Thunglom

QED - a Xenophobic attitude to Thai people - derived from how you perceive they drive. You premise is wrong and irrational thought is of course an essential ingredient of phobias.

Fancy that - foreigner who thinks all Thai drivers are bad...... good start!

Thought it would be obvious by now - these measures etc have been advocated for nearly 3 decades - and yet the death toll keeps climbing- I think we have to conclude that something is wrong here.

Xenophobia exists in Thailand just as it does in ALL countries. But there is a cliche used by racist that basically goes 'THEY can be racist too" A silly comment as they ae firstly admitting to be racist themselves and showing that they don't understand how racism works. ....the idea though is that charging others with similar failings justifies their own shortcomings. in fact it isn't the same thing.

QED! - wow! Touched a nerve or what!

Regardless of age, that is a very "old" response...... no understanding of the issues and a lack of critical thinking - you need to update your mind. ...and of course you make assumptions about me that are totally baseless and irrational. I currently live and work with older people and quite apart from dementia th one thing you notice is how with many, their thinking becomes wooly and frayed at the edges. too many synaptic shortcuts.

It is clear that the old men on this thread are very touchy about their age and physique. Some are disparate to distance themselves from overweight, alcohol consuming stereotype. Kind fo misunderstands the original comment though, doesn't it? There is however a thought process that seems to dominate even the less fat - a lack of critical thinking that probably stems from their educational background. There seems to be a reluctance to understand why masks are worn and even an ignorance of S.E. Asian attitudes towards mask wearing that goes back way beyond covid. There is as a result of the lack of critical thinking, a tendency to cling to absurd cliches in defence of not wearing mask. I think one has to put it down to the vagaries of old age?

seem to be a lot of fat old men on this thread!

Aussie states have often had checks between borders - they even had different gauge railways!

Which countries are you referring to?

QED! think the poster's name sums it up perfectly.

Are they manning and complaining? I think they are celebrating highly dubious ethics and beliefs

So PM Prayuth has political ideologies? What, pray, are they??

I think healthcare will weed out a lot of older people especially Brits who don't have to pay when at home. They no longer automativ=cally qualify for health care in the EU and may find insurance prohibitive in Thailand.

I lived and worked in Thailand for 20 years and left at the beginning of Covid. I would like to continue a relationship with Thailand and Laos fromabusiness point of view but several things ae preventing this. The first and most obvious is covid. Until the situation stabilises any thought of returning is out of the question. After tat there are other factors. the Political situation in Thailand is not appealing - by doing business here I'm contributing to an undemocratic militaristic government - there needs to be process towards a true deomcracy and grater respect for basic human rights. Especially freedom of expression. Brexit has changed many things for Brits too. I was originally going to base my business in Portugal or France but as it involves frequent travel and movement of goods that is now no longer an op=tion - it has also shrunk my market be 80%. This means I have to reconsider my market if I set up in Thailand and future visa and trade arrangements between Thailand and UK. Retiring in Spain or other EU countries is no longer a simple as it was - there are new visa requirements, property laws and travel restrictions - even after Covid. So for some seeking retirement - Thailand is now on a par with the EU as Brits are "outsiders" equally for both regions. However the distance may put some people off. for myself, I have to review what originally was going to be an EU/Thai project and consider is it worth just being a UK/Thai project with all the limitations and documentation that incurs.

I think you are an example of why this tread is so deeply disturbing. I find it very unsettling that these kind of archaic views not only exist but people like yourself see fit to defend them. It seems there is a majority of people in the Westen immigrant community that subscribe to this - such a shame for Thailand. PS - your attempts to qualify "deeply disturbing" using your own personal prejudices are risible.

so are you saying it's wrong to point out racism etc?

Really? What measures are these? It seems the tourist industries problems haven't. even begun. the industry can't just switch back on again; without financial aid the tourism industry will collapse and years of unemployment and derelict buildings will follow - only the big will survive.

Seems to be an open opportunity for misogyny, sexist and racism

deeply disturbing thread - I'm surprised that TV have let it run

This could affect hundreds if not thousands of foreigners. I know of loads of businesses om Koh Samui where foreigner just assume they have to pay extra for visas/work permits as their jobs and residency simply don't qualify under Thai rules....paying is just regarded as the standard way to stay in Thailand. In Pattaya they even have offices right by immigration.

At the beginning of the pandemic, an ex-changwat governor proclaimed to me that he couldn't see why the West called Thailand a "third world" country astray had much better control of covid and a king. It drove home to me that those in tgehigher echelons of power in Thailand knew nothing about the virus and the low figures at the time were done to luck rather than calculation. It was inevitable tt any change in the virus could lead to a collapse of Thailand's apparent "success" in dealing with the virus. The inevitable happened. They have not prevented the spread of the vaccine and they didn't use the breathing space at the start to administer vaccines to the population. They need to rely on experts rather than their own limited knowledge and assumptions.

They're 40 million people short of capacity. The locals can't be expected to take up that amount of slack.

the re-opening of a lot of Thailand's facilities won't actually make a huge difference If Thailand remains a "red" destination it is hardly likely to bring in a flood of tourists - unless Thailand wants to look after them for the next 6 months to a year. Many businesses rely on tourism so if they reopen and there's no customers, they might as well remain closed or they'll just be losing money day after day. If local derestriction then brings about a spike in infections again then the military goernment won't hesitate to lockdown stuff again.

What "slippery slope"???? like having to drive on one side of the road, having to wait till you're 18 to drink, having refrain from hitting people, having pay taxes?