superal

UK indigenous folks and pensioners should be exempt from the new rules . A married couple are expected to live on about 15K a year state pension and a single person about 10K. UK state pensions need to double at least . The reforms will reduce the net migration figures by as much as 50% and lessen the burden on the NHS , housing and benefits system . Also the UK Immigration should be upgrading their detection methods on finding illegal immigrants , many of whom are milking the benefits system on a large scale and are disguised as asylum seekers . UK crime rates on car theft and shop lifting have rocketed recently . Correlation with high immigration / crime ? Not to forget trying to get a doctor or dentist appointment or 10 hour waiting at the A& E . People living rough on the streets at a record level and 20% of people using food banks . No doubt there will be protest marches , against the immigration reforms , led by so called do gooders e.g. Stop the Oil campaigners . The UK has gone from bad to worse and needs these radical reforms to halt the slide .

There are many UK state pensioners who would be happy to have £18600 as an annual income . The £38k. should not be applied to an indigenous UK national and foreign spouse . Just another indicator of how low the UK pension is . The governments radical reforms of limiting immigration are welcome . Next week announcement is free flights to Rwanda .

I reckon 100% are sex tourists but only 50% can still perform

My son is hoping to visit me in July next year so I just checked out the air fares with Thai Airways and Eva Air . So from London to Bangkok return the fares were not cheap for an economy seat . Thai is over 1100 pounds and Eva over 1200 . So prices seem to be rising and that will prove daunting to tourists, especially in these times of economic woe .

Preference is given to a young Filipino of limited English education / speech , as opposed to a capable UK senior in his 60s and up . Says it all really .

Your experience sums it up totally . As a point of interest what reforms would you suggest to the Thai ministry of education ?

Agree and we have similar opinions . Sad to say but I believe that the Thai education system will remain as it is because it keeps the low class at a controllable level and allows the Hi So folk to maintain their stance .

If there was a low pass rate on any subject , it would be a poor reflection on the teachers ability to teach and also the schools reputation as a place of learning . Hence the high passing rate and the children's achievements are not important . It is mostly children of wealthy Thai parents who succeed , by way of high grade schools and/or private tuition . That has been the case with my ladies niece who attended a university in Portsmouth UK for 4 years . She speaks first class English and works as a geologist . She is able to speak about world affairs and tells me that most Thai children are not aware of life outside of Thailand or know little about it . Finally , teaching English should be taught by an British person who speaks the mother language without a strong local dialec e.g. a Glaswegian ( I struggle to understand them too) . Also why does the Thai system reject older people to teach English? Thailand needs to reform its education format to encourage young people to become educated and confident to converse in the global language of English . However some might say that the Thai government are happy with the ways things are which limits higher levels of education to the elite .

True when compared with the likes of Burma , Laos , North Korea etc . However Thailand is at best a developing / emerging nation with an unstable government , high poverty rates , poor education and little if any social security . It is however the progressive economy over the last 10 years or so that has lifted its standard .

You mean morons as there are 4 pathetic laughing emoji now . This is what you get for having anonymous posts/replies . Unless they want to speak out and tell why they find such a tragedy amusing but I doubt that they have the courage .

Prasat is my town and it is 1hr 45 minutes drive to Buriram airport. 40 minute flight to Don Muaeng airport , as well you know . I have done the coach and taxi journeys at 6 hours which are tiring . OK the flights seem to be getting more expensive but remain my preferred mode of travelling that route . Just hoping that with all the new large development at Buriram airport , it will bring maybe international flights to at least the middle east where a European connection can be had . Also provincial flights from Buriram without going to Bangkok airports would be great . Finally I have never had a good journey with Nakhon Chai air coaches . Their gold class are like school buses and the V.I.P. coach that I took from Pattaya , was rough and shoddy and may have been V.I.P. 10 years before . If using coaches from my area I use and recommend , Sombat Tour . Modern fleet , clean , comfortable and 2 safe drivers on long trips .

A fiver for fish & chips ? cannot be cod for sure and the portion size must be small . In Southampton UK medium size cod & chips £10 - 12 large £ 15 -18 . I have seen pensioners day fish & chips at £7 but will not be cod .

Yeh , getting there for sure

Thanks for your input . Surfshark UK options are Edinburgh , Glasgow , London & Manchester . I have tried switching before and that worked but not anymore . Ways round the non access are for me to message my son in the UK with my bet as he can place the bet on his app . These cyber laws are annoyingly pedantic . Update = Just cleared the cache and browsing for the last 7 days and then switched from Edinburgh server to London and made the connection to W/H . Now there gonna pay for messing me around

Agree that Lazada can be a pain in the backside . Only yesterday I was trying to buy on their site , only to be knocked back on their over zealous security system . So I contacted their C/S who told me that using some servers can cause this and instead open their site via emails received on GMAIL . This I did and it worked without any hitches . I tried Proton free V.P.N. but was no good for me .

Up till the last week or so , my V.P.N. ( Surfshark ) has worked well . However just recently when I try to connect to my account with William Hill ,based in the UK , I am not allowed access as they say I am using a data center and that they must be able to identify the country where I am based in order to be able to see if gambling is allowed in that country. Does anyone else have the same problem ? It appears that UK gambling sites have tightened up on foreign countries access .

Was it the smell of urine in the queue of pensioners that put you off ?

I would not bet on that . Why ? the emphasis is growing on convincing the employed workers to invest for their retirement with commercial pension companies . The current UK state pension funding is creaking and unsustainable with suggestions from some politicians that it be scrapped in the future . Elevated tax concessions for private pension contributions has been suggested .

Not want to digress from the topic but I have to agree with your comment on " down the toilet " . Just returned to Thailand after 2 months in the UK which gives the impression of being over populated , very expensive cost of living and a noticeable amount of non indigenous people in the towns and country . The cost of housing/ renting has erupted to a level that young people - first time buyers cannot enter the market . The full UK state pension is poor even for those who made the full contributions and find themselves unable to claim any monetary benefits as opposed to those who did not plan for their old age and receive a lower pension and so qualify for a lot of benefits . If I was a young man I would seriously consider emigrating . Many UK pensioners cannot afford to heat their homes and visit day centers and libraries to keep warm . I say charity begins at home and so take care of the indigenous Brit as a priority , not as it is at the moment with the UK pensioners being treated unfairly and at the back of the queue . Shame on the UK government and benefits system .

True and for that reason her job title , income and her companies standing and willingness to endorse her return to work could be important . As for self employed , it becomes more difficult without an employer endorsement , as was the case with my lady who owns her own restaurant and house and supported her parents . Me with a 7 bedroom house , money in the bank , proof of our 7 year relationship, plus a reference / guarantee from my police officer son that she would return to Thailand at the end of her visit to the UK . Outcome was a refusal for the tourist visa with a statement that there was doubt that she would return to Thailand . That is all they would say and that left me bewildered and puzzled . Not bother again .

Exactly and that is why the Thai gov; will not legalize vaping i.e. people stop smoking = loss of taxes to the gov; and revenue to the tobacco industry VIPs in Thailand .

Golden Virginia tobacco is now £34 for a 50 gram pouch . Many in the UK now vaping but come to Thailand with your vape is risky as a foreigner but not Thai folk . Thai vape laws set up to extract funds from foreigners and not for health reasons .

Totally agree and I made a similar statement a few months ago . I simply do not understand why these sad <deleted> are protected and anonymous . Cowards in my opinion .

So true and had he made private donations to needy foundations, it would probably have been made public by the press etc and stood him in good stead / kudos . What he has done is a planned way to make him appear a generous good person with his donation being minuscule in comparison to his wealth . BTW , I have tried to explain the meaning of CHARITY to my lady , up here in Issan . It is something that she has never heard of before .and when I explained that in the western world there are many charitable institutions , she was amazed .

I flew BK to Heathrow 10 days ago . One way was 340 pounds . It was 1 hour late leaving Suvarnabhumi airport and 30 minutes late in London . Shame really because the service in economy was excellent i.e. 3 hot good meals and plenty of drinks ( I even got a beer before take off in the galley at the rear of the plane ) . Flight attendants were eager to help . The toilets were always clean . Snacks available between meals . I could not fault the in flight service , plenty of movies and about 200 pounds cheaper than Eva Air . Thai Airways are my preferred way to fly UK / Thailand