Purdey

I think there are criminals who wish they could stop themselves but they can't control themselves. Offering a means of lowering desire is a way out. It isn't as final as execution. A criminal who longer desires to rape may be on the way to rehabilitation.

Savings count for a lot. Those who thought the UK pension would do and did not bother to save any extra are probably worse off. Now, inflation is in the high single digits but it has been higher. See https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/THA/thailand/inflation-rate-cpi Not to say today isn't bad, but it's not the worst.

No one knows how they died?

Deciding not to feed strays I guess is up to your view. Watching a starving dog in the street and thinking smugly, "At least I didn't encourage the problem" is well and good. I put out food for a vicious homeless cat that is always fighting, hissing and snapping. Over the months, it has started to mew and let me touch it. Gratitude is in the smallest of creatures. That woman is showing her pity and love for living creatures that didn't ask for their miserable lives.

Teenage pregnancy has declined in Thailand. Partially through awareness via people promoting condoms and partially because women now have some autonomy over their bodies. The stigma comes from religious people who will never suffer the shame pregnant teenagers feel or may have suffered shame as kids but now feel self-righteous.

This will continue to happen in Thailand. Too poor for the expensive US insurance system and too corrupt for governments to plan for a European style universal healthcare scheme. The much derided PM Thaksin Shinawatra introduced the 30 baht health scheme but as others mentioned, doctors want money to provide a decent service.

One BMA school I know grows its own veggies and has a pool for fish. These contribute to the balanced diet of school lunches. Also teaches kids how to grow food for themselves. Some NGOs are doing this in rural schools. It just makes sense not to rely on the government. It isn't just schools, one prison I visited was providing prisoners with vegetables only and the money for meat kind of got lost in the post.

It is about time that police officers (anyone above sergeant) had to declare their assets each year. Some will hide their assets well but catching unusually rich police colonels and generals every year may slow things down. My main concern is that too many will be caught and there won't be a police force left.

I once did a project for one of the largest private contractors for roads here. The CEO confided they never build roads, or resurface, to the standard written in the agreement as that would mean the roads never needed annual repair and the company would run out of projects. 'Nuff said.

Thanks. Got the usufruct the same time as buying the house at the Land Department. An usufruct is not a separation of land and house. I have the right to use the whole property. The Land Department officer was not happy “giving Thai land to a foreigner” and asked my wife if she wanted to limit it to 30 years. My wife said no, All life. An usufruct cannot be canceled as it is an official document issued by government and a contract between the owner and myself. (Edit) just want to add that anyone considering an usufruct should contact a lawyer for their peace of mind.

Not sure why you are so angry with me. I happened to get the usufruct so I have the right to live here should my partner die before me. No lawyer can evict me as I have a legal contract issued by the Land Department. After I die, she will own it if she is still around, or her family will own it after we both die, in which case I don’t care.

I have a house under an usufruct so I can vouch for this. I suggest using the search function on this site using just one word, usufruct. I found 9 mentions. Try this first.

No mention of permanent residents, who do not need to transfer money from abroad. Readers may be interested to look into usafruct agreements if you have a Thai spouse. I read abou it on this site many years ago. Buy in his/her name, sign an usufruct agreement and have full rights to live in and use the property for the rest of your life. More reasonable, I think.

Airplanes contain pilots, cabin crew and passengers.

The BMA (and others) have been very duplicitous in their talk about waste separation. Talk is cheap. While plastic PET bottles are often separated as people know their value and there are many places to sell them, to be honest the BMA has been dumping everything else. They keep telling people they are "doing their best", but as someone pointed out earlier, most waste is not separated and goes into the same truck. It's all well and good to tell people to separate waste but when the bins and collection are ineffective and collection times are once a week (in the suburbs) then the issue isn't going to be solved. Three streets around my home, everyone dumps all waste at the junction as there is only one bin among fifty homes. If you want people to separate waste, teach them about what types of waste can be recycled. Make it a compulsory subject at schools and encourage university students to find ways to clear waste from waterways. As an aside, little old Wales is a world leader in separating and recycling waste. A 40 quid fine if you don't separate. Difficult in Thailand - who will collect fines that no one wants to pay? An interesting idea (not mine) is to bury certain types of waste that is non-toxic, e.g. paper that has had food in it and cannot be recycled. Once there is a managed and segregated waste dump, grass it over until a recycler with new tech says he will pay the BMA to dig it up and recycle the contents. Then put the park back together after. I really don't know how to solve the waste problem in Bangkok and it looks as though the BMA doesn't either. I hope the new governor will.

You are correct. It isn't that airplanes don't have good air filtration. They do. Yet, people were asking in 2019 how come a Chinese virus went to the UK. Ahem. ????

As this is a doctor, not a politician, I take it he might be professional. It’s a toss up with a small survey if he has a point. At least polite enough to share results. As I just had a member of staff informed that she caught Covid again while on holiday in S. Korea I guess it isn’t going away. As long as it is not severe, people can work from home so business doesn’t suffer. However, shutting down a company or business again will become an economic not a political problem that can only be solved with a vaccine that adapts the body to variants.

Why would he need to hide his exotic trips to ancient temples and shrines from his wife? Wouldn't she have understood his desire to see the hilltribes, temples, clean beaches and, well, temples?

Thanks. The link was in Italian but I found the English version eventually. It doesn't list 35 offences unfortunately. In general, anything that results in death seems to be the norm.

It is good to hear of these scams. Perhaps others in the forum could add more to create a list. I'll kick it off. Many places in Thailand will charge you more than locals for the same tourist site.

Can Thailand promise much to the USA? Thailand's geographical proximity to China means the country cannot take a side. Historically, trying to work both sides of the fence has worked and economic relations have been good. Not sure what the Americans want more than that. Can't be to sell submarines.

Another pointless list.

I would like to know the other 34 crimes that carry the death penalty. Presumably none have been used for a while.

I always wondered why the SRT left so many opportunities go to waste. It maybe be a lack of intelligence or funds. Using old carriages as coffee shops or restaurants would have attracted people but instead they dumped a few at the Railway Park north of the market and let them rot. Suan Rot Fai indeed. I used to take friends to the market who bought clothing and trinkets. They raved over the atmosphere and colour. Not sure that atmosphere can be imposed by gubernatorial will.

The government wants tourists to come whatever the number of cases. It isn't politics but economics. Let's see if the cases reported rises, then what happens to tourism. Personally, I believe the country needs to push industry and technology so that tourism becomes a smaller fraction of the economy. For that to happen, education needs to improve.