herfiehandbag

What's the betting he will have one within hours of being landed wherever the rescue boat lands him?

Very revealing. But then, I suspect many of us suspected that!

The problem I describe lies not so much with the doctors as with the pharmaceutical industry.

However they were at the front when it came to enthusiastically welcoming a "putsch" back in 1938!

They have had a coalition since the 16th of May. The delay is due to determined attempts to break it. PTP have, to their credit, largely stood by it. If they had said after the first couple of days"actually we will go into coalition with XYZ, leaving MFP outside, then all would have been sorted within a week, with the unelected Senate's blessing., MFP would by now have been emasculated just as Future Forward was, leaving vast chunks of the electorate without a voice. And I will hazard a guess that you would have acclaimed it as a great victory for democracy!

Whether or not there is a cure, or a preventative treatment for Type 2 Diabetes, there is far too much money to be made from providing treatments and medicines for it to be attractive to the pharmaceutical industry to either research or develop such alternative treatments. Just compare the cost of insulin here to the cost in the USA. The USA and other Western countries are where the research and development will take place. That is where the pharmaceutical industry is, that is where it has its clout.

It is a law which allows those in power ( and remember that includes those with "influence" behind the scenes) to basically intern, prosecute and imprison their opponents, to remove them from the political arena. It offers a veneer of respectability to what is basically good old fashioned political suppression. That is why MFP is hell bent on reforming it, and the old guard are equally determined to keep it. If the Senate block and the quasi-legal machinations fail to prevent Pita and MFP coming to power, it will be used to pick them off over the next year until they are gone.

Perhaps, it depends on how quickly he moved, how quickly the Police move, and of course, quite possibly, his"negotiating skills".

Looks like a hymn of praise to motorcycling head injuries and dental reconstruction!

Naive of me I know, but surely wasn't "judgement day" a couple of months ago (!) when the people voted on the matter. MFP won more seats and more votes than any other party. That was known within hours. A coalition was put in place within days. Here we are, two months down the line. The defeated government is still in place, still shows no sign of relinquishing power, and we are still waiting for the Electoral Commission to proceed with or dismiss the ridiculous attempts to rule Pita ineligible. It is absolutely clear that the regime has no intention of honouring the election votes. They have the Senate block. They have the EC and court referrals. They will manufacture a state of emergency pending fresh elections "in due course". They are staying put.

Sounds like a ready made place for a "kettle"!

From each according to how much we can wring out of them, to each as much as they can stache away....... Tha business elites.

Nothing to do with the law being strict. Everything to do with the law being used for political ends.

Bling, about as meaningful as the parachute wings everyone in uniform, from condo security guards up wear! As someone who was parachute trained, (albeit a very long time ago!) I find it a bit pathetic frankly. My stepson did a day doing "tower jumps" when he was in the scouts, and got a set of wings for his scout uniform. Fair enough, for a 14 year old boy or girl to do those jumps requires bottle, well done them! But when he did his National Service he had to wear them on his uniform, in fact he was bollocked for not doing so!

How will they be able to see where they are going?

Most of which is in waters to shallow for submarines to operate effectively. The bit which is deep enough for submarines to operate effectively can only be reached from the projected base by sailing down the Gulf of Thailand, around Singapore and through the Malacca Straits, which are amongst the most heavily monitored waters ( in the naval and submarine sense) in the world. There is no military justification or role for a submarine fleet for Thailand. There is no surface naval threat posed by any of the country's neighbours, which would require a submarine to counter. It is purely a source of "backhanders" to the naval procurement system. It is a budget, to be managed and disbursed With control of a budget comes real power and influence. The Navy has been rather left behind in this respect since they broke all the aeroplanes for their carrier!

And that's why Singapore will take the slots!

Perhaps the reverse, let's see how the membership of this list react to the prospect (threat) of a few years of democratic government!

Oh I don't know, all that gold, the haircut, undercover copper in Pattaya?

So, what are the requirements for membership of the Social Security Scheme?

I don't know if it is true, but rumour has it that a very large and "unsubtle" bar adjacent to "Soi Cowboy" is owned by the constabulary. Could it be that the competition needed to be quietened down?

I believe that the 30 Baht scheme means that you have to use the registered hospital. The satellite clinics are covered by the registration. I have a hospital card for my local hospital which covers me for the satellite clinic down the road. That card has a hospital number. I don't know what the arrangement details are, the whole arrangement was made some years ago. I am diabetic, and went to the emergency room with a deep cut on my foot. The nurse asked where I was treated (a private hospital in Chiang Rai) and how much it cost. She called in the boss nurse, who did some paperwork and registered me; I still pay but I know I am charged far less than a passing foreigner - for example, changing a dressing on my crippled foot costs 50 Baht whereas for a "casual passing farang" ( if you know what I mean) it would cost 180 Baht. Medications are also similarly discounted, certainly when compared to a commercial pharmacy. From time to time the Nurse will announce " today is free Mr John"! The inevitable bureaucracy means that if you move to another area then you have to register again at your new local hospital. Just as with the whole "Tabien Bann" ( blue house book) business, Thais are reluctant to do this and therefore "return home" for any medical treatment, to vote or any other official interaction

Because very often they don't know any other way to access any healthcare. My local hospital runs a couple of "satellite clinics" linked to the hospital. They are staffed by a couple of Nurses and "Nurses Aids". For things like changing dressings, and minor injuries and initial diagnosis and treatment of minor illnesses they are fine. The locals seem reluctant to use them, and clutter up the hospital waiting hours to be seen!

Oh dear me, has a certain lassitude crept in to the approach to the informal fiscal practices in these areas? Revenue below expectations? A tightening up needed?

That may be stage 1. Buying time to dispose of the immediate threat to their status quo - the electoral success of MFP. Six months or better still a year - enough time they hope to emasculate MFP, and stage 2; select and install a new Senate - probably with renewed powers over selecting Prime Ministers. Stage 3, once they feel safe, fresh elections, engineered of course to produce the right results. Their defeat is inevitable, but they will fight. The longer they fight the messier the end will be. I wonder if MFP realise that it will be a long struggle?