mfd101

Nonsense. Give them a decent wage and the education to plan a future and they stop breeding like rabbits. As has happened in every First and Second World country. It's not rocket science.

Well we can all make smartass comments but none of us on AN actually has a clue as to his real state of health or what the current plans by and for him are. It is certainly not impossible that he might be genuinely suffering the ailments that rich people of his age usually suffer (too much lavish foods, too little exercise, too much stress ... ), and all the excitement of the last few days has been almost more than his oldish body has been able to cope with ... I guess we'll be in a better position any week now to offer yet more demonstrations of our collective nous and humanity.

B/S. The birthrate in The West has been declining for at least 4 decades, and in China for about 5. The thing about demography is that it changes the shape of your country for decades ahead (as the Chinese are finding out). It changes the culture, it changes the economy for both better & worse. And noone has any longterm control over it. But you can predict your population numbers and mix with great accuracy decades ahead. You might say: F...g is destiny.

No different from the rest of the world outside Africa (and THEIR turn will come as their economies are clawing their way up the status ladder). The planet needs it that way even if particular countries don't like it. The future is smaller and multculti. Looks pretty good to me.

80B under threat of being withdrawn by terrified expats?

Contrary to what some expats seem to think, I don't suppose expats are in the top 500 items on Srettha's to-do list.

Too early to tell. We don't even know yet what portfolios will go to what Ministers (& their parties). And, depending how Srettha turns out as the boss, it may or may not be he who decides most important questions in any case ...

I'm an MFP supporter and I hope they sweep in to power next time round. But meantime we have a mixed bag of people coming to power. I'm realistic enough to recognize that the world is grey, not black & white. So I shall judge the new government on its performance over time, as any reasonable person should do. As to the new PM, his background & expressed views on the need to reduce inequality suggest he at least understands some basic issues that need addressing. If he's genuine, he'll need to act quickly & ruthlessly while the going's good and the dinosaurs are feeling great pain: new constitution, economic measures to spread wealth outside BKK, decent social security, decent education system for all, renewed infrastructure ... the list is endless and constitutes 50 years' work ahead, all of it overdue to transform a 3rd World country into a 2nd World one.

Worth reading the description in the Op full article. Reads like a description of Pita & MFP goals. Here's hoping. Actions speak louder than. Fingers crossed.

Pre-Covid I had some major work (caps) done over several years at BKK Smile Clinic. Excellent work. Half the price of work I had done in Canberra. In fact Canberra friends of mine used to fly to BKK every couple of years to get dental work done there. They said the difference in costs paid for a 2-week holiday in Thailand.

Here in Isaan the cane rats are not a problem. Au contraire, they make - along with dog and snake - a favourite dinner item. I have even tried one mouthful myself. Hard to do because of 'Western' association of rats with sewers, but here they are just another clean source of protein.

In my experience both here & in Oz, all 'official' photos - p/p, d/l - are NO spectacles

S looks like the naughty schoolboy summoned to the Headmaster's office to be ticked off. The Headmaster looks quite aggrieved.

The video says from/near Khon Kaen.

Yes, to do what he & MFP want to do, he needs to win an unassailable majority of seats (55%+) in the HR at the next election.

Moribund but still squealing quietly.

Or even if the relevant court holds them to be true ...

I see it as a moral issue, not a Me Me Me one. Despite my limited resources, I have far more available money than any of my large Khmer peasant family will ever have. Within reason I'm happy to help out, tilting however toward the hard workers rather than the lazy good-for-very-littles.

The next 9 months will be fascinating. Make or break time for Thailand.

No, this is PTP policy not Anutin's.

The same way they do in every poor country - continuing to work long after Westerners have 'retired' on pension or super, and sharing within the large extended family. In my b/f's village - some 5000 people - just about everyone is 'cousin of Yong' (my MIL 5 yrs older than me). The peasants don't have a concept of 'work' and struggling up the ladder and retiring ... They just have a way of life that hasn't changed much for a hundred years since the (pseudo-)ending of slavery & serfdom here. But modern technology (TV & mobile) is opening their eyes, as demonstrated by the way the votes went in May ...

He may be 'known' to the masses for his fairly one-eyed political activism & social criticism, but he will be remembered in history for his linguistic theories, from his 1956 start thru to the constant zigging & zagging by the 1990s as his theories at last received the serious criticisms they merited. Meanwhile Linguistics has moved on to other things, along with semiotics.

Chomskyan linguistics does seem to have faded away in to the twilight over the last 20 or 30 years.

But for now PTP is allied with the dinosaurs ...

Unlikely. You'll have to wait for MFP to come to power, which is anything from 9 months to 4 years away.