Mr Meeseeks

Often the toughest tactics render the best results.

If Thai people wrote the questions, we'd all be in trouble. The main problem in Thailand is education, always has been. You can make flippant remarks and refer to prostitutes conning foreigners etc. but that's just akin to heckling and chucking peanuts from the cheap seats. There's a reason the Thais themselves send their offspring overseas for an education, and if they cannot afford that endeavour, they send them to schools with a Western curriculum and names. They know their own problems, better than we do, and see them clearer than through any rose-tinted lenses.

They chose a government that would rather pocket money and protect their own than be transparent. They chose a government that would spend big on unnecessary military toys while neglecting that social 'safety net'. They chose a government that removed the previous elected administration in a military coup, that formed a new political party with no experience of governance, and that has appointed convicted criminals to positions of authority. Sometimes, those choices end up coming back to haunt you.

There is social security in Thailand. Not as robust as in some Western countries but there is assistance available if you pay it. If you are comparing with the West, then Thailand has far better employment laws which protect the worker from being made unemployed, not to mention unemployment numbers are far lower than in the West. You've taken one area where Thailand is deficient to suit your agenda, while ignoring other areas where Thailand is more proficient than the West, which do not suit your narrative.

I think that comment, used in context, was aimed at the government and those in control, rather than a slur on Thais.

There was a study done years ago (early 00's) that found that the national average was 88, and there were up to 15% of people categorised as 'medically retarded' (their words not mine) from the poorest provinces out in the sticks. From experience I would say that is about right. Don't expect much to improve with social media and mobile devices. I rarely see people reading books these days.

I agree, but the problem then becomes that they can't just allow tourists to swan around doing what they want while restrictions are imposed on locals and local businesses. They made their bed with the silly restrictive entry requirements to appease nationalist sentiment when the dirty farang countries were getting hammered and Thailand was relatively COVID free and now the have to sleep in it. As I have maintained all along they have been incredibly lucky so far, even with the gross mismanagement on display from vaccine procurement and provincial containment.

This case perfectly highlights how ineffectual, corrupt and malleable the Thai justice system is.

Catch 22 for this government. Remain closed and control the virus spread and political protests, or... Open up and risk a 4th wave of the virus while letting the masses out onto the streets. Either way political and economic instability is on the cards for the foreseeable.

That is Thai society in a nutshell.

Maybe it has been part of their culture for 100's of years?

Mass solar power is a non-starter in Thailand until tariffs on the import of the equipment are relaxed; far too expensive initially to be viable. Projects as mentioned in the OP are merely more boondoggles to ensure golfing can continue at the weekends for the unqualified few that will end up in charge of it.

Haven't had that in ages, haven't seen it in Pattaya...

So are sporrans these days.

Why have 1 quality tourist when they can just send the money to a demimondaine? They don't even have to be here!

It looks so crowded in that photograph it is a wonder nobody was crushed to death.

It is. They are testing about 50,000 per day with the PCR method. The rapid tests are not included in the official case figures.

The truth shall set you free.

If the political protests are not ongoing in Bangkok and elsewhere. There's a real possibility that when Thailand swings the doors open post-COVID, that there's widespread civil unrest that will discourage a lot of visitors.

They are caught between a rock and a hard place. Keep the lockdowns to control COVID-19 and keep case numbers and deaths to a manageable level, with the added benefit of being able to crack down hard on any political protests, or... Fudge the numbers, open up again and let the protests begin in earnest. Either way, they are Donald Ducked, politically and more importantly, economically.

If I chopped someone's arm off for sticking his arm through my gate what would happen to me? You're having a nightmare on this thread mate, time to step away from the keyboard.

Just in time for mass political protests and civil unrest.

From watching the video, I am going to assume he was attempting to tie a bag of fruit on the gate. and did not expect to get bitten as he had done this before and was known to the dogs. Savaging an elderly man's arms is a good enough reason to have the dogs destroyed, certainly in any civilised society where human life is sacrosanct and held above that of mere animals.

These dogs mangled a 79yo man's arm causing it to be amputated. They bit him on both arms. He was a frequent visitor to this house, so he would have been known to the dogs. He has delivered fruit to the house many times before. The dogs are vicious and dangerous, and they should be destroyed. Warning signs and other platitudes after the fact don't cut it.

https://bangkokjack.com/2021/08/21/jail-term-going-party/