mfd101

Well, give him credit. His face is invisible in the photo.

To an ol' man like me this is nearly incomprehensible. But I guess it must be good or they wouldn't be doing it.

It also strengthens (1) the Thai b/f's rights of inheritance, both here & in Falangland (2) the falang b/f's rights of usufruct in Thailand. Those are the principal issues from my point of view.

Um, how does that work, I wonder?

'Third World' means different things to different people. Your view of Thailand is perhaps more optimistic than most of us manage most days of the week ...

All of which rather assumes a non-corrupt judicial process under a military regime (or indeed any other in Thailand) ... No doubt Thaksin was and is an imperfect human being (like all of us) and an imperfect political leader (like all of them), but the continuing (though now diminishing) support for him and his party from the poor people of Thailand tells us something good about him. Whether all that deserved 8 years in prison (when you look at his military predecessors & successors) is at least doubtful.

Ah, so that's the cunning plan, is it? The canal you have when you didn't dig for water.

Just about ENTIRELY spent within Thailand, I should think. Why else do we change our home currencies in to baht?

In a country where status is more important than competence, appearances more important than reality, optimistic predictions with little or no foundation are the norm for all governments and their bureaucrats. It is the 'system' that produces unwalkable footpaths, massive holes in roads, and unending poverty for 50% or more of the population.

But but, I thought Muslim men weren't supposed to have 'girlfriends' ... Just very close boy friends.

Ha! I knew it. Ready by 1 Jan, I'm sure.

So the committee (including government reps) told the PM to go jump ...

For a non-Thai speaker the article is as clear as mud.

U-turns. A Thai specialty. The new tax-the-foreigners tax also preparing for skid marks, I shouldn't wonder.

In another post today we learn that 51% of Thailand's 'workforce' are in the informal economy.

The age of consent in most 'Western' countries was between 7 and 13 until the early C20th. It remained 12 in Spain until 1999 when it was raised to 13 and now 16. Times change and with it cultural attitudes. But actual sexual practices don't evolve much. As in most areas of social, cultural & political sensitivity, people who are ignorant of the past have the most rigid views on the present.

Well, we're Oz/Thai in an Oz civil doda but I still wouldn't take anything for granted out here in the sticks. As with Immigration, news takes a while to penetrate across the rice paddies and in any case each local office makes up its own rules ...

So Thailand is a Western-world rubbish-recycling dump? I thought it was mainly some Black African states that had that role in life. True Third World status at last.

Well, every little helps but there is an indefinite (or at least unknown to me) number of Thais who do not belong to or work in the 'formal' economy. Only the informal one - somewhere between 30% & 60% of the population? The relevance to THEM of this generous committee's deliberations is not obvious.

Things that are perfectly normal in The West (and for good reason) are poured over here to find the hidden evil. Soon there'll be an appeal to the Constitutional Court to have him dismissed for taking 4 days' leave ...

A general cultural trait in Thailand: Unable to distinguish between quantity & quality.

That would be logical, but TIT ... might require a further 10-year wait. I'm torn between enjoying and dreading our arrival at the relevant office here in Prasat Surin and seeing the look of consternation on the faces of the clerks. "Thai only!"

Yes, it is the end of the world as we have known it. And it can only improve.

Let us hope so.

All about government intervention to change prices on this, that and the next thing. Does the Government actually produce all these things? What do the producers (ie capitalists at all levels of the economy) think? Or are we actually in a command economy à la soviétique?