Purdey

To understand Thaksin's popularity, people need to ask, why does he win elections? What did he do to make people grateful and vote for him? Everybody pays for votes, even Democrats, so what else did Thaksin do? I once asked a villager why people liked him. The answer was that most politicians want to eat the whole cake. Thaksin ate a lot but gave some back to the people too. Bringing happiness to the people is not a matter of free cinema tickets (remember that?). Thaksin's government launched programs to reduce poverty, expand infrastructure, promote small and medium-sized enterprises, and extend universal healthcare coverage (30 Baht scheme). That's why he and his siblings win elections. I know someone will ask about the 2,500 people who died in his war on drugs. No one asks about the people burned alive by the military in boiling oil during the red tanks episode. Thais do tend to forget the negatives, forget the past, and focus on who is going to improve their lives now. The Democrats didn't do anything. The current government hasn't done anything. People long for the time when a government actually helped them.

You just said no one in your condo is a sheeple but others are. I guess you mean your condo is foreigners only. Hang on, that can't be right as foreigners can only own 49% of a condo. So, the Thais in your condo are NOT sheeple but others are. Thais are very risk averse and don't necessarily believe the government (as you obviously do ;-)). They make up their own minds about their safety if the way to do it is a simple mask.

I remember in distant history a police general did say it is legal and advised so the policeman in front of you is careful. As many of us have video cameras on the windscreen these days, it is a precaution worth taking. Be careful, I think it is illegal to hold a mobile phone in a car even if stopped. Someone else maybe remembers the law.

Clearly not a sheeple mentality as the government announced they can now take them off. Going against that announcement shows they are simply risk averse. Also, I guess, they don't necessarily trust the government.

This was an argument many years ago and putting a time limit on postpaid service was supposed to stop. If you buy 500 baht of service you are supposed to be able to use it until the money runs out, not the time.

When I was in the US in the late 70s smoking weed was what every kid did if they weren't old enough to buy beer. Easier to get and unlike alcohol not as dangerous. Thaskin and his friends are no longer able to control the illegal drug market. He needs it to be illegal to make huge profits. Very similar to the guys who control the underground casinos. They make good profits with no real competition so they don't want it to be allowed here. Portugal has decriminalized drugs since 2000 (while keeping drug dealing illegal). The benefits have been to lower deaths and infections. Maybe we could learn from that.

Once when I went to renew my driving licence I overheard the end of a conversation between a government officer and an irate driver. "We cannot renew your licence unless you pay the fines you owe us." They do keep a record and when you go to renew your licence they want payment up front before renewing. I use an app that gives me a warning before approaching a speed camera. When I slow to 80 and see people people pass at 120 I can't help feeling smug and self satisfied. But maybe that's the wrong attitude.

Lots of snarky remarks from several uninformed people on the probable cause of monkeypox are hilariously misleading. People here who were quite willing to believe Covid came from bats in a Chinese wet market are also forgetting that the origin of HIV/AIDS has been linked to chimpanzees. I can hear people here thinking, "Rabies? From animals? Hah! A likely story". Many diseases have unexpected origins but trying to laugh them off doesn't mean they aren't true. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3234451/ Lots of diseases were passed to people from animals. Here is a list. https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/animal/zoo/index.html

Looks like the cat walked by itself into the vet's with no owner. Do humans never enter a vet's surgery?

Isn't it funny how we treat women differenly depending on their skin colour or religion?

Still awaiting the first Thai to win a Nobel award.

Sounds like Bill Heineke got his way after all. Now tourists can get smashed in the afternoon.

One error many people make is to look at the weather where they live and think, well, it is pretty cold here. Climate change is measured by taking the average surface temperature of the entire planet, not just one town. The measurements are compared with previous measurements going back to the 19th Century.

While as a young kid at university somebody may have passed the dutchie to the right while we were sitting cross-legged in a circle wearing tie-dyed shirts and flared jeans, but I never inhaled, of course, and no one had a heart attack or died as we swayed to Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd and fell asleep while force-feeding ourselves half loaves of seed bread. No one thought too much about it.

If only foreigners were allowed to buy property here, eh?