MangoKorat

And if they are foreigners, they are breaking the law. Such activity would be classed as an agency and is a restricted to Thai Nationals only. List 1: Occupations Strictly Prohibited for Foreigners in Thailand https://www.businessblog.asia/en/restricted-jobs-for-foreigners-in-thailand-a-comprehensive-guide/

Have you not been around too long?

How much more time and money are they going to spend on this. The Thai public have been conned, a deal was done, its wrong but nothing will change and that's that. Why not spend that time and money on sorting out some of the country's real problems?

Hmmm, yes and no. My childhood was horrific - a drunken father who beat up my mother regulary. We never had any money because it was all spent in the pub........bla bla bla. I also grew up in an environment where you either had to fight or get beaten up - sometimes both and bullying was rife. Quite a lot of the lads I grew up with ended up in jail. But, like many other events in my past, I see no value in dwelling on it. Yesterday is gone, you can't change it. Its there but its gone - I'm living in today, not yesterday. You can however, affect what happens in your life today and in the future. Sure, coming from a troubled/poor background can make things more difficult but very little is impossible - I went to University and obtained a first class honours degree at 40 years old for example. I'm not rich and neither have I any desire to be. I think I've done pretty well in my life but I don't think that's been a reaction to my past or any determination to do better because of it - as I say its gone and I don't see any point in dwelling on something I can do nothing about. I could have done far better but it depends on what that actually means - to have achieved more I would have had to sacrifice a lot of the fun I've had along the way. I'm quite happy with what I've achieved and it suits me to be where I am. Too many people sit with their head in their hands blaming the past for their woes - far better to just get on with life and use what you have to achieve the goals you want. I don't understand your problems with alcohol or anxiety - just deal with them. A simplistic statement maybe but when you break it down, its actually not. Many years ago, following a very hurtful divorce I was in a very dark place. Following a lot of persuasion from friends and famlily, I reluctantly visited a doctor who told me I was severely 'depressed' and wrote out a prescription for some 'happy pills'. I'd been sat at home with my head in my hands, doing nothing for months. The bills were coming through the letterbox and remaining unopened - I was on self destruct. Looking at the bottle of 'happy pills' my doctor had prescribed I thought.......sod this, I'm in control here, its my life I'm wasting, I can either sit here and go further downhill or I can do something about it, I don't need pills to sort myself out. I dealt with it! Like a lot of middle aged guys who find themselves divorced when they least expected it, I was suffering from a huge lack of self confidence and thought my life was finished. Cutting to the chase, Thailand solved that problem - yes it was pay for play at first but so what? I haven't looked back since. You mention continuing alcohol problems but not constant. Constant would suggest addiction which is an entirely different matter - your problem sounds more like a crutch that you reach for. Leave it be, the sun will still rise tomorrow and you'll still have a life. Past problems are just that - past. Today's problems? Deal with them, make changes if necessary. Life will always throw curves at you. Just remember, yesterday is gone, there is only tomorrow. That's my motto and its served me very well since I employed it.

Not cracking down on police corruption then?

New Thai Police Chief Sets Bold Crime-Fighting Agenda Sure I've heard this before somewhere.........🤔

But that would involve actual 'work'. Talking about it is far easier.

Rarely have I read such absolute rubbish as is contained within this thread. Attempts to blame the victim because he must have provoked the youths etc. There is far too little information provided in the report to come to that conclusion. But let's say there was some provocation, most likely something along the lines of asking the kids to move so he could get to his car or to cease sitting on his car, if that's what they were doing? Seeking to justify the actions of the youths or suggesting the victim should have known better are just ridiculous. How many of you, if you returned to your car and found a group of youths sitting on it etc. would walk on by and say nothing? It is again, pure conjecture but its doubtful the kids were doing nothing - if they were, the victim would have just got in his car and driven off. So many of you would do nothing right? Well I for one would not stand by and simply watch such behaviour - even if it meant getting a kicking. Its because we turn a blind eye and more or less accept anti social behaviour in all its forms that we find ourselves plagued by it. When I was a kid we could be awkward or cheeky to older people but an inbuilt form of respect would not allow us to attack them. There is no justification for this attack and neither can there be - coming down hard on today's youth everywhere might bring back the respect that we had way back.

Whilst I'm all for regional economic autonomy, especially regarding projects that could have major local economic prospects, such projects rely on regional and national transport infrastructure. To facilitate expanded use of an airport, surely that infrastructure needs to be in place first? You don't build a major retail park (for example) before you build the road to it, do you? I doubt this project is aimed at simply increasing tourism to Hua Hin and its immediate surroundings so in that respect, it must surely rely on some of the other major regional and national transport projects actually being completed? They are though, well overdue. The M6 for example, will form part of a network that should allow fairly trouble free travel, not only to Bangkok but also to the West and South of the country without needing to go anywhere near the capital. It is however, over 5 years late already. Locally, its not an area that I know well. I rarely travel West of Bangkok but when I have, the highways leading from the North, East and Bangkok to Hua Hin seem to have been undergoing major construction for over 20 years. Each time I have travelled to or through Hua Hin, the traffic delays have been massive. Thai's joke about those roads never being without roadworks. How about the road/rail network South and West of Hua Hin? Has that been improved and will it support this planned expansion?

Probably because you'd never 'score' her.

Yes, you are missing something. I think you need to visit Top Charoen for an eyesight test. You clearly haven't been for many years.

Whilst I understand that some of these scams are very sophisticated - didn't your friend think it at all strange that there was no actual physical contact from the authorities?

Hardly surprising is it? When you fail to remove the licences of those who are caught drink driving, when you fail to check if someone actually has a licence, what do you expect? Even under the new points system (what happened to that by the way?), drink drivers are not banned from driving until, I believe, they are caught for a third time! Even that, would depend upon any previous offences actually being recorded. Let's pretend for a moment that those caught under the influence DO have their licences removed for a period. If they are stopped whilst under such a ban, all they have to do is claim they left their licence at home (as the thousands that have never held a licence do). The 'punishment' for such 'forgetfulness' is usually around 200 baht, none of which goes any further than the roadside and there is no requirement to produce a licence at a police station later. Yet again, another seasonal load of 'talk' by the great and the good, ostensibly aimed at making the country's roads safer but as usual, the carnage will go ahead over the holiday period as it does every year without fail. People who are incapable of even walking will get behind the wheels of their cars or climb aboard their motorbikes and drive. Innocent people will be killed and maimed but by February, it will all be forgotten, the killing will return to its usual, more 'acceptable' level and the 'talk' will end only to be resurrected in December 2025. There will of course be the usual late night checkpoints - the ones that everybody knows the location of and therefore avoids. A few forgetful drivers and non locals will be caught and the RTP will declare their operations to be a success. The hospital and mortuary figures will tell a different story. You can write next year's posts on the matter right now, just copy and paste - it will be much the same as this one. I've been reading this rubbish for 22 years.

The Brit Bashing that seems to be going on on Asean Now is, in my opinion, potentially verging on racism. People of all nationalities, yes, including Brits, get involved in crime and other types of bad behaviour - yet I can't help but notice that when a Brit is involved, Asean Now seems to be straight on it. I could be wrong but to cite just one example: On Tuesday 10 December Asean Now's news feed into my e-mail contained a headline of 'British man among foreigners arrested in porn production crackdown'. Clicking on the link revealed that the actual headline of the post was 'Thailand police crackdown on pornographic content production'. The list of those arrested included a Brit, a Russian, a German, a Serbian and 3 Thais. Is this as I suggest, verging on racism or is it some form of algorithm that alters the title in my e-mail because I'm British? I've seen quite a few similar examples over the last few months. Why the focus on Brits?

Well, whatever.......its in the past. It cause a real headache for a lot of people though.