rickudon

Israel is not attacking ISIS - they never have. They only care about weakening and destabilizing their neighbours, unless they do what Israel wants.

To be fair, a 2,8% rise means that with inflation at 2.6% they will end up worse off (yet again). At first thought you might think they are 0.2% better off - but remember personal allowances are frozen and the increase is taxed - so effectively the rise is worth one third less in real terms i.e. take home pay rises by only about 1.9% in nominal terms and about -0.9% in real terms (other deductions will also apply, like pension deductions). And - even less for higher rate tax payers. In 2024, average UK pay nominally increased by 6.0% and 2,9% in real terms. So Public sector pay gets robbed again. Then you wonder why staff retention is a problem.

Compared to UK, my housing costs are around 60% less. Can grow veg and fruit for most of the year. Have my own fish ponds. Younger wife. Car running costs about 50% cheaper. Can afford Cheese, which is actually only slightly more than the UK.

Meanwhile, Israel is taking advantage of this collapse, carrying out over 250 air attacks on Syrian targets and has seized even more of the Golan hights. They are, they claim, destroying arms stockpiles etc. Reality is Israel wants to see Syria as weak as possible, also use divide and rule - will probably try to provoke more sectarian violence. Last thing they want is a strong, unified Syria.

we have a few Yabba addicts in our village, but not much crime. Alcohol is a bigger problem, half the men in the village have liver problems before they are 60. reason - Yabba and alcohol relatively cheap, other forms of entertainment are too expensive for a villager. Not just Thailand - USA, drug capital of the world - Heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, American culture is so destructive.

Best thing - i was able to retire at 55 - after that only worked part time and when i wanted. Had time for all those hobbies i neglected. To be honest, i didn't enjoy life much until my 30's - certainly the sex life until then was pretty awful. Age 55-60 was the best (in Thailand). 70's now and slowing down, diseases beginning to pile up. Oh well, many friends died much younger.

I use contactless in some locations that are more trustworthy and do not charge a fee for using a card. But mainly use cash - which i get direct from a human in a bank here in Thailand once a month. Pay by phone? Phone apps are too flaky (rely on wifi or phone signal, not always good). I reckon at least 10% of actions on my phone fail - have to repeat and sometimes more than once. If just browsing it is just annoying, but for paying for stuff or internet communications it can be VERY annoying. And what happens if your phone breaks down, runs out of battery or gets stolen? Too many ifs. In the UK 3 months ago, was on holiday and needed to use a car park for overnight parking - only accepted coins - and you needed a lot! There was a phone option but it rarely worked. Spent half an hour every morning making single purchases with bank notes (from an ATM) to raise the coin cash! Have on 3 occasions (over many years) not been able to get money from an ATM because internet link not working - Once had no cash and had to find someone to borrow money as needed for travel needs. Also had ATM out of funds, and wonder where the next ATM was. I live in a village - cash is main means of payment

Well in 14 years i have only spent 2 days in Pattaya (family holiday). But those women who i knew of who worked bars and the hotels/restaurants in Udon, plus the girls i know about in the village, 90% left when they got a man. They either left to live in the man's country, or brought him back to the village. I am one of about 5 farang in the village with a Thai partner, but about 10 other girls from the village live in Europe or the USA. Only the hardest (and most damaged?) stay in Pattaya.

Mitigation will probably not work either. Ok you can do managed retreat against sea level rise, but still expensive, give everyone an air conditioner, but that causes more energy to be released, aggravating temperatures. As temperatures go up, so will the problems multiply - and tipping points will be more likely to be reached - worst case scenario, Permian style mass extinction. Actually trying to resolve the causes will be much better in the long run. You talk about Cancer, well what is best, eliminating the causes, or trying to cure it?

The batteries will probably last more than 10 years. Then they could be recycled. The problem with recycling them is because very few have expired, there are not enough to make running a recycling plant worthwhile - give it another 5 years or maybe more..

The tiny increments of temperature caused by CO2 are not what does the damage, but what they have an effect on. Think tipping points. Warming causes more ice in Greenland to melt, this weakens AMOC. Nobody knows exactly when it will fail, but estimates are as soon as 15 years, but maybe 300.One positive is that if AMOC fails, Greenland will get colder, and the rate at which ice melts declines. BUY what about other effects? European Agriculture declines. Maybe it will effect the West African monsoon, which could either make West Africa, wetter, or dryer. It might also accelerate the collapse of the Amazon rain forest, which could happen in 50 years. If it changes to Savanah, hard to change back. There are at least 14 tipping points which have been identified as possible due to the current warming, some have only a regional impact, others Global. The worst impacts could trigger mass extinctions (especially if masses of methane are released from frozen tundra and methane clathrates). Oh, and one little point about water vapour for ThaiBeachlover - it might be a significant greenhouse gas, but its presence is purely a temperature response - warmer air can hold more water vapour. So nothing you can do about it directly.

Millions of non-EU 'legal' migrants came into the UK after Brexit - these people are not just those taking working class jobs but loads of Asians with degrees who are taking middle class jobs, Hence why British University graduates struggle to find decent well paid work. Outer London suburbs are being taken over by Indians - where my brother lives, it has changed from a 90% white British community to 50/50 with Asians in the last 10 years. They are even turning up in rural Hampshire. Everywhere, more pressure on housing.

What changed the narrative was the Wests complacency after Russia's partial withdrawal in late 2022 - and they didn't increase military spending or manufacture a lot more munitions, then the republications held up weapon supplies for months. Also diverting weapons to Israel didn't help. If pressure had been racked up on Russia, Putin would have caved in.

Trump is obviously mentioned because he doesn't believe in Climate change and says he will withdraw from all the global climate deals. Drill baby drill will not help. Co2 levels are higher than they have been in a million years, and physics indisputably proves that CO2 warms the atmosphere. Methane also does (fracking doesn't help here). There are too many variables affecting climate to model it completely, so exactly how much warmer it will get and how long it takes are not fully known, hence the range of computer models looking at the variables. But all of them say ....Temperature up. In some ways the collapse of AMOC would be good for some - it will cool the Northern temperate regions - but - the tropics will get hotter - maybe enough for a good cull of humanity.

The Israeli propaganda machine is in full swing.

Gave up cigarettes at 24 years of age. Never a heavy drinker, soon learned that too much alcohol made me sick, not drunk. Maximum amount of beer in a day is about 2 and a half pints, or half a bottle of wine. But go weeks without drinking alcohol at all, I only drink on social occasions. Rarely drink wine now, too expensive in Thailand.

Yellow book and pink id - waste of time, not needed them in 14 years here. Local amphoe wanted lots of docs (expensive to get authorised), my poo yai baan (not a friend of our family) and a bribe - I said no way.

It was recently announced that by 2030, 99% of information on the internet will be fake thanks to AI. I suppose we will still be able to rely on Truth social? 🤣

Utter rubbish. Only the first paragraph is close to truth. Rest a total misrepresentation. CO2. During the glacial periods CO2 levels were sometimes below 200 ppm, In Interglacial periods, CO2 did nor rise above 300 ppm, over the past million years. Humanity seems to have done quite well before the Industrial revolution, population grew from about 5 million at the start of the interglacial to around 700 million in the 18th century. All that farmland we would gain in Canada and Siberia? we would also loose a lot of existing farmland in Africa, the Mediterranean (both already happening) and probably many other places. Some current ecosystems would collapse (e.g. coral reefs). There would be less land (sea level rising). As for China, totally wrong, CO2 emissions will peak by 2030, actually there is a 50/50 chance it will happen in 2025. Chinas aim is to be Carbon neutral by 2060 (not dissimilar to the USA, and that is without Trump screwing it up). Instead of watching stupid denialist tiktok and youtube videos, try actually doing some proper research

I looked at those flimsy Y shaped concrete supports - and wonder how easily they would fall down, let alone the road on top. And how good are the foundations. Here in Udon Thani they built a new flyover on the ring road, supports are much more massive. It was built to last.

Never had this problem, in Thailand or the UK. Seems like they have rotted. Have you tried washing them? They will last much longer!

The reality is, that if at the next election the vote shares are similar, the Liberals will be the king makers

Putin thought he could overrun Ukraine in 2 weeks; he wanted all of it. if he had it would have been a fait accompli and not much the west could do about it. In 1993 Russia and Ukraine signed the Budapest memorandum, giving up its nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees and territorial integrity. Ukraine has been an independent state for over 30 years.

Nothing to do with Labour. It was a Conservative government that failed to ensure he was locked up indefinitely. Do not see why he cannot be stripped of his UK citizenship and sent back to Libya, as he was born there.

All seats other than the 50,000 discounted ones will now be 20-100% more......