herfiehandbag

Chairs moved - maybe they will have to forgo their shares of the "prize money" for the next couple of monthly share-outs, but don't worry, they will be back! It will give them time in a nice quiet office to work out just how they can make more money from the great re-opening. If they pitch it to their superiors right, they will be back in business by the new year!

Probably not for much longer. Someone, may be several, will put two and two together. Whether or not the answer is four, they will react. It is quite difficult to speak when your jaw is wired up, and your fingers bandaged! For making boasts like that he would rather deserve it!

They do, but, the Embassy also contains a large consular department, which exists, and is funded by the government to deal with and assist British people in Thailand. That department is part of the Embassador's responsibilities. It seems clear that there is considerable disquiet amongst the expatriate community as to the way in which it functions, certainly, my experiences on the two occasions when I have had contact with the consular offices in Bangkok have been less than stellar! Now far be it from me to tell "His Excellency" what to do, but he could do justice to his title by reviewing that aspect of his Embassies operations.

Or finding a reason to despatch them to the "restive south" I'll bet the general was dead impressed when the postings branch rang him up to tell him where he was going!

Just trying to eke out the supplies.

I somehow doubt that high-quality, wealthy tourists who will spend millions of baht, would spend much time or effort on Google looking for accommodation websites...

Knew he hadn't left the country, knew where he lived? Went to the house? Someone told them where he had gone out to? Leapt in the big flash motor ( I wonder if they have mended the one up our way yet - rumour has it the engine management system is on the blink) and drove around until they saw him?

No, not now we are getting Submarines.

AUKUS is irrelevant to the whole Thai Submarine programme. The Gulf of Thailand is really just a shallow backwater which doesn't really lead anywhere. Having a (very) slack handful of obsolete submarines easily bottled up in it, will mean nothing in strategic terms.

Don't the Swiss have any submarines? How do they manage to keep Lichtenstein in awe of them?

It really doesn't matter whether or not it is, or what you judge to be a success. It will be hailed as a success. Assorted suits will congratulate themselves, in front of vinyl banners, from behind podiums liberally covered with yellow bouquets. And nobody, Thai or foreigners, will believe them.

Does look like the "camp tramps" have fallen out of the NAAFI at closing time doesn't it!

Another straw bobs past down the Chao Prayha river, just out of reach! As I said before, about the only positive thing is that Signor Bocelli can sing jolly loudly, so even with proper social distancing everyone will still be able to hear him!

I have recently (July/August) been an inpatient at Chiang Rai Government Hospital. I had emergency surgery on a badly infected foot, the scepticemia from which was starting to spread. It saved my life. My insurance declined to pay, claiming that a pre-existing condition led to the condition. Nobody raised the question of payment until I was well on the road to recovery. We arranged a payment plan. The cost was not outrageous. The hospital was busy, 24 hours a day, clean and the nursing and surgical care was excellent. Yes, families were camped outside - but Thais always have members of families staying with them in hospital . I was not aware of anyone dieing on stretchers. The food was terrible. Since being discharged I have been attending my local rural hospital every day to have my wound dressed. Occasionally a doctor looks at it. The nurses are kind, competent (and cute). I have never had to wait more than 20 minutes for treatment. I wouldn't know how to rate my care, or the system, on a global system, but my experience has been positive, and I honestly don't recognise either comment I have quoted.

No, don't talk about it, more specifically do something about it. Take steps to do something about it. Give those whose livelihoods and lives have been utterly ruined by the measures which you have blundered through, which have had the affect of destroying great swathes of economic activity hope. At present they can see no hope. That is what makes them vulnerable. My daughter has a good friend. She was always a sweet, cheerful, rather cheeky, pretty teenager, full of life and "joi de Vivre". Both her parents worked in a big restaurant which catered for tour groups. Both her parents have lost their jobs, her father now ekes out a living doing odd jobs with his old pick up. There is no hope for them to better themselves. She is now a sad introverted little girl. We took her to KFC the other day, just to put a smile on her face. I know my daughter, with another friend, pays for a basic internet package on her phone. It is legions of people like that family who are vulnerable - do something to give them hope, don't <deleted> it up the wall on celebrity stars for hi-so New Year countdown to parties. You can do that by starting to govern, invest and spend on your people - all of them, not just your stinking rich mates in Bangkok. Kick start the economy for them.

The problem is that the "neo-dinosaurs" (see what I did there?) who run things have taken a firm grip on the moribund tourist industry, and are attempting to manipulate it's revival to benefit their super rich hi-so mates. The attractions and hotels which you describe will not be encouraged.

Incidentally, what did happen in the end to all those high ranking military types who were running those transit/holding camps for the trafficked migrants down south a few years ago? A few months in an "inactive post", and then business as usual?

I have read this, carefully, three times. I consider myself (I think fairly) to be a reasonably well educated and articulate sort of chap. I know and can use lots of long words like wheelbarrow and marmalade! My previous profession set particular store on clarity of communication, verbal and written. My powers of expression were usually favourably commented upon in the rigourous annual assessments to which I was subjected. I couldn't understand a word of what the Foreign Minister was saying. I could make no sense of it. It was utter rubbish.

Rather than accepting advanced orders for Moderna, perhaps the emphasis should be on fulfilling the orders already taken (and paid for)!

Well yes, although in Thailand the approach to such rules does seem to be marked by "creative accounting", a lax interpretation of the rules themselves, and in some, by no means rare cases, a complete lack of transparency. It seems often to be the case that once a budget is allocated the money is used pretty much as the budget holder sees fit, and some blatant abuses and mis-spending go unchallenged.

Young people these days and their so called music... Actually your first paragraph has given me an idea for an all girl music and dance group! I wonder if any of the young ladies from "After Skool Bar" in Soi Cowboy would be interested in auditioning for a place in "The Four Slappers of The Apocalypse"?

Having watched a number of "Black and Pink" and "Lalisa" music videos, purely in the interests of research and with a critical eye trained by my media studies degree, ( the production values are remarkably firm, and the important parts delightfully rounded), I thought those pelvic thrust routines were familiar! I may have to lie down in a darkened room for a while...

Understood, but imaginative use of that money could provide employment and income opportunities to those most hurt by the destruction of the industry. As it is the only way the "common herd" will benefit is from a few hours casual labour sweeping up the debris on January the 1st! My objection, as I am sure you are aware, is that instead of being used in projects which will promote sustainable tourism and directly benefit those most hurt by the damage to the industry, it is being spent on a party which will essentially serve to puff up those in charge. To add insult to injury the whole project is being underpinned by the usual ludicrous "TATtery" when it comes to ridiculous projections of the visitors it will bring and the money they will spend!

Well, Signor Bocelli can sing jolly loudly, so even with social distancing everyone should be able to hear him... Joking apart ( and believe me it was quite hard to think up a joke set against such a stupid, bizarre and insensitive proposal) it is quite grotesque to be even contemplating spending that sort of money ( which would go a long way to relieve suffering) on what is basically an ego boost for those who are attempting to seize control of the tourist market; set amidst the economic and social destruction of the inchoate policies which they and the government which answers to them have imposed. Obscene.

Perhaps, but then not all countries make their schoolchildren recite the national anthem every morning... There is nothing intrinsically wrong with being proud of one's country. I do however think that it is wrong that one should, as a child, have uncritical and unchallenged pride in one's country forced upon and demanded of one. It is a bit like making them wear a straightjacket to stop them putting their hands in their pockets! Of course it doesn't really work, as the current younger generations (unrealisable) interest in living elsewhere rather demonstrates. As soon as they shed the straightjacket the hands go into the pockets!