Drumbuie

Actually......Finland conducted a study on 1.8 million children, lasting for 14 years from 1982 (when they introduced MMR vaccination) to observe any negative side effects. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1119409/ There were less than 100 adverse reactions from over 3 million vaccinations, and none of them anywhere near as bad as the consequences of contracting Measles, Mumps or Rubella.

You, like so many, are forgetting all the public infrastructure that you benefit from every day which is paid for by taxes.

He was 42. Is that ' young'? Old enough to know better, in my book.

You will be *astonished* to know that not all accountants are up to speed on every paragraph in the tax regulations in Thailand. I had read them* ( yes, saddo, I know, but it's my money..) to see what allowances and deductions were possible. When I met my accountant, he was unaware of several of them**, but after checking agreed that they were legitimate. * In translation - you can find them on the internet ** This was not a surprise. It was the same with my UK accountant. At least the Thai accountant is cheap.

Bangkok Bank deducts 15 baht from all its savings accounts every month. If OP checks the phone app, he might find the words " Annual Fee" next to the 15 baht debit.

Scotland was for many years my home; I lived mostly in the Highlands and Edinburgh, and in Glasgow (where, incidentally, I have never eaten a bad meal, and have frequently eaten world class food) every January for Celtic Connections. There are many different Scotlands. The Highlands are not the same as the Borders, the islands are definitely different from the mainland, especially the Northern Isles ( Orkney and even more so Shetland), the cities are different from the rural areas. Nowhere have I ever seen anything remotely resembling The Wicker Man - except at Edinburgh's Beltane Festival. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beltane_Fire_Festival

MRT, BTS and ARL have been much fuller than usual this year right through the day, not just in rush hour. Mostly backpackers, Chinese tourists with lots of luggage, and of course Russians, but lots of ( mostly Northern) European languages too. I lived in a UK tourist hotspot for 25 years and by the end you could feel the whole village gritting its teeth, waiting for the end of the tourist season. It definitely got worse after COVID. It seems as though during lockdown a lot of people forgot how to behave; now most just focus on what they want and pay no attention to the effect that that has on others. I have friends in Pai who've been suggesting I visit them - having seen that photo, I'm now *not* tempted.

I consulted a Thai accountant about my income this week. I brought over THB1.1 million into Thailand last year. By the time he'd removed the non-assessable income and deducted all the allowances, I'm due to pay just over 20k tax - in three installments from April. That is less than a third of what would have been due on the same income back home. Stop moaning about the tax, guys. Pay up and enjoy actually having the moral right to moan about the infrastructure.

Evidently you're not a dancer.

You will be obligated to pay tax on this year's income next year before the end of March. The allowances are generous, the taxation bands are gradual, and I'm checking my calculations with a Thai accountant (friend of a friend) tonight but I'm expecting to pay around half what I'd pay back home. In three instalments, with no penalty. I don't understand the mindset where you live in a country, you expect all the infrastructure and services in that country that are paid for by taxes - and you complain about them frequently - but you don't want to contribute.

The Thames barrier was built to withstand a "once in a century" flood. It has been raised over 220 times since 1982. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-thames-barrier Most capital cities of countries with maritime border are on the coast at the mouths of a major river. They are thus vulnerable to rising sea levels ( and Hull is not generally considered a belwether as far as that goes - try looking at some of the research instead).

Actually....Thailand has been tapping into Dutch expertise on water management since at least 1902. https://www.netherlandsandyou.nl/web/thailand/themes/water-maritime

I'm sure all you guys commenting on her size are distinguished by your sleek, muscular bodies without an ounce of flab or excess fat.......right?

A Jewish friend told me that many Israelis are descended from Russians who claimed to be Jewish in order to get out of Russia after WW2. (And who can blame them, tbh? ) Meanwhile, many Israelis today continue to protest against Zionist expansionism. As ever, truth is complex, not black and white.

It takes less than an hour in CW, once a year. No pain at all. While waiting for my number to be called, I amuse myself by counting up the money I've saved by *not* having an LTR visa.

I kill several birds with one stone by transferring the fee for the visa extension into my "seasoned" bank account the day before my appointment. When I arrive at CW, I withdraw the fee, update my bank book, go into the bank for my letter, to the photocopy guys for the copies of everything, and finally upstairs to see the nice ladies in L27.

I notice, while decrying the woman's looks, none of you has pointed out that a fat old bald guy like him was lucky anyone agreed to sleep with him, with or without money changing hands.

Unlike others on this forum, I loved HCMC. Went on a motorbike streetfood tour where all the guides are students subsidising their studies. Our guide took pains to show us how ordinary people live, and recommended a non-tourist-y boat tour of the Mekong delta area - which was unforgettable. Stayed in a 3* hotel where the food, and the service, was better than many a 5* hotel in Europe. Shall be going again.

Pretty sure the Chinese could say the same about the UK and/or the USA.....😄

I am consistently surprised that people keep asking for advice about their health and their difficulties with modern tech on ASEAN Forums. Pharmacists are trained to treat minor ailments and will tell you if they can't and you need to see a doctor. The internet abounds in people ( geeks, nerds, coders, tech guys etc) who will tell you exactly how to fix your laptop, your car, your AC , your sewing machine etc etc, with a helpful video - plus ( and this is a big plus) they will never insult you.

Do you have actual data to support this claim?

If everyone had a card, not a token, which is swiped every time there's a change of operator during a journey, it would be possible, and relatively easy, to automatically allocate the fare proportionately between each of the operators. Because, you know, computers....

I used to commute by train and Underground in London. It was much the same as Bangkok in rush hour. You get used to it and, if you can, time your travel outside peak periods. A pal used to be a senior person in a British rail company and can, if not quickly suppressed, talk at length about rolling stock logistics ... The short version is that adding more carriages to a train is not as easy as you think.

Under 65 a person can earn 210,000 a year before tax is due on income (60,000 personal allowance plus the first 150,000 is tax free). Even in Bangkok people doing ordinary jobs don't earn enough to pay tax. THB 10,000 -12,500 a month (120,000- 150,000 a year) is the sort of wage you'd be paid in farang-facing hospitality, for example. It's not really worth the TRD chasing people who are dodging the 5% tax rate on the next tranche of income because it would cost more than it produces in revenues. It's logical to suppose that, after wealthy tax- dodging Thais, relatively high income groups like expats will be next on the TRD's list for investigation.

What's tragic is I bet the same farmers are paying for fertiliser when they could be composting, or ploughing in, that stubble and enriching their soil for nothing. I put all waste vegetable matter ( including coffee grounds) into a rotating composter and it's a matter of weeks before it's usable soil.