mfd101

Um, not sure what the difference is ... As to postal voting, well, the possibilities for rigging the result are just endless. And wunnerful prospects for money changing hands ...

I guess statues move about less than criminals.

Of course he shouldn't have been murdered. You'ld be a nut case to think otherwise. What I was interested in pointing out was something that noone else seems to have thought of, namely that the rights & wrongs of his behaviours before he was murdered are or ought to be more complex than what the commentaries in the French-language & English-language press allow. As usual, the simplistic use of political slogans ('freedom of expression') is unhelpful in understanding an endlessly complex world.

The concept of 'freedom of expression' here seems to me both pragmatically wrong and wrong in principle. The daily reality is that everyone everywhere accepts a whole range of limits on their 'freedom of expression'. We don't walk down the street yelling obscenities at passers-by because we would be arrested & charged if we did. It's a form of verbal assault and is treated as such by the law in most countries. And if I carry a placard down the street accusing my next-door neighbour of assorted crimes, I can be prosecuted for defamation. And so on. This is perfectly normal. So on what reasonable basis did a French schoolteacher think it appropriate to show anti-Muslim caricatures to his class of children some or many of whom were Muslims? His action seems to me wrong in principle, quite apart from the obvious pragmatic aspect (the danger to himself he thus incurred, which in fact became his murder). Did he think it was his teacherly duty to insult some of his students and other members of the local community? Did he think that, as a teacher, he was released from all civic consciousness and caution in his actions? What was he hoping to achieve in a multicultural society where such matters are both sensitive and judicially and politically treated with kid gloves?

I spent most of my working life as a bureaucrat in Canberra. Precision & safety before all.

I have a TIN registered here in Prasat, Surin province. Forced upon me by my OZ bank as all banks increasingly everywhere are obliged by governments to conform to the internationally agreed rules.. I propose in February to visit the 2 helpful young ladies I dealt with at the local TRD, with my recently completed and approved Oz tax return for the Oz financial year July23-June24, plus the Oz/Thai double tax agreement (which - in tortured English - makes it (almost) clear that my Oz Federal Govt superannuation can be taxed only in Oz). All in English. They will need to check their Thai version of the DTA and we'll see how things head on from there ... I'm expecting that (1) if they can cope with the workload, the result will be 'Go away & don't come back, ever' or (2) if they can't cope with the workload, the result will be 'It's all too hard, go away & don't come back, ever'.

Minimum wage in Thailand is around 8,500 baht/month. And for many of the boys from Isaan (the majority of conscripts) their monthly income is close to zero (ie no formal job at all, just hard scrabble around the village). So 11000฿ a month will be most welcome - assuming it gets thru the network of sergeants, captains, majors & colonels with hands out.

For once a Thai government does some really sensible things to move the country forward. Excellent initiatives. I assume they were developed & implemented under Srettha's premiership?

We'll all have to move to Spain.

Ah yes, the US Democrats are the source of all evil. Iran should be bombing the polling booths, even as we speak.

Nice lesson in all this: You can defend your racism by claiming that your racist comment was actually a satire on racism.

Andrew has long been known as both useless & an a/hole. Ask any senior Brit bureaucrat. (He was once delegated to represent the overly-busy then Prince of Wales in Wales. After his first visit to Wales, the phones started ringing back in Whitehall saying: Please please never send that person here ever ever again!) As I understand, he used also to be an occasional visitor to Phuket. Always alone.

Noone is 'conservative' (in the proper sense) in any modern society. How could you be as everything changes around you on a regular basis? 'Right-wing' or 'right-of-centre' makes more sense as a description of what she (presumably) stands for.

Britain's obnoxious equivalent to Donald Trump. But fortunately noone needs to vote for him.

The fog of war ... woops. The murky life of Thailand.

Yes, and what a lot of 'Westerners' don't understand is that - despite their prejudices on the subject - it is in the broad the very BEST of Third World people who migrate to The West - the educated or who want to be, the hard-working and willing, those who dream of freedom & equality. Why else would they risk their lives in little boats to get to the UK or Oz? why else would they put up with racism and general nastiness so their children may become full citizens of their new society?

Presumably the answer is: He was not a qualified electrician. Or alternatively: He was qualified but had learned nothing about the REALITY as opposed to the APPEARANCE.

Yes, or to put it a slightly different way: In Thailand TRUTH is not a cultural value, APPEARANCES are.

Not to mention appropriate TRAINING & ENFORCEMENT of certification for all relevant workers ...

Thai fascism grunting under the covers. Donald Trump would be proud of them.

And not the slightest hint in the article of the international & strategic implications of doing deals with Russia. Which probably reflects the serene ignorance of the Thai government.

For once the Thai government gets it right, though it might have been nice if the initial "I've been um thinking that um ... " announcement had not raised the silly expectations of clueless Falang expats.

In this country, immediate action (usually for show only) is one thing. Strategic action is an unknown concept.

Yes, my Thai family consists of MIL (c80) - 6 children from 3rd marriage and some 4 or 5 by 2 previous marriages; FIL 6 + c3; from the current 6 (ages 35-47) there are 9 children & teenagers so far ...

Yes, demographics applies to Thailand just as it does to every 'Western' country and Japan.