JonnyF

He appears to be incredibly arrogant and out of touch with reality. I don't think he's going to do well under questioning. I think he will be indignant and irriatated that someone has the temerity to question him. It won't play out well. I mean I do kind of understand the people that are standing behind him 100%. It's got to be a lot safer than standing in front of him ????.

Nonsense. The message was very clear that supporting the Ukranians would escalate the situation. If you think that publicly declaring that you are sending tanks from the US to help Ukranians fight Russians does not amount to the same thing is ridiculous. If he'd have sent tanks and planes with American crews and pilots you'd have said "Ah, doesn't count - he didn't send any trains". Laughable.

The left paint everything as a racial problem. The fact that a black man kills another black man makes no difference to them, they'll still blame it on racism. It's beyond ridiculous at this point. The word is so overused and misused that it has become meaningless, I just roll my eyes when I hear it now.

Makes you wonder why a few months ago, he declared sending them would amount to WW3.

It doesn't need to be extremely reckless, it just needs to be reckless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manslaughter_(United_States_law) Pointing a gun at someone, when you do not know if it is loaded or not, then pulling the trigger is negligent AND reckless. The state would have been confident of securing a conviction to charge him. He's toast.

Until now, police brutality has just been another reason for the left to scream Racism, and then go looting. If anything good can come from this, it must be the realization that the issue is with the culture, attitude and training of the American Police force, irrespective of the race of the police officers or the victim.

I am sure both sides will stop the violence immediately now that Mr Blinken has educated them on the "best way".

Just need to wait a few months like they did for the tanks.

Bad news for Baldwin. I always felt his best chance was to use his fame, wealth and connections to get this thrown out before he was formally charged. Now it's going to trial, all that evidence is going to come out for the world to see. Difficult to see him escaping this one, unless we get another OJ style farce. I hope the family of Halyna Hutchins get justice on this one. Baldwin's reckless, entitled behaviour on the set cannot go unpunished, especially when it resulted in the fatality of an innocent young woman.

I saw a prediction about the next 12 months. Let's wait until the end of 2023 for the verifiable data.

Maybe change location. The area where I stayed with my family was doing fine. Everywhere was packed. A couple of high street shops had closed due to Covid but apart from that most places were very busy, plenty of money being spent, new cars on the roads etc. It's a bit like hanging around in Khlong Toei and then declaring that Bangkok is a slum and everyone lives in shacks.

Sounds like the school is aware that you are not paying tax (since you are working on a tourist visa), so they are reducing the salary they pay you by the amount you should be paying and keeping the difference themselves. They'd rather benefit from the situation than have you benefit from it. Since you are working without a work permit which is not technically legal, I wouldn't kick up too much of a fuss if I was you.

They should really make it clear at the point of booking. If you are a smoker who has switched to Vaping, it's quite a big deal in that you either have to give up smoking (not great while on holiday) or switch back to normal cigarettes (which people may have spent several months moving away from). Clearly the correct solution is to legalize Vaping, but the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly wouldn't like that. They'd prefer to continue making money while people kill themselves with normal cigarettes than see them switch to less harmful Vaping.

Cruelty to animals really makes me sick. I'd love to see the elephant break free and trample these sickos into the dirt.

It's disgraceful that any government should dictate how many children people should be allowed to have. This is what happens when the state has too much power. One of many reasons I support minimal state intervention in the private lives of citizens.

Downtown Bangkok, where you can barely walk down the street without smelling Marijuana being smoked or bargirls offering sexual services, but vaping leads to extortion by corrupt police ????.

Same when I was back earlier in the year. I was expecting some kind of scene out of 28 Days Later. Instead, shopping malls were packed, pubs were packed, golf course was packed, restaurants were packed, roads were packed with brand new cars as I cruised around in my friends brand new Audi Q8 Etron (NHS Middle Management positions seem to pay very well). The Chavs were still overweight and their screaming kids still had iPhones. The reality vs. my expectation from the horror stories I had read was startling. I'm sure it's cold and miserable though, it's Britain in January after all.

Double whammy for Thailand. Now everyone knows.... 1. Thai police are corrupt to the core. 2. Vaping is illegal in Thailand and doing so makes you a target for extortion. Just legalize vaping for god's sake. It's hardly crack cocaine.

Facebook thinks Trump is no longer a force, and they're probably right. They can pretend to be unbiased on this one for a while. But make no mistake, if he starts to gain traction he will be silenced by left wing big tech again. Fortunately Musk has Twitter so at least one platform won't be silencing their political opponents.

Life experiences? Or choices. Of my group of a dozen close friends from school who hung around together for 10 years or so, about half of us have done well, half are what you might say, "struggling". In each and every case, the result was down to their choices. Getting girls pregnant (or not), getting an education (or not), buying a house when they were cheap (or not), forging a decent career (or not). Their life experiences are a result of their choices.

They are not to blame for the crisis. That much is true. However, a large % of them are to blame for the fact they are struggling. Unfortunately, the welfare state in the UK has created a culture where people make poor decisions lightly, in the belief that the state will bail them out if needs be. Huge mortgages for houses they can't afford, big screen TV's they don't need, new BMW's when a second hand Honda would do the job, and so on. Then, when the pooper hits the fan in a scenario like Covid melting the World economy, they cry like babies that they haven't got steak for dinner every night. Treat people like children, they will act like children. The West has produced generations of weak minded cry babies who think the world owes them a living. Hopefully when the cost of living crisis ends a lot of people will have learnt some of the harsh lessons of life and take a bit more responsibility for their own well being in future. In the mean time, I wish them the best but prefer not to pay additional tax to bail them out.

No need to ruin a good thread with that Bunny Boiler.

Nonsense. None of my extended family are struggling. None of us were given anything either, we simply worked hard, planned ahead, lived within our means, didn't make a myriad of poor decisions. People need to start taking responsibility for their lives and stop blaming governments for everything.

As has minimum wage. Almost trebled in fact.

I suppose it's the Tories fault that people spend their money on tattoos, Playstations, beer and cigarettes before food? It's the Tories fault people are too lazy to cook? How about personal responsibility? I used to eat for a pound a day when I was at Uni and nearing my overdraft limit. I'd skip the occasional meal. That's life. I didn't expect the government to put steak on my plate every night. Those luxuries came later after getting my degree, working for a decade and paying off my student loans. I was fortunate enough to be under a Tory government so I did get a small grant. Labour removed that shortly after I graduated.