dageurreotype

What is all this hoopla about becoming a nun for a week? Many Thai women do this on a regular basis. Mountain meet molehill. And as has already been said, try that with someone running down a cop in a beat up pick up and not a Mercedes. This place ..

And just how many boats used that 10 days to try and register do you think? I would guess they used that time to kick back and relax and used their effort to complain or boast about their lazy days now.

How do you think the world is going to take this laxed attitude by giving them 2 more months? They hardly did anything in the previous 6 months they had been given. The gov should have made the same threat to the boat owners he made to the taxis. Ship up or ship out and have your boats confiscated and manned by naval personnel until they become registered properly with new owners.

In the meantime these same illegal boats will be harvesting fish in illegal waters the same they did before

Presumably with the same result

So the USA, the biggest hypocrites on the planet, self appointed world policeman is at it again. I have said it before and I say it again. Who gives a fyling firetruck what the yanks say. Fix your own problems in your own country before telling everyone else what to do.

So you think the yanks should shut up on the issue. Fair enough. So which countries opinion do you think is worth something on this matter?

Thailand's.

They have the right to say who is allowed into their country. It is not the US's place to tell Thailand which immigrants to allow in. Why didn't the US fly them to America if they cared so much? The US if the 'Land of Immigrants'; not Thailand.

.

This isn't the issue. The reason behind it is. Appeasing the other bully in the world's schoolyard whilst ignoring basic humanity. As per.

The fact that rumours are all the 7%'ers have to discredit Prayut is a testament to Prayuts progressive and successful governance.

Lets see the evidence. Lets see where he got this information from. We won't see it because this was never intended to uncover a truth. It is a rumour! It made the front page and has planted the seed of doubt in the minds of the gullible and that is what the reds thrive on. It will be discussed at length in this forum until it magically becomes fact to the people the rumour was targeted at.

Facts - The red shirts greatest enemy. Rumours (It used to be beliefs) - Their dearest friend.

Abra Kadabra!

Oh I couldn't read past this idiocy ..

I thought they were protesting the closure of the somtam shops in Istanbul. Silly me!

And the first winner of inane post goes to ..

Perhaps you'd enjoy yet another 'prostitution' thread instead

And the award for the poster with no sense of humour goes to......

Sad life, mate!

I pride myself on having a blinding sense of humour. however, your silly remark hardly side splitting is it? Perhaps you should work on your act, mate

Where in the world do these people get these ideas from.... Maxi-Silly-Mart?

I agree, same as a recent dictum that everyone must present their Passport/ID Card when sending something through the Post Office to prevent postage of illicit items such as drugs, completely forgetting all the shiny red post boxes right outside ..

I thought they were protesting the closure of the somtam shops in Istanbul. Silly me!

And the first winner of inane post goes to ..

Perhaps you'd enjoy yet another 'prostitution' thread instead

The Thai government is now bending over for China just as they did for the US when they were bombing Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. They sent nationals of those respective countries back to their country of origin to uncertain futures and possible death, splitting inter racial families in the process. Now the Uighur are made to suffer for Thailand's 'interests'. Disgusting country with neither principle nor soul.

let's see

the electorate kept voting in the 'wrong' government so the Army took over (again) for the 'good of the people'. The Army thought it a good idea to lock up students, cut health care and spend ONE BILLION US Dollars on submarines they don't need to show 'face' to neighbouring countries

and that, dear readers, is 'Thainess'

Together with the explanation for the subs being it'd be better to have their neighbours be in awe of this country rather than leave the 30 billion lying around for someone else to steal after they'd gone, as per today's BP. Implicit in which statement is that any 'reforms' were never on the cards anyway. You really couldn't make this circus and it's clowns up

Their Country, Their Rules like it or not - the sooner we accept that, the better.

that is austridge policy or sergeant Schulz phenomena.

You are right when you talk about North Korea.

sorry, 'austridge'

Just got a VPN as I read this - Everyone should get one since its so much more secure, esp here ...

Reading Daily Mail now 5555

You got a VPN ... to read the Daily Mail??

Foreign English- teachers...because Thais could never do such a thing!

What does this have to do with the story at hand? Can you show me in the article where it declares there are no paedophiles in Thailand?

To be honest, this is something that should be mandatory in every position where adults will be working with children. I know that it's a requirement in Korea and Japan for their foreign teachers.

Oh for chrissakes enough already, the poster's playing on the words of the stupid Koh Tao cop .. which I suggest all posters desist from referencing as it's not only old but some posters don't get it and clog up the thread with even more inanity than usual.

Of course it will impact tourism along with the Thai economy. The euro depreciates making Thailand even more expensive as a holiday destination, if that were possible, and exports to the EU from Thailand will also be more expensive. 'How many Greeks come here'. My God there's some idiots on this forum ..

Is universal healthcare a basic right for Thai people?

No. It's a basic right for ALL people everywhere. And before the 'who's going to pay for it's' come along, open your eyes and see where all the world's resources are going. And populace are not a priority.

It is shameful to insult anybody's wife or family, even more so if the person in question has proudly served his nation's military for forty-two years. I am old-fashioned and believe that all such elderly and distinguished gentlemen should be treated with great respect.

I am old enough to remember the pre-internet days, when people weren't so quick to throw deeply personal insults around. It is one of the few downsides to the web, you get kids who've never done anything of value in their lives, spewing out insults against their elders and betters, and talking tough from behind their soft fluffy cushions of anonymity.

So you spend way too much time on Youtube then?

It has been proven many many times that immersion is the best way to learn a language. Just look at those women at Pattaya. They have learned survival English and can communicate with their clients. When the student feels he/she needs to learn, he/she will find a way. The problem is that - that need to learn is nowhere to be found. The environment in which these students exist is not conducive for learning English. After the UK students leave, who will the Thai students sapeak (sic) with? Their Thai Teachers are not capable of Engaging their students is English Conversation as they (the teachers) themselves are not proficient in English conversation. So in the end, nothing changed. Students are still unable to speak English, but what an experience it was for the UK students.

In the End, the Thai Teachers loose face because they don't talk good English like the UK students. So the whole experience to me has a negative impact.

The better way would have been to improve the capabilities of the Thai English teachers so they take credit for whatever success they would have with THEIR students.

Are you suggesting the Thais send their children to prostitute themselves in order to better communicate (in 'bar girl' speak) English???

"Thai students’ English skills are not inferior to those of other countries" said Duriya Amatavivat, That's all !!!!

Even my mae baan says Thailand has the worst English speaking skills in the region. Oddly, many Thais, including her, are sending their offspring to Malaysia and Singapore to learn English. I'm guessing that's because the Thai teachers are so lousy at it.

At the hotel where I live the manager shook his head quite sadly and said they may not continue taking chinese tours. "NO MONEY!" They are called the Zero Tourist. They don't buy anything they don't have a pre-paid coupon for in the tour package. Everything in the package is bid out at the lowest dollar so hotels, restaurants, etc. think they are going to make up the cheap bids on extra sales. Good Luck with that as they say. It does make the tourist they have lost out on look a lot better...as someone said.

Pragmatically speaking, they may have to. The equally reviled Russians were seen off as their currency went down the pan. The ever growing hoards of Chinese will ultimately have a devastating effect on those from other countries who've paid for a relaxing holiday and don't want to spend it with the Chinese and their 'culture'. So the question is, what could possibly see an end to the Chinese masses? Nothing as far as I can see. So they here to stay and the Thais despise them and the Chinese don't care. The Thais are stuck with them. ALL of them

I agree if they'd spread themselves a tad thinner they'd be more tolerable ..

Hmmmmm....let sensibilities prevail here while everyone needs to be reminded...in Capital Letters....SOME CHINESE

Cheers

'Some' Chinese is an oxymoron

I really hope that you are wrong about a rerun of Black May, but I fear that you may be right.

Never happen. Social media and international scrutiny will ensure it doesn't. Even new chum Xi couldn't condone that.

I wish the U.S. would pass a law like this.

Some years ago I was surprised at the fluency of the English language, albeit with a very heavy American accent, of a local Thai restaurant worker here on Phuket. He told me his mother had taken him to the US when he was six years old, same as the Thai in this article, when she'd married a US citizen. He'd been caught up with a bad lot in Los Angeles and was sent back to Thailand at the age of twenty-one! Where you been?

to translate it:

the big and influential lobby of the insurance companies wants a much bigger part of the whole Cake (BIP)

to hide this interest a bit more , they send the "doctors" first, to promote this- And- also the lobby of the "Doctors" (private hospitals etc.) does expect to expand their cash inflow.

Health care for free? Hey, we live in a capitalistic world! Making profit comes first and not the health of the people.

The arguments of the"doctors" ( " group of doctors" ! Who are they ? Whom are they representing ?) are contradictory!

""Some rich patients used their connections to queue-jump and get free treatment under the scheme" Prove of it? or is it just a rumour ?

and on the other hand:

"patients with chronic diseases have a higher mortality rate if they get treatment under the universal healthcare scheme"

To finance fundamental health care with tax revenue is the best way. It is mostly efficient and everyone does contribute to this system in relation to his income. In fact, poor people pay more, because they pay a bigger part of their income for tax by VAT.

Thailand is not a poor country anymore and it would be no problem to pay more for the free healthcare year by year, according to the growing of the GDP.

That s typical: On the other hand, there is a very influential lobby demanding extremly costly new toys (submarines) ! The costs of these toys would be enough money to finance the realy needed demand of the free healthcare system for the next years.

Indeed. Rumours of cutting back on healthcare in order to procure these ridiculous subs are spreading so fast Prayut's deemed it necessary to come out on today's BP and quash these 'ridiculous rumours'. Not a 'rumour' then ..

I'd be more impressed if just one of these 'look we're doing something' headlines ran 'Police have been ordered to enact 100000000000 outstanding arrest warrants' with no tea money being demanded (by both sides) first. Who gives a rats about tourists with too much spending money.

He should have been charged with crimes against humanity. Legalization and harm minimisation programs is the only way to curb the drug problem, not government sanctioned murder. Prohibition of alcohol in the USA in the 1920's and 30's was a resounding failure, crime and coruption became rampant and more people died from alcohol, just like with the war on drugs. When will people wake up!!

This page 2 re drug legalisation http://alcoholism.about.com/od/pot/a/bldea050426_3.htm

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/debate/myths/myths4.htm cites experience of countries worldwide and the results of legalising drugs.

Coincidentally, today's BP has an article re the current proposal to legislate casinos here, citing experiences of countries who have legislated and their deleterious affects on society and comparing it with Holland's failed drugs legislation, to wit, it merely encourages those who already do to do more of it and attracts newcomers, not to mention the increase in drug/gambling cartels and money laundering.

I'm not 'moralising', however this has been my personal experience of giving people enough rope to hang themselves. They invariably do. Especially here.

You are moralising (comment on issues of right and wrong, typically with an unfounded air of superiority.

"the self-righteous moralizing of his aunt was ringing in his ears")

You are also not looking at this problem with an open mind, (choosing 2 links that must have been hard to find) with many more links disagreeing with your views.

The Netherlands for a start and even Portugal have not LEGALISED drugs but have decriminalised them. Your assumptions that they are failed is in contrary to the truth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_the_Netherlands

(Summary)

The drug policy of the Netherlands officially has four major objectives:

1. To prevent recreational drug use and to treat and rehabilitate recreational drug users.
2. To reduce harm to users.
3. To diminish public nuisance by drug users (the disturbance of public order and safety in the neighborhood).
4. To combat the production and trafficking of recreational drugs.^[1]

While the legalization of cannabis remains controversial, the introduction of heroin-assisted treatment in 1998 has been lauded for considerably improving the health and social situation of opiate-dependent patients in the Netherlands.^[10]

Together with an approach that focusses on easily accessible health care, harm reduction and prevention, this causes the medical condition of the Dutch addicts to be less severe than that of many other countries.^[31]

^{https://news.vice.com/article/only-in-the-netherlands-do-addicts-complain-about-free-government-heroin}

All That's Left Is the Addiction Itself

The program can be hailed as a great success. Crime has plunged in neighborhoods where heroin use was endemic. Users have less trouble with the law, and their lives have stabilized and improved. They get a roof over their head, they receive welfare, and according to De Ridder, 80 percent of them have some sort of job.

The only problem they still have, of course, is their addiction.

Lahey said without the program, the “whole city would be full of junkies.”

“Now addicts can live more peacefully and start thinking about other things than just getting high. What remains after everything else has been taken care of, is their addiction,” he said. “If you get the dope for free, your only problem is that you’re addicted to the dope. It seems like a paradox, but it's true. All that's left when everything else is taken care of is the question: do I really want to keep on using this?”

http://www.amsterdam.info/drugs/

The Dutch see the use of drugs as a health matter, similar to the use of tobacco and alcohol, and in fact not very distant from problems of obesity, alcoholism and tobacco smoking. They also point to the fact that prohibition of alcohol in the US in the years 1919-1933 brought more negative effects of increased criminality, than the positive social changes and had to be withdrawn.

Portugal

http://mic.com/articles/110344/14-years-after-portugal-decriminalized-all-drugs-here-s-what-s-happening

In 2001, the Portuguese government did something that the United States would find entirely alien. After many years of waging a fierce war on drugs, it decided to flip its strategy entirely: It decriminalized them all.

If someone is found in the possession of less than a 10-day supply of anything from marijuana to heroin, he or she is sent to a three-person Commission for the Dissuasion of Drug Addiction, typically made up of a lawyer, a doctor and a social worker. The commission recommends treatment or a minor fine; otherwise, the person is sent off without any penalty. A vast majority of the time, there is no penalty.

Fourteen years after decriminalization, Portugal has not been run into the ground by a nation of drug addicts. In fact, by many measures, it's doing far better than it was before.

http://www.popsci.com/science-decriminalize-legalize-drugs-marijuana-weed

What happens if you decriminalize everything?

At the far end of natural experiments, Portugal has, for the last 12 years, decriminalized possession of not only marijuana, but every recreational drug. As a result, the country has drawn a spotlight of attention and research.

Interestingly, researchers and politicians both for and against general drug decriminalization have used Portugal as an example. The disagreements arise in part because different people looked at different numbers, such as lifetime drug use, which went up, or problematic drug use, which went down. Alex Stevens, a criminal justice researcher at the University of Kent in the U.K. who has studied Portugal extensively and supports the country's policy, thinks that the most important numbers show improvement. Lifetime drug use could include many people who tried a drug, but didn't develop a harmful habit, he says.

In-depth reporting by the Boston Globe and at the New Yorker agreed with this sentiment, concluding that--after drug reform--Portugal's drug use situation mostly got better. Confounding more clarity, however, was a comprehensive program for treating addicts that started at the same time, so it's difficult to isolate the effects of decriminalization versus treatment.

I could go on and on without looking too far. I have seen the drug problem getting much worse in Australia since I was young, and around the world, with more and more dangerous drugs being made. Do a few searches, you will not find many sites and studies that say it was a failure. You can always find something negative if you do a lot of looking, but any scientific studies do not agree with your moralising.

Also if it was to be done properly, all drugs should be decriminalised and then legalised, Drugs should be a health issue, not a legal problem.

I do not want your children or my child to use drugs, but with the current laws, that is a lot more likely. People need to be responsible for their own actions.

I do not condone drug use, and in a more human society, the current insanity would not be allowed to continue. In the future, people will look back at the war on drugs as draconian and a huge failure, resulting in the opposite effect of what it's aim is supposed to be.

It is best not to use any drugs, including tobacco and alcohol. But this is the real world I am living in, not like yours.

While I am writing this there is a program on Australia Plus about how overused and abuse of prescription drugs is the biggest drug problem.

What do you want? More of the same failed war on Drugs, murder, corruption, deaths or a change that reduces harm for the users and society. I know what I want.

Do calm down old chap, and try using a different set of search words regards drugs and their respective countries' legalising thereof.

'Moralising'? Pfft. I couldn't give a flying rat's what people choose to kill themselves with, the less of them the better.

I'm speaking from personal experience, you? Now, where did you put that spliff?