traveller101

Well said - couldn't agree more. Trial by media, Lynchmob standing ready for execution - figuratively speaking.

This is without any doubt the dumbest statement on all 7 pages. Nothing further

Unfortunately some on this board are either unwilling or unable to see the grayzone in between their black and white way looking at issues. It's either "deport, blacklist for life, jail this thug, cretin, criminal, bully etc. without reservation. Local media report present nothing less than the gospel truth. Putting things in perspective, raising legitimate questions as to the accuracy of all the statements and pointing to the disproportionality between the actual crime committed and the subsequent mediastorm and (fake?) outrage by local residents is interpreted by these members as taking the side of the Swiss.

Apart from this incident completely blown out of proportion by the media hellbent on fuelling the lowest xenophobic butthurt feelings, his real 'sin' is bringing media attention - undesired to say the least by the local construction/property heavyweights. They might not be very happy having a light shone on their corrupt practices and thus the least of this clowns troubles will be of the legal variety. Seems to be in realms of possibility, that he will be forcefully reminded of the damage he has done to the good reputation of the local real estate moguls ...... to serve as a warning to others.

Had a look at the Methodology applied by Freedom House. Thailand scored 12 points for "Political Rights" and 24 points for "Civil Liberties". The country sits at the very bottom of the barrel in the category of "partly free". A single point less in "Political Rights" - 11 instead of 12 - would relegated it to the "not free" countries. 2 major developments affecting the score developed after the Freedom House report was finalised. 1. Charter courts ruling that MF attempted to overthrow the monarchy with possible ramifications incl. to dissolve MF. 2. The drama surrounding Thaksin incl. approval by the relevant Authorities to once again entering politics was not known at the time.

Espresso (expresso crap) is nothing more than a strong coffee. Made from .... coffee beans. It's a method of brewing coffee using high water pressure and finely ground beans to make a small concentrated shot. Zillions of people prefer it to the often watery black liquid being offered. Never too old to learn something new.

Same feeling here - (the "sport scooter in it's time) 1973 Vespa Rally 200 with over 12HP, Top Speed 110km/h. Nostalgia comes alive.

Let me contribute to the 'whatifery'. What if the PromptPay, you mentioned as an alternative, suffers a system glitch? Uuuups - reality check below! https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/general/40029006 In a nutshell: Thai Bankers Association, July 1, 2923 PromptPay glitch caused Saturday collapse of many mobile banking applications.

thairsc.com The website, that compiles and displays accurate data re: traffic accidents in the country as well as provincial data incl. Phuket. 01/01/2024 - 26/02/2024, 12:00pm: 32 deaths (21 death Jan/Feb 2023) 4'512 in Hospital (3'902 Jan/Feb 2023). It's fair to say that the carnage on Phuket's roads is well and truly out of control due to zero enforcement of road rules. Compared to last year, a 50% increase in road deaths at the scene and around 80 people on average daily rushed to hospital (a 15% increase from last year) is ample evidence of complete disregard of road rules by many, and in particular mostly youngish foreigners, as I observe daily riding my bike.

Conspiracy theories?Let's have a look at reality - shall we? https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/two-more-thai-banks-suffer-system-crashes/ https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/general/40029006 - latest collapse affecting digital money transfers 2023. 4 more similar crashes in the 1st quarter 2023, down from 17 in 2022. https://www.wired.com/story/apple-execs-chose-to-keep-hack-of-128-million-iphones-quiet/ And for good measure .... just because your iPhone has never been hacked doesn’t mean that IPhones are safe. July 2023

Rachel Maddow - one of America's most prominent news hosts - has a net worth of $35M acc. to yahoo finance. Joseph Mercola, one of the most prominent Antivaxxers and propagandist of disproven health ideas active on social media. He stated in an affidavit that his net worth is in excess of $100M. Other well known 'little guys' spreading falshoods and conspiracies (Bill Gates had a role in planning the pandemic, it's not about virus, it's about control, vaccines are a part of a medical industry plan to create a 'chronically-ill population' etc) were able to amass anywhere between $2M and $15M. People like Ty Bollinger, Rashid Buttar, Del Bigtree, Kelly Brogan, Ben Tapper and others. All of them have Millions of Followers. And most of them have not been censored by the various platforms.

Dr. Campbell's ( Doctor of Nursing) findings of "white clots" presence in living people i.e. blood clots found in arteries are not unusual and caused by many factors listed below. People on the widely prescribed medication Heparin/Warfarin are at risk of HIT, a rare dangerous complication strongly associated with potential thrombotic coronary artery occlusion, which is also attributed to mRNA vaccines. In the case of the latter, the risk is anywhere from 10 - 50 per 1 Million Underlying causes of "white clots" present in living people include: High-fat diet, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, alcohol misuse, lack of excercise and more apart from mRNA vaccines.

I have eaten Steak Tatare on quiet a few occasions and regard the dish as safe, if the following conditions are met. ● The beef (tenderloin, striploin) has been imported from Australia, US or New Zealand. ● The Restaurant has a good reputation and - judging from the high number of customers visiting - has a high turnover of fresh foods

50 Million Baht equivalent $1.4M total budget to compensate Tourists for mishaps occuring that are not their fault. Considering the generous amount of money being put forward, one can confidently assume that not all too many tourists involved in 'mishaps' are deemed not at fault.😉

The missing ingredient is actual measure(s) introduced to "encourage" drivers to adhere to the new rule. Politely asking drivers to behave won't do the trick - not just in Thailand but everywhere in the world. Well maintained Speed cameras (overt and covert) are quite effective to produce the desired results.

The following numbers for 2020 have been published by a news source that cannot be referred to according to Forum rules. Total number of Tax payers recorded in the tax system: 9.55 Million Taxpayers earning >25'000baht p.m.: 3.3 Million Taxpayers earning <25'000 baht p.m. (below the threshold to file tax returns): 6.25 Million I refer to to 22.4 Million people who are between 15 and 65 years old and are active members of the workforce, but not recorded by the Revenue Department Based on the following relevant Key Data: Total Population: 67 Million Population <15 years of age: 10.6 M Population >65 years of age: 8.7 M working-age Population: 47.7 M Participation rate: 67% 67% of the working-age population are active members of the workforce - 31.9 Million people. Of those 31.95 Million, 9.55 Million are recorded in the Tax system. I hazard a guess that the Op referred to the: 22.4 Million people who are an active part of the workforce but are not registered with Thailand's Tax Department. Common sense would dictate that not all of these 22 4 Million are in the "exempt bracket" (earning less than 25'000 baht per month) and furthermore not even recorded by the Revenue Department.

Did it ever cross your mind, that your pedantic compulsion in commenting, questioning and correcting every member who voices an opinion not based on "official facts" or the absence therof, might offend and be taken as an insult? Applying common sense and logic to arrive at a more than probable interpretation of this sorry saga being played out over the last 5 months is not only legitimate but contributes to a lively discussion and exchange of views.

The treaty between Australia and Thailand stipulates under Article 18, that Pensions and Annuities can only be taxed in the state of origin. From an australian viewpoint, payments would comprise the government pension as well as regular payments from a persons (over their working life) accumulated superannuation funds.

There are always exceptions - Switzerland is a community of over 8 Million citizens, who have a say in all proposals of the federal as well as provincial government. Via the instruments of Referendums they have the power of amending government proposal subject to the result of a vote on the matter and can even themselves propose laws and measures via Initiative which is then put to a vote by the citizens. In 2022, the people were asked to cast their vote on 3 different occasions regarding a total of 11 bills proposed by the federal government.

And what exactly is your reason of qualifying her "utterly incompetent". Is it because she came across as an emphatic human being or pointing to the ridiculous amount of money set aside for the treatment of mental illnesses?

Data compiled by DDPM (publishing the 21 deaths) has been used in a major study analysing traffic accidents by the Asian Transportation Research Society. Under Chapter 2.5 the study highlighted some issues relating to thelimitations and accuracy of crash data, such as ● under-reporting ● systematic reporting bias ● random and subjective bias ● reporting errors ● responding delays and more. Project2018-004(Dr.Paramet) (1).pdf

You find the true numbers at thairsc.com (Thai Accident Information Centre). Multiply the 26 accidents by a factor of between 8 and 10 to get to the true numbers. I live in beachside Rawai and hear every day at least 3 Ambulances sirens blaring at different times. Rawai/Naiharn Beach area covers around 5% of Phuket. Nuff said

Care to provide some evidence, links, to support your thesis? And please enlighten us mere mortals about "the tyrannical plans of the WEF". I recall another speaker featuring prominently at the WEF 2020 as well as 2022. Her name is Greta Thurnberg - according to your twisted logic now part of the club. Seriously?

Negotiations between debtors and illegal money lenders (loan sharks) with government officials acting as mediators take place. There is a law, in effect since 2017 (The Act prohibiting the collection of interest at an excessive rate). A rate in eccess of 15% per annum is illegal and results in the offender facing criminal sanctions - jail up to 2 years and/or fine up to 200'000 baht. Why mediating - unless these loan sharks charge !less than 15% interest

Please can we get a TAT free day every now and then- I am sick and tired to of their almost daily predictions, Marketing campaigns addressing particular countries, targeting a particular type of visitors, assumptions, projected revenue targets, optimistic clap trap and delirious euphoria. Generally wishful thinking, pie in the sky, take your pick ..... except publishing actual facts about true numbers of tourists and approximate $$$$$ spent using accurate calculators (which automatically exclude the faulty hardware used by TAT) available everywhere.