nigelforbes

From my previous link: "Despite the soft-loan agreement between the UK and US in which the UK would repay a wartime $3.75B loan at 2% over fifty years, the Pound Sterling remained under intense pressure. Rumours abounded that the Sterling was heading for devaluation and on the business front the UK’s inability to rapidly switch from a wartime production footing to service the growing demand from consumer goods from British colonies saw foreign purchasers turn to the US and US Dollar.In September of 1949, speculation became fact when at the time Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Stafford Cripps, announced a 30% devaluation for the Pound, reducing the Pound-to-Dollar rate from $4.03 to $2.80". I'd hardly call it blame! Why should the US forgive debt financing of that scale, as well as intervene to help win a the war they didn't start and weren't a party to at the outset.

Yes, if you think about that transition from being an uber wealthy world super power to pauper, all in a relatively short period of time, it demonstrates how events can change nations 180 degrees in a virtual blink of an eye.

The forex system or market forces is designed to let water find its own level. The problem with Sterling is that the level was fixed unrealistically high after the second world war and the currency has been correcting ever since. After WWII, the US owned UK debt equal to 250% of UK GDP. Prior to the war the Pound was valued close to $5 so when the rate was set after the war it was set around $4 in the expectation the Pound would at some point return close to its old levels but there was no economic basis to believe this would happen. By 1950 it became clear that rate was not sustainable so Sterling was devalued by 30% to $2.80. When Bretton Woods collapsed in 1971 the Pound was further devalued to $2.40 and the era of fixed exchange rates ended. Despite a Pound positive period during the 1970's the currency continued to fall as a result of Dollar devaluation but it soon resumed its decline and the UK had to borrow from the IMF. By the mid 1980's the Pound was back down to a record low of $1.05 which is close to where it has been this year, in the time since then it has roller coasted from $2 to close to parity. “Over the long term, the pound has been weak against the dollar, depreciating over the past 116 years by an annualised 1pc - that is largely attributable to Britain's higher inflation rate, which had the effect of debasing the purchasing power of the pound". (and this is reflected in the money supply which is ever increasing, year on year) Dimson added, “If you look at the real (inflation adjusted) exchange rate of the pound against the dollar, it has weakened over the past 116 years by a minuscule 0.22pc per year." Commenting on the chart above, professor of pension economics at Cass Business School, David Blake, seconded Dimson’s interpretation, “The chart shows precisely what you would expect - that the real exchange rate shows no real trend from when sterling started floating against the dollar following the collapse of the Bretton Woods agreements,” adding, “This is because the nominal exchange rate will adjust to reflect differences in inflation rates in order to maintain 'purchasing-power parity'." https://www.exchangerates.org.uk/articles/1325/the-200-year-pound-to-dollar-exchange-rate-history-from-5-in-1800s-to-todays.html

Ah yes, the good old, Pound in your pocket line from 1967. What you wrote is mostly true and correct for the British people living in the UK, but only for the time being. The problem is that when the exchange rate remains low for long periods, imports begin to cost more. This results in price rises and eventually price stickiness causes the increases to become permanent. The usual answer to that is that wages rise to keep pace with rising prices and the cost of exports advantage is wiped out. For many parts of society that balances out but segments such as pensioners, low paid and expats usually get squeezed as a result. The unfortunate reality is that the exchange rate is relevant to the overall economic picture of life in the UK, unless it is maintained within an acceptable range, adjustments have to be made to some part of the economy in order to compensate. In a perfect world of economics theory, national manufacturing would replace the need for imports but the lag time alone is around five years.

I'm 72 and feel the same way.

I would, we have, we're going through the same scenario.

I cannot account for what happened in the case of your father in law and I do not know if or how rules are applied uniformly across the entire NHS, I suspect they are not and wonder why anyone might think that only Thailand is permitted to be dysfunctional. None of that changes the fact that what I wrote previously regarding checks on ineligible patients is true and correct and manifestly has been so for at least the six years in one form or another. https://healthmedia.blog.gov.uk/2017/02/06/patients-not-eligible-for-free-nhs-care-to-be-charged-up-front-for-non-urgent-treatment/ This self same topic has been discussed repeatedly on this forum and its predecessor since at least 2015. At some point the government recommended vetting forms were posted for everyone to see and I had copies that I kept, I will try to root them out and if I find them I will post them. Some below: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1090896/overseas-NHS-visitors-charging-regulations-guidance-July-2022.pdf https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-nhs-visitors-non-nhs-bodies-implementing-the-charging-regulations/guidance-for-non-nhs-bodies-on-implementing-the-nhs-overseas-visitors-charging-regulations https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/nhs-visitor-and-migrant-cost-recovery-programme

Thai's don't think that night time venues staying open past 2 am is important enough to change the law, just so a few farangs can drink and dance for a couple of hours longer, I can't blame them really.

He's employed as a liaison to help farang idiots get out of the mess they got themselves into, they should be grateful he's there.

The problem that exists is not so much with detection at a given point in time but after the fact detection. For example, the NHS has a fairly exhaustive protocol designed to determine if patients are eligible or not. Those protocols are only enacted when somebody becomes suspicious, but that might be a doctor who looks at the patient record and sees there's been no GP visits for a long period and perhaps the patient has a permanent tan. The NHS employs people in every District whose purpose is to check on questionable eligibility cases. They use a series of forms/checklists which require the patient to produce a bank statement showing daily transactions during the past six months and other items such as utility bill payments. Caution is registered in these documents in case the person is homeless but even then there are other checks to confirm that is the case. Those checks on NHS eligibility can then lead to a patient not being able to pay a large bill and the involvement of other authorities which is when the person becomes somebody of interest and drains cover started to be lifted.

Sure, aren't we allowed to do that? Whatever is your problem!

If I had to guess, based on the anecdotal things I saw last week, I'd very much agree.

I don't live in Patts so I don't know the venues, my point was that it may be difficult for many of us to actually know.

A lot of people stay in Pattaya because there's a decent choice of inexpensive hotels, good restaurants and plenty of shopping, (Terminal 21 and Cent Fest). We did exactly that last week. At night we walked briefly down Beach Road just to take a look at Walking Street but then went back to the hotel. During the day we went to Sai Kaew Beach at Sattahip Naval Base and spent the day there. For lunch one day we went to Sky Gallery near Royal Cliff, then we spent time in Jomtiem. Pattaya can easily be described as a family friendly location, despite the existence of adult pleasures which nobody forces you to participate in or pay attention to.

Most westerners can't tell the difference between several Asian nationalities, anyway, I seriously doubt that foreign owned/operated venues would have Chinese staff on duty.

Yes indeed. Chinese triads have been busy in Bangkok during lockdown, as evidenced by recent news. I imagine in Pattaya also. But headlines that read, Police raid Pattaya bars to root out triad ownership will hardly go down well with general public.

Dilbert cannot die, Dilbert lives.

It would be stupid to take amoxicillin just because one has a cough, completely reckless in fact. The cough could be cause by any number of things that antibiotics wont help cure, things such as allergies, seasonal disorder, chronic bronchitis, cancer, covid, pollution, etc, go see a doctor and get checked is the correct answer.

My guess is that they will look at how long the money remained here unused and what other money you imported to support yourself. If you didn't bring any other funds into the country the purported condo funds that were never used, may be deemed living expenses.....I can't say for sure. Thailand is however becoming more and more joined up, it would be a mistake to think they are completely dense.

West is only one point on the compass.

Note: Anti-virals in Thailand are not available over the counter at pharmacies, only at hospitals.

Yes, except it's made by Optimus in India.

It's not like any flu I ever had and I've had plenty in my 72 years. This one is overwhelming fatigue and a highly productive cough, normal/usual treatment of symptoms hasn't worked for this family hence we're all on anti-viral meds currently and they're an experience in themselves....family members aged 19 to 74

https://spiderid.com/locations/thailand/

Dear God please tell me it's not true.