Sydebolle

Actually this is very much Thai. Thais are known to spend money they do not have. If you would move all unpaid cars and bikes off Thai roads, traffic would be no issue. Remember 1997; Thais returned unpaid vehicles back to the finance companies, moved out of unpaid houses and had to get on with life. This governmental idea of spending money they do not have is - AFAIK - based on a loan to be granted by GSB, a government-owned bank. If the proverbial manure hits the air-moving device, they will send GSB down the toilet - been there, done than in 1998 when commercial banks put all their rotten apples into a total of 57 finance companies. All except one then went bust and billions of Baht disappeared into thin air. Stay tuned, the government is handing out tax payers money, which is not in the bank - yet! Let's see, how the financial markets and the FOREX will react, if they really go ahead with this idea. The taxation of the dirty farang will not really have a compensatory effect - me thinks!

Surprise, surprise ......... and how does Somchai now get a permit for his rifle to hunt for rats an squirrels in the sticks of Isan?

No, not required. It is, however, possibly noteworthy that, in case of a divorce, the investment goes 50% to your wife, if the source of the money was earned during the marriage.

Unlike the VERY old picture by the original poster we all know that Thaksin likes a glass of wine. Chalerm though is, what the British would call, definitely no stranger to the bottle. I - for one - am surprised, that this dinosaur is still alive after all that alcohol excess over which the media had not a field day but a field holiday 15+ years back. Chalerm and his lovely family of three sons were, are and always be "interesting" assets to the "Haute Volée" of the Thai society.

The Tourism and Sports Ministry declared that it would compensate resorting to government funds. In simpler terms, the Thai taxpayer foots a bill, which cannot compensate for a loss of life. It is not the government's fault and hence reaching out in assistance of any kind in the bureaucratic maze of Thailand is more than welcome - but that's where matters should end.

Thammanat came up with a similarly populistic "gift" by announcing that he might turn all those funny non-title deeds into real title deeds held by all those farmers for generations. It is - however - of possible interest to know, that both, Thammanat and Sutin, are giving away stuff which they never owned. They give away land to people who own in the first place; all this public land, irrespective of what srecwed-up land title deeds they are documented with, belongs to ....... the electorate, the citizen of Thailand, the tax payer. But yeah, go and explain THAT to the uncles and aunties upcountry ........ your call

I don't know anything about the vehicle in discussion but there must be more than one dealership. As said, I never prepay anything in this country anymore as I have been shortchanged so many times. Enough is enough; I certainly would be willing to forfeit a down payment if it is my fault but in case of prepayment I have nothing to argue with if they fail in delivery date, colour, specification etc. etc. Your call though .........

Lucky you; I travelled 30K yearly for 35 years. Retired now, less mileage and no more issues as today I have the time to discuss the missing X or the wrong Y which result usually in a "misunderstanding" ????

Treat this as an isolated case - it is, not even in Thailand, a reoccurring problem when a loonie starts shooting in a mall. Open, transparent press work will focus the media's attention onto other subjects very soon.

Thailand’s firearm frenzy: Tops ASEAN in guns, 13th in global tragedy The hub - explained - how sad!

Depends on the DLT. The fellows at Udon Thani are EXTREMELY complicated and more than slow; changing ownership (not the province or the plates) took 'em solid six hours. Nong Khai earns standing ovations for managing the same task in less than 10 minutes. I - for one - cannot tell you, why these outlets operate apparently completely different.

By all accounts it seems that the kiddo is a nutter of the most serious order. Regretfully he did not get shot by the police and so he will be a dragging file within the juristic system of Thailand, passed on to a loonie bin and in the future released, provided he can convince the decision makers that he is no longer a threat to society - or benefits of an amnesty. I am not a psychiatrist but I seriously wonder, if anyone can rewire the kid's brain - he apparently listens to little voices inside his head and had a stash of serious "war gear" at home - apparently without the knowledge of his parents. Your call .......

RTP officials clarified that their headquarters was not equipped with the necessary special operations team required for such emergencies. “It ....... took them about an hour and a half or two hours to get here" was apparently a statement by a bystander. Well, the police head quarters is 500 meters away and the Chulalongkorn hospital a little further down. And, as far as SWAT team equipment is concerned, I wonder how many units you could fix instead of getting those Chinese submarines without engines - your call!

Note to the Tourism Authority of Thailand - revise the arrival figures of Malaysian back to a two-figure percentage growth!

"the embassy also said that Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara had called Chinese Ambassador Han Zhiqiang to express their condolences, on behalf of the Thai government ... to express condolences over the death of a Chinese citizen and expressed concern for the injured." Wondering, if they called the Burmese embassy for their citizen who lost his/her life as well?

Mall Shooting Could Lead to Increased Gun Control? As long as Somchai wears a mask but no helmet on a motorbike, as long as Somchai comes against you on the wrong side of the road, red lights are a matter of interpretation ...... good luck with gun control. The head line says it all; "could" does not mean "must" - you're welcome!

Aha, a new shopping list in the making .......... well, no surprises here unfortunately 8-)

The problem is not a missing airport, the problem is the lost "welcome" of Thais, the appreciation of tourists visiting and spending money without getting ripped-off at upto 25 times compared to what a local pays. What is missing is knowledge of foreign languages, reliability, punctuality and honesty. But the selected few in the driver seats make definitely more money in building or expanding airports while the underlings can do more or less whatever they want as it does not interest nor affect the upper crust ????

Yes, they might do it but beware, it comes a platinum pricing and is a gold trove for those running it!

Glad to hear that the "español" got his camera and pictures back. Assuming, that he might not have had too many contacts with any other country's police force, his statement of "best" is more relative than factual though - given the countless times I've been stopped for highway robbery bakshish, beer money or whatever you want to call it!

"The suspect's parents were taken aback by the discovery, professing ignorance of the origin of the weapons and ammunition" I am surprised they even noticed, that they have a son in the first place. What kind of parenting is this, honestly? The parents are certainly partly to blame; not for the shooting or the deaths but for the absolute ignorance of what contribution to the next generation is!

All good, all understood but they should have shot and killed the weirdo. He will not be punishable due to his age, is certainly very very sick in his mind and will not be able to be cured. Hence, X days, X months or X years from now he will be leaving a mental institute without any change. While it is tragic to see all this, the responsibility of the authorities lie with the protection of the majority - in this case 99.9999999% of the population which needs to be sure, that such a weirdo will never ever be "challenged" follow little inner voices in his brain!

So the minimum salary doubled over ten years - my question is, did Somchai's performance/output double in line? The university graduates were promised THB 15'000 minimum salary and the excitement was evident. According to some figures (unverified) some 230'000 graduates remained jobless for two reasons; their university degree did, in many cases, not include the ability to complete an application form correctly and secondly they were simply not worth the money. The salary per month is not a relevant figure; of relevance is how long it takes a worker to earn a beer, meal or a car. The other figure is the output value; employers hire only people on whose work employers make some money for them. Basic mathematics. Surprise, surprise though after the last jack-up from 200 to 300 Baht; the noodle soup rose from 25 to 40 Baht which was not comprehended by most noodle soup customers ???? Your call .........

Call Yingluck; she had the necessary expert team executives in flooding ⅓ of the country while inspecting the sites wearing Burberry boots. It is a fact, that ⅓ of rain falls in the last quarter of the monsoon period. The problem arises from the ignorance of the powers-to-be, that they want to fill up the dams as soon as possible. Close all the exit valves, then get the dams filled and once they are almost full, the last ⅓ of the water comes. To avoid overflow of the dam or damage to the latter, the exit valves are opened to their full extent and this outflow, together with the monsoon rain, creates ........ floods. Dozens of experts flew all over the planet on "study trips" to see, how other countries like i.e. Switzerland handles dams, rain or melting ice water. Their system is dead simple. The expected rainfall - based on historical figures - is i.e. 10km3. Your dam needs to be filled with only 6km3 of water. So the need is 6/10th of rain. If it rains 100mm today, you release 40mm tomorrow, i.e. you release - on a daily basis, today 4/10th of yesterday's reading and Bob's your uncle. Real professionals fine-tune the filling of the dams at the very end of the rainy season by releasing more/less water based on their experience. No rocket science - if you ask me ........

Incineration would have been the correct way; everything else is "questionable". Wondering on whose property this eight day funeral exercise is taking place?