JAG

And you have previously poured scorn upon just about every aspect of their society, culture, cuisine and all their "service industries". I can't help wondering why you live here! It can't be for financial reasons, in various of your previous incarnations you have told us that you are extremely wealthy!

Declared or found? There is a significant difference. The establishment simply seems him and his political clan as rivals. As long as he is on the scene they are unable to relax, their cosy monopoly of government and the eye watering wealth it brings them is not secure. Don't think that this " group of esteemed senior physicians" from Chulalongkorn University" are acting out of concern for medical ethics! They are part of the establishment, Chulalongkorn University is at it's core, and are laying down a marker with the side they think will win.

The view from the planet Zorg is of a vibrant cultural centre with phenomenal temples, indigenous food and many other cultural icons.

Frost was brilliant. David Jason had a remarkable range as an actor : Granville, Del Boy Trotter and Inspector Jack Frost. Morse required one to really concentrate, but again was brilliantly written and acted!

What is the saying: "no smoke without fire"?

It sounds as if it needs a boot up it's hard drive!

One must be careful about terminology! I do remember, during one exercise in the United States, our soldiers were vastly amused by our American counterparts complaining about the discomfort of having to wear "suspenders"! Eventually we realised that by "suspenders" they meant their web equipment! Mind you, British webbing was widely believed to have been designed by a woman who hated men!

Then add in the unavailability (through cost) of basic medical care to poorer people... It is quite remarkable that a nation which can afford to spend 40% of the global funds spent on "defence" cannot look after the health of it's most vulnerable!

It is beyond obvious that the income from trimming beards and haircuts can't even begin to cover the costs of running the enterprises, particularly when you have so many clustered in small towns like this. However the larger towns and cities are awash with cash from drug dealings, and it has to be laundered, the banks wont touch it. It has to be passed through " legitimate businesses". Drive with your thousands of £ to a nearbye small town, parcel it out amongst half a dozen "barber shops", job done!

Alternatively, they could give Baron Trump a place!

The "US State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor " would do well to wind their neck in, and instead concern themselves with the rapidly emerging threats to democracy, human rights and labour in their own country. The law (and the way in which it is enforced) against "silent prayer" is atrocious, but we don't need the US State Department getting involved.

The "Line" communication app is driving me up the wall! My phone was damaged, so I need to install it on my replacement phone. The damaged phone screen is blacked out so I can"t use it to initiate the transfer of my account. If I try to log in by phone number then all I get is an endless stream of those bloody silly Captcha picture puzzles, one after the other. My failing eyes mean that it is almost impossible for me to use them. In an act of utter stupidity, for a business whose purpose is communication, they have no email address, you can only access their help line (itself an oxymoron) using Line! Of course I have Line installed on my computer, but all that does is witter on about Q&R codes, which I am too old and stupid to use. Any kind soul any ideas?

The "Line" communication app is driving me up the wall! My phone was damaged, so I need to install it on my replacement phone. The damaged phone screen is blacked out so I can"t use it to initiate the transfer of my account. If I try to log in by phone number then all I get is an endless stream of those bloody silly Captcha picture puzzles, one after the other. My failing eyes mean that it is almost impossible for me to use them. In an act of utter stupidity, for a business whose purpose is communication, they have no email address, you can only access their help line (itself an oxymoron) using Line! Of course I have Line installed on my computer, but all that does is witter on about Q&R codes, which I am too old and stupid to use. Any kind soul any ideas?

Shall I put you down as a Trump supporter then?

After all, Cliff Richard keeps coming back the same'

Yes.

I think he means those tanks of garishly coloured liquids being continuously stirred by electric paddles in 7/11. Either buy it from the cafe, and specify no sugar, or if you want a quick cheap coffee use one of those Nescafe red plastic bags, the ones with separate sachets of coffee, creamer and sugar.

😃

Two up on a petrol scooter is of limited value as a "pursuit vehicle", but two up on an electric scooter?

Given that in my local immigration office an agent sits at the back of the room, and the IOs actively refer people to her, I would suggest that it entails no risk!

Give it a year or so and the average US city will look like the street scenes from "Bladerunner"!

My reading is that part is smaller, but better equipped and trained, effectively a mobile powerful roughly two brigade sized group. The rest (larger) part is made up from immobile barely trained units, manned by uninterested conscripts and equipped with Vietnam era "hand me downs".

Umh, both Thaksin and Yingluck were voted into government. When they stood for reelection for a second term, and were very obviously going to win a second term, on both occasions the elections were replaced by a coup, and a military government was installed. Subsequent to each coup, the military government installed and controlled courts courts instituted proceedings which left both parties with no choice but to go into exile. Many will remember that in Yingluck's case she was held incommunicado and then, surprise surprise, delivered across the border into exile in Cambodia. There was also the business of her teenage son being unable to join her because he was required to attend mandatory Army Cadet Force training. Some might consider that unjust...

1) don't let facts get in the way of a good rant. 2) the first 5 on the list were not responsible for closing the bars at 2am!

Thais smile all the time, sure, some of them are forced smiles, but bye and large I think they are genuine. This evening I popped out to do a bit of shopping in my local small town. The girl in the bar I frequent from time to time gave me a bright smile and a wave when I rode past, the girl in the butchers smiled, the cashier at Lotus smiled, as she practiced her (wildly inaccurate) use of English numbers. Now I consider myself vaguely presentable, and do take some care over my appearance, but I am certainly not magnificently handsome, nor am I obviously affluent. But I like being smiled at as the default greeting, and try to respond.