Drumbuie

"And justice for all.." Nobody should be above the law. What brought down Al Capone wasn't his career as a mobster, it was tax evasion. Those who don't understand history - or accountancy - are doomed to repeat it.

I discovered, the hard way, that you definitely need to make an appointment in Vientiane. So I went to Hanoi in February - no queues, was seen right away ( and the ladies in the visa department were courteous, friendly and helpful). I collected the visa three days later.

Have you tried asking the folk at Sloane's? https://sloanes.co.th/

But it's their country. Imagine how you'd feel in your home country if you read about immigrants - because that's what we all are, remember - behaving badly.

Generally a free trade agreement means that both parties agree to drop tariffs on goods imported and exported between them. The EU is Thailand's fourth largest trading partner but Thailand is the EU's 26th largest trading partner. Full details can be found, if you're interested in facts rather than speculation, on the Europa website https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_1628

"7.3 Your Wise Account is an electronic money account and is not a bank account. You acknowledge that the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme does not apply to your Wise Account. However, we follow the requirements under the UK Electronic Money Regulations 2011 which are designed to ensure the safety of funds held in electronic money accounts like your Wise Account" [https://wise.com/terms-and-conditions] I have used the Wise app and debit card for a year or two without any problems. It provides transfer facilities for my Monzo account too. It's not only quicker, it's saved a great deal of money compared to transferring funds from my high street bank. I'd be very interested to know why the OP thinks a company which has subsidiaries in UK, US, EEC, and at least 14 other countries is 'dodgy' and might be going to disappear overnight?

And it's still nowhere near enough to live on because rents are sky high ( if you can find somewhere to rent at all, that is), utilities are almost unaffordable, petrol is twice the price, and food prices have shot up since Brexit. A quarter of the UK's children now live in poverty and schools in England are falling apart. Count your blessings.

I used to live in the Highlands of Scotland, where in midwinter there are only six or seven hours of daylight and it's generally cloudy. It still made financial sense to install solar panels, both the ones that generate electricity and the ones that heat water because even on cloudy days, the panels work. In May, June and July it never gets truly dark that far (57 degrees) north and there was no need for any other energy source to heat water, even for a large house. It's strange that here in Thailand where there's so much sunshine there are so few solar panels. If I were building a house I'd definitely get them installed.

Or maybe they married someone they enjoyed talking to and having an actual relationship with that went beyond sex? It does happen. ☺️

I'd hazard a guess the young guys will come across the concept of the 'border bounce' pretty quickly if they've managed to get this far already.

She's only seventeen, probably was only sixteen when she became a mother, and that's something that is overwhelming for any woman, even with support; it sounds like she had very little of that. She deserves sympathy (an emotion which seems to be significantly lacking in these forums, particularly for females, and especially for non-white females) not scorn.

Not just anecdotal evidence. Unequivocal statistical evidence that the vaccinated were significantly less likely to be infected and if infected statistically less likely to die. However despite the Finnish longitudinal 18 year study of every child in the country showing clearly that vaccinations did not cause autism (or anything else for that matter), there are still people who would rather trust unqualified influencers, quacks and snake oil salesmen. Perhaps we should teach statistical analysis in schools.

It's interesting that China abstained, considering Putin's meeting with Wang Yi a few days ago, after which Putin's press release mentioned "new ties" between the countries. Wishful thinking?

Seeing dogs in rural Thailand and Sri Lanka I've often thought they have a pretty idyllic life in canine terms - freedom to wander as they please, as much or as little canine companionship as they want, and food they don't have to hunt for. Being often left alone, indoors, as many dogs are in cities, is not a kind way to treat an animal that naturally lives in a pack.

You're quoting Hitchens in the Daily Fail??? ????????????

Top virologists in most other countries are increasingly concerned about the long term effects of COVID-19 on the immune system, particularly in children ( in which it appears to be connected to outbreaks of Kawasaki syndrome - I'll wait while you all make your motorbike jokes - which can also be fatal). Not to mention Long COVID. Its actions appears to be more akin to vasculitis than influenza ( see several reports in The Lancet, amongst other medical journals). It is mutating all the time. It spreads as an aerosol. It has worse effects on the elderly, whose immune systems are already weakening. We live in a country with high AQIs, also, so why would any intelligent person object to wearing an N95 mask?

My youngest son is a policeman in Scotland and my cousin's son is in the CID in Cheshire - if the police force in Yorkshire is sending police officers out here, it's because they've assembled enough evidence to persuade the CPS there's a good chance of a successful prosecution. Police budgets are very tight, and they wouldn't spend the kind of travel and accommodation expenses money this represents just so that someone can have a "free holiday". They are also human beings. One of the least favourite duties they have is to go and tell people that someone they love is dead. My cousin's son explained to me that he manages to cope with traumatic cases by reminding himself that a successful conclusion brings closure to victims' families and enables them to move on in the process of grieving.

Adults? Technically, perhaps, but this may be the time to say that I have rarely seen so much regrettably adolescent sneering and sniggering on any forum - and I used to be a moderator on an MMORPG ( look it up, old guys) with a couple of million players worldwide.

I took the sleeper to Chiang Mai from BK a few years ago and loved it. I did all the research beforehand on this site so even though I was travelling on my own, it was easy. The toilets were a little bit of a shock but I managed ok! https://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm I'd like to do the day journey next time. You really get a sense of the countryside from a train and it's much more relaxed than traveling by bus or car.

You can book your train ticket online. Look at TheManInSeat61 's website, it explains exactly how to do this and everything you need to do to enjoy the journey. He recommends https://12go.asia/en for buying train tickets for Thailand online. It's not faster but it's much, much more pleasant than traveling on the road.

In my ideal world, everyone would have to work in hospitality for at least a year at the age of, say, 16, to teach them a) how much hard work it entails, and b) empathy and respect for the people who do the monotonous tasks of cleaning, waiting tables, changing sheets, or whatever. And to tip them. As my great grandmother said to my grandmother when asked why the box of chocolates she and her brothers had been given was being taken instead to the people in the local village, " You have so much, and they have so little".

Iraqi refugee made good and rich East African Asian economic migrant might be more precise.

Having spent rather too long trying to trawl through the myriad posts and topics here, I'm just going to post this - can anyone recommend a good visa agent here in Bangkok? I've slightly less than a month till my 90 days non-immigrant visa runs out. I'd intended to open a bank account, deposit the requisite chunk of money, and apply for the retirement visa extension but due to various family/nanny/grandchildren emergencies I haven't managed to open a bank account here yet, let alone apply for an extension. Also an indication of the rates. I had one quote of 14,000THB for the visa, with an extra 4000THB for re-entry permit, and an additional 14,000 for assistance in opening the bank account which seems, from the posts I have managed to fish out, rather a lot. Informed advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.