JAG

Presumably if my daughter were to enter in a rubber dinghy over the beach at Folkestone, or wearing a bhurka in the back of a fruit and veg lorry from Calais, she would not need any such documentation? I only ask as all conventional attempts to get her a British Passport over the last 15 years or so have simply been ignored. She was born to a Thai mother one year before she would have automatically have been a British Citizen by virtue of the fact that I am her father. She could (should) be able to become one, all that is required is a case review by the authorities. They point blank refuse to do that, and all subsequent enquiries have simply been ignored. I even wrote to my MP (ironically a German national who was granted British Citizenship!), that too was ignored.

Well, they have got four years to build a reputation as a mature and effective political force. As an opposition, they will be operating in a "target rich environment "!

Probably easier and quicker to offer whoever runs the Corruption Perceptions Index a decent bung!

There were some very strange characters mincing around Bosnia - the borders were rather porous! There were several magazines being published in the UK aimed at the "Soldiers of Fortune" market. One creature presented himself, festooned in assorted weaponry, to us. He was told that if we saw him again we would arrest him, put him on a flight back to the UK, and when he landed at RAF Lyneham the RAF Police would deliver him to the civilian police at Swindon! Of course we had no power to do so, but he probably didn't know that, and buggered off "toute suite". Would have been fun to see the look on the civvy coppers faces when the RAF provost delivered him to Swindon Police Station!

I stand ready to help...

Perhaps, just perhaps, there aren't any practising Buddhist academics on this forum at the moment? Incidentally, who are you going to lodge complaints with? I would love to be a spectator!

I rather think that is what immigration (not customs) do already.

The French led UNPROFOR forces closed down one such operation "kinetically" over several nights - some classic reconnaissance patrols and covert observation posts followed by a quite vicious fighting patrol/ambush. The non French troops in UNPRFOR were encouraged to "look the other way".

My stepson did his military service a few years ago. His pay was sporadic to say the least. Very significant "deductions" which were never clearly explained. His training was sketchy - drills were taught, but no field training exercise in his two years. Fired his rifle 3 times, a grand total of 60 rounds. Mind you it was so old and knackered that he had to hand cock it most of the time! On a couple of memorable occasions he was sent home for several weeks because the barracks had no rations to feed the soldiers. Mind you he was awarded more badges, para wings and assorted military bling than I got in a 30 year career!

Well, Thaksin and Anutin's father, Chavarak Charnvirak go back a long time, as does Newin Chidlob, the "man from Buriram" who really pulls the strings in BJT. Any one else find it surprising that the People's Party did so well in the party list vote ( won it convincingly) yet relatively poorly in the constituency member voting?

Nicely bunched up as they emerge from the treeline onto the track. Machine gunners dream!

Is it 1926 or 2026? Why do they not send them out and have them returned by email? Don't tell me it is because it is secure - my last Armed Forces Pension statement had been opened at the Bangkok mail centre and the amount I receive, monthly and the annual total written in Thai script on the envelope. Sending these out by surface mail, in the knowledge that the transit time is almost invariably such that they arrive after the deadline, is nothing more or less than an exercise in <deleted> the troops around!

Well, what is Fergie if not a bit common?

Guns and booze don't work.

Whilst many bemoan the American decoupling from traditional trading political and military alliances with Europe, at least I would suggest that it will spare us from constantly having to react to and smooth the increasingly erratic demands of the current US administration! Incidentally, I don't think that there is anywhere remote in Belgium - the country is too small and crowded for that!

Much of the OP is somewhat behind the times , mind you of course it is the Express! The titles, honours and military appointments are gone. Mountbatten Windsor is out of Royal Lodge. As for the whole matter of investigation, prosecutions and punishment, yes we should move; but we are very much in the rear coach of this train. The bulk of the scandals took place in the USA, the laws broken were for the most part US laws, the major players were absolutely at the very top of the US establishment., and that is where the really egregious cover up is going on.

The discrepancy between the Party List vote and the Constituency results is massive, which is, to say the least, strange!

i wouldnt say it is mathematical. I would suggest that it is perhaps inevitable. Incidentally I don't subscribe to the whole "charity begins at home" principle. Individual acts are up to the individual of course, but in international terms the whole point of charity and aid is to help the less fortunate and suffering of the world. I don't agree that aid should be given to countries that maintain large armed forces, particularly nuclear armed ones. I also believe that in the national/international sense "charity begins at home" rather too often means "charity ends at home",; as the actions of the current US Administration rather illustrate. But then what do I know, I am merely a confused liberal old Tory, who thinks that the world is a <deleted> mess - and gets upset when little black children are left to die from not having access to clean water and basic nutrition whilst their national elites swan around in Mercedes-Benz and the aid agencies drive around in the latest white SUVs! I suppose that is racist, but I don't care!

If you are not in bed by 9pm, I would suggest that you call it a night and go home!

A "limited military operation" to restore the transit corridor through the Suwalki Gap, restoring the land routes to Kaliningrad through Polish and Lithuanian territory. If/when Putin thinks he has decoupled the USA from NATO he will try it.

Going by the OP, no and no.

Can'r begin to imagine why a Polish channel is not singing the praises of Mother Russia!

The statutory process being, of course, absolutely impartial!

I think the suggestion is (credible) that the people may not have voted in the guy whose family has been incumbent for years, but the influence brought by that incumbency ensured that he "was retained". That is what happens when democratic challenges are made to what are effectively feudal power structures. It took the UK the best part of 200 years to sort out the "rotten boroughs"!

What with the reds, Chinese, Israelis and now Muslims there really can't be much room left under the establishment's beds these days!