herfiehandbag

6 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

Airlines have a lot to answer for allowing people with very limited financial means to travel.

Hmm, I wonder if you would change your tune if next time you wish to travel anywhere, the airline say: "sorry Mr Meeseeks, but in our opinion your financial means are too limited for you to travel"?

The Tourism Minister chappie was quoted today, in "the other paper" as saying:" full and free travel should become a thing of the past.”

Perhaps he does not understand, but no tourists, High end or bottom end, are going to bother coming if "full and free travel should become a “thing of the past.” It really is as simple as that,

1 hour ago, petedk said:

I think you are right about it not being related to Covid-19.

 

I wonder if in the distant future entertainment places will be allowed to stay open after 12.00 or will it be a permanent thing?

 

 

Oh I'm sure that when enough desirable businesses have agreed to sell up at bargain basement prices, the new owners will be able to muster the "influence" to have the rules relaxed!

2 hours ago, curious297 said:

Can the authorities legally enforce the requirement that every entertainment establishment must install CCTV and ensure they keep records for a month?  Right now it can only be a policy. The authorities will check you have recordings going back 1 month or you will get a fine, they are not interested in viewing the actual contents. Do they have the actual resources to view the recordings? It'a a pure money grab in my opinion and vaguely worded to ensure the free flow of brown envelopes. Eagerly waiting for the first court case.

There is a school of thought that the "whole fandangle" is a (fairly thinly disguised) money grab. Lets face it, anybody in any of a variety of uniforms can pole up at any venue and almost certainly detect several infringements there and then. Fines, closure orders, or the opportunity to demonstrate sufficient "influence" to allow the problem to be disregarded. I know the owner of a bar in Chiang Rai, and she is resigned to her "informal overheads" increasing sharply.

5 hours ago, AhFarangJa said:

The master plan of the project was expected to be done in a year.

 

Ah, the master plan..what could possibly go wrong.............

I think he meant plaster man...

Because they are employed and/or promoted by a combination of patronage, and the amount of "influence" they demonstrate when applying for the post.

Ah yes, the rains retreat...

That's the one where the rains have started, hard work in the fields beckons, time to nip off to the monastery for a couple of months!

Since the chap who owns it "threw a track" over the behaviour of Chinese tourists a while back, I doubt that he will be too upset at their absence!

4 hours ago, faraday said:

Sounds racist to me.

 

Think they should call them:

 

Absence of visible light boxes, or AVBL's.

 

 

I believe that they are actually bright orange in colour - which rather "trumps" your suggestion!

2 hours ago, Jester69 said:

I work at a Government Public school and we have no social distancing in place, no handwash anywhere are school and no temperature checking...... this is all another bit of cheap lip!

 

I thought that the Government Public Schools were not due to reopen until next week - Wednesday the first of July?

4 hours ago, torturedsole said:

I don't mind KFC but we do have an equally good offering in my hometown - Wimpy.  I'm not a big junk food person but the occasional chips and whatever is most welcome.  Our local Wimpy is very good for a sit down.  

Goodness, gracious me, is Wimpy still going? I thought that they had gone years ago!

8 hours ago, RuamRudy said:

We already use another country's currency in that fiscal policy is naturally biased towards the needs to greater population. There are some who believe that the SG should issue their own currency but, like you, I am a bit out of my depth in that area. 

 

But outside London, Scotland is the largest recipient of FDI in the UK. Clearly the SG is doing something right in that respect. 

Well I would disagree, at present Scotland is part of the United Kingdom, and as such, along with the other constituents, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, uses the currency of that country, the Pound Sterling. The management of that currency and the economy is managed by the parliament of that country, Westminster, in which Scotland is fully represented. That Scotland, under the present parliament is almost entirely represented by an opposition party is true, but for much of the last 75 years it has been represented by a mix of parties, and has had influence, (some might say disproportionate influence) in the governments they have formed.

If you were to become an independent country, but using the currency of another, then you would have no formal role or probably influence in the management of that currency, and would therefore surrender effective control of your economy.

As for foreign investment and the part played by the Scottish Government, I suppose that it depends on whether the investors see themselves as investing in the UK or a separate country. If the latter then I suspect that the arrangement discussed above would put such investment in a rather different (unfavorable) light.

I'll throw a whole clowder of cats (just discovered a new collective noun for cats!) amongst the pigeons now; do the current Scottish Government really, really want real, full blown, independence? I ask because one of the first steps to that would be preparing and creating, or at least planning for, their own currency. I don't really see any attempt to do so. Wasn't that perhaps one of the main stumbling blocks in their proposals before the last independence referendum?

5 hours ago, RuamRudy said:

It is taking it's time, isn't it? Frustration appears to be growing in the rank and file so hopefully we will hear some positive news soon. I am always intrigued as to why some people think an independent Scotland would be financially poorer than the status quo. Is there rationale behind your statement or just gut feel?

 

I don't quite understand your second paragraph. I was not suggesting that a consultative referendum would be a precursor to immediate independence but, rather, a clear cut sign of a desire to secede, which Westminster could not ignore. 

My second paragraph was a reaction to another poster, who said (rather pompously I thought) that I was proposing UDI, and there were legal aspects to UDI which I did not understand and "should read up on before making such a suggestion"!

If the Scottish Parliament does decide to hold it's own consultative referendum, and if the result is for independence, then I think that the Scottish government should react swiftly. We have all seen what happens if you leave a referendum result sitting on the table, as it were, before enacting the decision.

As for the economic prospects for a newly independent Scotland, as I am certainly no economist it is really a "gut feeling", That said, if (as seems inevitable) they will use another countries currency, (Sterling or the Euro) with no say in the management of the currency, they will inevitably be ""sucking on the hind tit" when it comes to economic influence particularly in regard to investment and exports; could be wrong though!

1 hour ago, Jimbo53 said:

I would be looking for a career change!!

I'm 62, teach part time as the only NES teacher in a private RC school, which is not particularly well funded. I teach there because: 1) I enjoy it, and find it very rewarding; 2) many of the children are from poor families (hill tribes) and would otherwise receive no NES teaching; 3) I personally believe a RC education is a good thing.

I have a couple of other sources of income, so whilst not working and being paid for the last months has been difficult, it has not been disastrous.

If I was 20 years younger, yes I would be looking elsewhere. 

3 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Minister plans to turn convicts into a formidable workforce to send abroad

 

At the risk of upsetting our antipodean members, hasn't this been tried before?

1 hour ago, DrTuner said:

Sure, for the first few hours after which everybody collectively says meh, to hell with it. TiT.

Yes, once reopened, and the all important informal revenue stream has resumed, then the iron clad rules will become a token effort. After all, the "enforcers" are also likely to be amongst the main beneficiaries of the industry reopening.

3 hours ago, baansgr said:

The longer they leave it, the more the prices will go up...

Maybe the longer they leave it, the more the prices (which the desperate and bankrupt owners will be prepared yo accept for the businesses) will go down. Could that be a factor in the languorous decision making process I wonder?

Still, social distancing should be a piece of cake - there will be no-one there!