Dr B

Where was he supposed to "declare them"? In case you hadn't noticed, as many other responders had not, he was booked on a domestic flight, carrying a few pieces of scrap metal.

The word salad prodcued by The Thaiger and AseanNow is absolutely appalling. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra addressed ongoing concerns regarding former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's extended stay at the Police General Hospital, where he has been hospitalised on the 14th floor since returning to Thailand. Speaking to the press on Tuesday, That clealry suggests that he is still in hospital, and is a cut and paste from a time when he still was. When questioned about any possible foreknowledge of Thaksin's medical condition, the Prime Minister remarked, "If I told you the truth, would you believe me?" She confirmed, however, that Thaksin is indeed unwell and recently underwent surgery. That is another cut and paste from when he was in hospital, and had indeed undergone some minor surgery, something to do with a shoulder I seem to remember. The discourse comes amidst impending legal proceedings where the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders has summoned Thaksin to testify on June 13. That is the only bit of up to date news, and tells us nothing.

There are very few facts, so I will make up a story which I think fits the available facts very well. 1 Young Ukrainian woman arrives in Phuket for a 1 year stay. 2 She finds a suitable apartment and pays a Bt 32,000 deposit and Bt 32,000 monthly rent in advance. 3 She stays for a year, keeps the place well and passes all routine inspections, and pays her rent on time. 4 Her year is up and she is planning her move to somewhere other than Thailand. 5 She lets this be known casually to the landlady/agent, e.g. as the reason she is not extending the lease. 6 She asks for her deposit back, but the landlady/agent make it clear that is not going to happen. 7 She feels very annoyed and "swindled", and has no time for legal recourse. 8 She knows she is losing her money, but doesn't want the landlady/agent to pocket it. 9 The deposit was to cover any damage that needed to be repaired when she left, so she does some damage. 10 She feels partially redressed, and the "damage", a mattress, some curtains and pillows, a coat of paint and some cleaning up, will not leave a lot of change out of Bt 32,000. 11 The landlady/agent show themselves up as swindlers by suggesting the damage is Bt 350,000, a multiplication of at least 10. I would say to the landlady/agent som nam na. Try teating people the way you would like to be treated.

0.18 Baht in 33 is 0.5%. Sure that's going to make a huge difference to incoming tourists.

Not really relevant here, but the Florida condo collapse information had something vital missing. It was stated that there should have been beams connecting the tops of the columns and supporting the slabs, and these were not built. However there is no load shown on the pool deck in the video graphics, so no explanation as to why the columns should punch through.

Understood, but he clearlu shows that the visible parts of the upper floors of the core were moving down en masse. This tells me that the failure is occurring from the very bottom. If you compare the whole building collpase with a controlled demolition, you will see amazing similarity. I have given a loner explanation but it was described as a diatribe so I won't repeat it.

What arrant nonsense. How do you think the Burj Khalifa is built?

I watched it through, and it is interesting, but the guy is not the right sort of engineer and misses several key points.

Depends what you mean by "ultimately". No building ever actually fell down becasue of corruption, and many buildings where corruption was involved are still standing. The main Thai levels of corruption are through the Government and bureaucratic channels, where the corruption "commission" is paid oave rand above the actual price for the purchase, out of Government funds i.e. taxpayers money. Buildings fall down for techncial reasons, and noting that some samples fail to meet the requirements of a prescribed standard is not a technical reason, unless it is also shown that the stress on the bar exceeded that test value. Corruption may be the excuse for a technical failure, but it doesn't make buildings collapse.

There is none so blind as he who will not see, nor none so deaf as he who will not hear.

I wonder what they are supposed to be looking for in these inspections? My experience with a Thai company was over 30 years ago, but we were reequired to have a minimum of 7 shareholders. The > 50% of the shares had to be owned by Thais. If we take China Railway Company No 10 (THailand) as an example, as reported the three Thais had 51% of the shares, so met the law. Shareholders do not run companies, and have no say in the running of a company, other than by kicking out the Board of Directors and installing another. They are run by the Boards of Directors, who don't need to be shareholders. Shareholders get a dividend/share of the profits, but that can be arranged to be very small, e.g. by paying the Directors a lot.

If you take the time to remember or read back about the original accident, I do not think you will find anything there that linked the casue of the accident to the bus being a double decker. This is just a Minister who knows nothing about transport thinking he must make some expansive public statement.

My guess is that the 80% addiction has nothing to do with hard drugs such as Yaba, Crustal Meth, etc. It is all about kratom, which is widely available in the rural areas, openly sold at the road side in bottles, and can become seriously addictive.

Maybe he just stayed at school longh enough to be able to work out that 1.8/3 = 0.6, but then I am a rocket scientist.

I think there is one other major factor that you have missed Richard, and that is language. Most of the reports of British bad behaviour, whether in the media or social media, can be derived in the English language and they are what searching in English will find. Media and social media reports in Chinese, Russian, German, Italian, Swedish of Hindi are much less likely to catch the eye of the ThaiTiger and AN searchers are they not?