realfunster

They seem to be going round in circles for decades now with no clear policy or strategy on amending visa structures to attract groups that they deem of interest. I don't think they even know what these groups are yet. Never ceases to amaze how these government agencies jump all over the latest trends coming out of developed countries and then milk the budget dry on something that sounds progressive but actually has no chance of being successfully implemented. From the current proposals : - I think many will baulk at the requirement to invest USD100k++ into property or government bonds. - They continue to have the Thai obsession with Masters' Degrees, which appears a requirement for some of the working visas. Thailand take note : the rest of the world does not give two hoots about Masters' Degrees. - They typically only aim for retirees and/or rich target groups. Why not implement an easy work/travel visa for Students/under-25s say, who then become the next generation of consistent Thai visitors in future and global 'ambassadors' for Thailand. There you go, I have ticked the trendy 'mango sticky rice' soft power box for them.

Not sure what you are getting at but if you think paedophilia is a suitable topic for irreverent humour on a public forum then thanks for letting everyone know where your moral compass lies. You were in the thread, able to see to what I was referring and posting your reply to my post before the offensive posts in question got deleted by mods as being “crude and callous”. That description is being generous in my view. Same goes for Tropposurfer who liked your response.

Come on now, flu & chicken pox (amongst others) are endemic, can be very serious and require annual/widespread vaccines for at risk groups. Malaria is endemic and of course, can be both extremely unpleasant and life threatening. My 80+ parents back in UK are booking in for an additional COVID booster shot ahead of autumn/winter. We should all make an effort to understand the public health definitions and differences between pandemic, epidemic and endemic. Google is our friend.

Wow, that’s a new low. First two replies joking about the alleged sexual abuse of 13 & 17 year old girls. Take a long, hard look in the mirror “gents”.

They weren’t too rough but I did wince at the point in the video at around 20 seconds when, as he was being escorted from his room, the policeman pushed his head down and he went face first into the floor. Still, play stupid games and win stupid prizes.. Anyway, quite a bizarre story, they should all know much better at their age !

Not allegedly, it’s a total urban myth.

Personally, I am working on the assumption that Thailand Pass and the related mandatory insurance will be phased out in the coming months before this becomes effective in Q3. Having said that, they are related to two separate issues. TP insurance is primarily a response to the risk of COVID medical expenses and the THB300 is a long mooted response to decades of Thailand sucking up general health costs for un-insured tourists. As the tourism industry grew rapidly from 10m pax in 2000 to 40m pax in 2019, I can imagine it's possible that the latter was starting to get 'painful'.

Here's what I am actually getting as public holiday in the private sector, being 7 of 11 from your list. As I understand, if a holiday falls on the weekend, it is not standard practice to give both days (weekend & following Monday) as public holidays to employees. As a long-standing TV member, you will also be aware that annual leave entitlement is pretty low in Thailand, so I don't begrudge Thai workers their public holidays. although I do feel it is an insidious method from the "powers that be" to keep certain things at the forefront of Thai people's minds...

Jazz ?? Weird choice for a Top3 of US soft power ????

I believe you are misdirecting your ire. It is doubtful these TP related insurance policies are in any way financially significant for the Thai insurance market.

As the article was regarding a variant in New York/US, I had interpreted that was to what he was referring. Sure we are all very aware of 2022 peak in deaths in Thailand/Asia, being as we appear to be 2-3 months ‘behind’ the US/Europe in our Omicron wave timing. The data coming out of US/Europe post-Omicron wave gives me hope that we will shortly we moving out of the worst of it. I am also encouraged to see that world daily deaths are essentially at the lowest level since the start of the pandemic.

I read another article that Levis TH are taking retail ‘in-house’ from their previous distributors.

Without condoning this shooting one iota, I too would want my deposit refunded promptly if my order was cancelled. If Thaksin knows these guys have "influence" then I think the easy solution of returning their deposits promptly has been staring him in the face for a while....

I think your response is ridiculous. Knowing a few victims of sexual assault and abuse (both male and female) and having read various articles on the matter, I thought it relatively common knowledge that victims sometimes prefer just to move on rather than re-live the experience via criminal proceedings, expose themselves to public shame and often self-blame. Add into this that there is often a requirement for multiple complaints before a police investigation even starts (at least as I understand in the UK- where a male friend was abused as a boy by a Doctor, he was mid-30s when the investigation eventually started, many years after his initial report) then many are put-off the complaint process. Add into the mix a relatively powerful alleged perpetrator and the general environment in Thailand, I feel it is very easy to understand the reluctance to have reported a police complaint earlier.

Forget all this COVID quarantine discussion nonsense, I would just like to say "well-played sir!"

Also known as the Jimmy Savile method....hiding your crimes behind a front of 'good deeds'... Or it could simply be the locals didn't want to rock the boat and lose their income stream, despite their misgivings. If the latter, utterly disgraceful.

The rumour of a post-Songkran relaxation for foreign tourists has been doing the rounds for a few weeks at work, information supplied by Thai colleagues with friends in ministries. Of course, the squabbling between ministries is legendary, so we will see what transpires… I suppose it looks like unusual timing, what with daily deaths reaching a yearly high recently but: - Like all things, a balanced approach is needed. ‘Risk management’ not ‘risk elimination’. - Tourism/hospitality/aviation sectors need CPR. These are not taps that can be turned on and off, it takes time to re-recruit former employees and if necessary, recruit and train new ones. Look at some of the issues in Europe during their re-opening. Chatting to an employee at a Bangkok hotel recently, they are currently ‘fully occupied’ but only because they are running at 15% staff levels and can’t find people to work. They are turning away bookings. - I doubt there will be a sudden influx of millions of tourists (until at least China re-opens) but hopefully, we could expect a modest gradual increase over coming months with restrictions relaxed and start building up towards something approaching a high-season at year-end. - I expect the requirement for all tourists to be vaccinated & insured will remain, so the risk to them and local populace is lowered. In fact, doesn’t having all tourists vaccinated actually help our local herd immunity?

True enough but I would think it not unreasonable that doctors (or any professions) primarily dealing with Thais or operating in the Thai public sector would need high Thai language proficiency to deliver their services effectively. From what I can see from the TMC website, foreign doctors are eligible to apply for a license, in a typically Thai way, the slight catch is 1 of the 3 tests requires essay writing in Thai. ???? Of course, there are certainly some foreign doctors knocking around and Bangkok has numerous foreign professionals operating in the private sector in law, IT, accounting, finance, engineering etc, normally this is tolerated by Thai authorities as they are under the umbrella of safeguarding quality and the investment of an international company. Primarily dealing with other international companies, the Thai language issue is a moot point for them.

I've a confession to make...I bought my friend at TAT one of these over a decade ago. Please keep in mind, at the time, I thought it would be a harmless prank. I couldn't possibly have foreseen that they would have taken it so seriously. I haven't the heart to tell them...

From a couple of sources I have read, E85 (85% ethanol) would run 15-25% less efficient than standard gasoline/petrol*, the differential would be smaller compared with Gasohol95 (10% ethanol). Without over-analyzing, likely switching from Gasohol95 to E85 would be a break even on costs saved vs fuel efficiency. However, E85 does have the clear advantage over reduced air pollutants though ! *I ran the prices picture via my google camera and was amused to see the yellow item at 46THB is apparently ‘normal’ gasoline/petrol. Didn’t even know it was available but not tempting at that price anyway !

It's the other way around for me. My wife can't understand why I keep calling it Lotus's's's and why I find it amusing when I do.

I think you will find the correct pronunciation is Lotus's's's. 4 s in total, and the 3 superflous s's have a nice flow to them. Repeat after me : Lotus - s - s - s

You are doing the right thing in looking for a solution, a few years ago we found 2 kittens near our house, 1 unfortunately was beyond saving but we rescued one. Not really a cat person but they appeared very young. The one we "saved" unfortunately died of a virus only a few months later, perhaps a consequence of being separated from mother too young and not getting anti-bodies via mum's milk. Some good suggestions above, I would also add-in simply contacting your local vet(s), I am sure they will have a network of people for such situations. My vet in Bangkok even introduced me to an owl expert to take over rehabilitation, when I found one injured in my garden.

I would like to sincerely thank the SCMP for printing this kind of brutally realistic and honest article about the many horrific experiences and challenges faced Chinese expats in Thailand. The tales of woe brought a tear to my eye, and to be honest, I nearly had to stop reading the article as it was so moving and painful but it's better that SCMP readers are made fully aware of the honest truth, which is that Thailand is a god-awful place and they are much better off avoiding it. They really should try Sihanoukville instead. It's far superior to Thailand in every way.

So, in a very Thai way, basically a nice middle ground outcome, she gets 70,000 which is probably more or less a refund on the price she paid for the procedure & medical care. Proclaiming to be a lover of dogs she could reasonably have been expected to understand that (i) 11 is considered old age for Labradors and (ii) an operation to remove a lung tumour is not a straightforward operation and has it’s risks, particularly with an old age dog. Of course, not having the operation and allowing the cancer to spread also has risks. I too love my dogs but her claim for THB 1 million for psychological distress is misplaced in my view. That being said, I have come across some awful and incompetent vets in Thailand. This also goes for doctors, lawyers, dentists as well. In fact, in just about any profession you could mention. The need to self-advocate is paramount in Thailand and if, even as a ‘layperson’, you get a bad feeling about the skills of even a “highly qualified” Thai professional, I suggest you move on elsewhere…