Watawattana

It was a guy called Harry Dunn who died. Was on a motorcycle (not meaning to be critical of your post, your point is very well made in any case). The woman who killed him is called Anne Sacoolas. The evidence as I understand it was that she made a massive mistake; it was not deliberate. She drove on the American side of the road rather than the British. Tons of people will have done this (and vice versa) with little consequence. Not this time. RIP Harry.

UK police often have a Christmas crack down to detect/deter drink driving as that's such a killer, so no big surprise that the Argentinian police would do this. Maybe the Thai police could learn a thing or 2 from this?

I do understand the basics of diplomatic immunity, but still cannot understand why that can be used as an excuse for blatant law breaking and fine avoidance. That said, I have read that a lot of foreign embassies pay parking fines etc. One example I found was: "Japanese diplomats do have diplomatic immunity, which generally protects them from local laws, including parking regulations. However, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been working to address the issue of illegal parking by diplomatic missions. They have implemented measures to ensure that diplomats comply with local traffic laws and pay any fines incurred". Would be nice if the Russians did this too, but I suspect there are many diplomats from other countries who behave arrogantly as they have immunity.

The last CPR training I did (& defrib) was with a dive school in Pattaya - https://www.divecentrepattaya.com/. There was some theory and plenty of time to practice on a mannequin. From memory there was no full practice with a defrib as it needs a real body but the unit was switched on so we could see the indicators, then after it was switched off we practiced where to place the probes on the mannequin. I thought it was a good course. They demonstrated the "Stayin' Alive" technique, but not in these costumes 🤭 -

https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Koh-Phangan/Vientiane?search=Koh-Phangan,Vientiane#trips

The West did it, according to Putin. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/west-rejects-putins-claim-sabotaged-nord-stream-gas-pipelines-rcna50194. And here's one for China. https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/chinese-ship-suspected-of-deliberately-dragging-anchor-for-100-miles-to-cut-baltic-cables-395f65d1

I used to be involved in the planning process for construction around airports. Included wind and solar farms. 100% this is capitalist and not left wing in any way whatsoever. The money swilling around to mitigate any objection was absolutely enormous. One company was willing to pay out well over £7m to get their farm built. No, not a corrupt payment, it was to deliver a way to avoid an airport radar from detecting the wind turbines. I subsequently learnt that £7m was chicken feed to that energy company.

Now I’m laughing. At you.

I have not, but I’m not an expert on that.

Not true, took me 5 seconds to find these from 5 days ago. Unsurprising that they've dropped off the news cycle, especially with the other 'important' news you've mentioned . https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3zqen209go & https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj90zzpxzm0o

There are single-entry tourist visas, or 5-year multiple entry visas (max 90-day stay, extendable to 180 days, https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/short/multipleentry.html), so if I was keen I could do that. But it is not a permanent solution. I have a friend who has that multiple entry visa, and it works very well. Here's are links to long-stay visas, no good for me - https://www.expatica.com/jp/move/immigration/japan-visa-79399/#long-stay & https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/long/index.html There is no retirement visa that I know of, but going as a tourist is probably enough for me.

I didn't know how much was being talking about here, so I did a quick search. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/who-funding-by-country The United States is expected to contribute approximately $220 million to the WHO during the newest budget cycle. In addition, China is expected to contribute approximately $115 million. The other countries that are expected to contribute significant amounts of money to the World Health Organization include Japan, which should contribute approximately $82 million, Germany, which should contribute approximately $58 million, and Britain, which should contribute approximately $44 million. There are numerous other countries that will contribute small amounts of money to the World Health Organization as well. I'm not sure saving $220m is a game changer for the USA, I'm sure there are better & bigger savings out there? In the DC swamp perhaps? The UK pays £44m, 20% of the USA's contribution. The UK's GDP is estimated to be about 12% of the USA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)), so by this measure the UK is paying too much, or the USA too little. The whole thing seems a mess of hypocrisy and fluff. I'd propose that the US and other countries threaten to quit the WHO unless it ups its game, and reduces management & other overheads, corruption and anyone using them as a cover for any illegal activities.

oh dear... you missed my humour

I guessed but never bothered to check.

I currently live in the 4th placed country, and have done for many years. The high IQ is deserved, boy there are some amazingly clever people here. I've never found a country-by-country index for common sense, critical, practical or adaptive thinking though. Suspect the top 10 countries y IQ would be very, very different.

I've met some Thai women with quite deep voices...

Not my experience, but then again I've not met every single Japanese person there.

In the last 3 weeks I've spent 5 days in Bangkok and 9 days in Central Japan (Tokyo, Nagano & Kanazawa). Massively different places, and loved all of them for different reasons. Hiking in the snow-covered Japanese Alps, snow monkeys, shrines, museums, with excellent food & bars. Bangers was Wats, sport and excellent food & bars. Plenty of overlap. I knew Japan was going to be cold, so I prepared. I knew BKK was going to be hot, so I prepared. Food and bars were different, but loved both places. Met great local people in both places. No safety issues in either place, but I'm way more careful in Bangers, in bars and on roads. Girly bars in both places, both are expensive and rarely worth it. "Massages" available in both places, much cheaper in BKK (so I've been told 🤭). Japan much cleaner (air & trash). I live in an expensive place, so both places are relatively cheap to me, Japan edges it on value for money though. Basically, choose what you want and go find it. Understand the ups and downs. Not going to go to Thailand for cool-weather hiking, not going to go to Japan for Thai food. Not going to either place for a bar girl. Not going to try to retire to Japan, but I love visiting. Might retire to Thailand but I know there are downsides.

Can in Dubai - https://www.skidxb.com/en-ae/ski-dubai It is Dubai though...

Yeah, no disagreement from me.

This is a joke. He'll be out under licence in just over 2 years, and will highly likely still be a danger to young women. When will the UK learn? He should be locked up until qualified people believe he is no longer a danger to the public. Of course, being the bleeding heart liberal that I am, I reckon chopping his knackers off before he gets released might help? Saves money on psychologists, therapists and parole boards. And after that, his halfway house could be with the extended family of that 15 year old? Just thinking out loud...

I saw reports that Trump has threatened 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico. From memory it's to "encourage" those states (oops, better be careful not to repeat Trump's faux pas / hint about Canada being the USA's 51st state) to secure their borders better, and to stop simply passing through illegal migrants to the USA. Well, it seems to have help the Canadian Government take action - https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2024/12/the-government-of-canadas-border-plan-significant-investments-to-strengthen-border-security-and-our-immigration-system.html Not researched the effect on Mexico. Maybe the EU can consider? Or perhaps the UK can look at tariffs on the EU as some EU countries (especially France) are simply passing on the migrants to the UK via that deadly sea crossing? Maybe won't happen as the UK cannot afford to do that? Maybe the UK needs more migration, especially the trades people needed to build all the new homes that Starmer promised? Oh wait, we used to have those people, and then Brexit happened...

Not going dispute your figures as I've seen no evidence either way, but wanted to look at this another way. If a country is destabilising, or is encouraging/supporting the destabilisation of, another country so much that its citizens feel the need to flee (for safety or economic reasons), and those citizens travel over the Med to Europe, then surely that country is culpable for that illegal or legal migration for asylum purposes? I knew some Afghans where I used to live. They blamed Russia and the Taliban for leaving. And also the USA for originally supporting the Taliban in its resistance against Russia (https://af.usembassy.gov/our-relationship/history-of-the-u-s-and-afghanistan/). Or to look another way, if a country is attractive to economic migrants because it's seen as a really soft touch (e.g. the UK, Canada or Germany), then surely those countries are also culpable of destabilising the countries where the migrants come from? Oh, and ditto the USA when in comes to central American migrants.

Another avoidable tragedy.

Not sure I wholly agree; plenty of lawyers might take an opposing view. Maybe as he's a liberal lawyer rather than more right of centre. I get your point though.