jonclark

8 minutes ago, tau152 said:

If you are not a citizen, you are merely a guest of the country and have NO legal right to interfere with the the politics of that country, be it Thailand, Cambodia, Canada, USA, UK; etc!!

While I believe non-citizens should, within limits, be allowed to express reasoned opinions on web sites and public forums such as this, surely we shouldn’t expect to be allowed to promote or incite violent actions such as overthrowing the government?!!   

Were you to allow someone into your house, would you tolerate that person’s subsequent efforts to interfere with the rules set down in your house?  I think not!!!  Until you become a citizen of a country, keeping your nose out of its politics is my advice!!  

 

The division between a foreigner or a Thai overthrowing the Thai government or inciting violence is a moot point.  Both would be dealt with in the same way - either shot or incarcerated for a very long time.

Just as would happen if a Thai was involved in any attempted to violently overthrow the UK / US / Chinese governments. 

Violent protests and peaceful protest - the former is against a multitude of laws and is illegal the latter is accepted. (although i understand it may not be wise or sensible). 

4 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Simple solution, don't come if it bothers you so much.

TAT new logo???

Lets all just remember that if you do install the app - you can always unistall it when you feel the app has served it purpose. 

At the end of the day we are in charge of our own phones and we can install and delete apps as we see fit. If some jobsworth offical wants to make life hard for you. Install the app, satisfy his need, walk away and uninstall, job done, he's happy, your happy. 

7 minutes ago, robblok said:

 

 

If you want to protest do it in your home country where you have rights can gather a group and vote for legislation or something like that. You can't expect that in Thailand.

 

Nothing in the law that says foreigners cannot take part in or organise a protest.  It may not be wise and sensible but it is not illegal or outlawed in any way. 

If you broke the law while protesting etc - then you could expect legal consequences - as many Thai people have found out. 

11 minutes ago, robblok said:

 

But i asked if you were willing to pay extra for the problems you cause by not using a smart phone forcing people to work outside the system and will you take responsibility when it goes wrong. 

 

Not trying to muddy the waters of debate too much Rob.

I think - given the vast amounts of triple signed paperwork that we all submit for any offical procedure (and this applies to Thais too) that people are very comfortable using the old ways. It think the system is designed to work on paper.....not smart phones. 

48 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

This statement...  Yes, Agreed....   

 

I would also add ... ‘But they add great degree of convenience' 

 

 

For sure, that's why we take the wifes phone on holiday with us.

But to be fair there are a number of different caveats we could add on all of which would all be quite subjective (depending on the users perspective) on the pros and cons of smartphones.

I find mobile phones highly intrusive and the thought of having to use a phone to personally monitor (or provide verification) of my whereabouts is something I personally object to and will resist. Even if the bigger picture is benificial. 

That being said I have installed the Mor Phrom app for the vaccine passport - It works well and it is simple to register. 

If there is another data leak / hack od medical / personal records like we saw yesterday in the news for any of these apps, then I would uninstall and never reinstall anything from the Thai gvernment until they could demonstrate (not say) my data is secure. 

Does anyone know when PR opens this year - The immigrationwebsite has not been updated and still says 2016? 

I assume all the docs are the same as previous years.

Thanks

3 hours ago, vVDB said:

Why are there unvaccinated children with parents in Phuket Sand box?   

It does not say the face mask everywhere even on the beach ...

Electronic position control like offenders, prisoners...

And don't forget : Strangers are bad people who are dirty !

All children in Thailand are currently unvaccinated ya div.  As for strangers..well you are a stranger to me. Are you a bad dirty person??

29 minutes ago, 86Tiger said:

 

 

This was learned in 8th grade biology by any one paying attention.

 

It was also learned the reason there is no successful vaccine for a covid type virus (common cold, influenza, etc. ) is it mutates rapidly rendering whatever works today ineffective in short time.

 

 

Yep ..these mutations are just an expression of evolution. The vaccine is a selection pressure and any individual viruses which have benifical adaptations (aka mutation) to that selection pressure are able to survive, reproduce and pass on its adapataion to its 'offspring' and continue the lineage.  Basically a biological arms race. 

A virus that is adapted to kill its host rapidly is an evolutionary dead end as it is ultimatly just killing itself and preventing its own viral replication  when the host perishes.  My hope and expectation is in the coming years that covid evoloves into a highly  transmissable, but almost symptomless varient. So both it and us can thrive together. Removing the need for vaccines altogether. 

Interesting one this. So under the guidelines returnees must have 2 vaccines and have a covid free certificate....yet 70 of the roughly 25'000 tourists who have taken up the sandbox scheme have tested positive for covid since the sandbox opened. 

If you extrapolate (broadly) these numbers and apply them using the 8.4 million people who roughly visted phuket in 2018 (as a baseline) this would give you around 24'000 tourist a year rocking up to Phuket infected,  even with all the guidance in place. (Actually a small number and it is just food for thought). 

This means that either;

1) the vaccines are not working as hoped and people can (and do) get infected. 

2) people are scamming the system and are providing certificates that are fake and are not vaccinated as prescribed. 

3) its a combination of both. 

It seems coivd + tourist will visit (and infect) Thailand even with guidance and we all just need to live with it and stop hiding away in perpetual fear. I for one can't wait to sit on the beach and have a couple of beers with some grilled shrimp as the sunsets. 

On 8/30/2021 at 12:37 PM, Dogmatix said:

Thaksin has instructed PT to pull its punches against PPRP by excluding Pravit from the no confidence debate and voted for the huge central budget fund for Prayut in the hope of getting a slice of it as a reward. He has also paid Nattawut and Sombat to jump on protest band waggon to increase his leverage to join the government in case coalition parties defect. It looks like he will be disappointed again, although it is always wise to be prepared for sudden changes of allegiance in Thai politics.  The coalition ministers are making great money in this anything goes corruption environment and no one feels the need to hand their punch bowl to someone else on principle. If they had principles, they would be in the government.

Do you have any evidence for your assertations? or are presenting your opinion as fact? I just find it hard to believe that you have evidence for Taksin paying Nattawut and Sombat.  I am sure all the newspapers in Thailand would line up and handsomly pay you for such evidence. Just saying you could be sitting on a gold mine if you have evidence. 

The government has no choice as the whole place is bankrupt. The debts this country has racked up in the past few months will take a generation to repay.  People are skint. And skint people pay no tax. 

6 minutes ago, Thorix said:

If something we are learning from the lockdowns is that Schools and heavy Traffic are related. Perhaps we should consider a remote educational approach as a viable option for the sanity of our cities.

Sanity of cities!!!...I think you need to consider the impact remote learning has on the sanity of parents, teachers and students. 

1 hour ago, GrandPapillon said:

good point, and a number of small Thai owned businesses also don't pay tax and don't properly register their staff, a big mistake eventually in this environment

A recent news piece on the morning news - about two months ago on Channel 3 or 7,  made me chuckle. When the small businesses all registered for the 50:50 scheme they didn't realize that the government now could work out fairly easily how much income these businesses were actually getting  - as the government was subsidizing 50% of the cost.  Many of those businesses the got caught out when it came to doing their taxes and got a bit of a shock when the tax man came knocking asking for tax and the business owners were left without a leg to stand on.

. 

18 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

Some good news (if true). Let's hope schools are included.

I do hope so...but I fear schools will be the last to open. Teachers, students and parents are all sick to the back teeth with this online learning nonsense. 

17 minutes ago, steven100 said:

oh yes jon,  The Prime minister of Thailand is responsible for stocking 7-11 shelves ...  Lol    !!

No, he is responsible for ensuring that the stocks (You know the food and water you complained about not being in shops in your previous post)  exist in sufficient supply for the staff to restock the shelves.  Even a child could understand that. 

13 minutes ago, steven100 said:

well DIT ,     you certainly got that absolutely wrong  !   many  7-11's have no items in stock,  milk 200ml,  coffee's , sandwiches,  some drinks, pineapple juice .....

Some 7-11's have rows of empty shelves and a heap of rubbish items that no one buys. 

And who is the covid tsar who was granted absolute responsibility and authority for the handling of Thailands covid epidemic in April 2021.....Small clue... He is your favorite w*nk dream steve? Don't complain or point out his failures please. 

Our local supermarket - Tescos - has been out of water, and noodle for about 1 week. The meat selection is really weak now with mince, especially being non existent. Rice is also pretty low - plenty of empty shelves and only a couple of rice brands in the rice section. The issue (I am told) is not lack of food but disruption to the delivery of new stock due to covid.