mfd101

So after only 16 replies it's obvious that the 'survey' is badly designed. Doesn't allow for those who are already double-vaxed, whether in Thailand or elsewhere ... Start again with a better-designed set of questions & you'll get more useful answers.

The problem arises when people think that all issues they're interested in are MORAL issues (not just practical issues or intellectual ones). And if every issue worth talking about is a moral one, then anyone who disagrees with me must be an immoral person and there's no way he or she is going to convince me of anything. I used to think this was a Lefty problem: All conservatives are immoral and therefore I speak in tones of moral outrage. Whereas (I thought) people right of centre were practical people who sounded condescending because they thought Lefties were just inexperienced

That's pretty much my thinking too.

As I understand it, the Brits have abandoned the concept. The French & the Aussies are scratching their heads and wondering how to make it actually work in practice (security enforcers everywhere?) ... Wait a month and it will all disappear. Meantime I'm just using the lovely Thailand National Certificate they gave me at Rajabhat University in Muaeng Surin this morning. Not that expect to actually use it for anything at all here in south Surin ...

I remember the photo a few years ago, when Yingluck was PM, of her & her cabinet ministers in full uniforms with bangles'n beads stretched out awkwardly on the floor as they briefed the then King sitting up high on his throne-like chair. They were poring over a map. Yingluck looked particularly uncomfortable in her uniform as she was (of course) wearing a skirt ... Appalling symbolism of 'modern' Thailand.

I keep using up my years-old photos for Immigration not because I'm getting older but because I hate to waste anything. Which is probably a sign of someone born before about 1970.

Nicely argued.

Given that La Maxwell is yet to stand trial or otherwise have her time in court, this civil proceeding against Poor Little Andie could well be a preliminary to criminal proceedings that depend on new evidence becoming available (accounts & recordings, travel documents, chauffeurs etc). And all of this in the US. Given that the current plaintiff was apparently not a minor in the UK, at this stage subsequent proceedings in the UK seem unlikely.

The one thing they never do is go back to the start with a blank sheet of paper and ask themselves basic questions: What are we here for? what are our aims? what are the constraints? how can we encourage more and 'better' people to visit/live here? what can we safely cease doing to make things easier for everyone? how can we make our processes simpler and more efficient? how can we make economies and replace employees with modern digital capabilities? what are the security implications of simplification and fewer employees? ... In your dreams ...

There is a major cultural problem to overcome first: Thais love complexity. You just need to look at traditional Thai architecture to see that, and its effects on modern hiso houses. Everything new in processes is an add-on, not a replacement. That's why you can have reasonably modern computing alongside 1960s bureaucratic practices (photocopies & mountains of paper) and poor education that encourages conformity not thinking. So the Thai concept of 'order' looks to a Westerner like a counter-productive maze of contradictory instructions. Simplification is not likely

Remember: In Thailand 'face' is all-important. Strong currency = Lots of 'face'.

I'll have to send my b/f to New Orleans. He's shy of getting vaxed but he loves his noodles ... Second thoughts, I could put him on an elephant here in Surin with a bowl of noodles.