herfiehandbag

It is a terrible thing to watch this fine, moral, upstanding man, former ( and soon to be again) leader of the free world, compassionate friend of the migrant community ( as long as they are suitably white and Nordic), literally a "fence builder", being arraigned by this cabal of liberals simply because he <deleted> a fading saggy porn star, paid her off with money raised for his political campaigns, and then lied about it!

Yes, yes, yes, that is all very well, but what about the porn on Hunter Biden's laptop?

1) finding pilots who can fly them. 2) finding ground crew who know how to service and repair them. 3) ensuring a supply of spare parts to keep them flying. 4) supplying the munitions they need to fight. All these will take at least 6 months to achieve. MIG 29s can be in action more or less straight away. Yes they are dated, but so will be the aircraft that they are tangling with. F16 fighters and A10 ground attack aircraft will be in the pipeline, but it is a long pipeline.

Probably the best defence against these people is just to take the Mickey, constantly and continuously. They will never abandon their beliefs but ridicule will remind everyone how stupid they are!

Burma is a possible - I suspect the Burmese military (Tatmadaw) would be interested, purely for research purposes you understand - like research on what happens if you spread it around those pesky rebels... North Korea, I suspect that they have ample supplies of assorted radioactive materials.

Lotteries, state, legal, illegal, online or run from roadside stalls or itinerant vendors are massive cash generators in Thailand. The Police take a close interest in massive cash generators in Thailand...

Now let me see, this institute, let's ask Mr Google - ah yes, "controlled by the President of Parliament"! Enough said. Still, no doubt some useful input for the two month post voting counting, interpretation and verification process.

Drumming up trade for his hospitals?

Which of course never were going to be paid. Quite an accurate summary I would suggest.

I suspect that the Taxi and Asok shakedowns have no legal grounds, but are tolerated by the Police Senior Management as they lead to a steady income stream. Like so many proposed and existing laws this one will probably never work, because: 1) it will never be implemented with any consistency, and 2) it will be ignored because it interferes with an income stream. Because of the sophisticated and institutionalised pooling of incomes and share out pro rata scheme which operates within the force, this will be a nonstarter. Another law on the books, the books gathering dust on a police station bookshelf whilst day to day activities continue as normal.

The Mosque is in Pierpoint Street. Catholic Emancipation; a long story but greatly simplified, the Catholic Church was made illegal by Henry VIII (1547). There were various degrees of persecution, but by the latter half of the eighteenth Century it was pretty much left alone, hence the discrete unofficial chapels. In the first decades of the nineteenth Century it was made legal again ( emancipated), largely by the Duke of Wellington who was by then the Prime Minister. He held to the view that since a large proportion of the army which had defeated Napoleon was made up of Irish Catholic soldiers and English Catholic officers ( most other professions were forbidden to Catholics) it would be churlish to stop them from worshipping freely. My Mother and Father are buried in the Catholic Cemetery in Perrymead.

I am a Catholic. Some years ago my Parish Priest and friend, a Servite Friar called Father Bill had to deliver a Papal greeting to our local mosque in the UK. I think it was Eid, the end of Ramadan. I went with him. The Mosque is housed in a large 18th Century Georgian house. Coincidentally the house was the unofficial, technically illegal (although ignored by the authorities) Catholic chapel in Bath until Catholic Emancipation allowed the new churches to be built. The large back yard was used as the cemetery. The Iman and his "elders", when we told him, expressed concern, he said that they used the back yard for parties and feasts on feast days. As Father Bill said, no matter, just say a prayer for the repose of their souls!

Certainly a couple of years ago international mail from the UK was routed via Amsterdam (Schiphol) and Sri Lanka. I understand that Sri Lanka was a major source of delays. I also a couple of years ago, for some reason, had to reload the Nationwide Phone App onto my phone, having used it quite successfully for several years prior to accidentally uninstalling it. It insisted I used a UK SIM. The Nationwide help line was, as ever, about as much use as an ashtray on a motorcycle!

I am fairly certain that I didn't want to know that!

Well I don't know about estranged or alienated, but I should imagine that the nearby Thais are thinking/saying " look at that mad Falang walking around in circles in the middle of a building site haranguing his phone!"

Thank you. I was preparing a joke and you destroyed it!????

Yes I am sure that they do, but as the cab was double manned it was unnecessary and may have been isolated. Most locomotive hauled trains here are double manned (driver and secondman), only the local railcars are single manned. I suspect that there is some confusion in reporting or translation, along with exaggeration. CPR seems a bit over the top if the driver fainted. If it was a locomotive hauled train then the passengers would have been unaware - perhaps startled by a sudden stop. If it was a multiple unit, only somebody standing in the front gangway could have known what happened to the driver.

I am, it is fair to say, not uncritical of many of the agencies which run services in Thailand. The public health services are, in my opinion, the exception. I have for some time now used my local hospital to care for a routine long standing condition. More recently I have had surgery and continuing treatment for a serious injury to my foot. The treatment, professionalism and demeanor of the staff ( actually quite important if you are worried, in pain and perhaps feel "far from home") is exemplary. Most have sufficient rudimentary English to do the job - "keep it up in bed" was an unfortunate admonition from one young lady to keep my leg elevated on a cushion whilst asleep! Yes, waiting times (short term) are long, a simple outpatient visit can take hours, but so what. It is not as if most of us have any other pressing engagements! I am known as the Falang who sits and reads a book while waiting. On one occasion the tannoy announced "John Anthony, put your book away and come here!" And of course, if you want the five star treatment, then pay to go private. Yesterday my local hospital had a group of girls (M5) from our local school on work experience. I occasionally teach "supply" at the school so they know me. When the nurse removed the dressing there were gasps ( the surgical wound is pretty gruesome), one insisted on holding my hand, one kept feeding me sips of water and one turned a bit green and had to sit down! After the nurse had finished cleaning and dressing the wound, and the obligatory selfies taken, the students were tasked with applying the protective bandage - I left the hospital looking like an extra from the Adam's Family!

Remarkable events these sudden and complete conversions aren't they? Saint Paul was hit by a thunderbolt and fell off his horse whilst en route to Damascus to hand out grief to some early Christians. General Prawit is seen standing up for the rights of an old lady to heckle a coup leading General...

The RTAF fixed wing transport aircraft fleet consists of 37 aircraft, 14 of which are configured for VIP transport. The Helicopter fleet consists of 50, 16 of which are VIP aircraft. The army fixed wing transport fleet has 17 aircraft, 8 of which are VIP aircraft. The Army helicopter fleet includes 8 VIP helicopters,and a further 102 utility helicopters. Figures from Wikipedia.

The problem with using such aircraft for "humanitarian missions" is that the effort in stripping out and then refitting the VIP interior kit is time consuming and expensive.

When I used to send money from the UK, the sending bank would always ask what it was for. I used to write something vague like "expenses", "to spend" and on one occasion " buying things". As the bank clerk explained the first time, as long as is not a particularly high sum they don't even look at the reason. I suspect with the Danish Kroner, the bank's really don't want it because the quantity coming in to Thailand is too small to make it worth holding or changing.

Don't be silly. It's Fox News!

Could make for some entertaining ATC radio quotes! "Wait at XYZ until that Really Cool Boeing has cleared the runway"!

Is posting such a hope allowed?