JAG

1 hour ago, nkg said:

 

And the referendum was only advisory! And what about the Brexit bus?

You forgot: it was all lies, Murdoch bought it, old people should not be allowed to vote, lots of old people have died since the votes were cast ( can't deploy that one for a while yet), you are ill informed, you are insufficiently educated to make a decision...

When I saw this headline I thought; "Aha - the Americans are growing triffids!"

Then I read the article.

Silly me!

8 hours ago, dunroaming said:

Barnier has said today that there is no way that trade agreements can be made by the end of 2020. An extension will need to be agreed by June 2020 and probably be until 2021/2022.  Johnson is lying to the public and taking them for fools.  No surprise there! 

M Barnier is a senior EU official.

M Barnier is a French Politician

M Barnier is a "Gaullist".

France has a large, extremely inefficient yet politically influential farming sector, which is part of the core support for the "Gaullist" faction in French politics. That farming sector relies heavily upon subsidies from the EU Common Agricultural Policy(C.A.P), The UK's withdrawal from the EU will leave a very large hole in the money pot which funds the C.A.P. The French reaction to the prospect of having to find funds to make up that hole is illustrated below, and is the probable primary driver to the French reaction to "Brexit".

Perhaps M Barniers intervention in the main debate of the UK General Election, on the eve of polling, is an attempt to influence the result - if so it is somewhat lacking in traditional French "subtilité et finesse politique"!

7 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I’ve been busy working with Labour’s campaign promoting voter registration, despite which I have no idea what Friday’s result will be. 

 

You seem even to think you do.

I believe that the deadline to register to vote was the 26th of November. You've had two weeks to catch up on the news, and you feigning ignorance, given the dedication you have shown to disabusing any views other than those advanced by The Labour Party for several months, does surprise me! Is it perhaps a case of not really wanting to face it?

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

And what happens when you reach an infamous U-turn.... a right hand lane driver will hit you up the <deleted> at 120 kph as you slow down to make a turn into what will be the 120 kph lane coming towards you..

Not sure if the minister has thought this one through properly!

Handbrake turn? 

52 minutes ago, Jessi said:

They dont want tourist or long stay expats.

They only want YOUR MONEY!!!????

Maybe the penny (satang?) has dropped that you don't get one without the other?

1 minute ago, bannork said:

You've left out a considerable number of ex-Tory MPs, Ministers, and even an ex-PM, who are urging Tory supporters not to vote for the party this time. Unprecedented.

Yes, ex Tory MPS who stood or campaigned against him in the Tory leadership contest (which he won convincingly incidentally ), ministers he sacked, and an ex PM who was hardly renowned for leading a united Tory party!

In fairness, I imagine that The White House are fully occupied preparing to release Mr Trump's tax returns, reviewing various Court Martial verdicts, and working out how to get Mexico to pay for that wall!

Besides, this is likely to go on for a couple of months, and it seems that most senior White House staff only seem to manage to stay "in post" for a couple of weeks! 

Umm,  shouldn't  she be at school? 

1 hour ago, Orton Rd said:

Bloke who speaks 4 languages, has a classics degree from Oxford, who has written several excellent book and who became mayor of London, the leader of his party and them PM is anything but a buffon. His books the dream of Rome and his biog of Churchill are particularity worth a read.

I agree, having read several of his books, including those two.

It is interesting that one of his greatest detractors, amongst Tory ranks, is Sir Max Hastings - who interestingly published a biography of Churchill at about the same time as Boris Johnson! Having read both books, Hastings's offering is the more scholarly, Boris's is by far the more entertaining read. Of course I am not  suggesting that the possible effect on his sales has in any way coloured Hastings's opinion of Boris!

As for him being a buffoon and a serial liar, the one is a carefully  cultivated image, the other is being assiduously pushed by such paragons of truth and virtue as The Independent, The Guardian, the BBC and Channel 4. The real problem with Boris is that he has something of a track record of winning votes from those who are not his (the Tories) natural constituency.  As Michael Gove said, when he was a leading journalist: " They shouted Boris you Tory w****r after him as he rode past on his bicycle, but they went out and voted for him - twice." That, I suggest, is why he is so hated in some circles...

13 hours ago, gamini said:

Not true at all. Unsworth knowledge is only Cave diving. He is not qualified to comment on the difficulties of getting the children out. Whilst Musks mini submarine, would have been far safer if he had the time to modify it. He would have used his inovative skills too. 

I think the basic, insurmountable, problem, was that a submarine, by definition a rigid article, could not be bent to fit through the tight and angled caves, Mr Unsworths knowledge of the cave system rather does qualify him to speak on the matter.

4 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

You didn't ask me but I don't like it. I think a system of professional judges is better. I was on a jury myself once and that didn't do much to improve my opinion of the U.S. justice system. None of the other jurors even wanted to discuss the details of the case.

Personally I believe strongly in the right to be judged by your peers, in a jury trial properly conducted and advised by a judge. For criminal trials which may lead to imprisonment (or worse) it is central to the British and American justice system - Magna Carts and so on. But, in this sort of civil trial, where money rather than life or liberty are at stake I agree with you.

6 minutes ago, Mark mark said:

I wonder if you could put a big wide strip, down one side of a Tesla, if you saw one, (Then not being very Popular in Thailand just now I would imagine) … and you just happened to have a sharpened 20 Cent Piece in your Pocket !!! … (Or a Claw Hammer ? – Right ? ) ... 

I wouldn't advise it!

I suspect that the defence that "where I come from it is just a harmless bit of robust banter" wouldn't work here, or anywhere outside of California!

34 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

I expect that the attorney was working on a contingency basis which would be part of why the amount of damages sought was so high.

 

Fairly common arrangrment in the US. The lawyer gets nothing if they lose and about half the total award if they win. It is pretty much the only recourse open to people who aren't personally wealthy and want to sue, and lawyers won't undertake a case on contingency unless the stakes are pretty high.

Your post, when read in conjunction with the perhaps surprising verdict in this case, tells us much about how the legal system in the USA works.

Basically, money talks. Musk has a lot of money.

1 hour ago, lamyai3 said:

Unsworth's lawyers took the case on pro bono, so it'd just be the travel costs I guess. But yes, it's a disgraceful outcome. Do the US courts and juries not understand the gravity of the accusations Musk repeatedly made? 

More importantly, they look after their own!

10 hours ago, ezzra said:

most medicines sold in Thailand are of an inferior qualities either manufactured here or imported from neighbouring countries with more filler material than the medicine compounds needed,

That is a remarkably bold suggestion, do you actually have any evidence to support it?

51 minutes ago, BigStar said:

 

But you should be so interested, as in this case pervasive means the de facto standard. American English looks to become even more pervasive, too, (note: ", too," not "too") (note: "too,", not "too") and British English, with its laughably antiquated spelling, even less relevant. American English is most desirable in absence of an official standard, whatever that means. Correctly taught, yes indeed.

 

Nonnative (note: or "non-native," not "non native") such as most Brit teachers whom (note: not "that) I've met except for one Oxford graduate. God knows what he was doing in Thailand except that his wealth did support a harem. He, now, highly intelligent, could speak RP. SHOCK. It's awfully difficult, you see, to establish the correlation between, say, Brummie or Geordie and any form of written English. Fortunately, some students are lucky enough to be taught by educated Americans, Filipinos, Indians, or continental Europeans--all of whom speak and write far better English that of the Brit hod carriers who pass for teachers here.

 

Oh, that's exactly what they need. Trunk is a trunk, not a "byeut."

 

Agreed! But a principle applicable even for those whose langauge is not tonal.

 

Me, too, but better yet: like learning the Brummie or Geordie langauge when you think you're learning English. Kids start coming out with gibberish like "Teachor, when gan wuh gan yeut tuh laik?" you usually hear in Thailand. Not my kid, thank you!

 

On the contrary, Brits should be forced to teach American English; if they can't then they're not qualified. And if they do teach British English, they should be forced to do it using RP. Unfortunately, most find RP as difficult as Thai and scorn it as "posh" (Brit class warfare, you know), so that fact greatly reduces the pool of qualified candidates as well.  

Of course, if the students must suffer a textbook written in British English, then any American teacher can deal with all the uniquely Brit words, spelling, idioms, slang, usage, colonial attitudes, and other obstacles. At least the they will still learn their lessons, as they must, taught in an understandable, if not especially melodious, General American accent. ????  

A well balanced post; a chip on both shoulders!

2 hours ago, Bezdomny said:

To be NES and have BA in irrelevant field with "2 Mondays, one Tuesday" TEFL course  doesn't make you English language teacher. Only teachers who actually studied language and speak at least 2 languages should teach language no matter where they are from. Practice in Thailand and top 10 EF EPI proves this.

 

https://www.thailand-business-news.com/news/76941-thailands-english-proficiency-falls-to-very-low.html

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EF_English_Proficiency_Index

 

 

What's more, persons with such qualifications would be able to demonstrate the use of "the article" (definite or indefinite) in the sentences they write!

????

I am open to accusations of being a "grammar NAZI" I know, but if you are going to question or belittle people's ability to teach a language (even a mere TEFL mong such as myself) then perhaps you should be able to write it (the language) correctly?

11 hours ago, brimacthai said:

The degree was only to meet the governments requirement for a work permit. Even online teaching companies now require a degree and they don't even know why. There's no work permit needed to teach online but yet the companies (most anyways) require a degree and many don't require an English language teaching certificate.

The overwhelming majority of online English Language Schools are based in China. The Chinese education authorities require that their teachers have a degree and a TEFL/TESOL qualification.

At present the forums and Facebook pages are full of offers for online TEFL/TESOL courses, at bargain basement prices. Many are foolishly bragging that they purchased such courses for small change, and completed them in a couple of evenings. I say foolishly, because such boasting will inevitably lead to the requirements being tightened up, probably to require a 120 hour classroom course, with real assessed teaching practices. That will be no bad thing.

3 hours ago, reargunnerph3 said:

Thailand is fast becoming a country to avoid. So many other countries that welcome tourists and are cheaper. Lucky for Thailand that the rich Indians are coming soon. 5555

Aha, maybe the plan is to free up room for all those wealthy Indians - after all, if say 10,000 Taiwanese cancel, that clears space for what, - 80,000 from the subcontinent?