Bday Prang

How is it even possible, any time I have visited a hospital, my ability to pay has always been their primary concern, before commencing any treatment, and then when ready to leave i notice I am always "accompanied" to the cashier by at least one strapping orderly. I call b/s on these alleged unpaid bills that they claim run into millions. Obviously my mrs gets treated for free, being a Thai national, but she has never worked or ever paid a single baht in tax , how come a couple of stitches in a minor cut for her costs nothing , but for me the bill can be around 1000 baht? Its not like they have to employ additional staff to treat me , the cost of cat gut and bandages is the same, and the A&E nurse treating me is there anyway, and if not attending to me would probably be either asleep or playing with her phone all b/s as far as I'm concerned Its exactly the same with banks, with their ridiculous procedures and rules for foreigners, often in the guise of anti money laundering measures, that real money launderers simply avoid whilst laughing at them, we are not allowed credit ok that's fair enough yet to still claim we represent any form of threat simply for keeping money in a savings account is insulting to ones intelligence. What even is the point of requiring a certificate of residence to open a savings account, what does it even prove ? I have had a bank account here for 30 years, not once have they ever contacted me either by post or phone, in fact the only time they ever did contact me, to tell me my debit card was up for renewal, they simply arranged for a message to appear on an ATM machine advising me to renew my card , I could be living anywhere and quite frankly its none of their business like wise the money in my account is mine and not theirs, they should be grateful that I choose to bank with them. This arrogant attitude of banks is not unique to Thailand I hasten to add

I don't know what the answer is but it needs sorting out, Each and every government announces how much more money they are going to throw at the NHS with the sole aim of garnering political approval from the public. But it is never enough , lets be honest they could theoretically give them access to totally unlimited funding and it still "would not be enough" its high time these wasters in the NHS were subject to some serious auditing, with a bit of jail time handed out to those responsible for squandering tax payers money on such an epic scale. They could start by explaining why they have now engaged a veritable battalion of woke diversity consultants, most of whom are paid more than consultants and surgeons and probably work a two day week from home,. After that they could take a long hard look at the corrupt procurement practices that have long gone unchecked. For those involved in these scandals it is a licence to print money. It is in theory a brilliant idea ( the NHS) but human nature combined with a total lack of accountability have created what is basically a national disgrace How on earth can any overfunded organisation like this be permanently , "at breaking point" "on its knees" and how have they got the nerve to describe any of their employees as "exhausted" "ready to drop" or on the verge of collapse" any body who has ever visited a hospital knows that this simply isn't true, I once had to visit the A&E department due to sustaining a minor injury at work ,on the night shift, the place was deserted but a video screen on the wall indicated a 2 hour wait, nobody else came in or out but I was waiting for 3 hours to get a a few stitches in a cut hand, when i was eventually taken in to the treatment area there were literally dozens of lanyard wearing staff lazing around gossiping and playing on their mobile phones. Absolutely criminal in my opinion, and heads must roll

Total rubbish, the charge for a debit card is a few hundred baht per year, it's just a way of fleecing their customers, It in no way reflects any costs the bank may incur, If a customer was not here for a year or two and did not use their debit card the banks should be refunding the fee . The banks are owed nothing. They deserve to be treated with contempt, every single one of them

seems ridiculous to me that GP's are paid for those registered with them, even If those people are not sick and not using the service. Just another example of money being wasted, the sooner the entire shambles is privatised the better. There seems to be little accountability at present, and why would there be, after all its only public money, nobody really cares. Just as badly run as local councils for the exact same reasons. I doubt I am one of the ghosts now having registered with another GP's practice I did this purely to get vaccinated so I am guessing they have done alright out of me so far, here's hoping I never have to contact them again ,

no idea, not got a smart phone

Not so difficult, if I misspell a word it is underlined in red , I simply place the cursor over the word in question, then press the right click button and as if by magic the correct spelling of the word appears in a menu for me to select. A child could do it why can't you?

Thanks for the compliment , however I think maybe I should have used words with less syllables and written a bit more slowly for the benefit of the couple of retards on this thread who have felt the need to post the confused emoji on virtually every comment posted by everyone here. I am genuinely surprised that those with such severe learning difficulties are even capable of operating the kind of devices required to access the internet. I will have to remember to dumb down a bit in future for the benefit of the "special" ones. On second thoughts I won't bother, there must be other forums available for those poor simpletons, with large fonts and short words, to cater for their special needs

Totally agree , especially with the last paragraph, that sense of men and women fulfilling the role that nature actually intended does invoke a kind of comfort, a feeling that things are how they are supposed to be. To be honest I get a feeling of "nostalgia", if that's the right word. as it reminds me of how my parents interacted, and my grand parents before them. Each fulfilling the mutually complementary role that they were designed for and have evolved into since time began. Totally in line with nature and as such totally sustainable. To suggest that they are in anyway put upon , disadvantaged, or subservient would be absolute rubbish , they are more than capable of putting their foot down and expressing their needs, and if my mrs and the other Thai women I know are typical, they have no problems whatsoever in leaving us mere men in no doubt about what our obligations in the partnership are. The way I see it they are the very embodiment of what is now referred to as "soft power" And the confidence they have in their femininity probably explains why Psycho disorders like anorexia and dependance on anti depressants are very rare in comparison to in the west Due to a refreshing lack of "feminism" they are not encouraged to attempt to be something they are not or led to believe they are missing out on not being a man All of the above and the other points you mentioned are due to a dismissal of "feminism" which I would argue is totally different than "wokeness" or "progressive liberalism" That aberration never existed here until very recently, as an example ladyboys and gays have peacefully co existed in Thai society with no issues for a lot longer than any of us have been here and are not just "tolerated" but are actually pretty much embraced by society . So its purely a western woke intrusion that is responsible for the recent trend of displaying rainbow flags here during "woke week" How it must upset the woke when they realise that the Thai language has few gender specific pronouns, that are used in casual daily conversation, for them to misuse, and that their twisted ideology is really not wanted here, I doubt we will ever see the rainbow haired, permanently offended, social justice warrior types that are now so vocal in western society , they will try to become relevant. I'm pretty sure they have tried to sow the seeds of wokeness in the world of academia but personally I think a lack of a social welfare benefits system means that Thais generally have better things to concern themselves with than the "horror" of being misgendered. Lets just hope that common sense prevails and the feral scrotes responsible for this gang related problem receive a good old fashioned dose of right wing punishment and are taught a lesson they will not forget rather than some woke liberal counselling, that will enable them to self identify as victims

I'm not so sure , wokeness is like a cancer and will ultimately spread everywhere I was watching the news the other night and some cop was whingeing on about how the press should not be referring to them as gangs but as "yawachon" a new word on me but according to her indoors is a far less perjorative word for a gang of youths. Apparently they are not a gang just unruly children and should be treated as such ! However subsequent to his bleating there appear to have been several accusations of rape made if I heard correctly the perpetrator of one was 11 years old ! Amongst other allegations of violence and antisocial behaviour to add to the original shocking murder.

nah! in a post apocalyptic world they will need all the bargaining powers they have, a return to nature in its most fundamental form would be the only way forward for our species . Feminism would end along with all the woke rubbish, and the male would inevitably occupy the dominant position.. Cooking ironing cleaning along with fertility and a willingness to copulate would be valuable assets for a woman hoping to survive up to 40. After that they will really need to up their game

I think you'll have no problem scoring some weed

Another poster reminiscing about his childhood and having to be in by a certain time has given me a lightbulb moment , Just need a couple of local curfews of males under 18. Draconian punishments for non compliance for the brats and their parents, that are seen to be enforced, Any gangs would soon disappear. Job sorted. I've just gone through it in more detail in a newish thread about the predictable police crackdown now well underway The other way as you alluded to is perhaps for some vigilante justice to be handed out and broadcast on the news in a positive light but I still think there is serious deterrent value in both taking their motorbikes , mobile phones and banning them from ever having another mobile device , hit them where it hurts as they say loss of phone and loss of face for all concerned including parents. Have you got big jokes number i might ring him

God bless him. I love the police here, If I was a Thai that Is the job I would be doing, Working for the biggest and probably most powerful mafia in the world. It would be a dream job :- steady salary Gun plenty of opportunities for extras, and a half decent salary at the end of it, The only trouble is , that unlike the real Mafia organisations the senior people in charge seem to be picked on the basis of their laziness and stupidity. These sort of stories quite rightly attract a lot of attention, the wrong sort of attention if one happens to be a mafia boss, Its obviously making things a bit difficult for the boys in brown, but it could all so easily have been avoided if they had nipped it in the bud, but they didn't , because either they hadn't considered the consequences of this happening, or they were just too lazy to get off their mobile phones and round these feral gangs up years ago. Now their day to day "businesses" will have been interrupted, albeit temporarily, and some of their "made men" or "wise guys" have been given inactive posts giving them the hassle of adapting to new bosses.and the spotlight is well and truly on them. There is no one to blame for this but themselves, So 2 of the kids were cops' sons , the weren't "the dons " sons so how was their behaviour tolerated despite it having the real potential of making hassle for them? Was it just stupidity and laziness on behalf of the police? I really can't think of another reason But they need not worry I've got it sussed for them. There is only one way to sort this mess out quickly at least in the short term. Its so obvious I am surprised a fellow right wing extremist has not suggested it on here already, or maybe they are worried about the inevitable attacking responses they will receive from the "progressive liberal" community Simply impose and enforce a zero tolerance curfew on males (including lady boys) under 18. Sounds difficult ? Well its nothing they haven't done before. and they managed pretty well during covid when somebody deemed it necessary It doesn't even have to be nationwide. wouldn't want to put the police under two much pressure. Just pick a couple of well known areas and lock down the brats, bring a few extra cops in from surrounding areas to help out and share in the spoils Any brat breaking the curfew 7pm to 6am gets the motorbike and mobile phone confiscated, forever (finance or not) Any parents with civil service positions lose part of their salary and pension In the case of the father being police, then he is either sacked or demoted, Any working parents get fined at source. For the others just take their phones off their entire extended family. I was thinking of an additional punitive measure specifically for anybody acting as gang leader, perhaps some additional national service in the southern provinces, or 5 years working in a 7-11 That or a public caning singapore style, ouch the loss of face ! And that's just for breaking the curfew They would only have to be seen actually do it properly once maybe twice at the most and if they started next week I can pretty much guarantee that there would not be many gangs roaming the streets by the 1st of march So with an Idea in place and plenty of manpower available the only thing missing is a bit of incentive for the rank and file, Easy the confiscated phones and computers can be donated to them along with the proceeds of any crime. And the money from the forfeited pensions can also be shared out one way or another either way it probably wouldn't come to that once word got round that they mean business and then they can return to their normal everyday police "activities"

Me too, never ironed anything either, except some dollars before going to cambodia, Mrs was too busy doing my packing, obviously,.and then she had the washing up to take care of. So I selflessly broke the habit of a lifetime to help her out No big deal it was a one off emergency,

Will there not be women in a post apocalyptic world ?

Well at least in the UK you can mitigate the risk by avoiding the type of youths statistically most likely to be a potential knife wielding thug. Here it's a bit more difficult as they are more difficult to identify , if you know what I mean

and can get "complicated" It must be a pain to arrest a dealer with a sack full of meth only to have to apologise to him and give him a lift home because he was working for a more senior officer, Plus the only kudos they might get for nabbing an overstayer is mainly from a few on this forum

yes before a trial and especially in Thailand ! what is wrong with you?

Nobody knows anything yet, Just out of interest Where are you from? and when was your planned vacation here?

Another "but Anutin said" or in this case "insisted" comment, What he may or may not have said is frankly irrelevant, and anyway it was actually products or extracts thereof that were to be restricted to 0.2%. People would be well advised to see how the police interpret what Anutin may have said, and to open their eyes and look at the reality, rather than heed the protestations of a few on this forum, Its patently obvious that for the past 2 years nobody else has given a toss what Anutin may have insisted

I never for a moment suspected you as somebody who would seek to interfere in other peoples lives in an intrusive manner. I thought you might be above that sort of thing, a live and let live type concerned more with observational comments. Was I wrong?

The stores thing is Typically Thai, There are many streets with shops all selling the same things next door to each other, In Bangkok there was the Pantip Plaza with hundreds of stalls selling the same computer Junk, Khonkaen had a similar one. At one end of Khao San road if you turned left there was only wedding dress shops, and who could forget the plethora of mobile phone stalls in the basements of just about every Plaza in the country, for some reason its what they do, fear of missing out or fear of being different, its just the way they are here. Our local market was awash with cannabis plants, bongs, and 100bt bags of weed for sale , all looked at in disgust and horror by a small audience of tut tutting elderly farangs as they got pissed out of their heads in there regular watering hole whilst their long suffering wives did a bit of shopping. There is just one stall now run by a 50 year old Thai Rasta with the most impressive and cleanest set of dreadlocks I have ever seen, nice guy seems to do OK and isn't overly concerned about any impending regulations. Whatever happens market forces will ultimately sort things out No offence but i found the rest of your post a bit depressing , you could have softened it a bit by starting off with "in my opinion" now I'm on a downer,

I'd go with that, we could also have the "looking sullenly at the floor " emoji meaning I know i'm wrong but not prepared to admit it Or the "back of the head" emoji meaning you have upset me and I'm not talking anymore but for the expats we should also have access to a vomiting emoji and also one that depicts the internationally accepted gesture for masturbator

I suspect he may be from the "other side" (of the Pennines) still a Northerner though, so we should grant him some poetic licence

Well, in mitigation, I didn't say I've never used a wrong tense in english, (they can be very confusing ) and i did say I wasn't a master,