Patong2021

Who controlled the Constitutional Court? That's like saying the judges who sentence people to death in Iran for being gay or blasphemy are independent. In any case, it is time to move on. Thailand needs to get past the violence and hatred. It has done well since the return to quasi elected government. Yes, the MFP should be in office, but the path to freedom will just take longer. The next election will most likely return an even larger MFP mandate. The days of Thaksin's grip are coming to an end. How long did it take to end the Chicago Cook county stranglehold of US politics, or the dominance of the Gaulists in France? Change will happen and is happening now. Young people want change and the days of a military junta being able to change governments like a Pattaya hooker changes customers is coming to an end. propserity and opportunity are changing Thailand for the better. Change is a slow, but progressive future.

The man is free to do as he wishes. However, it is quite obvious that he has a sense of entitlement. He genuinely believes that he should keep his titles even tough he no longer represents the institution, nor acts on its behalf. As long as he insists on keeping his royal titles he deserves to be ridiculed for being a hypocrite. His wife doesn't get it. She isn't royalty and never will be. It isn't just about being born into it, but in being trained since birth and a willingness to give up one's own privacy and individuality for the sake of the nation represented. The "palace" doesn't bleed anyone dry. Why offer up such nonsensical hyperbole? There isn't hatred, just disdain for a hypocrite. You really don't know if he is decent or not. All you have seen are what has been presented through small amounts of media coverage, both independent and put out by Harry and company. Maybe he is decent, and maybe he does have some empathy for others, but it is obvious that he is not particularly bright. The Invictus games were a well planned strategy to present him in a good light. As the participation in active conflicts has reduced, so too has the number of military wounded and amputees and hopefully, we will continue to see fewer of them. His pursuit of the tabloids has been a bust. He claims he doesn't want media interference, yet, he and his wife seek to use the media for their own financial benefit. If he really wants to be separate from the Royal family and its obligations and dutie,s then he should just make a clean sweep of it and let go of his titles. He was quite adamant about retaining titles for his children. Quite a contrast from the hardworking princess Anne, who never complains. Anne did not give her children royal titles. This is why people have little patience for Harry. He won't let go.

There is a reason why legitimate pharmaceutical products come with a product monograph that provide clear instructions on how to use the product. People who do not follow the instructions are usually the ones who have adverse reactions and who sometimes die.

Question for the Embassy Team: Does the UK embassy in Thailand ever render assistance to foreign nationals? In countries without UK representation, UK nationals are instructed to present to the nearest Commonwealth representative office for assistance. So I would expect some Commonwealth countries would have similar. For example, Canadian passport says that if a Canadian office isn't present, to contact the nearest Australian or British office. Obviously not needed for Thailand since both countries have consular services available. Just curious if anyone from a Commonwealth country ever needed assistance in Thailand. I would expect that this would be a rarity. Thanks in advance.

That is not the principal reason. The media environment has changed. Chat rooms and webforums were very popular back in the 1990's and even into the early 2000's they hung on, and then chatrooms died. Many years ago there was Bangkok Chat. It was spun off from ThaiVisa. Then along came apps like Tinder, Plenty of Fish, Rome, Cupid, Match, Badoo Zoosk and many others. And then Line and WhatsApp appeared. These all put the pressure and eventually killed online chatrooms. And now even these websites are facing competitive pressures as newer more targeted websites like Only Fans have started up. Web forums outside of specialty areas are a dying activity.

Tim provides an honest and clear explanation. Thaiger got too big for him, and he felt that it was time as the oldest person there to step aside and to let younger, more ambitious people push on. Also he wasn't comfortable with the progression to ecommerce and the attempt to monetize the media assets. Perhaps a bit over dramatic. How many active users of the forum are there? I think you will be lucky on a busy day to hit 10. There is one moderator, and he keeps a low profile. I can't say I have ever seen him take sides, even when we had a disagreement. And yes a handful of people push their pro Russia agenda and claims of conspiracies and anti vaccine claims. However, these are in private threads and I doubt that they will interfere or bother anyone at AN.

I have not posted at AN for at least a year. Nor did I bother visiting the forum during that period. I did not agree with the moderation, disliked some of the moderators, and found too many member comments to be banal, and ignorant. In hindsight, I can understand why some things were they they were. I mention this so that my bias is stated upfront. I was one of the people who took some pleasure in the problems that befell AN. It wasn't out of pettiness or vindictiveness, but in part driven by the memories of the original Thai Visa and the value it had at one time. Times change. Way back when TVF started there wasn't much in the way of social media, and there were limited ways to access visa information (RIP UbonJoe). TVF helped out. it was the principal outlet for so many people in a wonderful, yet at times strange country. TVF is where I went to get updates on the Red-yellow shirt conflict when I was trying to leave the country as the yellow shirts seized BKK. Fast forward, and we had the Covid crisis, an economic crisis and general aging that forced many people to leave Thailand, never to return again, and of course we had the grim reaper visiting many of the people who had made the site what it was. It's a very different environment now. We can't go back and neither can AN. The best that it can do is to adapt to the changes. As I understand its structure, Thaiger is a multimedia platform. It's core business is advertising, promotion and affinity sales. Hosting a forum and providing news isn't its business. The forum is an adjunct to its core business and with the news section is intended to attract potential customers. Yes, Thaiger has a very open approach to moderation. IMO, too open at times. IMO this approach has impacted the attractiveness of the site to potential advertisers. However, there may be no need for the strict moderation as Thaiger did do what I think was very smart and that was to put the most contentious threads in a section only accessible by members. For example, the thread on the Ukraine-Russia war is dominated by Russian agents and their rehearsed talking points. The Covid and vaccine threads are filled with the usual idiotic conspiracy claims and misinformation but views are limited. In effect, what they did was to say, let the crazies write, but structure it in a way that you have to go look for it, rather than to allow these people to mess up the publicly accessible parts of their forum. This doesn't mean that moderation is a bad thing or that I do not agree with its need. And yes, I know that AN forbids discussion of moderation. My point is that there are benefits to the Thaiger approach. And yet, there is also a need for the current AN methodology. It will be interesting to see what happens now. The status quo cannot continue because people will not accept the current approach and IMO it will be reflected in active membership declining. The reality though is that the moderation is a side issue; What matters is content and Thaiger has a team of young and talented Thai people ready to breath some life into both platforms. Thaiger has the potential to deliver some interesting affinity programs and hopefully a better real estate platform. One thing is certain, change here will be good. Whenever there is M&A activity promises or assurances may be given, but these can fall by the wayside once the reality of the transaction sets in.

Question Were you in Pattaya on the day of the event? Did you see ocean conditions? I can tell you that across the bay where I am now, the wind has been the strongest it has been and the sea current very strong. People drown in open calm waters on any given day, so this is not unusual, especially if the person is older and weak. Pattaya has many older men with poor health. Any trauma can push them over the edge.

Pfft, so much complaining. If there was a problem, the caring and benevolent ruling administration would act decisively and crackdown. They can find protestors to the ruling cadre within hours, so they can find the responsible land burners and air polluters easy peasy. Besides, no one is really protesting. Many Chinese, Indians and Russians love Thailand and find air quality acceptable. Their happiness is all that matters.

The unknown amount of raw sewage must be one of Patong's selling points since it is as popular as ever. No need to ever check water quality and disclose the results, since the water is pristine and unspoilt. Nothing speaks to the approved and ingrained corruption than the ongoing jet ski mob operations. Supposedly, the use of the beaches for personal profit is illegal, and yet there they are not a word from a provincial governor or deputy governor or a cop. There should not be any surprise then when other illegal activities are. revealed. Corruption allows such things to thrive.

She should have been dealt with long ago. Her forensics reputation was in tatters a decade ago when she was the center of media attention. Describing the bomb detectors as a "mistake" isn't sufficient. She has responsibility in the debacle.

Shouldn't you be looking at this as "Replacement Cost"? The intent of insurance is to put you back to where you were before the loss. Do an inventory of your household goods and then look at some of the home furnishing catalogues online and you will get an idea of the cost to furnish a bedroom, kitchen etc. In respect to the house structure, ask a reputable builder for an estimate of the cost of rebuilding. If the house is 25 years old with original windows , doors etc. those items will be depreciated and likely worn out, so you need to estimate using current cost to replace. If someone here suggest looking at the evaluation used to obtain a bank mortgage, never mind, because it is different than that used for insurance purposes. The bank takes into account land value. Land remains after a loss, so the value doesn't need to be considered for insurance.

This type of product is sold by street vendors.

So, the EU, Australia, Canada, South Korea are enemies of China? If that is the case, perhaps it is time for a diversion away from purchase of Chinese commercial goods. Maybe it would do the world good to pay living wage to workers and to have consumer items that do not break after a few months use.

Sean has always put his money where his political views are, unlike many "influencers" He has also volunteered his time whether it was in Haiti or New Orleans, doing hard manual labour. Unfortunately, Sean has in the past criticized the USA for supporting regimes in armed conflict. He's being hypocritical in that regard. He has every right to offer an opinion (and to be criticized for it too). And no, he is not on steroids. The man is very much into physical training and it is no secret that he has a strict regime that puts professional athletes to shame. He is firm and taught, not a bulked up gym nut.

Wasted his time in "university" studying communication art. Would have been better off learning auto mechanics, or transport logistics or business admin.

Ok, but that is irrelevant. The issue is the expanding activity of the previously low key Russian gangster class. They used to have free run of western Europe and USA/Canada, but have had their activities pressed down upon. Now they come to easy pickings in Thailand. Ukrainians are not doing this in Phuket.

No it is not. She did not just have "broken bones". She had a complex fracture, and serious wounds in addition to the general breaks. ('Ruby arrived at hospital with a broken bone protruding from her right arm, four broken bones in her hand, a broken wrist, a broken collarbone and multiple lacerations all over her body.) As soon as a bone perforates the skin, it becomes a critical care case with potential for loss of the limb lacerations with a trauma event can result in serious infection leading to sepsis. ICU daily cost is around 100,000 baht. Post surgery care for serious trauma can easily exceed 50,000 baht per day. I expect that hospital care costs without the procedures are in excess of 500,000 baht. There is an assumption that Thai medical doctors work for next to nothing. They do not. The woman is lucky to be alive.

Perhaps if one had made better personal lifestyle choices in previous years?

Almost all of the critics of the spending on the Ukraine are either left wing radicals from the 1970's that time has left behind, who pay little tax. On the contrary, they usually are of the people supported by the state, which puts their criticism in context.

I was living in Patong when yellow shirts were running wild and I was here for the occupation of airport by yellow shirts. Today, their grand instigator, Suthep enjoys his luxury life. One must be very much in land of self delusion to not see that the protests were all staged and initiated with one goal in mind: To justify a military coup. It is institutionalized terror when political opposition is squashed for fear that it can win an election, and I am not talking about Thaksin and his gang. Rather, look at all the decent and honest young Thais who wanted to make a difference who have been falsely accused of crimes and had their political parties dissolved or sabotaged. They were neither of the Democrat or PT/TRT politics, but were apolitical with only the goal of having a corruption free nation. Where are they now?

Over the past 4 years something called inflation has had an impact on airline fares. Jet fuel costs have almost doubled during that time, and fuel accounts for 40%+ of the costs of a flight. Labour costs and air craft parts/service costs have increased.. It is to be expected that the cost of an airfare would increase. That airfare is still less than what it was 25 years ago.

There is enough reaching and stretching here to complete a phys ed class.

Rubbish. The Rice plan was the longstanding option conceived by civil service bureaucrats and had been in place for 50 years. Thai farmers had often complained about the lower than market price that the plan paid. The revisions APPROVED by the ELECTED parliament were an attempt to correct past deficiencies. Although, the changes made things worse, there was never a set intent to steal or cheat anyone. Yes, rice millers and grainary silo operators made windfall profits however critics forget is that these entities were typically not PTP supporters. On the contrary, they leaned towards the Abhisit /military part of the political spectrum. The corruption occurred when some officials started to panic at their disaster of a program and tried to cover up the extent of the losses. They started playing with the books, recording inaccurate sales data. It was wrong. The finance and agriculture ministers were responsible for oversight of the program and instead, Yingluck was blamed for their failure. In hindsight, it appears that the ministers were not totally open about the program with the PM and a case can be made that the PMO was mislead. Using the debacle of a program to justify the overthrow of a democratically elected government, as flawed as it was, is wrong.

The man should stick to running his monopoly of over processed junk food and leave healthcare to the professionals. Mask mandates did not "kill" tourism. The limiting factor was the limited number of aircraft seats, and common transit restrictions. Not going to get any visitors from China if China doesn't allow people to travel. Once the outside travel restrictions were lifted, tourism started to rebound. There was nothing Thailand could do in respect to the absence of Chinese and Indian tourists who were subject to out of country travel restrictions.