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Trawling through the "films" available on BBC iPlayer, I came across one which I couldn't remember seeing before, although something told me I had? Anyway I watched it and it was a movie about Brian Clough and dealt with just some aspects of his managerial career, and it was called "The Damned United" and it was very enjoyable. Because it was a truncated version of his time as a manager, it came across as quite "detrimental" to the man, being arrogant and rude, especially as far as Don Revie was concerned. For football fans of my age, it is well worth watching.

Agree........that the Election was stolen, for example, or that I didn't have sex with that porn star; and many other such lies!!

Can't say that they don't deserve it, what with Trump lying through his teeth at every available opportunity and even supporting the 10 Commandments being displayed in classrooms and extolling the virtues of such, when he has broken just about every one of them! Then there is this gem to his faithful goobers: – “Together, we stood up to the communists, Marxists and fascists to defend religious liberty like no other President has ever done,” Trump said. “And I have the wounds all over my body. … I take a lot of wounds, I can tell you, more than, I suspect, any President ever.” I'd like to coin a new term for the poor Trump believers; they have TDS, "trump delusory syndrome". PS. Just found another lie for his goobers to soak up....... In his rambling May 31 monologue following his felony convictions, Donald Trump somehow found time to reference the ill-fated Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. Trump declared: “I ended the Russian pipeline. It was dead. He [Biden] comes in and approves it.” Trump went on to allege that Biden did so because money from the former mayor of Moscow’s wife was paid to the Biden family. Similarly, in a speech at CPAC last year, Trump noted that he “got along very well with Putin even though I’m the one that ended his pipeline. … I ended it. It was dead.” Trump added that “nobody ever heard of Nord Stream 2 until I came along.” In fact, Trump did not stop Nord Stream 2 — he enabled it. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline went from zero to 90 percent completed during Trump’s presidency. https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/4726844-trumps-nord-stream-2-disaster/mlite

Some facts for you....and by the way the so called facts from "alexx" really don't stand scrutiny by any stretch of the imagination. As an example; building the wall!!!! But here are some facts that key US industry leaders had to say about trump............... Trump’s CEO Buddies Stunned by Bizarre Meeting With Him Donald Trump held a private meeting with major CEOs, promising to help them if he retakes the White House. Instead, he left them shocked by his incoherence. Trump met with at least 80 CEOs on Thursday to promise tax cuts and scaled-back business regulations if he’s elected president. Among those present were Apple CEO Tim Cook and the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America. Trump spoke for about an hour, during which he rambled nonsensically, throwing off those in the room, according to sources who shared details of the meeting with CNBC. “I spoke to a number of CEOs who I would say walked into the meeting being Trump supporter-ish, or thinking that they might be leaning that direction,” said CNBC’s Ross Sorkin. “[CEOs] said that he was remarkably meandering, could not keep a straight thought, was all over the map.” Former President Donald Trump failed to impress everyone in a room full of top CEOs this week, multiple attendees told CNBC. “Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” said one CEO who was in the room. Several CEOs “said that [Trump] was remarkably meandering, could not keep a straight thought [and] was all over the map,” Andrew Ross Sorkin, co-host of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” reported. “Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” said one CEO who was in the room, according to a person who heard the executive speaking. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/14/ceos-at-trump-meeting-not-impressed.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CTrump%20doesn't%20know%20what,%E2%80%9CSquawk%20Box%2C%E2%80%9D%20reported AND to top the lot…….Trump a day earlier posted an endorsement of the new law on his social media network, saying: “I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER PLACES, FOR THAT MATTER. READ IT – HOW CAN WE, AS A NATION, GO WRONG???”………This from a man who has broken just about every one of the Ten Commandments!! How dumb can his supporters be????? OR maybe its just that his US voters are as dumb as he is!

Accomplishments my a$$..... What happened to the wall he was going to build.....and make Mexico pay for? He said Nato was obsolete then changed his mind. The tax cuts helped him and his rich buddies and increased the US deficit by trillion of dollars!! https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/after-decades-of-costly-regressive-and-ineffective-tax-cuts-a-new-course-is Trump visited North Korea and was made to look a fool as he achieved nothing apart from giving its leader the credibility he craved. The man is a compulsive liar, rapist and convicted felon....something for you Maga nuts to be proud of.....yeah right Trump is standing up to China by getting his Maga hats and ridiculous sneakers made there! He is a sad-sack of a poor human being and as dumb as a bag of rocks and a loser, bigly.......grab some pu$$y anyone??

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That's the best laugh I've had in a long time.........how on earth do you think up such utter claptrap. trump couldn't even broker a watertight deal with Stormy Daniels!!! Whatever meds you are on......stop taking them asap!! Or lay off the Kool Aid.

Many thanks Sheryl, very much appreciated.

Yes Sheryl.....I have had several echocardiograms to measure its size and it has not altered over the 3 years I have had it. Due another one and bloodwork etc in September. I have just looked out the echocardiogram taken a couple of years back and the summary says, "mild aortic root dilatation (sinus part 4.2 cm)". Stable. PS. I have just found another echocardiographic report dated a year ago and it states: mild aortic root dilatation (sinus part 4.2 cm, ascending aorta 4.3 cm).

Thanks again for replying Sheryl and my policy is from Allianz Ayudya and I initially took my health insurance out at the age of 59 with BUPA here, because in doing so I was guaranteed cover up until age 90+ and BUPA was later to become another company before its latest name, as above. Upon renewing the Allianz policy, I simply have to sign a form and arrange for payment from my Thai bank account, so no medical history needed in this case. As regards my bulging aorta, I am under the auspices of the heart doctor at Bangkok Phuket Hospital who has been checking on me every six months since it was discovered, and now thinking about it, it was probably discovered about three years ago?? The bulge is very slight and the heart doctor doesn't seem to be too worried about it, even suggesting that I might only want to come back once a year for a check on it! But I have suggested I will go back every six months just to make sure and for my own peace of mind. On that point, since it was first discovered the bulge/aneurysm has not increased in size. Although my blood pressure has not been that high, I am on Cardura XL 4 mg mainly because I was already on that medicine for a previous prostate problem, so the doctor suggested I stay on that as it will help lower my blood pressure. He doesn't seem to be too worried about a possible rupture and my next appointment is in early September so I will quiz him more deeply on my situation and possible options. Taking a step back and looking at everything, I will probably continue with Allianz because it's a simple thing to do and the agent here has been very good over the years, dealing with my questions and requests. Once again, thank you for your most informative reply and keep up the good work.

Add to that trump's lies and he has absolutley no credibilty whatsover....he just can't help himself, but the sad thing is that he actually believes his own lies:- "In his rambling May 31 monologue following his felony convictions, Donald Trump somehow found time to reference the ill-fated Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. Trump declared: “I ended the Russian pipeline. It was dead. He [Biden] comes in and approves it.” Trump went on to allege that Biden did so because money from the former mayor of Moscow’s wife was paid to the Biden family. Similarly, in a speech at CPAC last year, Trump noted that he “got along very well with Putin even though I’m the one that ended his pipeline. … I ended it. It was dead.” Trump added that “nobody ever heard of Nord Stream 2 until I came along.” In fact, Trump did not stop Nord Stream 2 — he enabled it. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline went from zero to 90 percent completed during Trump’s presidency. Rather than stop it “dead,” the Trump administration rejected years of bipartisan congressional calls for imposition of sanctions to stop the project. Only when Congress, in frustration, passed mandatory sanctions did the administration finally take concrete action. But by then it was too late. https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/4726844-trumps-nord-stream-2-disaster/mlite

Many thanks for your reply Sheryl, and I'm still giving some thought to the Cigna policy, along with the Allianz option, but before I make a final decision I wonder if you or anybody else on the forum can answer something for me, because I don't seem to be able to get a straight answer from my current agent.......... I have been with Allianz for something like 15 years and have renewed my policy every year over that time, with no gaps or anything similar, so I thought I would be "continuously covered" for any medical condition over those years, BUT during my last year of cover a small bulge was discovered in my aorta during an ECG, which I go back every six months to have checked, and because it was an outpatient procedure and only cost about 5000 baht for everything, obviously I didn't claim, mainly because I only have inpatient cover. Now it's come to me renewing the policy thereby having what I consider to be "continuous cover" am I covered in the event of something happening to the aorta, or is it considered to be something which I have to declare therefore be excluded from ongoing cover? It may sound a simple question, but over the years I have had unbroken health insurance cover with this company, so can they simply refuse to pay out based on one event in un-broken health insurance cover? As regards your point about prostate-related issues, I did notice in the Allianz brochure that once a medical condition had been dealt with and had not re-occurred within a five year period, then it was covered after that?? Anyway if I have to pay for any prostate treatment, then so be it. Any feedback welcomed.

You are spot on Sheryl, because it is the Cigna Global "Close Care Plan" and looking into it, Cigna has offices worldwide and this particular agent was calling me from the Dubai office, which I've checked, is a bone fide office. So I'm checking it out more carefully and to be honest, what little "pre-existing conditions" I have, I'm not really worried about and they can be excluded from this policy if I should take it out. The fact that there is no age limit for enrolment and the total cover is around 18 million baht for an annual premium which is almost equivalent to the Allianz which I have now, and which has a total cover of 1 million baht, so it seems like a good deal. In addition a friend has informed me of the AIA health insurance cover which I need to look into because that also has some benefits. I suppose the only thing in favour of staying with the Allianz policy is that any pre-existing conditions I've had since taking out the policy, should be covered going forward, and one other thing is that they have all of my details and it's simply a question of walking into a local office and signing a form, whereas other policies/companies may well involve medicals, extensive form filling, and so on – – so some homework to do on this on my part. Some decisions to be made on my part and I will post my decisions here for the benefit of others.

I have just found this thread, which may well be fortuitous in my case because I am in the process of renewing my existing health insurance cover with Allianz, however I baulked at the huge increase in my policy, up from 153,000 baht per annum, to 213,000 baht per annum, and that is only for a 1 million baht maximum cover!! I asked the agent if she would go back to the company and check out if I could increase the maximum cover and also include an excess, which it currently doesn't have. However she said that the company does not allow any changes to their policy (this policy), so I went back to her and suggested that the maximum cover could stay the same, however I would gladly pay an excess (deductible) of anything between 50 and a hundred thousand baht, as surely that would make no difference to their liability? I am waiting for a reply, however in the meantime I have been checking out other policies and there is bad publicity on the Internet with regards to WrLife, but I applied to Cigna insurance to see what they could do and much to my surprise I have received a quote which covers me for health insurance in Thailand and NZ, and has a maximum cover of 18 million baht, and although it has an excess/deductible of 110,000 baht, which I don't mind paying, the annual cost is only 163,000 baht......... So I am considering this because I don't mind paying the excess/deductible if it becomes necessary, BUT one major factor in this policy is that there is no age limit (something I found to be quite amazing) and as I am 76, especially in light of the 18 million baht top coverage!! To be honest I'm a little wary because this seems a little too good to be true, especially as there are no age bands in the policy, so am I about to fall victim to an online scam, or has anyone else had any experience with this type of Cigna policy? Your feedback would be welcomed, and I will answer any questions to which I have/may have the answers.

Could always do a trump and make his rich buddies happy as well as lining his own pockets. Also............ Measuring the True Cost of Trump Tax Cuts Wall Street Week April 12th, 2024, 2:55 AM GMT+0700 Natasha Sarin, professor at Yale Law School, is the co-founder of The Budget Lab, which analyzes federal policy proposals for the American economy. She says that a full extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would cost the economy hundreds of billions of dollars over the next few decades. (Source: Bloomberg) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2024-04-11/measuring-the-true-cost-of-trump-tax-cuts

Poor, sad man.....I feel so sorry for you believing a nut-job of a conspiracy theorist. Still, as the saying goes; "they walk among us".

The orange muppet who says he is mentally fit and who is a "stable genius" is not proving his point!! "US Election 2024: Trump challenges Biden to a cognitive test but gets the name of the doctor who tested him wrong" LOL!!!! You couldn't make this stuff up! https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/us-election-2024-trump-challenges-biden-to-a-cognitive-test-but-gets-the-name-of-the-doctor-who-tested-him-wrong/HIGRXXLZIBDANOUPC

What a complete crock.......no problem with speaking the truth, but lies are still lies no matter what spin you want to put on them. And he has got his just rewards, thankfully:- Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' assets will be liquidated to help pay the $1.5 billion he owes for his false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. Chris Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, called Infowars “soon-to-be-defunct” as his clients move to collect on the debt in state courts. He said the families will also pursue Jones’ future earnings. “Today is a good day,” Mattei said in a text message after the hearing. “Alex Jones has lost ownership of Infowars, the corrupt business he has used for years to attack the Connecticut families and so many others. ... Alex Jones is neither a martyr nor a victim. He is the perpetrator of the worst defamation in American history.” The relatives said they were traumatised by Jones’ comments and his followers’ actions. They have testified about being harassed and threatened by Jones’ believers, some of whom confronted the grieving families in person saying the shooting never happened and their children never existed. One parent said someone threatened to dig up his dead son’s grave. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/alex-jones-personal-assets-to-be-sold-to-pay-15b-sandy-hook-debt-company-bankruptcy-is-dismissed/OMB5DMZMRNARHJLN3WK4NPIXUI/

There speaks a dyed in the wool conspiracy theorist..........deep state. pizza parlour, drinking children's blood and maga supporter. Sad.

Jeez........"Hurt feelings" indeed, when the parents of the children killed were going through a grieving process, and at that time other nut jobs were knocking at their doors accusing them of hiding the children because they were not actually dead!!! IMO anybody who thinks that this sort of harassment is simply "hurt feelings" needs to get real, and some, and I personally think your post is disgusting.

Be careful........I was given one similar to this and when I opened it up to check the internal connections, I found it was a complete mess and the supposed "earth" wire wasn't connected to all of the "pins" and the neutral and live wires were connected to different points. For 159 baht, you get what you pay for.

Watched a movie which I thought was very good, called, "Sleeping Dogs" starring a very bloated Russell Crowe (he has really let himself go) and although IMDB gave it mixed reviews it was easily worth a 7!! The twists and turns in the movie kept me interested throughout and the ending was totally unexpected. Well worth a watch IMO.

Good stuff Simon, and thank you for posting this, because it looks similar to the results I got a few years back when I had similar to you and the local urologist at Bangkok Phuket Hospital kept prescribing any old antibiotic he could think about, despite me asking him to get a culture because I was feeling very sick indeed, to get the very results which are published here. Anyway as can be seen in your post, the Carbapenems would seem to be one of the most effective treatments for you, however they are not taken orally, but have to be given intravenously, so I visited the hospital here for 10 days on a daily basis (or was it 14 days?) to have the treatment and it cured the infection. Good luck in whatever antibiotic you choose, however remember to discuss it with your doctor or urologist, so that you get the full lowdown on the treatment and effects thereof.

There follows some of trumps statements early on in the pandemic.......read and weep; the man is an idiot especially when he said the 15 people infected going down to close to zero!!! After which hundreds of thousands of Americans died:- "In his first speech after his hospitalization for Covid-19, President Donald Trump stood on a White House balcony on October 10 and made a grand declaration about the coronavirus: “It’s going to disappear. It is disappearing.” His words might have sounded more dramatic had he not been saying the same thing for eight months. Trump has stuck to the refrain no matter what has been happening with the pandemic. Since February, the President has declared at least 38 times that Covid-19 is either going to disappear or is currently disappearing. His proclamations have been wildly inaccurate. When Trump first started making the claim in February, it was about the time the US had just suffered its very first known Covid-19 death. More than 220,000 deaths later, Trump continues to falsely claim that the virus will somehow just go away — even as the US experiences yet another surge in cases and hospitalizations." https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2020/10/politics/covid-disappearing-trump-comment-tracker/

His DELAY in shutting down flights was responsible for thousands of deaths in the USA........excellent my ass!