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I'm not actually sure that the media is that much more restricted than it's ever been here. There is a reason that there has never been a true investigative journalist here. It's called the most draconian Lese Majeste and defamation laws in the world.

Even before this current incarnation of Junta rule, what journalist in their right mind would dare to actually publish real news that could potentially get them banged up for years. Now, once again with military courts the process is a shortcut to the Bangkok Hilton for years.

So playmates, just read the Bangkok Post & The Nation and revel in the mind numbing fiction that passes for news

Well yes and no. Yes reporters / journalists need to be careful about defamation laws, that's true.

On the other hand I wonder whether there are any reporters / journalists who are capable of good analysis and therefore asking relevant questions.

On the other hand (that's three?) I share the following. Many years back my company (international business management consultancy) tried to build an alliance with one of the English dailies for weekly articles about business management etc.

The reporters / journalists wanted to come to our office (for good coffee and wines - they had the notion that we drank fine wines all day, not true), they didn't listen to anything we said, they refused to take appropriate literature, after the first discussion I politely asked for them to send a draft so that we could correct any 'misunderstandings'. They refused and loudly indicated they were insulted by my request.

They went ahead and published a half page article, it had so many errors and lacked even simple logic and flow, and one part of their published article had a sexual overtone. Trying to explain that the published article had errors etc., again invoked their claims of being insulted.

We immediately withdrew from the arrangement.

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I wrote his name on the cheque.....but he wasn't involved.
I gave him the cheque......but he wasn't involved.
He cashed the cheque.....but wasn't involved.
Entirely plausible.

This guy gets worse and worse, so many ridiculous statements with so many twists and turns. This guy gets the annual award for foot in mouth.

He says the donations were all returned to the credit co-op members. Well why are they still protesting loudly for the return of their deposits.

In a nutshell, who would trust this man with a 1 Baht coin?

How did he ever get the job of managing this cerdit co-op in the first place??????

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Next in line will be the Headmistress(es) Association of Thailand complaining about After Skool ...

Hope not, many are quite mature, but then again it takes all kinds.

What's next... scantily dressed policemen?

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Great article.

Not really. There is no mention of the much wider very alive international picture.

The writer needs to be much more inclusive of the whole global scenario, as it is his/her piece is quite lacking in balance and misleading.

She didn't have a dime transferred into her account. How can this be called corruption? Foreseeing substantial loss in the program is not good enough to convict her with the charges.

'She didn't have a dime transferred to her account'.

So I guess you have total access to every detail of her banking records. How sweet.

But ultimately a rather silly statement. She's not bright, that seems to be clear, but I doubt she would be silly enough and/or more to the point I doubt the trough managers would be silly enough to allow any siphoned funds to be showing in her personal banking.

Are there other means of 'holding' such funds? Of course there are and there can be little doubt her 'troops' would know numerous methods (transferring and holding) both in Thailand plus 'methods' to get funds outside of Thailand that are legal, and a little bit / and very illegal.

Would that stop them? No!

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why are all these old retired men still keep having babies ???????

What makes you think hes old or retired.

And why do you somehow suggest they shouldn't take care of children they father?

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Why do you want to do this? He is too young use it. I waited until my kids were prathom age before opening bank acconts. I did open a high interest savings account for ny first child as a way to save for her uni. Trust ne the time fkiesbby so quickly.

;b++){var>Would you please share some details of the high interest savings account you are using. Thanks.

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Pretty good long con. Even putting the people through a 2 month training course.

Just maybe this has all been happening before, the 2 months training all part of the whole scam to ensure the 'recruits' are not caught out when they need to perform and therefore protect the scam.

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I was having same problem, using this icon fixed it instantly. Thanks.

There's more and more comment on the overall demise of 'the mall' / 'shopping complexes':

- Partly because of newer / more professional on-line shopping, often meaning better attention to customer satisfaction, and also meaning much lower

operating costs (all of course dependent on how clever the business owner is at efficiency etc.).

I recently read an article which contains comprehensive data on this phenomenon across the USA, and in Europe, including data on how many 'malls' have

been totally / 90% abandoned.

Will the same happen in Thailand? Who knows!

- Also, look at how many more set-it-up / pull-it-down shops appear every night in various 'markets' right across Thailand. Thais do love to visit and buy

at these markets, they are very well patronized.

Nowadays you see versions of this even in car parks for the major upmarket department stores. Why? One reason - to bring the masses close to the department

store then encourage them to take a few more steps and come inside.

Perhaps (repeat perhaps) that means buying 'a shop' would long-term be a risky investment.

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I try to avoid questioning anyone's taste in food. It is, after all, a matter of individual choice, and, since it harms no one, it's no one else's business. "Food snobs" are, IMO, boorish, ignorant fools.

However I would suggest that Pizza Company has made a serious "timing" error in opening this outlet at this particular time. The traffic pattern and flow in the area of that intersection is, as we all know, currently a disaster. So, while the OP may have no problems getting to it, since it's "just around the corner"; their business may be so slow that won't survive the next 3 years.

That said, I wish you 'Good luck' and good eating, Mr Worldwide! For your sake, and that of, I'm sure, many who also enjoy the Pizza Company products, I hope the new location succeeds. Ignore the fools who consider you some sort of sub-human species because you prefer BBQ wings to caviar, escargot, or truffles! :-)

Traffic is a disaster in that location.

Well watch out for the half dozen delivery motorcycles that will be parked out front and racing up and down the footpath and tooting with expectation that pedestrians will jump out of their way

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Or a little twist of the above, maybe she comes from a background where girls seen out alone (with Thai or any men) is seen as improper until married.

On the other hand my Thai family includes a lady (about 30 years old) who has a Thai boy friend and a Thai girl friend. This has been the situation for at least 7 or 8 years that I'm aware of, and the same 3 people. They are always together as a threesome, including family events, and all seems to be very happy.

When I first came to Thailand I lived in a medium price apartment near the main city area. On my floor there were 3 Thais in successive rooms, all mid twenties (from memory). The Thai man who occupied the middle room was the patron. They all went out together each night for a local dinner or to wherever and when they returned the patron would indicate which one he wanted to sleep with him that night (the other man or the girl). They appeared (from what was casually visible) to be happy.

For many years I did regular project work out of my company office in Indonesia and a few times I noticed relationship set ups that were not the same as I grew up with in a western country

One of the things I think I have learned and grown to accept is that things can be / are different in other cultures and that doesn't mean it's wrong or it's bad.

Ultimately of course we all need to decide what we can / cannot accept.

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Another angle, I've heard a few Thais say that gambling addiction is quite rampant (maybe it's the exact same in other countries too, I don't know), but the real problem is the children of the gamblers not eating enough, not eating properly, not going to school etc, because the family income is pretty much lost on a regular basis to gambling.

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Bullets can reveal a lot. As the Royal Thai Clowns failed to collect evidence at the scene maybe an autopsy was one of their best chances of cracking the case.

And obviously the crime scene was not sealed and protected. And surely there would be some policy that the crime must be fully scanned, evidence collected, etc within a certain time period in case of bad weather etc etc.

RTP failed on every aspect.

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We have a light-blue book given us by the local "Ana mai" health clinic. It details every vaccination the boys have had since birth. The lad's private school requires possession of this log-booklet and once or twice a year they get a booster shot which is also recorded in the book.

The booklet is very detailed and includes quite a few labels peeled off of the vaccine manufactures vial complete with bar code in order to show exactly which vaccine the received.

This can prove very convenient if/when taking Thai kids to Europe or North America for proof of vaccinations and avoiding repeat shots.

All in I'm quite impressed. Also I should add that all vaccinations a free for Thai kids who are Thai citizens. There is no need to go to an expensive 5 star Hi-so hospital.

In short the Thai kids get vaccinated for everything children born in the west get. Sheryl will correct me if I',m wrong.

This is what I was meaning in my post just above.

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Not sure if it relates to your overall thoughts but many hospitals offer several packages of monthly vaccinations, often over a one or two year period. Usually pay one time only for the whole package.

But I would never discuss the package details with a nurse, pay for a proper consultation with a children's doctor and get clear details of what included and clear answers to your questions.

My two granddaughters had these packages, my Thai son asked many questions and overall he was quite happy with the service.

Buy a new printer, many brands / models better than c......

I have a brother multi function machine with fitted large ink tanks. Never a problem.

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Nice one liner with not much meaning. How you relate your comment to the fact the previous government was in fact a developing dictatorship, nothing evenly remotely like democracy?

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In defense of Thai people Martial Law was needed when you have political sides who don't respect freedom of speech and different views you have chaos,as we saw children for god's sake were being killed over what?

Strange the military didn't restore order in partnership with the elected government.

The most directly to the point criticism of "the military had to do it" argument I've seen. Very well put!

Maybe that's because the military didn't support a a growing dictatorship which was very falsely using the word democracy.

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In defense of Thai people Martial Law was needed when you have political sides who don't respect freedom of speech and different views you have chaos,as we saw children for god's sake were being killed over what? random bombing's by who? and for what? shooting's It was if they were rabid animals. The military restored calm the police didn't there a part of the problem they can be bought. I sorry but having not had a real democracy Thai's don't understand the power they are given or how to use it yet. The vote is a powerful weapon and should not be sold or bought by anyone.It was written the Pen is mightier than the sword, but the vote is the voice of the people. So want change tired of same oh same oh? the use your vote and bring about change or you doom your children and your children's children. I'm not trying to justify the coup but this is Thailand it is what it took to bring back some form of order I have Thai friends who have and could have been victims. So know we watch and wait to see where it goes from here.In the US there can't be coup's cause the people are armed and there are more armed people than any countries military in the world. Good luck to all Thai people We will be watching.

So why didn't the military step in as soon as the protests started to protect the elected government and prevent all the mayhem?
I know, and I'm sure all the other supporters of democracy on here do too.

Because of several reasons; Under a democracy, that is held so dear, the people have the right to peaceful protest. Not just the right to vote.

The violence only started when the protesters were attacked and at that time and from then on it was the job of the police to prevent the violence and bring the offenders to justice. This they did not do instead protecting the attackers.

It is not the job of the military to protect an elected Government, they may be called on by an elected Government to handle a situation that is out of control as in 2010. The PT Government did not call on the military.

The military stepped in after the Government had resigned and the few remaining caretaker cabinet ministers and police under the watchful eyes of the DSI and CAPO showed they had no intention of attempting to control the violence. Indeed there was talk of civil war and setting up a government in the north of the country.

The military called the parties together and attempted to mediate a settlement with no success.

That was when they decided they had no alternative but to take over to avoid farther bloodshed and disruption.

It is certainly not the military's role to be in cahoots with a movement to oust the government. That is treason.

The violence was incited by the PRDC in order to create the situation needed for the army to step in.

The civil war argument is simply laughable. The majority of Thais are apathetic and certainly not about to start a war.

The military called parties together and told PTP they had to step down.

The military had made it quite clear in 2008 that they would not support a Thaksin government to remove yellow protesters.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/26/thai-leader-rejects-protests

You wanna believe the guardian, suggest you do some more research.

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38 posts, your wrong, so some further research about your statement '...the Thai peoples perspective...'.

You explain your own 'statements' word for word, and I'll shoot them down again and again. I note you conveniently don't mention expensive scams to sway voters, all nicely constructed to line the pockets of a few with massive amounts of money and the fact that a large % of poor farmers got no benefits, puppet governments, red democracy (intimidation) schools, etc., etc.

Also, please explain in detail, since your such am expert how the current constitution almost completed is aimed at helping the right wing/ traditional elites.

Or perhaps what your not saying is that you support a very corrupt scaly dictatorship which regularly claims to be the protector of democracy.

Dear PR holders in CM area, where do you go please for your 5 year address & photo update in your red book?

Any information appreciated, thanks.