mfd101

China forcing The West to lift its productivity game ... And soon Elon Musk will have the US government humming along, perhaps even GM & Ford as well!

Making rude & defiant gestures with their near-naked and tatooed bodies. Good grief! what's next? How am I going to cope in my old age?

The thing about government employees is that (mostly) they have 'permanency' which means they can't be sacked short of criminal activity. So you have to either BRIBE them to take early retirement or COMPENSATE them for the abolition of their position in the bureaucracy. All of which costs a LOT more money to achieve. Only a year or 3 later do your costs start to come down. And if there's a strong union movement and relevant affiliations (ie not in Usofa), then it's even harder & even more expensive ...

That sounds like CCP bull.

The problem with the 'Surrender Immediately' guys above is that, on that basis the Russians could go all the way to Portugal without anyone lifting a finger to stop them. All Putin has to do is growl loudly and everyone surrenders. Then Xi could walk in to Taiwan, not to mention Laos, Vietnam , Cambodia & Thailand ...

Everywhere in democracies people get to vote for or against other people aspiring to become members of the Parliament. And everywhere people complain in wildly exaggerated terms about the results of their own free votes ...

Turkey is moving steadily up the economic & technology ladders.

At 75 I'm hoping to see it before I make it to 105.

One of the (extremely few) benefits of Brexit is that the UK can now wriggle its own way through the US & EU & Chinese swamps. Will be fascinating to watch.

When you put a whole lot of colourful people in a room together, there's bound to be splash marks on the walls afterwards.

2 vaxes, both before the first occurrence of infection.

Never mind, the Peruvians probably thought she was just one of the flunkies ...

My experience of having had it twice (first in the middle of the worldwide flood, second as it was diminishing) was that the first time was 48 hours of not much, 2nd time was 2 weeks of flu-like symptoms and 6 months of lethargy afterwards. I think others have had similar experience. Like dengue, it gets worse not less each time you catch it.

Small poor countries everywhere in the world hawk their passports around to the wealthy marginal citizens of The West, Russia, China and just about anywhere else you can think of. Malta comes to mind. Probably Cyprus also, and many countries of the Caribbean.

That's not the question. As I understand it, the question is whether he has Montenegrin citizenship IN ADDITION TO his Thai citizenship, and - if so - what effect that has on any political activities he undertakes in Thailand.

A distinction that will be lost on most of your audience here.

Yes, not surprising that finding an honest cop is an unusual feat.

In principle, all good. In practice ... If honest police were to go on strike when their allowances are stolen by higher-ups, that could be effective. Just as strike action by all workers expected to live on 300฿ a day would be effective if they ALL went out together ... But THAT would take organisation, not a Thai characteristic.

Couldn't happen to a nicer person.

I have to say that, when I'm departing or arriving at ANY airport ANYWHERE in the world, my mind is preoccupied with 101 things other than the airport itself, inside or outside. I simply don't notice.

Well, that was a quick turnaround. Probably meaningless though, given 4 or more years to the next election ... And even if Bad Enoch turns out to be Pretty Good Enoch, the Conservatives could do with several years to reform themselves & decide what they actually want to stand for (eg 'rightwing' vs 'conservative').

Still working on the recipe. Should be ready by lunchtime today.

So now we can be 'run over' from the sky, not just on the roads or when crossing the road ...

3 on a bike would be an AVERAGE here in Surin ...

It does seem reasonable to insist that Cambodia at least adhere to the relevant UN Convention.