jonclark

I think the good minister needs to ask himself the following question. "If despite all out warnings etc. Uber is and remains a hugely popular means of transport...why is that? 

Consumers like the convienience of using their phones to have transport collect them at home/work/pub/ add as requied and not having to be rejected by taxis etc.

 Welcome to Thailand 4.0.

2 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

Are you suggesting that the law in Scotland and the rest of the UK will be thrown out and re-written? If so, then there is some misunderstanding on your part.

 

The Scotland Act 1998 requires that all Scottish laws be harmonised with EU law. There would be no need to revise existing laws - all that would be needed would be for this requirement to be removed from the Scotland Act. That in itself is not going to be an easy matter - the Sewell convention states that Holyrood should have control of all aspects of Scottish laws, but it is highly unlikely that Holyrood will vote to make that change, forcing Westminster to take the initiative and to directly intervene. 

So you are suggesting that after brexit and the unpicking of EU law in the UK - there will be two laws in effect throughout the British isles - EU law in Scotland and UK law in all other parts of the UK. That is not a practical reality for anyone in Britain 

8 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

How does Europe secure its eastern borders now? I thought much of the justfication for Brexit was to prevent immigrants coming from Europe to the UK - now you are suggesting that the flow will be the other way?

Well - look at it from a traffickers / migrants perspective. If you want to get into the EU and you have two countries that share an open border....Would you not seek to exploit that weakness??

7 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

 

Well, the latest polling certainly gives me hope. As for whether most Europeans have knowledge of Scotland, I would not be so arrogant as to suggest that I could speak with authority on their knowledge of geography but all the many Europeans I have met and worked with over the years tend to know of Scotland, and look on it very favourably. 

 

I never mentioned any agreement. I explained that Scottish law is harmonized with European law - in fact, it is explicit in the Scotland Act 1998. As for going through Westminster, we have Scottish MEPs working in Brussels on a daily basis, and we have EU agencies working directly in Scotland. 

But by the time Brexit takes effect, and the UK leaves europe.  EU law will have been unpicked from UK law and new UK wide legislation will have been passed to replace some / most  / all of it. 

So its not a simple harmonization issue. 

46 minutes ago, robertson468 said:

She wants to leave the UK and join the EU.  Apart from the statement, I have not seen a manifesto stating how they would govern an independent Scotland under the EU.  The last First Minister (now resigned in disgrace for his failure to judge the situation) did not even have a currency to use as an interim between leaving the UK (sterling) and becoming a fully fledged member of the EU at which time they would be able to adopt the Euro, but that will take time!  They have also not said how they would manage the security of the Country and their People.  What intelligence services would they have, where are their armed forces and equipment coming from, where are they going to do their financial trading, how are they going to control their air space and vast oceans surrounding them and so on and so on?  The plan is not to help the Scots and Scotland, but is for the self aggrandizement of this very selfish young woman.  PS:  Written by a Scot.

No-one seems to explain (either English or Scots MPs) what will happen with regard to the land border. And for me this is the biggest fly in the ointment. The EU would need a secure land border with England and vice verse. An open border wouldn't work for the EU - otherwise England would be a perfect transit country for immigrants into Europe. And England would quite happily let them make their ways north and into Europe. 

For British families, local economies and Scotland's and England intertwined economy (tariffs, duties and passport control) would be very serious issue. 

27 minutes ago, RuamRudy said:

 

Scotland needs to ask Westminster for permission to poll on leaving the UK. The UK did not need to ask Brussels to leave the EU. 

 

We are not an equal partner in the UK - the fact that we are forced to follow the disastrous Brexit route makes that clear. In the EU we will be an equal partner with equal rights and powers. 

You are forced to follow??? You are part of the UK, all parts of the UK are following?? That is what a union is about we all go in the same direction - Are you also suggesting London, (which voted overwhelmingly (60%) to remain in the EU), should also leave the UK or be able to opt out of Brexit as London is being forced to follow the "disastrous Brexit" just like Scotland? 

Sturgeon would have wanted another independence referendum had the UK voted to remain. As no doubt remaining would have become not in Scotland's best interests. In fact she will want an independence referendum every time something happens that she doesn't like. She is like a petulant child. I would gladly let Scotland be cut loose - they can pick up their part of the EU contributions without the UKs help as no doubt the EU will be looking for other willing partners to make up the shortfall now their second biggest economy and one of their biggest financial contributors has left. 10 -15 years down the road from now the UK will be in a far stronger position than the EU. 

And we know how happy  Scots are to pick up the tab, when the drinks they are paying for weren't drunk by them!

Nicola needs to have a very hard think if she is sure that having a hard border between England and Scotland is in  her countries best interests, as her Scottish MPs would after independence have no say in the construction of any border.  Additionally Scotland would not be an EU country after separation. It would be on its own - Like the rest of the UK.

The current EU countries have to unanimously agree to accept Scotland's application to join. Then the process of accession  in itself is not a short process taking a number of years. Albania for example has been carrying  pre-application application processes to join since 2004 and is still in the process of adopting all the EU laws into National Law. It was granted candidate status in 2014. And still isn't a full member

These points must be answered by Nicola and she better damn well have a plan to deal with the future if the EU rejects Scotland's application - The EU isn't going to grant a non-EU member free trade privileges, free movement etc. 

I seem to remember in the previous high profile tourist case the victims were attacked / raped and then killed on the beach early in the morning. 

Has no one stopped to consider that the case bears quite striking simlarities

Well it just looks like the BBC will have to move to another SE Asian country and transmit from there. Hardly an overly difficult task. Those foreigners will just broadcast into Thailand as opposed to out of Thailand. Then the Junta will have no control or say whatsoever over what they broadcast although in all likelihood they will freely spend huge amounts of taxpayers money trying to block the uncensored truth. 

6 minutes ago, Dogmatix said:

I have seen the tourism minister speak to a roomful of hoteliers. She gives the impression of being very sincere but not very bright. A perfect choice for a civilian minister in a military government. She got her own forecasts wrong in her slides and came up with ridiculous promotions like mountain biking for European over 50s in Prart and Lsmpang. The hoteliers politely warned her that there were no suitable hotels for affluent mountain bikers to stay at in those provinces. She has been chairman of Toyota Thailand but only because her family is the passive Sino-Thai rent collector in a company where the Japanese manage everything.

 

I think we can assume she was just obediently doing as she was told without a second thought.

Mountain biking for the over 50's.

Better put some of the hospitals on emergency alert

"  improve the quality of the tourism industry by controlling the number of tourists, "

Its hard to see that this argument can be used as justification when the Thai price is 40 baht and more Thais obviously use NP than foreigners, especially during holiday times! 

For me a better way of doing this would be to add on a 200 baht fee at the airport (call it a national park tax) for all tourists which gives access to all national parks for the duration of the VoA / Tourist visa. A small caveat at the bottom would include - "access to NP granted in line with not exceeding maximum visitor numbers" (WTTE).  32 million (TAT Visitor predictions) x 200 is a good wedge of cash - far more i'd wager than is currently generated and it disguises the bad taste element of charging foreigners more. But more to the point actually promotes NP as proper tourist attraction which appears free!! So more people (and opportunities) will visit. 

Air Port tax funds are then allocated to individual NPs based on a pro rata basis of actual visitor numbers - and if more cash is generated it allows for more investment in conservation and remediation measures at NP as well as sustainable visitor facilities . 

10 hours ago, bmore99 said:

And nobody ever thought of simplifying the overcomplicated Thai writing system? Separate the words; write hidden vowels; straight forward tone marks; unique consonants and vowels per sound; etc. In other words phonetic Thai.

Even highly educated Thai take a very long time in reading an article in Thai compared to Western people reading in their language.

I understand your point. But the chinese have a far more complicated language like the japanese and koreans and that does not limited their education system.

The language of education isnt the problem its the lack of direction  from those in charge. Absolutly no plan or interest  to develop or fix the system other than bland throw away nonsense. 

What exactly are these sporting events for tourists to attend - football matches???

4 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

"Natathorn told reporters that the peak time rush on Sunday was totally normal for the 6am to 9am period. He said that all 18 counters were manned and that staff were taking 45 seconds to one minute to process each passenger."

 

Yeah, right.

If he thinks those queues are "totally normal" then the system woud appear to be creaking under an immense strain. Perhaps he should have a word with TAT to dissuade tourists from coming to save complete collapse.  

Well done to the police for once. Good to see them being pro active and attempting to educate the public with some simple and common sense steps to take.

But as always there will be people ridculing this attempt to keep that public a bit more safe. 

If we could get something similar for driving that would be great. 

So a Thai person (taxi driver or other profession) eating noodles with a tourist is now a tour guide and requires a license to eat noodles in the presence of the tourist. 

Did the police actually speak to the tourist to see if the taxi driver was just helping him out or not?

Obviously shows how poor the social security scheme is. Quite sad really as so many people rely on it. 

Hope the person involved here can find peace in the next life.

Apart from saying it is nonsense. Can anyone offer any verifible evidence that it was not the amulets the saved him? 

One thing about this case is it has reinforced my image of most Thai lawyers. Parasitic criminals if the case in point is anything to go by. 

Well if that screenshot is the actual line chatroom the pm briğht idea has failed. 221 people in the chatroom. Might be better juat ahouring on a street corner as a meana to get the message out.

5 hours ago, smedly said:

so what ?

 

better than a thief convicted criminal on the run living in a foreign country deciding on who should be Thailands PM

 

you really need a reality check - I actually think you are a planted troll here to get the numbers up, I can think of no other rational reason for your persistant nonsense

So  lets remove the Thaksin element for a hypothetical discussion. 

Do you think the senete with its hand picked composition of military men should be the ones deciding the PM after the election is finished and the winners and losers are known?

For me this is strange as the Thai people in effect walk into an election blind or at least partially as they have no idea if the senate will approve their party's nomination. It is likely that the party leader / figure head will be the presumed leader and electioneering will be held under that assumption.  

The solution must be that senate needs to give approval for the 'leaders' to be granted the right to become PM, before, the election campaigns start and honour their decision  irrespective of the outcome or margin of victory (see the above comment that Thaksin is not part of this discussion). the people must know who the PM will before so they can make a fully informed choice at the polls. 

I think the BoT needs to understand that aside from the few privilaged most 18 - 25yo get paid stuff all. 15k starting for a graduate does not leave that much meat on the bone for savings. 

Teaching financial independence and self reliance is important and intrinsic to that is savings.

This makes interesting reading. If tourists are responsible for 17% of GDP and they are the main cause of pirated goods being sold which results in more cash in circulation in the wider economy. Then can we conclude that the sale and piracy of products is partly responsible for such astonishing GDP numbers. Which the goverment was rightly proud of two days ago.

And point two..how the hell are tour operators going to stop tourist going where ever they please to shop and how or what does "get tough" mean? Give em a good talking to? 50 lines? or a dam good kicking if they buy some knock off Addidas trainers from MBK?

1 hour ago, wobalt said:

Exactly. However Thailand obviously has yet no interest for an integration policy and possibly still see "aliens" as threat for the Thai society particular by bringing destructive western thinking and values into the traditional Thai contexts.

Destructive western thinking.... so we'll let them all work as English teachers. That'll stop em spreading their gosspal of westernization.

I don't think they see aliens as a threat.  I just think that as no one is kicking up a fuss they assume it is all fine. 

The problem is that the rules are fine when applied for a short term stay.

But fail to account for concepts like family and home. If you make your home with a family here the government needs to show it values the notion of family.  Applying rules designed for what are effectively long tourists to a thai-foreign family unit fails spectaculary and is in urgent need of a rethink. 

And giving Thailands increasinly aging population families are needed.

When families thrive in a secure environment, the country will thrive more.