Bangkok Barry

My personal reason is that I have a very low tolerance for stupidity. In life I avoid them most of the time. On-line I tend to respond as sometimes I believe they need to be called out or corrected. Would I do that face-to-face? I doubt I would be in the company of such people.

If he was running to raise funds for charity then it was very much about the money, surely.

That was my point. Foreigner kicks Thai, so there might be a backlash. No mention of his wife's involvement in the abuse.

Feeling unnecessarily aggrieved again then Barry? You miss the point. The fact that he is a foreigner is totally irrelevant, so why should it generate anti-foreigner sentiment? Thais often do far worse. There doesn't seem to be any public backlash against his Thai wife who was also involved in the abuse. Funny, that.

Meanwhile, Mass Shooting at Concert in Ubon Ratchathani Leaves Four People Dead, Many Injured. Is there similar anti-Thai sentiment from Thais over this mass murderer? Or only over a foreigner who kicked someone?

In Thailand he doesn't need to be on drugs. He lost face and so people had to die. Perfectly normal in the land of smiles.

I would have thought that 'sanctimonious' exactly described your original post. And you don't even recognise it as such. Funny.

Same thing happened in New Zealand to a friend of mine. Noisy neighbours, same response of turning the music down and then up again. But there the police returned and confiscated their equipment. Thailand, nah. Another job half done. No law enforcement = anarchy with people acting with impunity.

We have a nephew who my wife banned from our house as he would often show up, speak to no-one, take a few snacks and eventually leave. One night, while I was away, he used a spare set of keys kept with his parents to enter the house and steal money and two phones, one from right beside where my wife was sleeping. It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to know who was responsible, but instead of involving the police (and my wife's brother is one) he was sent to spend a year in the army. Justice, Thai-style. He basically got a year-long sentence without involving any other party.

We really don't need all the other nonsense, do we? Same as we don't need to know what people wear or the number of their car. All completely irrelevant. Where else in the world do we read this pointless detail?

The people who speak in meetings are not the same people who enforce the law. There is no connection between the two. And that sums up the problem. Those at the meetings know that but being in such meetings makes them feel important, when in reality they are impotent.

I know where the quote came from. You wrote what the source was. The fact remains that you insulted her many millions of fans, and her. If you don't like her or her music or the fact that she is successful at what she does, infinitely more than you are I'd guess, throwing insults was totally unnecessary and pointless. As for 'another pretty face', that applies to anyone in music, sport or anything else. No-one lasts at the top forever. Perhaps you haven't noticed that. If you don't like her, it is surely you that needs to get over yourself.

They will want exactly the same for your first renewal. And the second. And the third. And again and again until you die. Only the photos you submit need to be new. In the real world you notify authorities if something changes. In Thailand you have to inform them that nothing has changed. Especially applies to the utterly pointless 90 day reports.

It would change if the authorities wanted it to. All they have to do is get soldiers out of their barracks where they do who knows what all day, put them in civvies and send them to places like MBK. If the driver refuses to use the meter then he needs to be reported and his licence removed. Now. No second chances. Or they could get foreigners to go 'under cover' as they do occasionally to catch pimps. The word would soon get around. Of course, as now, they'd only do a one-day crackdown and it's back to normal next day. Thais are ungovernable as there is never any enforcement. Anything said to the contrary, as in the meeting referred to in this thread, is only hot air. Everyone knows that, including those at the meeting.

I got a taxi from Swampy airport. The driver didn't want to use the meter. I walked away to get another taxi. He called me back and said he would use the meter. He did, but drove in such a roundabout way that the fare ended up as what he had originally wanted. Of course, a tourist new to the country wouldn't know they had been cheated.

There is one for taxis. I used it. They told me to call the tourist police. I called the tourist police and they told me to call the taxi complaint number. 'Somebody else's problem, now let me go back to sleep'.

Like the Safety First stickers at building sites then. That'll do it.

That's a huge effort for what is really not very much money. 2800 a day. Good on him, but I'd venture that he had expected to gather a lot more than that when he planned the run. Marathon runners get sponsors on board to raise money for charity. Did he try that route, I wonder? I suffered the same disappointment though when I gathered items from numerous tennis players, the biggest names in the sport, to auction and raise money for doctors to operate on kids with cleft palates in Indonesia. Only made a few thousand dollars. I expected more.

I've had my HSBC account for about the same period, and they let me retain it. It does seem to be hit and miss. A couple of years ago they sent me some forms to fill in which needed to be verified by a lawyer here - I forget the details - and I did need to call the UK because what I received from them was a second mailing. (I later discovered that our local postie was burning the mail as he was probably confused and didn't know he was supposed to deliver it). I was therefore up against their deadline, but the person I spoke with could not have been easier to deal with and all ended well.

See my comment above.

This 'vapid auto-tuned pop star' is a multi-million dollar industry, who has won many, many awards and who generates huge revenue wherever she goes. Which is, actually, what this article is about as Thailand missed out on its share. Calling her millions of fans 'stupid with bad taste' is insulting to them. and shows that the stupid one is you for not recognising that. Bad-mouthing those millions because you don't like her is juvenile, and suggests it is you that is out of touch, not them. By the way, I wouldn't know one of her songs from another, like you I assume. But, while that doesn't stop you having an opinion about something you know nothing about and insulting those who do, I choose only to acknowledge her importance to the business she is in.

See my comment above.

I think you need to read the report again. Slowly, so that you understand it.

I can understand the outrage, as every Thai knows that beaches at night are for fighting on, not fornicating. These stupid foreigners have no respect for Thai tradition. And we should praise the voyeur public-minded citizen for his sacrifice in filming something that was so upsetting to him. He no doubt needed to lay down afterwards to relieve himself.

Thanks, I totally agree. However it is a report from The Thaiger! Just more schoolkid 'humour' from people who imagine they are professional journalists but in fact are juvenile idiots who have found someone stupid enough to employ them.