Ricardo

People with as much money as Thaksin, do not need to steal from the people. He was a billionaire by US standards

Or at least, that was the theory, when he was first elected. I think most farangs welcomed him, at the time, in the hope that he would be happy with what he & his maid/gardener/driver had already amassed. Unfortunately it turned out not to be so.

On the lack of cases against Thaksin, it seems to be part of Thai culture, not to speak out against pu-yais, and I can certainly understand some poor civil-servant being unwilling to speak up, while there was ever any chance of the man returning. Even many politicians were criticised, for their apparent reluctance to come forward, perhaps for fear of implicating themselves.

But it was surely no mere 'slip of the pen' or accounting-mistake, which led the former-PM to change the law of the land a couple of days previously, to enable the Shin-Corp sale to go ahead ? And in the one case so far completed, he had clearly broken the law, and was thus found guilty & sentenced.

But I thought it was a TG 737, which was allegedly set on fire, in an early attempt to assassinate the glorious former-PM ?

No in flight entertainment apart from watching others.

Perhaps the inmates might put-on a cabaret, to entertain themselves during the flight, then Air Asia X might charge for use of their microphone, or auction the rights not to let anyone do karaoke ?

In an interviewed with the English-language daily Japan Times, "If I get a pardon, I know my supporters would be happy and we would not need to fight back anymore and prove anything.

For any true-believers amongst the red-shirts, who still think that they're fighting for justice or democracy, and not merely for Thaksin himself, this surely says it all.

Thaksin will ensure that they continue to fight, and disrupt the country, until he personally is given a 'free pass' for any/all crimes proven or cases currently underway. After which the troubles will stop.

Can't help but feel it's his threat to return to politics immediately, despite his 5-year ban from politics, which will sink his chances of a quiet return to live here, which might otherwise have been negotiatiable.

Look Out ! You're being stalked, by a photo of a Mammoth, It's Right Behind You !!

What's the bloody matter with them. Look at your card...it's got your seat number on it. Just sit there!!!! Everytime you see it, the dumb look of dispair from them. They go up one aisle....and then back down the other. WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!!!!! Look at that bit of paper in your hand!!!!

Perhaps they're looking for a pretty girl to sit next to ? Rather than a hot sweaty portly farang like me !

If Swampy came 5th, then Heathrow should be Number-1, but somehow I doubt their methodology.

There was another option on the table, that is to neutrelize the zombie leaders (sondhi and chamlong), without their charasmatic and influencial zombie masters the zombies would have suffered the same fate as the red shirts now.

Instead they opened up a pandoras box of problems .

It is indeed to Thailand's credit, that despite Thaksin's frequent claims of assassination-plots, neither he nor the others you mention have been neutralised. Only a few ordinary protesters. IMHO this is better than all-out civil-war on the streets.

Catch a local bus, from Chang-Puak bus-station, up to Chang Dao (about an hour) & hop off just before the local bus-station there, then song-theaw to the caves. Take/rent torches/lamp there ! Cool and safe 'adventure' for kids !

I remember we tried to do this once but the caves were flooded out, are they dry this time of year ?

They were dry at the New-Year, when we were there, and it hasn't rained recently. The water was flowing strongly, but through a lower-level of caves, it exits into the pool/streams by the main-entrance.

The same bus also passes the elephants at Mae Tang, by the way.

There is a citrus nursery out here in Mae Jo with good selection and ok prices. Although I haven't been in there for a couple of years, I saw it in passing not long ago and it appeared to be still open. Drive out the 1001 through Mae Jo, toward Phrao, past the San Sai hospital/Mae Rim road, about half or 1 Km on the left.

We've also bought half-a-dozen lemon-saplings, from the organic farm, at the back of Prem Center. They called them "Hawaian Lemons', which I guess reflects where they reached Thailand from, but are actually what I'd call Mediterranean-lemons.

No problem with closing DM, but the authorities really should get on with building the simple/cheap terminal at Swampy, for low-cost-carriers, which they have been announcing since before the place even opened ! Actions speak louder than words, guys.

If the latest government needs ideas, on where to spend money to boost transport & the economy, then this is surely a quick/easy option, especially compared to things like a new rail-network, which can only be seen as a very-long-term project.

Catch a local bus, from Chang-Puak bus-station, up to Chang Dao (about an hour) & hop off just before the local bus-station there, then song-theaw to the caves. Take/rent torches/lamp there ! Cool and safe 'adventure' for kids !

There are several shops selling/pawning(?) stuff on the outer side of the moat, running East from Chang-Puak Gate, might help ? Good luck on your onward travels !

It might help if you said exactly why you are asking the question. These measures you have mentioned seem to be very subjective, hence all you will generate are some individual's opinions based on personal experiences. If that's all you want, then fine.

Thanks, yes, all I was looking for was others' personal opinions. I leave investment to the experts, and know I'm not very good at it, but retain my interest in management styles & success-stories.

I was started on musing this, as applied locally, by the thought that many Thai companies have ex-military people on their boards, and wondered if this made them better or worse at actually running things ?

When you get one guy trying to 'do it all' there arrives a point of mental grid lock,

and concurrent ego inflation that makes the job a crap shoot for those who SHOULD be benefiting.

Do you perhaps have a recent example in mind, of this ego-led I-decide-everything personality-cult approach, here in Thailand ?

I only encounter Thai companies as a customer, I've never worked for one, although I've been employed by several multi-nationals round the globe over-the-years.

But I was wondering, just which Thai companies would TV-members consider to be well-run, by international standards of management, and why ? I'm thinking about production-efficiency or customer-friendliness, marketing savvy or creativity in developing new ideas, good training of their staff or motivation, that sort of thing.

Do they have air to breathe, that high up ?

'Dances With Soi-Dogs" ?

There is a pecking order on the road here. Big trucks at the top, then cars, then motorcycles, then bicycles then at the bottom is pedestrians.

I would add, everybody stops for tanks, in my experience.

Some of the major PAD funders and members of this current Government are on the board I believe.

Interesting. Do you have a source for this, please ?

It would be crazy if anyone at TG got bonuses, when the business is struggling to survive, although that hasn't stopped some western bankers from queuing-up with their hands out-stretched !

You may likely NOT like that, but it is fact.

You might not like the fact the Democrats did not, and still could not win an election.

Nor did Samak or Somchai, unless you understand how minority-parties can form a majority-coalition government, which is how the PPP managed to gather support to form two governments.

They will not call elections because they know they are not representing the electorate, no matter how you try to twist it.

Ditto for Somchai, no matter how you try to forget it or ignore it, he had the chance but didn't call the election, which you clearly believe (and I don't) he would have won hands-down. Why do you think that was ?

Without the illegal actions of the PAD and the military and the assistance of courts in banning all their opponents while they got off without punishment for the same offences, this Government would be nowhere near office.

The courts didn't ban "all their opponents", they banned three political parties for cheating, in the last election. Most of the actual MPs are still in parliament, although they have so far failed to form a credible Opposition, or even to select a leader. Their disarray, and some clever manouvering by the Dems, enabled a different coalition to come to the front. That's politics for you.

Let's be honest for a change.

(my comments above in red)

This is all wandering off from the article in Time, which was just a classic of self-serving humbug, IMHO.

Blind obedience to a fantasy hagiography, and the applied irrelevance of facts;

a slippery slope to sycophancy, dysfunction, malaise and social irrelevance.

A shame.

But you have to admire the blind loyalty !

If only its object were worthy of it.

Which surely makes Chiang Mai exactly like everywhere else in Thailand, no ?

'The Good, The Bad, And The Portly' should find plenty of suitable farang extras available !

If someone drives me away from my home, I won't keep quiet and won't negotiate.

Nobody has driven Thaksin away, he is in self-imposed exile, the current PM has asked him to return but he won't. Why not ?

The world has moved on but someone still jumps on his back and gives him 2 years in jail. Why? His wife bought a land with no fault and no corruption and he signed ok for her to buy according to the law. But another law does not allow him to do this. Criminal of the century!

All the other cases would proceed, if he were here, to face the charges. Perhaps more-important guilty-verdicts await him, who knows, as long as he continues to dodge the courts ?

He ought to have known, as a fighter for justice, that his wife should not be buying land from a government-body, whose value might then shoot up, if the right planning-permission were given. This gives the appearance, at the very least, of corruption. It's not just aimed at him, these laws apply to any senior politician, he should know this.

Criminal of the century ? Who knows ? But as long as he runs from justice, or his lawyers hand out lunch-boxes, the world will suspect that he has much to hide.

The world all watch Thailand where a PM was down because of his cooking shows and a whole bunch who slept 3 months in Government House, had violent protest in front of Parliament House and finally slept a week in 2 main airports are still free and has set up concerts (meetings?) here and there in Thailand.

(my comments in red above)

Samak got caught taking payments from a company, when they might expect to do very well, if he favoured them. Then he tried to lie about it to the court. OK it was a bizarre way to get thrown out, but so what, the people have the right to expect their top politicians to avoid this sort of conflict-of-interest.

And the law is proceeding, slowly as it often seems to here, against the PAD.