Guderian

I went through this rigmarole 10 years ago and it wasn't easy then, DWP was fine but HMRC seemed very reluctant to take any money off me. They gave me a list of outstanding years that I could pay for immediately, with quite a few of them this would be my last opportunity to buy them so I sent a cheque for over £8K and those years were credited to my NI record. They also set up a direct debit which would allow them to deduct the Class 3 contributions from my bank account monthly every year until my 66th birthday. Once it was all set up it worked fine, and two years ago when I reached 66 they started paying the state pension, which by then was over £9K even though I only had 30 years to my name, not the full 35 required to maximise your pension. I'd only been contracted out for 5 years in total so I'm mostly on the new system. My brother had over 40 years to his credit but had been contracted out all the time so his pension was actually smaller than mine. Of course, as I'm honest and they know I live in Thailand I haven't received any indexation. I knew that would happen, but it's kind of annoying when I actually paid good money for my Class 3 contributions, while for most people the years simply build up as a free perk of working and paying NI. Remember the National Insurance Fund that's also supposed to pay for the NHS, the biggest secret about which is that there is no National Insurance Fund, lol? It's all just a Ponzi scheme and becoming increasingly unaffordable for the cash-strapped British government as the number of new members declines yet they somehow have to support the large cohort of Baby Boomers.

A Thai robocop called Plod - only the Brits will get it, but that's hilarious! lol

Oh good. So now the 50-Baht widgets I order from China via Lazada should arrive in under a week, instead of it often taking several weeks. I knew there was a good reason to spend tens of billions on this rail link... lol

It's why I only wear cheap plastic flip flops here... lol

Good idea, that'll give the perpetrators plenty of time to head for the hills. The cops might even offer them a lift, lol.

Given how suicidally many of them behave driving motorbikes when they're sober, often with three young kids hanging on as well and not a crash helmet in sight, I should think a lot of people don't regard drunk driving as any more risky, just a Thai cultural norm in the Land of the Free.

It's not just Thailand, ministers in the UK are ready to bring back a Covid-style furlough scheme. Downing Street has lined up measures to shield key sectors including the car industry and other sectors that have been hardest hit by the US President’s sweeping tariffs. As well as effectively nationalising the country's last primary steel plant yesterday. The solution to every problem is for government to crank up the printing press and/or go on a borrowing spree, but that can't go on forever. Thailand had enough difficulty raising what money it has managed to (about half of the original proposal of 440 billion Baht) for the 10K Baht digital wallet scheme, how is it supposed to find the cash to underwrite the excessive debts of millions of people? It would have helped f they had bothered teaching them some basic home economics in school so they understood how to budget.

Go on.... point your fingers at him....you all know you want to.... lol

I've used Samitivej for a bone density X-ray scan and was very happy, I chose it as it had an offer on and was easily the cheapest hospital in the area for that procedure. I've not used Phayatai in Sri Racha, though I've sent Gavin a few e-mails in the past and he's always been very helpful. I have used Phayatai 2 in Bangkok, and it's fine. Personally, I'd say that there's not much difference and you're best asking about the prices as they both have special offers from time to time. Or maybe check out the individual doctors in each hospital in the speciality you want to see as they often focus on different areas of their chosen field. I needed to see a specialist at Bumrungrad and there were three recommended to me, but I couldn't choose between them until I checked out their areas of specialisation, and then one doctor stood out clearly as the best choice for my needs.

So how exactly does the entry procedure work with this new Thai bureaucratic idiocy? I assume you'll have something on your phone if using the app, maybe a QR code, or a paper printout if using the website on a PC. Will the usual Immigration cop issuing entry stamps also check the QR code (or whatever it is), or will there be a separate desk for that? How does this speed things up and make it more convenient for tourists? And we all know from the digital geniuses trying to pay their supermarket bills with their phones via a QR code that it can take several minutes before they find what they're looking for and get it scanned, and sometimes they fail completely and, after 5 minutes or more have to revert to cash or leave their shopping behind. Now imagine that situation translated to Immigration at Swampy with a queue of maybe a thousand people all trying to find and then scan some code or other on their dysfunctional cheap phones, and of course the ones who forgot or couldn't be bothered to do it who will presumably get a slap on the wrist and be led away to fill it in. This sounds to me like it can only add to the long delays, but hey, if Thailand wants to drive yet more tourists to other countries then it's up to them I guess.

Well the Fx markets don't seem to agree with him. Back in 1997, the Baht collapsed and at one stage you could get over 100 THB/GBP. Today you're lucky to get 44.

Lol

Big Don announced the tariffs just over two days ago, I suspect it might be a wee bit early for us to see their impact on Thai tourism.

You can just imagine it, driving along the 35 to head to Hua HIn - Phew! we've escaped the earthquake hazards! Only to be crushed underneath a falling crane or concrete beam.

Spot the oxymoron! lol

Over the last two decades, we've had a tsunami disaster and now an earthquake disaster, it's good job the country doesn't have any active volcanoes!

It's not only Chiang Mai. I was on a break in Prachuap last week and this was the view at the famous Ao Manao.

The UK just increased its price cap by over 6% while Thailand has reduced its electricity price by 4%. I know which one I prefer.

I'm not sure how much it costs to get a motorbike or car released from a police compound these days, but I think a decade or so ago a car was costing around 3K Baht, or that's what someone told me. I assume all the proceeds go into the RTP bank account, no doubt after appropriate deductions for expenses by the local cop bigwigs, so you'd think they'd be on this problem like flies around a jam jar, it's almost a license to print money. Or is it really that much more work and effort than their usual games to raise funds that they aren't terribly interested?

She's probably deeply bitter that she wasn't offered a role in the latest series of 'The White Lotus'. lol

Missing an opportunity - they should try promoting the country as a hub of earthquakes! After all, they want to be a hub of everything else, lol

I agree, one week left to file a tax return yet they still haven't finalised their new rules. They're clearly not very serious about it at the moment, probably realise they've bitten off far more than they can chew. I saw an article on FB last night, in the Post I think, saying that the TRD will focus this year on taxing expats who are making their income in the online world, so digital nomads and people selling stuff online. That might be doable, though I have no idea how they will tell who exactly falls into this category.

The BKK Post

It makes me think of that tale of woe a few months ago from a British pensioner who claimed he'd stumbled into a gate and been arrested and beaten up by the RTP, and had even managed to get the Foreign Office on his side. The true story soon came out that he was drunk as a skunk and had attacked and broken a security barrier, resisted arrest, and had fabricated the rest of his story as well.

Absolutely, it's up there in the design awards with British-designed electricity substations supplying "critical pieces of national infrastructure".... lol