Watawattana

I've been to Mainland China a few times, and generally had a great time. Paying for stuff is generally easier using an app like AliPay than cash, a VPN is useful so you can use the map and translation apps that you are used to, and a data plan is pretty much essential to help with these items just mentioned. I found some of the cultural behaviours a bit odd, like taking 300% of what someone can eat from the buffet, then wasting it 200% of it. Also doors not being held open and left to shut in your face, people on their phones walking around without a care for anyone else, groups of people walking on a sidewalk at a snail's pace taking all of it up and more selfies that you can imagine. But I've generally found people to be nice, friendly and helpful. The one exception was Sanya (Hainan island), where I did not feel welcome at all. But I worked out why in the end, on my last day there; the locals thought I was Russian. When I got over that the locals turned back into being the normal friendly people I've met elsewhere. Hong Kong is still an amazing place, but it is expensive and many people's opinion of the place has been stained by negative statements from politicians and the media. In some cases the negative comments have some basis, but are generally not or are hypocritical. Still one of the safest cities in the planet with great beaches and forest walks a short ride on the bus from the main city areas.

Yeah, agree, someone needs to disrupt the status quo. I'll watch how their other policies form over the next few years and ahead of the next election. Don't want someone to do an amazing job on one important matter, but screw up all the others. I'll be watching the other more right wing governments around Europe too. Plus, of course, DT.

It's a fair point. Not sure how to practically do this when all major UK parties are as bad at each other, and when I've no confidence in any of them getting a grip.

Says more about the people who voted her in that it does about her?

In the UK it was 💩 under the Tories and under previous Governments of all colours. I don't have confidence in it getting any better under the current Labour Government.

That's a good question. I know both of these countries reasonably well. Hong Kong is similar too. My view is that it's cultural. Families don't accept the poor behaviour of their teens, so reasonable crime-free behaviour carries forward into their 20s and beyond. The school system, family and the police all seem to (informally) work together well to quell the desire to steal and commit other crimes. The police and criminal justice systems have virtually zero tolerance to any crime, so the chances of being caught and charged are high. There are some downsides to this; teens are almost robotic-like (few critical thinking skills, lack of social awareness outside of their school friends). Reasons for that are a different topic for a different day. In Hong Kong, the fear of crime index is about the lowest of any city in the world. There is still some crime that is usually caused by foreigners (I include mainland Chinese in that). But the police usually catch them. There are Triads but most of the reported crime is between Triad gangs rather than on citizens. Stealing isn't a normal Triad/Yakuza activity.

If true and not just stupid politics, perhaps the word "hypocrisy" could be used?

Please don't blame the Police. They have political bosses who drive the priorities of the Police, and successive governments have failed to properly support society (family cohesion and mental health are only 2 examples), leading to people thinking it's okay to become a thief. Just look across the Pond at how a strong leader can change the priorities in an instant; it's not difficult. It just takes strength, removing funding from places that should not have it, and redirecting that funding to places that do. Britain is a failing state on numerous levels, and I don't see it getting better under Labour, and I have zero confidence in any other party's willingness to make those hard choices. Make UK Great Again! But MUGA doesn't have the same ring as MAGA... 😂 Sounds too much like mugger...

Might that coincide with the tea cupboard being full?

Yeah, definitely not clamps!

I'm sure Meta did a Business Case when offering this amount. I'm sure it made good business sense... 😜

Those 'visas' are boat shaped though.

Can we get Jeremy Paxman (ex-BBC interviewer) to run the show? He'd probably get arrested after the 1st show though. 😆 "Paxman became known for his forthright interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians. These appearances were sometimes criticised as aggressive, intimidating and condescending, yet also applauded as tough and incisive." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Paxman I'm sure there are good US or other country's alternates for the 2nd and subsequent shows.

Plenty of roads around the world are like this, the road markings should be enough to explain the rules. The hard part being for people to follow those rules...

I've always laughed at the idea of clamping a vehicle that is causing a blockage; just extends the length of time the blockage is there!

Well done to the person who spotted this and to the person who reported it (not sure it's the same person from the OP). Is he guilty? Maybe, will let Thai police & court decide. Although not stated in the OP, he probably had a scan of his passport taken hence the quick identification. So, he's either massively arrogant and didn't care about releasing his identity, or he didn't know they were fake.

3 years doesn't sound enough. Neither does 60k Baht. The guy in the grey t-shirt clearly spent a lot of his ill-gotten gains on food!

So, some kind of suicide attack is being hinted at? Wow!

I wonder what Safety Nets the Air Traffic Controllers have access to. Those systems should have been blaring warnings at the Controllers, with the 2 aircraft highlighted on their displays. Never mind warnings on the aircraft. A very sad day for US aviation.

I suspect the vast, vast majority of Brits have absolutely no guilt over the British Empire whatsoever. Probably only exceeded by the amount of Brits fed up by the performance of the last several UK governments of any colour.

Would that be like a Health Secretary making decisions on health, without any healthcare experience?

Between insurance companies doing all they can to block claims, to big pharma bleeding healthcare dry, to Obamacare and everything else in between, it's definitely time for someone to shake the tree. Is this guy the right person to do it? I've no idea, time will tell if he gets confirmed. But the status quo is clearly not right.

Sad story of course. I could make comment on the type of help offered by the police officer, but the fact that he selflessly helped the delivery driver when many other people would simply drive past is commendable.

Completely agree, way too much bashing of citizens of an individual country for the actions of a few idiots.

Surely barely enough for personal usage only? 😂