OldgitTom

MOBI,

you're so naive, I wonder if you can find the bathroom.

The real tax 'cheats' are the global corps & fat rats operating in the UK , but avoiding ALL taxation by 'offshoring'. The Con gov looks on them with forgiving & indulgent eyes, since they are all part of the same billionaire's club. It is the Aristocratic Mafia, & QE2 is Top Don.

'Offshoring' is legal, since it is done by the extremely rich. Ordinary expat Brits trying to use the NHS are 'cheats'. Crooks come from all over the world to stash their loot in the bankers' thieves kitchen, The City of London; for this very reason - they can avoid paying billions in taxes.

UK expats beware: I am a UK pensioner resident in Thailand.

Coupla years ago I had to renew my passport (expensive), After, my UK bank promptly cancelled my ATM card. The 'GUMMINT' had informed my bank of my changed passport (residence) address!!! On phone, I asked the UK bank why where I chose to live was any of their business. A bank tele-stooge said banks now, by law, had to establish customers' residence, citing drugs/arms dealing, terrorism, blah, blah, blah. Already, banksters dictate gummint economic policies. Now, all arms of government are sub-branches of banking.

Now I see what the cunning b*******s were up to. I paid my tax dues to the UK over decades, & now pay my own medical fees, etc. Yet still the bureaucratic fat-rats aim to screw me out of free NHS care if I return to the UK.

What a Conservative schweinerei Britain has become. And yes, I recognize the Labour Party is little more than the cons with a pale pink tinge. & no, I will not rush into the arms of racist UKIP, or the other Neo-Nasties of the EU.

Don't pile all the blame on Thailand. There is an influential, international network giving very high-level protection to pedos. It contains senior pols, diplomats, police, spooks & journos. It is held together by mutual blackmail. Don't believe me, look into the evidence. For the USA, try the suppressed Youtube vid, 'Conspiracy of Silence'. Read up the horrors of the Bradford (UK) events, then the much-blanketed Westminster pedo ring, & UK care home atrocities against children going back decades. If you have the stomach, investigate the Doutroux-Milhaud cases from Belgium - home of the EU. You'll also learn about child murders, child-trafficking, & much about official collusion.

Ubonjoe,

my pal's just been to Sirinthorn; no surprises.

ADDITIONAL INFO: the old office at Phibun told me that for my (next) FIRST 90-day gig at Sirinthorn, I could not renew by post. A personal appearance is required - what a mindless drag.

FOR UNMARRIED RETIREES: the bankbook & bank letter are not sufficient to prove money, unless the details have been updated to the actual visa renewal day. So what you need to do is make an ATM withdrawal on THAT DAY. The ATM computer will then update your bankbook, & issue a receipt for that date. Get 2 photocopes. Otherwise, the computer only records details of the LAST transaction & balance. IOWs, the bank letter is actually another waste of time. The bank-person just looks on his/her computer, & writes down what's on the monitor.

ADDRESS: Last year, Phibun also made a song & dance about the Ubon address I have had for about 10 years. I provided house bills & rent payment receipts, but no good. I had to make a second trip with added 'evidence' - what a mindless drag.

An Ubon expat recently told me the new visa office is open & running. He said it's on the main drag near the Sirinthorn turnoff. If it were a few ks further on, it wouldn't even be in Thailand! Intentionally or not, this siting maximizes inconvenience to Ubon farangs, especially old retirees.

In Ubon we have a main police station, tourist police office, highway police, & AFAIK, border police; so why no visa office? I can't see what the big problem is. All that's required is some office & desk space. The personnel exist already.

The Tourist Police told me the Phibun visa office will transfer to Sirinthorn in 'October'. The new office will be at/near the Sirinthorn police station, which is on the lake. Farangs on visa business will have to phone in for any further details needed.

TIT, but puzzling; Ubonratchathani is the district capital, & transport hub, so why put the visa office near the Laos border, TWO HOURS away from Ubon by bus? There is a Border Control office at Chionmek already, just down the road from Sirinthorn. Why a new office, even harder to reach, especially for old gits renewing retired visas, like me, who have a struggle walking 100 meters.

The computer & internet mean a visa office can be anywhere, surely? What's wrong with Ubon? Ubon has a main police station, a Tourist Police office, & even Transport & Border police. But no visa handling facilities, not no-'ow.

Charge them with making obscene vids, give them some Thai porridge, then send the low-grade whelps back where they came from. This is an insult to Thai tolerance.

Sad, & tragic for the famiy left behind. Having pedalled in other countries, I know this sort of killing of cyclists is pretty general. I learned to regard car drivers as 'canned idiots', & a few I met over years were borderline psychotics or deranged. Then there are the intractably dumb, so stupid they should not be around unsupervised. Lesson: the less drivers there are on a given road, the safer you are on your bike.

Ubonjoe,

thanks; I'm on the paperchase now.

Apply early!

I scanned the web for latest renewal info. Couldn't find the old Royal Thai Police/Immigration site, & I've found other farang sources of variable reliability. Never mind, I'm an old (single) hand at renewing retirement visas. But quelle surprise, this time, probs.

I have lived at the same rented address for years, Now, immigration official wanted proof of residence - Tabian Ban, rent book, etc., which I don't have. The absentee Thai landlord moved to somewhere unannounced in Europe. I just pay the rent to a bank.

Plus, money side OK, but NOW they want to see 'original' of letter from UK embassy confirming my pension. Where the heck did that go? A computer copy is no longer good enuf. Two weeks left before old visa expires & I have to accomodate to latest laws. whatever they are. Congrats to the new <removed> regime for keeping a 75-year-old nimble by running round in bureaucratic circles.

Orders can change but must be obeyed vizzout kvestion. Be wary & apply early.

Impulse,

if you are a happier turkey by not thinking about Xmas, good luck. But I hope you are not with the many expats who seem to think an army overthrow of a democratic system is a good idea. I don't think so. Not that Thai politics has a/thing to do with me, or vice-versa. The big danger to all of us is what happens in the USA, or more accurately, what is happening. If democracy falls there, we can kiss it goodbye globally. Let's hope the Obama boys & girls have not been taking notes, or are too busy in the Ukraine.

Publicus & Impulse,

never mind Thailand, you don't grasp how easily democracy can be destroyed. You sneered at my warnings. So also, many Jews & democrats ignored the danger signs when the Nazis took over in Germany & Austria. I know, since I'm old enuf to have known a few who didn't laugh, but managed to escape. Many laffers stayed behind, & ended in the death camps. "It could never happen in the USA"? Habeas corpus has been annuled, you dreamers. It is now perfectly legal for the almighty state to imprison a/one, w/out trial, & to hold them in secret indefinitely. And in secret cells, who knows what happens to you, or cares? You are very foolish posters.

The Trans-Asia Hiway from the port of Danang crosses from Laos at the Mukdaham border. It is a fast route for containers from China & sundry other parts. They go to Myanmar, then further westwards, some into Thai, & vice-versa. This is an ASEAN set-up, so if the traffic is interfered with, the repercussions would go wide. Possibly, really desperate, fleeing VIPs need only garb themselves as truck drivers to 'escape', that is, if they grudge the 500B for a rowboat to cross the Mekong.

ASEAN is linked by treaty, commercially, to the BRICS trading bloc. This is a serious competitor to the rival bloc, which uses the US dollar for international deals. Now, who would be interested in sowing discord & mayhem within ASEAN to rescue their failing currency? Could it be the same powerful nation that trashed & smashed Iraq, Libya & Syria for similar commercial reasons?

As for tourism, with 20 million-plus Chinese fun-seekers in the pipe, who needs Westerners? Whatever, I devoutly hope Thai can escape international entanglements w/out harm.

Police state; never mind the 'criminals' supported & voted the gov into power, via the ballot box. Never mind they are no more or less crooked than the next or previous bunch. This is a rehearsal in microscosm of what Obama plans for the USA. He is only one good false flag op away from martial law. When democracy falls in the USA, it will fall everywhere. Hitler, Hirphito, MUssolini & Stalin all believed ultimate power comes from the barrel of a gun. It took the deaths of millions to prove them wrong.

You can guarantee that whatever the news topic here, some old, grey. wrinkled whiners will be blaming the Thaksin/Redshirt faction-'gummint'. So whiners, you think they are oustandingly corrupt/incompetent/violent? Really? As compared to whom? You regard Obama, Cameron, Merkel & Hollande as paragons of honesty, virtue & pacifism? If so, &lt;deleted&gt; are you doing here?

ggold,

Thaksin & Hun Sen look big frogs to you only becoz they live in very small ponds. The USA couldn't care less what deals they do, or think they do. Thailand is currently being 'leaned on' by the 400kg gorilla. The USA is very keen to break away any nation in BRICS, which includes Russia & China. If the BRICS Asia-Pacific trading group can dump the dollar as number one world currency, the dollar will be finished, & so will the USA as dominant power. That's what behind Thailand's 'troubles', not the little stage villains most people are watching in their petty squabbles.

The Red-Yellow fight is superficial. Never mind the surface waves & froth of events. Note the way the deeper current is pulling. Washington has arranged several 'regime changes' recently - eg., Egypt, the Ukraine, & the ongoing attempt in Syria. Mystery snipers play a common role in all. Nobody can identify the gunmen, so they stirred up the chaos & turmoil on the streets. Why? Becoz who controls oil & gas, controls the world. Thailand has aligned with ASEAN economically, which is tied-in with the BRICS trade group (Asia-Pacific nations). BRICS is attempting to break away from US dollar domination, which is ultimately, only based on the petro-dollar. The Big Oil/Gas cartel is not happy. Watch out for regime change coming your way, Thailand.

My old dog (bitch) has trouble walking & eating. I think I will soon need a vet to put her down. My usual vet now no longer does house calls (I have no car), & last time I asked her about this possible termination, she refused on Buddhist grounds. Anyone know a vet in Ubonratchathani who is willing to do this? Thanks, OGT

The world is run by upwardly-grabbing b*******s like this couple. The sums quoted as her/their fortune would count as chump change to the fat rats who own the West's banks. In fact, how much money the West's richest family holds is a US/UK state secret.

Which al Qaida is this? The nasty AQ, which murdered foreign oil industry workers in Algeria? Or the nice AQ, which the West has armed to the teeth in Syria? Supplied arms included shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles - nice thought for frequent fliers. And they call the Western psychopaths in charge of all this the INTELLIGENCE services?

As an expert in losing money, I proffer financial advice. Ignore professional economists. Most are either crooks paid by the bankers to mislead you, or write incomprehensible gibberish in the press. Many suckers fall for the fairy story that wicked 'debt' caused this looming crisis. Rubbish; all money in circulation is debt, borrowed at compound interest from bankers: no debt = no money = economic depression (which is getting close).

There is a global currency war beginning, which will morph into a trade war. These 'wars' usually end with the bang-bang type. That's why the West is invading sundry regions - to corral as much of global resources & commodities as possible - hoping they will save their paper currencies. Even 'rock-solid' Switzerland is printing more paper money. All countries are. Never mind how dodgy the US dollar is, ALL currencies are going to lose value to rampant inflation. Thailand is too small to avoid what is happening with the monster economies east & west.

Interest rates must shoot up soon, which is when the serious grit will hit the fan. So now is a very bad time to enter into long-term financial commitments. Rent, don't buy a house, & stock up with durable foodstuffs..