Brian Hull

I would like to see Big Joke stand for PM at the next General Election. He is exactly what Thailand needs if it wants to be a serious player in the 21st Century.

If overthrowing a democratically elected government and taking power for yourself isn't criminal, I don't know what is.

Unfortunately, with all its attractions, the guts to stand up for what is right and wrong is not one of Thailand's qualities. It's a nation of sheep, not tigers. Making merit at the temple and praying to Buddha isn't going to help rid Ukraine of Putin's murderous invaders. Talk of diplomacy under the circumstances is absolutely ridiculous. The facts are that without provocation or justification or even a declaration of war, Russia invaded Ukraine and has killed thousands, displaced millions, and devastated its towns and cities. There are 150,000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine while there are NO Ukrainian soldiers in Russia. Russia is attacking Ukrainian civilian areas on a daily basis with missiles and artillery fired from Russian soil but Ukraine is not firing back. There is nothing to negotiate until such time as the Russians have been completely expelled from Ukraine. And then the negotiations should be about how much time should the war criminal, Putin, spend in gaol, and how many roubles is Russia going to pay to Ukraine for reparations.

Why does the Cabinet need to waste their time on such a trivial matter? Just increase the cost of a visa by 300B and get on to considering important matters.

Big Joke for PM

Greatly overrated. You should look for quality and design. If makers need to feature their brand name on an item in order for it to be distinguishable then they should be paying you to wear it. Why are you paying them to advertise their brand?

I look forward to the new government and hope that it will have higher principles than the current gutless wonders. If everybody condemned Russia for this unwarranted, unjustified, and undeclared murderous invasion, they would go back home.

Then he had better get the traffic cops off their asses and on to the roads to actually do something about controlling the kamikaze bike riders.

I like a couple of wines per day but i think it would be a mistake for bars to stay open until 4AM. It will lead to drunken violence, road accidents, etc. and tourists will spend their money anyhow, whether it's at 4AM this morning or 6PM the next day. I think I good compromise would be 1AM or 2AM. Researchers should ask all the farang boozers in the bars how many temples they have visited.

The solution to Thailand's disgraceful traffic record is simple. Get the big boss of the traffic police to earn his salary and force his traffic cops to get off their collective asses and onto the roads to enthusiastically apprehend and prosecute all offenders. The traffic accident situation in any country in the world would be just as bad if there wasn't anybody controlling it.

So will he be brought to trial and charged with insurrection (as would happen in a true democracy)?

Thailand doesn't need new complicated strategies and campaigns. A bit of commen sense will do. Just copy Cambodia where everything is made easy and inviting for tourists and retirees. Here are a few suggestions > * TAT should stop dreaming about "quality" tourists and just be grateful that ANY tourists are spending their foreign money in Thailand. * Make a 3 month Tourist Visa good for THREE months - not TWO. * Scrap the 800,000THB requirement for a Retirement Visa. Most retirees who live solely on Social Security get about 500,000THB which would nearly ALL be spent in Thailand in support of mainly small traders, service providers, tuktuk drivers, etc. rather than on international hotels and other big business. To get a 12 months Retirement Visa, why not these simple requirements (1) Social security payments must be paid directly from the issuing authority in the relevant country into a Thai bank account, (2) Minimal health cover provided by the Thai government must be taken out.

Thailand should not buy oil and gas from Russia until such time as Russia has been brought to its knees or Putin has been removed. To do so is further aiding Russia's destrucion of Ukraine and threatens world peace and good order.

Some whizzkid in Bangkok has finally discovered that the longer tourists stay, the more they spend. Perhaps now they will consider making a 3 months Tourist Visa good for 3 months, rather than 2 months with the meaningless inconvenience of applying for a 1 month extension. Many tourists would just move on to another country at the end of the 2 months and spend their money there.

What a pity that he survived

We can only hope

How can Thailand help? It wouldn't even condemn Russia's unjustified, unprovoked, and undeclared invasion of Ukraine or impose any sanctions. Why would Ukraine or any democratic country respect Thailand's involvement?

The US might be more inclined to cooperate if member countries including Thailand condemned Russia's unjustified, unprovoked, and undeclared war on Ukraine, which is the cause of all the problems.

Might I suggest that one way to reduce the workload on Immigration staff is to make a 90 day Tourist Visa good for 90 days and not 60 days with the necessity for tourists to waste a day at Immigration to get a 30 day extension. This achieves absolutely nothing, other than extra inconvenience and work for everybody. Many tourists who would otherwise spend their money for another month in Thailand simply move on to other nearby countries and spend it there instead.

The problem is that Thailand's rules are not simple, nor very logical in many cases.

The most common cause of accidents in Thailand is police inactivity in constantly controlling flagrant breaches of road safety rules. Thai motorbike riders are actually pretty proficient as riders - they wouldn't last 30 minutes if they weren't - but they are literally out of control. Any country in the world would have an accident record just as dismal as Thailand's if the police were just as lethargic.

All traffic police in Chiang Mai have been on inactive duties for years.

And it's going to go on and on until SOMEBODY in authority gets the traffic police to get off their collectives asses and crack down on errant bike riders and drivers. Maybe they should sack one third of the traffci police (none of whom are doing much) and increase the pay of the remaining two thirds - but make them accountable.

Disgraceful. Let us hope the next government has more principles than this one.

In not condemning Putin's unprovoked and undeclared invasion of Ukraine both Thailand and China are complicit in the murder of thousands and displacement of millions of innocent people and $billions of damage. Hang your heads in shame.