Watawattana

I found this web site a few months ago. I thought it put a different perspective on this topic, although obviously still very generalistic and not everyone would agree! https://www.philippinesredcat.com/filipina-girls-vs-thai-girls/

I went to Palawan earlier this year, easily the best food I've had in the Philippines. Fresh grilled seafood, and the vegetables I had seemed good quality. But I think it's the exception that proves the rule. That said, easily the worst food I've had in Asia, by a long way, is in Myanmar. The thing I dislike about a lot of Filipino food is that it's fried, but there's some that isn't. In Myanmar, I couldn't find any local food that wasn't fried, and fried in poor quality and old oil. Again, to your point, it's a lot to do with poverty I think.

I walked down Sukhumvit last night. I swear I saw some Government officials playing banjos badly, with caps in front of them and signs saying "Please Give Generously".

This is not 100% wrong, but close to it. I 100% agree that exactly what worked in Jockland might not work in every area of England. I somehow think London might be a bit different to Newcastle, Norwich or St Austell, just the same as Glasgow is wildly different from Oban. Hope the politicians can get their heads up, look at what's worked elsewhere (or indeed not), and the national Government gives the support, tools and resources to allow local politicians to find a plan for their local areas.

Let's compare the quality of journalism in the quoted article, when compared by the Telegraph's reporting quality. Oh, let's not waste time.

I'm the same opinion as you. Several years ago I did a 4-night cruise as part of someone's 50th birthday celebration. I really didn't enjoy getting dressed up for dinner, didn't like the crowds, didn't want to go with the crowds on a shore trip; I generally felt trapped on a huge money-making machine. What I did enjoy was sitting on a balcony in the fresh air, drinking wine and watching the sea go by. Not for me again.

Ha. You knew it was no bluff 🙂

I raise you Boris & Liz...

Is there a reasonably independent and fair/balanced news outlet in the USA?

British prisons are as good as full at the moment (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crg5vp0296eo). Even though I'm happy for these morons to go to jail, I don't think this is the best sentence when I'd rather see violent, or potentially violent, people sent down. Maybe a community sentence, e.g. cleaning litter off of the motorways or anything else that keeps the British road network running more smoothly. Or maybe a one-way ticket to Rwanda?

There's a bunch of Members of the UK Parliament on the BBC radio at the moment. One says that they know that Vance was making a joke, being flippant, when he said what he said, but they know that most people won't see it that way as the media are not reporting the context properly. All the other MPs jumped on Vance for saying what he said, not in any way considering that it was obvious he was joking. Oh dear. Hope Vance learns a little from this if he becomes VP, and remembers that the majority of journalists either don't have the IQ to recognise a joke or have a negative modus operandi and will deliberately mis-report to have their outlet earn advertising dollars. Idiots.

Love the range of numbers for the US population. Who knows the numbers walking through the southern or northern borders, so who knows the real population!

The OP you replied to said 3.7 million muslims in the UK, most recent figure available is nearly 4.0 million. There have been a lot of boats crossing the Channel in the last few years (!). 4.0 million is about 6% of UK population, so in no way does reality match what Vance said. USA is about 3.4 million muslims, or about 1%. So, smaller percentage but roughly the same number.

Yeah, mostly true. Reckon the Soviet Union did a lot of UK ass saving too, and so did the other 20+ nations who fought on the side of the Allies. I'm sure the Brits will be forever grateful for the US sacrifices, and for the sacrifices from all the other nations. Except their ex-Prime Minister, who left the latest D-Day commemoration early for self-serving reasons...

Generally yeah, but too many hear sound bites like what Vance said, and that's what sticks in their brains. They won't, nor want to spend the time to, understand the context, the bigger picture or whether it was an attempted joke. But they will remember that byte when they meet a Brit, and then they'll be an a$$h0le. I'd love for Biden & Trump to stand down, and RFK Jr ain't much younger so him too. Vance? Sure, happy for him to run for President. Hope the Democrats could put someone decent up too. The USA needs to move on quickly, and that ain't happening with the current candidates.

I've got a few friends who (separately) have retired to Portugal. They all absolutely love it. Favourite city is Porto, followed by Algarve for non-city life.

Yeah, but I happen to agree that UK should be a distant last at the moment. But hey, Sir Keir is in charge now! The only way is up.

I once worked on a European-supplied system delivered to the UK. The cabinet wiring was black-black for live-neutral, rather than brown-blue (UK standard). The blacks were marked however. We bitched about it and got an unsurprising arrogant response. The European manufacturer's slightly long-sighted installation guy zapped himself good and proper one day, and wasn't happy about the amount of "sympathetic" laughter he heard. It ain't just the Thais who struggle with electricity!

The Thai ladies indoor hockey team recently won the Asian Championships, and therefore qualified for the World Cup next year.

This is massively sad, not just for the deaths but for the obvious corruption and that it appears nobody did jail time. In Hong Kong there was a collapse 2 years ago, the project manager, and I think others, are being prosecuted. One is being charged with manslaughter. Here's the story - https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news/section/4/262476/Manager-faces-manslaughter-charges-over-crane-collapse. The company involved got banned, and I'm aware that those who own that company are likely to get blacklisted so that can't simply start a new company and start trading again. This doesn't stop industrial accidents in HK, but it certainly concentrates the minds of those involved in construction planning.

The women did okay in 2022.

Not Scotland.

It's a fair point. They probably cannot find any good prosecutors without a 'history'. Although, across the world as I know it, the standard of public servant tends to be lower than in years gone by. Very much including Republicans. It could be as no high quality person wants to put themselves through the media wringer to serve the public, when they all know they did something that's somewhere on social media that could come back to bite, whereas someone who grew up before social media did nothing wrong of course. Ahem. Those in public life either really didn't do anything, or they don't care and hope it doesn't come out before they make their bung.

For me this is a great news story as it shows the benefits of appointing people NOT based on their politics, but more on whether they can be good for the role they are filling. And then the politician leaving them to get on with it despite the woke bovine brown stuff. Lots of places can learn from this, but probably won't bother.

If the worst happened, Immigration would know when you'd booked your flight, and that it had been cancelled or moved. You'd have that evidence.