Orac

We should stop complaining Pheu Thai party will start the new government. The majority of Thais choose the party and Yingluck, we must learn to respect the people decision. We should give encourage the upcoming government and give good advice to improve the country. I am not on any side of the party but I believe that restoring the economy while it able to help many Thais.

The majority of Thais did not choose the party, although they won the majority of seats.

Equally, the majority of Brits did not choose a Labour government in 1974, and a majority of Americans did not choose President Bush in 2000.. Just in case anyone wrongly imagines you are making unfavourable comparisons between Thailand and 'proper' Western governments...

the odd one out here is surely the US 2000 election here as not only did George Bush not win a majority but at 47.9% he actually received less votes than the loser, Gore, who gained 48.4% of the votes.

Could be that Thailand is looking to get ahead of the curve.

There are many reports and studies, non of which I can be bothered to look up, which are saying that with an, increasing global population, the demand for essentials such as food, water, energy and other natural resources will increase hugely and become a potential source of conflict between nations.

It seems that some nations are taking a short term view and are selling off these resources and the land associated with them at a increasing rate - China has bought up huge swathes of land all around the world.

....or it could be that someone in Thailand has seen an opportunity to make a quick buck.

Be interested to know the details about this legislation and who is putting it through - surely it being passed will be dependant on the government at the time and with an election tomorrow there seems to be some doubt who this will be.

So if I have a wedding certificate in Thai only, I need to have it translated into English?

That sounds a wee bit weird for a Consulate representing Thailand, even if the consul is not Thai.

Does anyone know for sure?

What's the big deal of getting an English translation of your marriage certificate? Surely sooner or later it will come in handy.

I was there yesterday and they do require the English translation.

Oddly enough they do offer a translation service but not while you wait so if applying by post I assume you can send your thai language marriage cert and get it translated at the same time maybe???

This is sounding more and more like some political smoke and mirrors to beat the nationalistic drum before the election in the hope of tempting some of the PAD no voters back on side.

"Then a drunken group of young Arabs board (she could be their mother) and the fun begins, job done."

Did you manage to capture any of this on film - I imagine there were quite a few bumps and bruises not to mention the mess. Still, not a bad show for 10 baht I suppose.

It seems to me that Abhisit pitched his speech as well as he could have. Trying to cosy up too much with the reds/PTP in pursuit of reconciliation at this stage of the game would have smacked of desperation and done nothing for his loyal followers, whilst at the same time he didn't go to the lengths that Suthep did in his accusations.

The one thing that struck me was that he said all those who died last year were innocent and that (according to Fredrickson's translation) he felt he had done wrong (presumably because of this). It takes serious balls for someone in his position to say that.

It's a shame he might lose the election for issues concerning more entrenched attitudes than his political policies and individual track record can overturn, but that's partly the legacy inherited by an Thai Prime Minister.

If he loses, I hope he stays in the game.

He was a good Oxbridge debater but as we know most Uni debaters are wonderful until they hit the real world, and the brown smelly stuff floats over their shoes. He was never elected by the populace and never will be, he was placed in power. Having a rally here was not the most wise moves but I hope all went off peaceably. Not a good move in the strategy of one who wants to become PM

Who here knows if he was a good debater at Oxford. If he was anything like the Thai kids I went to school with, they just cowered in the corner.

Not sure how good he was but he was head of a debating club while he was there.

I thought from the title that he was maybe moonlighting as a masseur.

how do you know these cats are german???

Not sure if it is the economists who can't count or the usual poor reporting but their numbers just don't seem to add up here???

"The economists consider five of Pheu Thai's nine policies as practical while the other four are unrealistic.

The four unrealistic policies of Pheu Thai are the one to increase the minimum daily wage to Bt300, eliminate narcotics in 12 months, build a high-speed train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Nakhon Ratchasima and Rayong and expand the Airport Link electric railway to Chachoengsao, Chon Buri and Pattaya, build 10 electric train routes and collect a flat fee of Bt20."

and then

"Pheu Thai policies that got the lowest approval ratings were: credit card for farmers and credit card for taxi drivers to buy NGV gas, and the rice pledging scheme. The two policies were deemed unrealistic and impractical."

Useful info here

http://www.vfs-uk-th.com/tb.aspx

requirement for TB screening is only for visits over 6 months.

She is most probably right. It would be an insult to say that Pheua Thai equals the red shirts. Ignorance is bliss however but it would be telling that the two morons filing charges against Yingluck for perjury are asked to do so by the democrat party. The yellows and the reds are autonomous groups who might give a voting advice to their members, or not.

" It would be an insult to say that Pheua Thai equals the red shirts." My first thought is which one would be insulted. My second is, with 7 red leaders, and the wife of one absent, on the party list, how exactly do you tell the difference. They both dance to the same piper, don't they?

I used to think of them as similar to the IRA and Sinn Fein, for quite a few reasons. But would Sinn Fein run a few bomber-heroes (in their own eyes) as candidates? Not likely. So I guess the relationship is closer than that, almost incestuous in fact

I suggest you take a look at the previous life of Martin McGuiness - wikipedia is quite comprehensive on it.

"The election result could resemble the one in 1996, when the Democrats lost to the New Aspiration Party by only two seats."

I would hope they are setting their sights higher than 32% of the vote or 123 seats.

It is certainly a renters/buyers market so should be plenty of room for negotiation.

I rent a large 4 bedroom house with seperate maid quarters and large pool on nice estate in East Pattaya and have just agreed a rent reduction from 35k to 30k a month for a years contract. When I first rented it a year ago it was listed at 40k.

With so many empty properties around it was very easy to find and move into a property here - it took me 3 days from arriving to moving in going through an agent.

At least they have established that Ratchaprasong intersection is the proper place for political rallies.

Let's suppose they are flying and not travelling overland by water buffalo. Wouldn't a pertinent question be "when do you plan to return?"

Back on Tuesday apparently.

I would be interested to know why they picked Iceland??? Maybe hoping for another volcanic eruption so the can sit out the election there???

I can't quite see your argument that there is no point discussing the Dems planned tax policy here when they were included in the OP. Surely the tax policies of all parties should be an important part of any pre election discusion and, since Korn has aired some of his here, this is the ideal place to talk about it.

If these lower income earners are going to be better off by these changes then fair enough but that remains to be seen, however, economics 101 is that regressive taxes are normally poor for redistribution of wealth and hit lower income people harder.

I could find you a dozen educated opinions as to why a consumption tax is better than income tax ... and also a dozen opinions as to why it isn't ... all by people far better educated in economics than me.

Maybe so, you can find educated opinions to argue bother sides of most points. This doesn't get away from the point that Korn has implied that he intends to raise sales taxes if reelected, something that will clearly effect lower income people.

"Korn also implied that value-added tax might also be increased because the current 7 per cent was very low."

So there is a plan to reduce income tax which is paid by the relatively well off and possibly increase value added tax which is a regressive tax a therefore tends to effect the poorer more.

Surely at this stage, a few weeks before a general election, any plan to increase sales taxes should be made clearer to the voting public??

Usually, the richer you are, the less tax you pay (per dollar "earned"), because you either work out how to hide it, or you work out how to get deductions.

The rich spend more, so by increasing a consumption tax, you are taxing the rich as much as you are taxing the poor.

By increasing the income tax, all you are doing is making the poor and middle income workers pay more, because the rich know how to hide their income.

As far as making things clearer to the voting public, "that can wait until after the election" (K Yingluck).

I fail to see how the poor and middle income workers would be worse off with an increase in income tax if, as stated earlier in this thread, ppl earning under 20k a month do not pay tax unless there is some unannounced plan to lower the starting amount for tax.

As for the consumption tax, this is a regressive tax which impacts more on poorer people because it takes a greater proportion of their income.

I am not sure why you are quoting K Yingluck on this as this is a statement from Korn who is in a different party and, a person with major influence on the Democrats tax policies. I think the thai people would like to hear more about this intended policy of reducing taxes on the rich and increasing them for the poor.

Consumption tax hits richer people too, because they can't avoid paying it, whereas they can usually avoid declaring income. They also spend a greater amount (not proportion) of their income compared to lower income earners. Lower income earners may also be better off because the government has more tax income to spend on social security issues.

But, there are pros and cons for all tax measures, so there is no real point on us thrashing it out here.

I am also sure that the Thai people would like to hear more about all the policies, but some political parties seem to think it's ok to wait until after the election for that.

I can't quite see your argument that there is no point discussing the Dems planned tax policy here when they were included in the OP. Surely the tax policies of all parties should be an important part of any pre election discusion and, since Korn has aired some of his here, this is the ideal place to talk about it.

If these lower income earners are going to be better off by these changes then fair enough but that remains to be seen, however, economics 101 is that regressive taxes are normally poor for redistribution of wealth and hit lower income people harder.

"Korn also implied that value-added tax might also be increased because the current 7 per cent was very low."

So there is a plan to reduce income tax which is paid by the relatively well off and possibly increase value added tax which is a regressive tax a therefore tends to effect the poorer more.

Surely at this stage, a few weeks before a general election, any plan to increase sales taxes should be made clearer to the voting public??

Usually, the richer you are, the less tax you pay (per dollar "earned"), because you either work out how to hide it, or you work out how to get deductions.

The rich spend more, so by increasing a consumption tax, you are taxing the rich as much as you are taxing the poor.

By increasing the income tax, all you are doing is making the poor and middle income workers pay more, because the rich know how to hide their income.

As far as making things clearer to the voting public, "that can wait until after the election" (K Yingluck).

I fail to see how the poor and middle income workers would be worse off with an increase in income tax if, as stated earlier in this thread, ppl earning under 20k a month do not pay tax unless there is some unannounced plan to lower the starting amount for tax.

As for the consumption tax, this is a regressive tax which impacts more on poorer people because it takes a greater proportion of their income.

I am not sure why you are quoting K Yingluck on this as this is a statement from Korn who is in a different party and, a person with major influence on the Democrats tax policies. I think the thai people would like to hear more about this intended policy of reducing taxes on the rich and increasing them for the poor.

"Korn also implied that value-added tax might also be increased because the current 7 per cent was very low."

So there is a plan to reduce income tax which is paid by the relatively well off and possibly increase value added tax which is a regressive tax a therefore tends to effect the poorer more.

Surely at this stage, a few weeks before a general election, any plan to increase sales taxes should be made clearer to the voting public??

This story seems very confusing. Either there was only one Cambodian who was an army colonel who, after been arrested and put in detention ten days ago, then escaped and managed to take with him the data collected and other documents - ie. the evidence - or, there were two cambodians, one who was never caught (the colonel) and a second one who escaped after being arrested.

So it is a Cambodian colonel of unknown rank???

If only 'good people' are voted for then they will probably be able to fit all the MPs in one tuktuk.

I seldom have any rubbish. I only eat fresh fruit and vegetables or what I catch and kill. Any of the plastic bags I have get re-used until they finally break. What little I have goes into my hotel's garbage can when I'm in Thailand, or in my garbage can in Canada. I seldom have more than one or two small bags of garbage a week.

Read this Ian, might make you change your habits.

dangers of re-using plastic bags

That article is written buy someone who also writes articles on religion and addictions.

I dont see any proof and basically anyone can write anything on here.

I am sure their is many other articles countering his argument too.

I think Ians longevity pretty much counters the argument as well.

what happenned to the PAD no vote or are they in the undecided group - or did i miss something???