Bangkok Barry

Except France makes world class wine and cheese! And Thailand makes...... ??? Hmm. Let me think for a day or two.

It stops him from being an MP until the court has made its ruling. That will be at least a week, as they didn't have time to discuss it at their weekly meeting on Wednesday. Which I guess means he won't be in Parliament on Thursday to plead his case to be PM.

the Court’s weekly meeting today could not, therefore, consider the case, as the agenda had already been finalized. So, the court is too busy to rule on such a huge moment in Thai political history. Making it a priority, with the PM vote imminent, was apparently out of the question. More important things to talk about. I guess that shows which way it will lean, once they get around to discussing it.

No. He was Prime Minister. Thanks.

It certainly calls into question his judgement, doesn't it. Which is hardly encouraging in a man who wants to lead the country. Unbelievably naïve.

That was the Bangkok mayor, I believe. Any excuse will do. Anything.

There is a very, very good reason for that, for which we should be thankful. With Thai logic and the low standard of Thai education and their IQ level, can you imagine some of the verdicts they might come up with. And I write only half in jest.

I stand to be corrected, but I think I remember that in 2010 the Baht actually rose during the street riots. Probably because the world doesn't give a rat's fart about what happens in Thailand, as nothing that happens here in a little SE Asian country has even the slightest effect outside of its borders. Except in 1997, when corruption by the leaders of the BCC, who made massive unsecured loans to their friends, led to the Asian financial crisis.

Agreed.

Never safe from drunk drivers in Thailand. Even at 8am.

Depends where you were, I suppose.

Just imagine how much tax the government could earn from legal casinos. But they will never happen as the 'untouchables' who own the illegal ones won't allow it. Instead, about every five years a committee is set up to pretend to examine the feasibility of allowing casinos to open, usually in Pattaya, and then it all goes quiet again.

How very Thai. It never happened. Nothing to see here. Move on (but don't use the escalator).

In a market area near me there is a one-way road, and my observation while waiting there is that at least one vehicle, usually a motorcycle, every minute drives by going the wrong way. And that is a very conservative estimate. Probably close to 100 an hour. It's crowded with little space and people and other vehicles often have to squeeze by those going the wrong way. But they are Thai so it's allowed (ignored). The vital rule in Thailand is to always, always look both ways when crossing a one-way street.

What they think is the right thing is not what you - or millions of Thais - think is the right thing. And that is nothing new. The current political set-up was deliberately designed by the outgoing government to be able to over-rule the will of the people. That is the entire point of them being there.

It is amazing how many people still forget there is CCTV everywhere. My favourite story is of a Thai woman who owned a dress shop and who installed CCTV to catch shoplifters. Instead, it caught her stealing from a customer's bag while that customer was in a booth trying on a dress.

She had an active arrest warrant for alleged involvement in the murder and dismembering of German businessman Hans Peter Mack Police stress, however, she is not a suspect. If she isn't a suspect why was there an arrest warrant?

Of course I didn't believe him. Did anyone, apart from his blind supporters?

Remember, it wasn't so long ago that Trump was calling the leaders of Russia and North Korea his new best friends. They knew they were dealing with someone with the understanding of a five year old, humoured him and then when he left the room ignored everything he said and any 'breakthrough agreements' he thought they had made.

I didn't write this, but as a Brit man too I agree with every word: Someone asked "Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?" Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England, wrote this magnificent response: "A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace - all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief. Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing - not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility - for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is - his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty. Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults - he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness. There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege. And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff - the Queensberry rules of basic decency - and he breaks them all. He punches downwards - which a gentleman should, would, could never do - and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless - and he kicks them when they are down. So the fact that a significant minority - perhaps a third - of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think 'Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that: * Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are. * You don't need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man. This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of <deleted>. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum. God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws - he would make a Trump. And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: 'My God… what… have… I… created? If being a <deleted> was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set."

Were you here during the last uprising, that involved hundreds of thousands and lasted many weeks?

Plenty threw more than their knickers in 2010. Central World burned down. Large areas of Siam Square and Victory Monument burned down. Asok junction and Lumpini Park area blocked for weeks. Were you even here in 2010?

two trucks = two number plates !!!! Read the report again. One truck+one trailer. But interesting that the trailer had a different number, albeit 'next in line'. I didn't know they did that, and will go to bed tonight wiser than when I woke up - always a good thing.

I've raised with religious people I know how God lets disasters happen and got the ultimate cop-out from one - anything bad, any disaster, is the the work of the Devil. I dropped the nutter as a FB friend. I guess it's not only Thais who always blame someone else.

A claimed that the entire community is aware of the suffering endured by her sisters, yet no one came forward to help them. Local community members expressed their relief and joy upon Dee’s arrest The arrest might have happened sooner if the community had done something other than turn a blind eye and do nothing.