JonnyF

Just because the removal of sovereignty is gradual, does not mean it is not occuring. Despite the EU's best efforts to pretend it wasn't happening, many of us could see the direction of travel and didn't like it one bit. Hence we voted to leave, and left. True Democracy in action.

The EU doesn't like anyone who opposes their failing federalist project. Giorgia Meloni isn't really far right though, she is centre right. The left love to label anyone to the right of centre as 'far right' or 'alt right' in at attempt to discredit them, simply because they fear them. In this case however, the EU is probably right to fear them. They are against the globalist agenda of the EU and many of it's prominent leaders such as Macron. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Italexit back on the cards under Meloni. If that happened, it could well signal the end of the EU. And not a moment too soon IMO, had they remained a trading bloc it would have been fine but too many power hungry politicians saw it as an opportunity for empire building. Still, you live and learn.

Normally I step outside the back door and call the dog's name. It comes running to me, tail wagging. Sometimes I offer food as part of the deal, he's terribly partial to Pork Scratchings ????.

You're welcome.

I seem to recall you were supporting Truss for PM. I distinctly remember the TrussforPM hashtag on many of your posts during the leadership contest. So you got what you wanted. A true conservative as PM. ???? Let's see if this mini budget has the desired effect.

Tough times for the EU. I wonder if they'll also have issues with Italy's democracy, now that a right wing party has been elected ? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63029909

It seems under Truss we finally have a true Conservative government. I wonder how the left are feelling now? Having hounded Boris out, they may be wishing they had left things well alone. Certainly a gamble by Truss. Let's wait and see how it works out before crucifying her. Drastic times call for drastic measures, and the cost of lockdown crisis is certainly upon us. Many of us warned about the economic carnage that would result from locking people in their homes for months, but unfortunately we were ignored. Well here comes the carnage, better strap in.

She looks Caucasian to me. It's curious to me that Thais always talk about how beautiful Thai women are (and I agree) but seem to find beauty in women that don't look Thai. Whether that be European, Korean or whatever. A quick look at Miss Thailand contestants demonstrates this weird phenomenon. No brown skin or slanted eyes to be seen. I'm sure there's a psychological study in there somewhere.

How I gonna hit the bong with a mask on? Anutin clearly hasn't thought this through.

Actually, the ancestors of PitBulls were bred for aggression towards dogs and bulls, not people. Aggression towards humans was an undesirable trait since in the days of dog fighting and bull baiting the dogs lived with the family of the owner, often in cramped conditions. Similarly, they had to be handled by humans during the fight and the handlers did not want to be turned on. Such dogs that showed human aggression were not considered ideal for breeding, so aggression towards humans is NOT in their DNA, unlike other breeds of dog that were bred to control human beings. As for humans being self aware, sentient and self conscious you may want to look at the atrocities being committed in the world right now, and over the past 100 years before you start bigging up the humans. They've done far more damage to each other and other animals than dogs could/would ever do. That is not my opinion, it is a simple fact. If in doubt, you could start by looking at the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda, then draw a comparison to dog bites. As for my comments regarding the holocaust, your faux outrage is wasted on me. There are clear ideological (allow me to repeat for clarity, ideological) similarities between the Nazis wanting to wipe out a specific race of people and ignoramuses on here wishing to wipe out specific breeds of dog. If I suggested wiping out the black population in the USA because they commit more crimes per capita than other ethnic groups you would be horrified and rightly so, yet you advocate the same thing based on the same flawed logic for a breed of dog that you dislike.

No my dog is not trained to attack or kill intruders. Thats all in your head. Most dogs protect their territory. It is instinct. So do mine. Not only the pitbull, all of them. Using your logic... Humans kill. In fact they kill way more humans every year than dogs do. You haven't killed 'yet'. But you are a potential killer human. An accident waiting to happen. How long before someone flips YOUR switch? Shall we put you down? Or how about we do the stats on which 'race/breed' kills the most people and wipe THEM out? Sounds legit... Nature > Nurture and all that... 1940's style. Sieg Heil. Wipe out 'zee pitbull'. ????

Same here. 2 of our Thai dogs were left by the previous owner of the land hence couldn't be trained until their later years. They are WAY more trouble than my pitbull.

Oh dear. It's all becoming a bit tiring????. My (rather obvious?) point is that the problem is the owner, not the dog. The example re. my particular dog is simply to demonstrate to the hard of understanding that when trained properly and handled responsibly they are no problem at all. Any dog in the wrong hands is potentially dangerous. Get it now ?

That's exactly how it is. My pitbull doesn't roam around free in the village. He has an exercise yard on our farm which is made of chainlink fence which mainly serves to keep other dogs in the village away from him as they are very aggressive and I prefer they dont fight each other, but also to stop him wandering onto the road and getting run over. A child couldn't just wander in there as the other poster suggested. My analogy was not about cars but about deliberately going out of your way to place a child into an imaginary, far fetched situation where it could get hurt to prove your point. You're clutching at straws.

Again, in English please.

Bring a child to a building site, and then throw it over the 6 foot chainlink fence into the dog's exercise yard without introducing it first? Not the wisest move, although in my case after the surprise of seeing a child thrown over the fence I strongly suspect my dog would inspect the injured child rather than attack it, although I have to admit I haven't tested him with flying children ????. That's a bit like throwing your child into the road and then calling for a ban on cars.????

It's a pet that naturally guards it's territory and owners. Same as millions of people around the world have dogs that protect their property and loved ones, and have done for hundreds of years. Labeling it a 'defensive weapon' is just silly. My girlfriend and I would also protect the property and each other from intruders, does that make us 'defensive weapons'? It's a dramatic play on words to try and make your point. It's a well trained, medium sized dog. End of. There are also 6 Thai dogs outside the PitBull's fenced area, are they all defensive weapons as well? Or just the Pitbull? Of course it doesn't 'attack anyone entering the property', for a start he has an enclosed exercise yard attached to the side of the house where he hangs out when he's not in the house so you'd have to be dumb enough to climb into there first. We recently had builders round to build a new garage and as soon as the dog knows you are 'with us' he is absolutely fine. The builders were scared of him at the start of the job and were sharing their lunch with him and playing with him by the end. It's amazing what reality and experience can do to unfounded ignorance/prejudice. Dogs have good instincts and if someone is breaking into the house in the middle of the night and he senses that we are not happy about it (tense, shouting at the intruder etc.) then he will absolutely protect us and the property. There's a simple solution to that, don't break into our house. If you do and you get bitten, that's what's known as instant Karma. I agree that they need to be trained, same as any dog and especially powerful ones. My sister has a Doberman on her UK farm and he is also trained and friendly, but I wouldn't advise roaming around their property unannounced. Same goes for Mastiffs, Rottweilers, German Shephards, Akitas, Ridgebacks etc. In the wrong hands they can cause problems. Which brings us back to the original point, bad owners.

Wonderfully dramatic ????. It's a pet that doubles up as a guard dog.

It doesn't matter what they do. If they pullout half way through the job they'll do more harm than good. The US has a habit of sticking it's nose into international affairs and then pulling out when policy changes or things get too difficult/drag on too long. Vietnam and Afghanistan are 2 examples. Biden needs to make sure they are in it for the long haul before making promises like these.

A few reasons... 1. The gf lives at our farm alone while I am away working in BKK during the week and locals know that. Let's just say some of the males in the village are less than desirable. The knowledge that there is a PitBull sleeping in the house is a great deterrent for some drunk, horny scumbag at 2am. 2. Should these males drink too much Lao Khao and decide to actually try and break in, the PitBull is an extremely loyal, strong and brave dog and would protect her with everything he has. 3. I grew up around Bull breeds. English Bull Terriers, Staffys etc. I know them well and love their playful nature, loyalty and personality. I have far more knowledge of them than other breeds. I've also owned Labs and Spaniels but find them quite dull in comparison. 4. They are great ratters, with a high prey drive. He takes care of rats, mice, lizards, Geckos, pigeons and snakes (although I do my best to keep him away from snakes). 5. They are hardy and suffer few health problems. 6. They are low maintenance. Short haired. A good, but manageable size. Equally happy snoozing on the sofa with the owner, lying in the garden or going on nice long walks. 7. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but to me they are a beautiful dog. 8. I have no interest in the armchair psychology, fear or hysteria of forum members that have never interacted with, yet alone owned the breed (other than that which provides me temporary amusement ????).

Absolutely right. Our PitBull has to sit and wait for at least 10 seconds after the food goes down before he can start eating it. We also made sure from a young age that we could move the bowl or touch the food while he is eating. He can also be petted while eating. He doesn't bat an eyelid, because he has been trained from a young age and understands that we are the master and he is the dog. He also knows that he gets fed twice a day no matter what - so he has no anxiety about going hungry. I suspect this dog had become extremely food aggressive by being fed irregularly. He probably had also never been disciplined properly, leaving him to think that he was the alpha in the household, hence the aggression towards the owner when he thought his food was going elsewhere. I actually agree that it would be a good idea for some kind of licence or training for owning large or powerful dogs, but this is Thailand where they can't even stop people riding motorbikes the wrong way down the street while smoking a cigarette with no helmet or driving licence. That's not the motorbike's fault.

Once again, clueless owners. I knew a Thai guy in Phuket who had a Pitbull called Tyson that he kept in a small cage, barely big enough to turn around in. Often whacked it with a stick. If it was lucky it got let it out for about 15 minutes a day. Then complained when it bit his gardener that was shooing it with a broom. Wonderful dogs when trained properly and cared for. Very intelligent with huge personalities. Ours is great company.

CRF300 Rally would be a good fit for an Issan town. Or if you really want a cruiser, a Rebel 300. I've just put dual sport tyres and a radiator guard on my MT09 in preparation for taking it to our farm near Korat. Probably overkill for Issan, but it's sitting around in BKK not getting much use and I think the motard style riding position will be quite well suited to the roads around there.

We have around 10 lemon trees on our farm in Korat. 2 of them I bought. The others I grew from seed. They are pretty hardy, easy to grow and give lots of fruit.

For how long? How long before an abrupt policy shift and a swift pullout as attention is diverted elsewhere, leaving loads of military equipment in the hands of the 'bad guys' ala Afghanistan? I wouldn't be getting too excited if I were Taiwanese.