George Aylesham

Clearly not in the USA where 450 people a day are dying from Covid.

Their premises, their rules.

Indonesia has already decided to move its capital from Jakarta for this very reason. Saigon (HCMC), Manila and further afield, Shanghai, Tokyo, Taipei and Dhaka face similar fates in a foreseeable future. See the UN report 'Sinking Cities, Rising Seas' for more details.

No more or less so than the USA's universal wish of "Have a nice day". Both are simple gestures of courtesy, and courtesy is one of the lubricants of society.

Have a referendum but only in the three provinces. (Clear parallels with the Northern Ireland situation?)

Yes but it was Britain which gave away the three southern provinces (Treaty of Bangkok, 1909) to Thailand. in fact Britain is pretty good at giving away other peoples territorities and the consequences are still being felt in for example, Palestine, (The Balfour delcaration 1917).

Many countries have laws relating to squatters rights too.

According to the report 60 people suffered from 'acute side effects' of cannabis. But over the same period how many suffered from the acute side effects of alcohol - including shootings, road accidents etc?

What a sensible, non-judgemental comment. Many older farang, often bruised by divorce or widowhood, are simply looking for a companion to to look after them in their old age and this does not exclude the development of genuine affection. Both sides accept the financial obligation to care for the wife after he is gone.

Tragic - r.i.p. the young lady and peace to her family. But it shows the necessity of updating the local building standards and introduce higher balconies for the new generation of taller Thais.

Actually four years back I got a fair price for some gold jewellery in a market gold shop in Chiang Mai - one piece of which wasn't even hall marked. (Fair price because I got a reliable jeweller to value the pieces for me first)

Actually that's a pretty good idea - insurance invalidated by non-wearing of seatbelt (just as life insurance is invalidated by suicide)

"land that's rightfully yours" - cart before the horse here; it was Chiang kai-chek who was pushed out of mainland China by the Communists, so in principle China belongs to Taiwan, not the other way round. Anyway sadly that puts paid to the holiday I was planning in Taipei unless the People's Republic gets over its silly tantrum quickly.

One slight hope on the horizon is that in July of next year the 15-year rule disenfranchising UK citizens from voting will be repealed. Perhaps the prospect of up to 500,000 overseas frozen pensioners voting against them might persuade the government to correct this injustice.

Well it certainly worked with the management of Covid with far lower numbers of deaths than most of the countries in the Western world and an effective, cheap app, Morprom, which actually works.

“This is what I had to learn but I am not thinking of learning anything more as I am now old, " Me too, I'm 80 but learning new things every day is what gets me out of bed every morning.

If you allowed to and your electoral region hasn't been gerrymandered

Not forgetting of course taxation. But one major advantage has been to reduce the prison population.

And the USA?

Yes the tax cuts will be financed by selling off even more of the National Health Service, Channel 4 and reducing Council grants even further.

Boris Johnson in Britain too - even to the point of being a KGB operative.

Just like dear old Blighty - 18 July: British Government wins vote of no confidence by 349 to 238. Vaudeville!

Doesn't seem much of a debate to me. The Thais wisely don't want to catch the new super infectious Covid/omicron mutations and they all seem to be wearing masks - at least up here in Chiang Mai.

July 14 (Reuters) - The European Medicines Agency on Thursday identified severe allergic reactions as potential side effects of Novavax Inc's (NVAX.O) COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine was authorized by U.S. regulators on Wednesday, and its product label in the United States warns against administering the shot to people with a history of allergic reactions to any components of the shot. read more Shares of Novavax fell 20.3% to $55.72 in morning trading, along with the broader market and other COVID-19 vaccine makers. Novavax shares are usually volatile.

Thanks Rooster - a cracker article this week.