realfunster

Don't you just ! Outcome THB 1k fine all round- tells you all you need to know...

Disagree, from a couple of legal sites on Google : An assault is committed when someone “engages in conduct which places another in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery.” It’s a threat—real or implied—of a battery, or a battery in progress. A battery occurs when one “causes bodily harm" to a person. Is Throwing a Drink on Someone Assault? Yes, throwing a drink or any other item on or at someone can be considered assault. You do not need to make physical contact with your accuser to be convicted of assault. You can be charged for spitting on someone, pouring a drink on them, or throwing a drink something on them, as long as the physical contact with your accuser was violent, offensive, or painful. However, an intent to injure must also exist for an assault conviction. So, for water pouring, maybe a case to debate for assault (although note the guy did immediately walk away, so I assume difficult to argue the reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery and the intent to injure does not seem there..) and it does not appear to be a battery.

What do you mean, that Omicron is spreading rapidly in Thailand ? I am only surprised that it has taken so long here, given other countries’ experience. Most places have reached their Omicron case peak in 3-4 weeks from patient zero, I think the first case in Thailand was mid-January. Obviously, the government restrictions are doing a marvelous job of slowing down the spread

I wonder why that might be ? Is Omicron a very slow burner compared to Beta/Delta ? The case peak in SA was between 10-24 December (7+ weeks ago). Could it be with higher prevalence of cases that non-directly attributable deaths are being recorded as COVID ? Anyway, the good news is that SA current deaths peak is around 20-25% of the level of the Beta & Delta waves. In other words, a 75-80% reduction.

Obviously targeted KPIs are needed : - Increase average fine per shakedown from THB 150 to THB 300 Hey presto, same results in half the time ! Right, I am off down the snooker hall....

If you don't mind me asking, how did you manage financially when retiring at 45 and dealing with a (I assume expensive) divorce in your early 50s ?

What a load of ridiculous double-speak. It is abundantly clear, now around 3-4 months since Omicron took hold globally, that it is objectively much less severe than Delta.

Holy smokes Batman ! Not just illegal but HIGHLY illegal ! Whatever, snitch.

Tragic case, she was just trying to take care of her boy. That is, at a minimum, 2 mental illness related killings in the last fortnight. Kanchanaburi attack being the other. Do you reckon it’s time for Thailand to up their game on mental health services ?

Several Thai work colleagues have tested ATK positive in Bangkok in the last 2 weeks. Even with minor Omicron symptoms, all were pushed through the ‘system’ with x-rays, PCR tests and a hospitel stay, being fully confined to their room. Seems 7-10 days is the range of average stay. All covered by the company insurance with a local provider. It’s not just the tourists that are getting fleeced…

Is this the cover photo for the new 2022 TAT strategy guide on attracting quality tourists ?

“Thailand’s Chatree gold-mine battle is coming to an end – but who won?” Good question. Hmm, I wonder. From the linked article : It should be noted that Kingsgate announced earlier this month that it “acknowledges the cooperation and goodwill shown by the Thai government”, after it received four mining leases for Chatree. Each of the leases runs for 10 years from December 31, 2021. Kingsgate has interpreted the issuance of the leases as a green light for resumption of operations at the gold mine. Great use of taxpayers money on THB 600m on legal fees, could buy half a submarine with that.

Yeah right, just like Epstein.... Why would they even bother ? From what I can see on their website there is no interpol notice issued for him anyway ? All Google shows me is Thai press reports indicating the Thai police saying that they have requested Interpol to issue a red notice. How likely do you reckon that is ?

Where are these 'many eateries' located ? I have been to 10+ restaurants in the past month in Bangkok and a test has never been requested.

Well, COVID insurance (the 'Thai' version of THB 100,000+ for just testing positive) was a monumental brain fade by several companies in the industry. AFAIK 2 companies have now folded, I suspect others will follow. I am truly staggered at the stupidity, recklessness and greed of these companies. The OIC doesn't come out of this well either having at least provided some sort of review/approval of these policies. Not sure if their mandate includes asking insurance companies 'are you bat <deleted> crazy?' but they must have some responsibility for regulating the insurance industry and protecting consumers.

I know, I think we are all suffering from pandemic fatigue at this point. Very early data from the UK suggests BA2 may be more transmissible than BA1 and with the same medical prognosis, typically mild but with the odd outlier. Grudgingly, I will admit it’s worth keeping an eye on it, as if it is actually more transmissible, it still has some potential to put pressure on healthcare systems.

What’s the alternative ? Keeping local organized crime in business with illegal gambling or letting Thais offshore their money (losses) via websites ? I can’t see either of them being good outcomes for Thailand. Governments worldwide have tried prohibition in many areas over the years. Unless you are prepared to go down a draconian authoritarian route, it never works if a significant number of the population don’t believe it is a ‘reasonable’ restriction.

It’s only 22 January and we already have a solid contender for euphemism of the year !

Easy… With its world famous tourist industry and (outside of COVID times) tens of millions of foreign tourists annually, we could simply charge them an ‘special’ price (say 5x-10x local fees) to enter forests & national parks. Local government officials can be 100% trusted to equitably distribute monies received to underlings for their valuable work in maintaining and protecting these areas. Hey presto - problem solved ! Oh wait…

Quite. A complete humiliation for all concerned. He should have been sacked when the facts of his previous conviction were made known. Obviously, reflects poorly on him but also on the government who were presented the opportunity to make a decision of integrity and turned the other way… Pathetic all round and a national embarrassment.

Perhaps being the key word ! I had to laugh the other day when I saw on TV a Thai minister blaming neighbouring countries for air quality. People in glass houses should not throw stones....

Cutting-edge research, the good doctor should inform the global medical community of this development. I am not a medical professional but I would propose ‘long COVID’ as a catchy name that gets the message across to the general public.

For the week ending 25 December, Omicron was 58.6%, by now will probably be 80%+. Other countries have seen around 4-6 weeks from Omicron patient zero to see Delta more or less 100% out-competed. There is a lot of data from other countries (UK/NL/ZA) contrary to the high hospitalizations in the US, as is prudent when in the middle of battle, I keep an open mind on this but also consider that the private (please come into hospital) vs public (go home and ride it out unless serious symptoms) healthcare systems may have some impact.

Hyperbole.

I am not a statistician but let’s use the one of the most infected Omicron countries with reliable data as an example. UK delta case peak : 60,000 UK delta death peak : 1,700 UK omicron case peak : 200,000 (3.3x delta) UK omicron death peak : 400 (0.23x delta) (I note it could still go up due to lead time) Thailand delta case peak : 20,000 Thailand delta death peak : 300 Thailand projected omicron case peak : 66,000 (doubtful Thailand will be doing enough tests to record this many +ves.) Thailand projected omicron death peak : 71 (note deaths with a +ve Omicron test, as it so prevalent an increasing proportion of these numbers will be co-incidental and not a cause.) We know testing is limited and erratic in Thailand and deaths are the more reliable metric. To be adjusted +/- for other local factors - vaccination rates, types of vaccines, social restrictions & effectiveness etc. So, likely their first two proposals of 50 & 100 daily deaths respectively, are in the ball park.