Gaccha

Okay. This is another learning opportunity for you. The English statutory law which I quote uses the example of a mortgage (it literally says in the statute that it is an example) to show that where somebody else has a proprietary interest besides the owner of the property, then criminal damage is a legal possibility. It is irrelevant to my point that it is a mortgage. It is irrelevant to my point that it is English law.

This is is a great learning opportunity for you, as you have struggled to grasp the reason why I mentioned a point of English Law. I am going to assume you raise the question in good faith. The point that I was responding to was the disbelief on the other commentator that a person could be charged with criminal damage even against their own property. Their disbelief was unrelated to Thailand itself but simply a more general disbelief. Hence if I could show that a legal system recognises the idea of criminal damage to the person's own property then I would be able to disabuse the commentator of his false understanding of legal principles. I have done that. What I have not done is what you seem to believe I have done, which is to discuss the practical application of the law in this case. But I have helped clarify the legal issues surrounding the possible practical application, which makes my comment rather useful.

"Illegally" is by definition a matter for the courts, not for the landlord. The lessee has the normal protection from eviction and the normal remedies should the landlord struggle to understand the concept of lawful eviction.

You are the lessor! You created a lease on the property. That alienates you from the property for the duration of the lease.

This is a well established point of law. As an example, here is the English Law: "Meaning of Belonging to Another An owner can damage their own property if, at the same time, it belongs to someone else – s.10(2) CDA 1971. For example, if a person sets fire to their own house, which is subject to a mortgage, they can still be charged under s.1(1) and (3) CDA 1971 as the mortgagor will have a proprietary right or interest in the property." The lock is subject to the lease. He can be charged with criminal damage.

Absolutely not true. You've leased it. That means for the time of the lease you are alienated from the property. You cannot do what you want on it.

He won't need a lawyer. If your eviction attempt is illegal, it is a crime and you will face a prison sentence. The prosecution will be by the police not by him so he will not need a lawyer. You, however, will need a lawyer. By changing the locks you've caused criminal damage to the property and may also face prosecution for that. I am sure the police will assist him in removing your changed locks and possibly they might carry his bed back in. There is a process for a legal eviction in Thailand and it can take many months.

Great news! He's back home in blighty and they were able to avoid paying a lot of the hospital bills... at least for now. In the meantime, he's in an NHS hospital now, so the UK taxpayer will surely help fund things going forward. But thanks to your generosity, three of his family had a lovely no-expenses-spared trip to Thailand which included elephant rides; great fun was had by all! Another post has the photos!

He is already home and already in a NHS hospital. This is the update: "So so so grateful for everyone’s help, we were able to pay a huge chunk of the hospital bill and despite the hospital wanting the rest of the money upfront before leaving, Liam and my dad did not take no for an answer and got on the first flight home. The flights were obviously rough on Liam and he wound up with a huge infection in his neck and went straight to a U.K. hospital and was set up on a ward, he is having antibiotics pumped into him round the clock and lots of tests and scans. He will also need plastic surgery and possible further surgery on his neck as the doctors in Thailand had messed up his neck surgery a lot which we are of course fuming about. They did not leave enough skin to cover his Saliva gland which has led to saliva leaking into his neck wound! The U.K. hospital is disgusted by the level of care he received and said we did the right thing getting him out of there as quick as we could. We still have a large chunk of the bill to pay but we will be communicating with the embassy to help resolve this as we are really unhappy with the treatment he received and the state it’s left him in. Any further donations will go towards getting Liam back on his feet and trying to help get his life together moving forward from such a traumatic event. It is also likely we will still have to pay the hospital the rest of the bill. Please keep sharing and donating, any little helps it all adds up and every penny is appreciated greatly. For now though we are just so happy and relieved to have Liam back with us; whether he’s in a hospital or not."

That's a public hospital. And yet: "The young man is currently alone in a private Phuket hospital" What happened? Did they, without adequate resources, move their relative to a private hospital, deciding they were entitled to better healthcare but without the hassle of paying for it?

What on earth are you talking about. What on earth are you talking about...

Time for a colonoscopy. In the meantime, one reasonable strategy is to assume lactose intolerance, another is to consider the factor of mental stress. I'd suggest immediately increasing high fibre, cutting out all dairy products, and minimising stress in your everyday life.

Describe the pain. Is it dull and nauseating? Is it sharp and agonising? Is it easy to locate (could you point to it?). Is the pain isolated in one location? Do you also feel the pain in other parts of your body (your shoulder, arms etc)? Is the pain in your stomach area or in your intestinal area? Have you had a doctor have a look inside (stuck a camera in there)?

I am looking forward to how this plays out. My guess is: There is an obvious danger of somebody actually listening to the parents and promptly detaining or kidnapping or abducting the kid. If they take him straight to the police station, then presumably the police will do nothing to those who make the illegal detention. The police themselves will take on their paternal role and encourage him to head home.

New update: I can only find this in the Thai press currently, but the director has resigned and he has explained his resignation is because the five potential investors did not intend to proceed. This means Zipmex will not be able to abide by the court rescue scheme. Presumably the feeding frenzy will now begin for all the creditors to grab what they can of the carcass of Zipmex. RIP Zipmex

For food, I'll give a 10 baht tip if it's nearer than 4km and a very simple and quick order. For over 8km, it becomes very challenging to persuade drivers to take the order, so I used to bribe with a 60 baht tip. The priority fare algorithm has improved recently so I rarely need to use this now. In very challenging conditions, such as when it rains or is a public holiday, I'll increase my fare by 20 or 30 to bribe their acceptance. I will reward by 10 or 20 extra if they scrupulously obey my messages ("don't phone me" etc). As of yesterday, the lowest preset fare on the App is 20 baht! So the App wants us to be more generous! 555

I was anticipating this "unexpected" orange landslide. My Facebook feed was swamped with the colour orange, from the middle class and upper middle class young (25- 35) thais of Bangkok in my feed, there was not a single non-orange supporter. Not one.

I've done a few things... I went into the prime minister's residence after the yellowshirts had taken it over. A lot of chaos but never felt too dangerous. I went through the live fire zone set up by the army when the red shirts took control of the centre of Bangkok. I then walked in the complete pitch dark to the red shirts, praying that they would not shoot me dead. I am attracted to real world excitement. No girly skydiving or free climbing for me.

This will specifically identify what programmes are slowing your computer down, and then you can remove those programmes with CCleaner as well. A few months back, my office computer was very slow to start. By using CCleaner identified that two simple Print to PDF programmes were hugely slowing down my computer.

And then they altered the constitution after the referendum... They should have been in jail for committing treason against the state.

Sure... but not by usurping the democratic process, then holding power as a military government for several years, and then creating a pseudo-democracy with a senate in its back pocket, and supine governmental bodies.

I'll miss you, the Oracle of Ubon. Obviously, like many other people here, I noticed several weeks ago that you were absent from the forum. But it is still a shock. I genuinely think there will now be a statistically noticeable uptick in the number of illegal overstays or other infractions, since without Joe's advice and calm certainty few expats will have a clue. I wondered to myself just what Joe did to so brilliantly master the Byzantine visa rules of Thailand. He certainly seemed to know the rules better than most immigration officers. I still would like to know. His calm, kind demeanor will be an asset even in heaven. RIP joe.

The problem is that touching a mobile phone screen does not require many calories. Combine that with the reality that empty calories are often very tasty and very cheap and very addictive. Thailand is facing this problem like everybody else. In the UK now, 23% of 11-year-olds are obese (not fat, but obese); it was 13%, 20 years ago. That figure of 13% was regarded as alarming at that time. Our only real hope is that their fat fingers will no longer be able to scroll their mobile phones, and instead they will be forced to do marathon runs as an alternative hobby. Some say this is a wildly optimistic hope of mine.

Not so far mentioned is that you will get a large red stamp in your passport pointing out this crime of failing to report. This will probably will not have any consequences, although the Elite visa system does appear to be sensitive to such infractions in your past.

Botox is an important pain management agent. Overuse of it undermines this use. Do you really want a doctor in a few years time telling you that the agonising neck pain you have can only be effectively relieved by Botox, and then finding out that it no longer has the right effect on you?