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The kindest thing a someone can do to an overweight relative or friend, is to tell them, with kindness, that they are overweight. No, nobody wants to hear it, but the laws of the universe did not design us to be fat. Equally, they did not design us to be skinny, but that is not the problem with weight faced by most of the world. The problem is an abundance of usually, cheaply produced, Western Style junk food that tastes so good that it is difficult to resist. Kids are hooked on the stuff from an early age. You only have to look at the 7 11s in Thailand to see what is going on. The Buddhist fundamentalist lobby incessantly focuses on the dangers to kids from alcohol, but they only need to go to up country schools, even in Bangkok you can see it,  the open sale outside schools of full fat sodas, cakes, ice creams sandwiches filled with sweetened junk and more from stalls that open only when the kids are available to poison.  I came to live in Thailand in 1987. It was difficult to find an overweight person anywhere. Now, Thailand has the worst record on diabetes they 2 in ASEAN, and one of the worst in the world. 

I am not suggest that we shame people in the streets by calling them "Fatsos" but I do believe we are committing an act of extreme kindness to friends and family who are slowly but surely eating themselves to death by taking in a squalid, metabolic syndrome fatness induced diet by not being frank about this. Sugar is a highly addictive substance, otherwise food companies would not add it to their totally unhealthy food. As to the idea of the restaurant, I think it's an excellent one and has financial logic at its heart, fat people are likely to eat more than healthy ones, and therefore cost more to feed, at buffets for instance, it is only right that they should be asked to pay more. If it creates "fat Awareness", why not? The same as grossly overweight people should be charged for the (self induced) health problems they bring on themselves by being fat, and extra charges on airline seats, with discounts for lighter people. They use up less fuel and are therefore more "sustainable" for the planet. "Fat Awareness" rather than "Fat Shaming" is the way forward. If we are constructive over this issue with our friends and family and induce action that will lead to a longer and healthier life, we should not be classing this behaviour as "offensive", whatever the "fat lobby" say. On the contrary, we are saving lives!!

What total fools they are. The don't seem to have noticed that there is a common factor in economic growth numbers in ASEAN, where Thailand is the lowest. They ask why does Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and Malaysia grow faster? Well, Thailand is the one that restricts foreign ownership the most. Why take a good business to Thailand and give 51% to a nominee shareholder who may run off with the lot, if you can own 100% totally legally.

I am lucky, I have Thai children, others are not so lucky. The Thai education system is to blame here, too much nationalism in it blinds its poorly educated people into believing that we are some kind of threat to national security. On the contrary, we would love to bring our wealth to Thailand totally transparently, but the law makes that difficult to impossible. Lucky Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam, they must all be licking their lips at the stupidity of the Thai authorities!!!!

Legalisation was one of the best growth producing actions ANY Thai government did. Marijuana has been part of the culture of this country for centuries, and it is effectively harmless, as long as managed properly. The problem is, conservative old farts think that all "drugs" are the road to hell. They are forever, and not just in Thailand, trying to stop people enjoying a good time, and altered states of consciousness. At the same time they do not realise that sugar and alcohol are drugs that are FAR more insidious than marijuana!! Have you ever seen a stoned person get violent Never!! Have you ever seen a drunk person get violent or insulting? Yes, all the time!! And yet I note that even though the government is reducing the duties on wine, they are still way higher than on spirits and yet it is spirits that totally destroy the liver and brain with great rapidity compared to wine, which, in moderation, has health benefits. People should be left to enjoy themselves as they wish in the privacy of their own homes. Perhaps Thais drink as much as they do up country now, because their traditional high, from THC was taken away from them by a military government in the 60s following the advice of the USA. 

It is a very silly idea to start taxing the overseas income of Expats, but that has not been confirmed yet. For those expats with a bit of cash, set up a company, and LEND the money you bring into Thailand and then LEND that money from the company to yourself!! Accountants are cheap in Thailand. say 30K a year, but let's say you can live on a million baht a year, that represents an effective rate of tax of 3%. Peanuts compared to the max of 35%. the other way of sorting this, is not to bring it into Thailand. Use your offshore bank accounts and make sure you have a big limit on your ATM withdrawals. Just take out cash and the Thai Taxman is none the wiser...

Who's asinine idea was this? This is Thailand not Chailand!!! Aside from which, do you really believe they will send the police? They will send every blasted spy they can lay their hand on, aside from which, Chinese, well at least the clever ones, will be coming here to escape the clutches of the fascist state of the CCP. If they know they are being watched, do you think the tourists will come? For the ones with brains, the Chinese will go to the UK, Malaysia, Indonesia etc etc.

China IS a fascist state. While we are at it, since the Lao people are ethnically Thai and they are being screwed by the Chinese Belt and Raod machine, perhaps, instead of flushing 500bn baht down the drain with the digital wallet scheme, they should consider bailing out the Lao government and preventing Laos slipping into the Chinese orbit as a province which would be a disaster for Thailand and Laos.