RobU

Sorry darling we had a party at the recycling plant. I got absolutely legless and lost those beautiful sneakers you gave me. Can you ever forgive me?

This has made my day. I can't stop giggling. There's stupid then there's this

Brilliant

I sympathise and grieve for the child but according to the article it was no accident. It was the result of stupidity by the tricycle driver who made a sudden turn without looking. Driving my car on the dual carriageway of Nong Khai district I have often had to avoid stupid motorcycle and sidecar combination drivers who pull out for no obvious reason without looking behind first. I think the car driver is also a victim of her stupidity and will have to live with this for the rest of his life

How do you know the pick up was worth anything? You both sound like rich foreigners who manage debt from a good income. My car is 19 years old, well maintained and I hope may last another 20. No bank would give me a 13000 baht loan on it it's probably more than the car is worth. I see many old banger pick ups on Thai roads especially here in the north

A possible scenario Family, surviving on low earnings with no savings Woman needs urgent treatment Borrows from loan shark to pay for treatment Loan shark sets extortionate interest rates and repayments. Repayments cripple the families finances Woman cannot or won't pay any more loan shark threatens wife and family knowing he is protected by lazy corrupt police and city officials Tells wife she is now his chattel and will pay this amount forever Husband, knows that the police will do nothing if he complains and will actually tell the loan shark who it was who complained. Husband knows that the loan shark will then take violent revenge on his wife. Husband kills loan shark to protect his wife since there is no other option.

Brake Failure?

Why the term "Informal Lender"? Why not use the correct term "Loan Shark"?

What I failed to tell you was that after working for a few years as a skilled airframe fitter, embedded with the R.A.F. and Fleet Air Arm, I had a stint in hospital where I saw my first male nurse, he was a charming State Enrolled Nurse (S.E.N) and was always surrounded by female nurses hanging on his every word. I though "I want some of that". I was also stimulated by the fact that I would be reclassified from Working Class to Middle Class. (I didn''t do it because I wanted to care for people, I was a shy kid who wanted to get laid a lot). So, after I left hospital, I popped into the Local Health Authority building and asked how I could become an S.E.N. (the practical nurse and the mainstay of the NHS at the time) There was what would be called a meme these days circulating the upper ranks of the profession which involved a burley builder coming from the building site and training as a Nurse. I fitted that exactly. I was ushered straight into to see the woman in charge of Nurse training who, with a big grin on her face said "we don't have men training as S.E.N.'s you will have to apply to be a State Registered Nurse (S.R.N.)". I was sent a general nurse application form with the option for applying as S.E.N. carefully crossed out. I had to take the General Nursing Council intelligence test (I had no O levels, and the formal entry requirement was 5 o levels) which I completed in 3/4 of the allotted time and got full marks. I was very miffed when I discovered that the set of S.E.N. pupils who started at the same time as my set of S.R.N. students had 6 males in it and there were only 3 males in the S.R.N. set I belonged to. Because I was naturally shy around girls, I decided to be more outgoing and friendly and was immediately ostracized because they thought I was hitting on them. I passed all the final exams with flying colours (many of the snobby girls in my set who had got top marks for all their coursework submissions actually failed and either had to retake the exam or were automatically given S.E.N. Status). That was when I decided to take O levels and the rest goes on from there.

Fully agree, the classic sign of the over educated idiots is complexity. e.g. why use one word when you can use 3 or create new meanings for common words (the classic being the use of them and they as pronouns for non gender aligned people). I ended my career as a senior information manager in the NHS and a lot of my job entailed working my way through long winded complex documents from highly educated people trying to create a complex role rather than just doing the job. They cannot do things the simple way and they cost organisations a lot of money

I fully agree. I was brought up in slums 2 up 2 down no bathroom and outside toilet. Both my mother and father left school at 14 my mother sent me to an all boys senior school which was supposed to have a good standard Neither she not my father could help with homework, although my father was a good reader and had always read to me hence my English grammar and spelling was good because I read with him. He also bought me educational comics. I also left school at 14 (it was the final year before legislation raised the school leaving age) with no usable qualifications My dad got me an apprenticeship where I had to go to college one day a week, and I excelled in the college studies. Cut a long story short I got O levels when I was 28, a diploma in sciences and finally a degree in maths as a mature student (mature and student when combined is a total contradiction in terms no male student acts maturely). I was the first person ever in my father's or mother's extended family to get a degree, we have records of achievements going back 400 years. I broke the system by sheer determination. And the fact that at that time higher education was free and students received a cost of living grant. Thailand's educated elitism is very similar to the UK system of my youth with the associated corporal punishment and bullying by teachers which I endured causing me to withdraw, not ask questions and do as i was told. The only way poor Thai children from poor uneducated families will succeed is if the system is drastically changed.

I presume you got your extension visa whilst you were in Thailand, as I did and you are right I did not have to submit evidence of healthcare insurance. If you buy any visa from the Thai Embassy whilst you are out of Thailand you are required to submit evidence of Health Insurance via the website. Therefore, the rule is that all persons entering Thailand on a visa must have healthcare insurance. If entering for 30 days no visa is required and therefore no healthcare insurance is demanded. It is a loophole in the system which the authorities may close eventually when they can work out how

So do I Whether it is badly maintained or not. The fact is that you are still required to submit evidence of healthcare insurance to get a visa from the Thai London Embassy which can only be done online via the website. Your opinion is not fact the evidence is there for you to see.

Are you blind did you follow the link which is to the CURRENT Thai London Embassy website

You are wrong. it is required forthe 3 month retirement visa the applicant is required to submit evidence of healthcare insurance. It is also required for any other visa https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/84508-non-immigrant-visas Non-Immigrant Type O (Retirement (pensioner aged 50 or above with a state pension who wants to stay in Thailand for no longer than 90 days) - single entry only) Financial evidence e.g. A copy of pension statement if the applicant is a pensioner, or a copy of 1-month bank statement showing your income from pension, or 3-month bank statement of at least £10,000 Confirmation of legal residence in the UK or Ireland. Copy of health insurance that covers COVID-19 related medical expenses, both inpatient and outpatient, no less than 100,000 USD for the whole period of your stay in Thailand.

It is not a dowry. A dowry is paid to the potential husband by the brides family. It is held in escrow by the husband until his death or until he decides to divorce his wife. The dowry is then given back to the ex-wife or widow for her to live on. This is done in the primitive cultures of the middle east because the women have no rights, they cannot inherit money or property, that money and property goes to the eldest male relative.The husband's family and the male who inherits the money/property has absolutely no obligation to support the ex wife or widow. The Thai bride price is paid by the husband's family to the brides family as payment for her upbringing and the bride is adopted into the husband's family. It's a one off payment and should not be paid of the bride has children or has been married before. Traditionally, the bigger the bride price the better the upbringing of the girl and the greater the respect for the brides family. Any family that demands a bride price for a woman who has previously been married or has children is traditionally (but not under the modern legal system) committing fraud. There are many scams against foreigners regarding this issue.

It is required for the 3 month retirement visa. But when I first came to Thailand for 30 days (no visa required) there were no checks whatsoever so I suspect he was only here for a month, or less, and got bitten 3 days before the date he was due to return home

I fail to understand why so many people are outraged by his proposed incarceration as a prisoner in an army camp. The army is his proven enemy, they ousted him in an illegal coup and hence more likely not to be influenced by his status or money. He is actually more likely to be treated as a prisoner and have a harder time than in the civilian jail where he may have sympathisers, there will also be people who can be easily bribed and he could collect a clique to support him which is highly unlikely in his enemy's domain.

It is not secrecy. Every person in Thailand, including prisoners, has the right to confidentiality. Confidentiality means that that medical establiments and medical staff MUST NOT give any information about a patients condition unless expressly given permission by the patient or his legal representative. Any government official or person from the hospital giving this personal information to the general public is criminally liable. Back off everyone, his medical problems are not for publication. No one has any right to know. The physicians determined his need to be in hospital and that is all the information you can have.

It is the consulate which is based in the same building as the embassy. They are supposed to check your affidavit (which you print from the website and take with you) for mistakes and accuracy, you are told on the website when applying to take birth certificates, death certificates of parents, divorce certificates etc The fool in charge of the consulate only took my passport, didn't ask for any other documents. I sat around for half an hour and received the stamped affidavit with my returned passport. I had made a mistake with my passport number which was picked up by the translator I took the document to. Obviously they don't do any checks the just keep you waiting for half an hour then stamp the document and give it back. When I complained and went back all he did was tell me it was my responsibility, ask me if it was now correct and stamp the revised document which took 2 seconds. That is an income of £1500 per hour for doing Sweet Fanny Adams . I think @AhFarangJa has every right to complain

Correct. Liverpool Lou makes a habit of creating conflict s/he is a classic troll. This is the second ASEAN NOW story I have seen in 2 days where s/he is creating conflict where there is no reason. S/he has not been around for a while probably resurfacing after a ban from posting on ASEAN NOW

Hippocratic not hypocritic but I agree with your spelling the oath is hypocritical especially where healthcare is not free

Ahh OK a misunderstanding

Yes, I said that article makes sense, the Thaiger article does not make sense I dont understand your point

@Liverpool Lou I believe at least 32 people would disagree with you. The Thaiger Story linked to, which obviously you haven't read, is also totally incomprehensible. Sometime after I posted my comment @bamnutsak kindly posted a link to an article in Aviation Source News. It is a properly crafted article which is also grammatically correct and explains clearly what the problem was and what action was taken and why as opposed to the amateurish badly written Thaiger article.