Patts?

Better not to invest in anything here. Aside from an 11 year old car, I own nothing in Thailand - and I plan to keep it that way. I own nothing in my home country either, not a sausage, which makes me a non-resident for tax purposes there. Don't get me wrong, I like living here, but I would never buy anything in Thailand that I would have trouble walking away from. As for going back to my own country, no thanks, other than to visit. The health care might be free, but it's elusive, and the number of homeless people and just run down looking people is telling of the more general decline. The place just feels more tired every time I go there. I could afford to relocate there - but cons outweigh the pros. Many Western countries are like this now and I know others have noticed similar declines in their countries.

Meaning you, as a member, can't start a new news topic with a news link in Thailand News or World News - those are AN forum rules.

In a MAGA anti-Muslim pro-hardline-Israeli kind of way...

Thaksin did. And he was relected.