jesimps

Exactly what I expected from the European Court, a lefty organization obsessed with giving positive judgements to PC causes.

I was demobed from the army in 1971, but because I only served 11 years I don't get a penny pension from the MOD. If I'd stayed on till after 75 (we didn't know this at the time) then all the time served would have been pensionable. Even people serving half the time I did get a pension if they were demobed after '75. I'm a member of an association of ex-servicemen who took this to the European Court, but of course we lost.

Because the Court is a left wing entity, they naturally hate anything military so we weren't too surprised that our claim was thrown out.

I guess the reason they threw this claim out was because there's no chance of getting votes from us non-EU expats.

Judges at the European Court of Human Rights were the latest to declare that National Insurance contributions did not have an "exclusive link" to retirement pensions.

"As non-residents, the applicants did not contribute to the UK economy, in particular, they paid no UK tax to offset the cost of any increase in the pension," a statement from the court said.

The court said that it was hard to draw any genuine comparison with the position of pensioners living elsewhere.

Nonsense! I pay UK income tax on both my occupational and my state pension, I'm not given a choice. If this is what they really said, then they haven't got the true facts. I can't even take out a QROPS because I'm in a final salary pension scheme. Typical UK, they keep on bleeding you but don't give you what you're entitled to, or employ delaying tactics so that you'll give up.

They will get frustrated. They don't have the majority support or the moral authority to pull off what they are demanding. They do have fermented fish. You figure it out ...

Strange that, seeing they have had the majority in the last two legitimate elections.

A friend's girlfriend owns a couple of stalls in one of the clothing malls in Bangkok. She's not sure she'll be able to keep her shops open this weekend as her workers have been offered 500 baht a day to go protest. Like many other small business people in Bangkok she's just as pissed off at the Reds as she was at the Yellows last year.

Er, last year it was the reds too.

What I think the poster is trying to say is that they're both at it, which we all know.

Excuse me if i'm wrong but there have been bomb attacks in the south pretty much every other day or so for the past 5 years. Unless I'm mistaken, Surat Thani isn't really a Red area either. Is there any actual evidence linking the Red Shirt protests to the bombings?

Deputy PM Suthep Thuagsuban comes from Suratthani.

Now I see a bright Red.

Makes a change, looks to me like this thread's full of bright yellows. Didn't realise there were so many Thai Nationals subscribed to Thai Visa!

It's not going to work as planned.

Ok, maybe a bunch of people will show up, but the existing government will be fine after the dust settles. Have there been reports of payments for attending?

The Abhisit government is legit and decent. There's no real groundswell against him and his administration. It's another last-ditch and desperate means for an extremely selfish man to try and put his hands back on big money and absolute power.

I see the OP photo of Thaksin with the words "Thailand needs change" He's trying to copy Obama's success with that line. Yes, Thailand needs change, it needs to get good people in leadership roles, and get away from the ugly patterns of having people like Thaksin in the driver's seat. Thailand needs to change being so tolerable to treasonous people like Thaksin. It needs to change being so forgiving to Thaksin's puppets, like Sae Daeng, who toss explosives here and there.

The sooner Thailand changes from being harassed from Thaksin and his followers, the sooner Thailand can get moving forward to improving quality of life and cleaning up the environment and doing the many other things that have been put off because of the incessant hassling from Thaksin and his paid intimidators.

Yet another diatribe repeated incessantly here on TV to distract from that fact that the majority of Thais want Democracy and equality for all Thais and not just the chosen elites. The rabid words are always the same, almost as if an automated note writer were producing them.

We should all reject this kind of propoganda. We need to re-establish a civil discourse.

Hear hear! I am a farang married to a Thai Thaksin supporter and I know she is absolutely commited to him and his party. I however try to be neutral and let the Thais get on with Thai politics. Other farang on here would be well advised to stay on the sidelines and not be so vitriolic about one or another party. I have seen both sets of supporters in demonstrations, the yellow shirts occupation of government house and the airport and now the red shirts doing their bit. It is not as though one side is law abiding and the other is not.

It is needed. Well done.

Stop talking rubbish, this is thailand and the thai,s have a right to demonstrate how they chose fit,this is one sure way of over reaction, when will us farang just keep our mouths shut and mind our own business,

No reasonable government in the world would sit back and allow free rein to a violent terrorist movement massing in their capital. If you actually believe the red shirts are a peaceful movement, I would agree with you. However, I think the proof is overwhelming that they are a violent movement willing to do anything to achieve their goals. That is simply not acceptable.

Unlike the peaceful yellow shirts who only forcefully blockade an international airport causing untold misery to tens of thousands. What happened to the reasonable government who sat back and allowed free rein to that violent terrorist movement massing in their capital?

Is it just me or leaders of red like to falsely accuse people without proper evidence and embellish their protests which never live up to the hypes?

I am neither yellow nor red, but these day there just seems to be the case with the reds lately. It's either they are accusing someone, declaring war or hyping up massive protests. Maybe it's just media, but that how i perceive it lately.

And also, woo-hoo.. monks at protest. Monks hardly represent something significant like they are supposed to be. They are ubiquitous and not as revered or held in high regard as they were or supposed to be. I don't see the point of saying "Look at us, we have 20,000 monks at protest", that might stir some sh1t up because simply they are "monks" but doesn't really mean anything anyways. Btw, the number 20,00 is probably pulled out of someone's a*ss. I'd be surprised to see even 1000 or 2000 monks there.

C'mon pal admit it, you're about as neutral as a referee at Old Trafford! The same with the rest of you "I'm neither red nor yellow, but I think that Thaksin is a $&+@" etc etc. Thais understand their brand of politics so let them get on with it, they wouldn't thank us farang for our niaive comments.

To any pensioner out here in Thailand. I don't have much sympathy as what you are doing is acting as a complete drain on UK economy. Your money is spent completely in Thailand. BUT....

CM is right, don't get caught between 2 stools. If you decide you live out here, reconcile yourself to providing for your very old age via a health policy or a good family. Most likely if you were to return to UK, it would be known you were living abroad and the chances are you would not be covered by NHS. I don't think you coud be refused treatment but bye, bye caital and savings.

What a complete load of rolex!

I pay tax in UK on my company and state pension and council tax on a house for services which I haven't used for 10 years. I paid NI contributions all my working life yet do not use the NHS. I help to support two banks how the heck am I a drain on the UK economy?

Nuvi 205W problem.

I bought my GPS new last November and it has worked perfectly the 3 or 4 times I've used it. I took it out of the safe today and charged it via my computer USB port but all I can get on the screen is the Garmin logo with the Blue triangle above it. I can't get the menu nor can I turn the unit off and I guess it'll just sit on the "GARMIN" screen until the battery goes dead.

Even though the unit is plugged into the computer via the USB port, I can't find any trace of it in the computer files. I've looked on the Garmin website but couldn't find any clues there. Any ideas please?

Call me a cynic if you wish

Brilliantly typical Thai plan. Create a crisis,pretend you are doing something about it then queue up with the others angling for your share of the cashola based on all the work you have pretended to do and never mind the implications of your actions. That said, when the money,if there is any left by now,gets released there WILL be squabbling.

Yeah maybe but how about typical whinging expat who chooses to live in Thailand and then complain about the govt and their policies and the "Thai way". No one is forcing you to stay and I have no doubt that you knew what the country is like before you moved there.

Your post reminds me of a tool expat that I met on my first trip to Thailand back in 1998, he told me the "the only problem with Thailand is there are too many Thai people"

It amazes me the amount of expats that complain constantly about Thailand but still continue living there. Usually because they are exploiting the economy and the women.

How d'you know they're whinging expats living in Thailand? People come on this forum from all over the world. You're that little goody goody that used to sit at the front of the class and say "It was him that did it teacher, I love school".

There are lots of us that have lived in Thailand for a long time, but can see the cracks and wrinkles as well as the good side.

Oh yes and a educated work force, a world class infrastructure, natural resources (coal, oil, farming) its a very innovative country, has been a global centre of finance from the year dot, and despite problems in finance the country is ran so it continues to flourish.

let us not forget to mention the victorious Falklands war

I can think of two retorts to your post pal, but not being a complete twit, I won't send them. You should have been banned from these forums a long time ago. If there are any mods reading this, I'd like to object to Naam's posting.

Nice of them to give us so much notice! Or has this been kicking around for a while and I just haven't come across it? I was planning a trip to Bangkok at the end of March to renew mine, now I have to make some smart rearrangements. I don't give much for the chances of my passort making a return trip to HK by post. The times I've cursed Thai immigration for bringing in new rules at the drop of a hat and now we're doing the same thing.

I wouldn't say they were the worst, but they're certainly the noisiest. If more attention was paid to sound-proofing they'd go up in my estimation. This also applies to condos.

If these measures can prevent just one plane from being brought down then it's worth it in my opinion. I'm willing to sacrifice any personal freedom if there's a better chance of me reaching my destination in one piece. If someone can see how small (or otherwise) my pecker is, or if I have a few spare tyres which my big shirt normally disguises, so what. Let these 'personal liberties' types sound off, but if one of their loved ones was blown to smithereens, they're the ones who'll be first to complain about lack of security.

{/quote}

I am afraid to say you are correct. the UK economy has been built on sand since that traitor M Thatcher and her stooge Kieth Joseph sold the crown jewels, and the USA is not far behind !

Wrong! It was G. Brown Esq who sold off the crown jewels when he was chancellor ie our gold reserves; and at a give away price. Add to that the fact that Labour always manage to make a mess of the economy each time they come to power, it's no surprise to find UK in its present plight. Anyone remember the "Winter of discontent"?

Sorry, I know it's off-topic, but I had to respond to the post in quotes.

Three options that I can think of:

1. Open a Thai bank account and transfer a largish sum from your UK Bank every month or two.

2. Take your passport and debit card to a Thai bank and get money over the counter. No charge this end but not every bank will do it and it requires a wait while they copy passport, fill in forms etc.

3. Use Bank of Ayuthaya (yellow) ATMs, you can draw up to 10,000 baht daily without being charged this end. I'm speaking now for Pattaya, I don't know about the rest of the country.

Don't know about Bangkok, but I withdrew 10,000 baht from Bank of Ayuthaya (yellow machine) in Tesco/Lotus Pattaya today using my blue Nationwide Visa/Debit card. No Fee. Also did the same at Tuk Kom last weekend, again no fee.

I've had lots of post go missing during my 3 years here. These days it's just stuff coming in, because I send all my mail registered. If I know someone is going to send me something important, I tell them to send it 'recorded delivery'

Cards seem to be fair game for some reason and I hardly used to receive any. Now my family in UK send them unsealed and 'strangely' they all seem to get through.

My understanding of it is, if not married to a Thai, you need:

a) 800,000 baht deposited in a Thai bank for a period of not less than 3 months: or

An income equating to at least 65,000 baht according to the exchange rate at the time of the application.

c) An annual amount of deposit funds plus income providing the combination of the two comes to no less than 800,000 baht.

I do it on monthly income only (it's over 65,000 baht) by producing a copy of my UK P60 along with a letter from the British Honorary Consul. I believe you can also do it on income other than pension but I don't know what documents are required.

This is my understanding of the rules, someone else may tell you different. Hope it helps.

I'll tell you why the Thais are amongst the worst drivers in the world, it's their lack of role models. The children see their parents riding without helmets; driving against the traffic; jumping lights; not indicating; hogging the overtaking lane; undertaking; overloading bikes etc etc. They also see the police doing all these things as well as extorting money out of innocent people. If their parents and police can't obey the law, why should they? The formative years shape the adult.

Just had to part with 200 baht AGAIN on Sukhumvit for "Driving in the wrong lane". It's the second time recently that I've been 'done' for the same so called offence. Both times I was making a legitimate overtaking manouvre. The first time I just handed over the money, this time I argued till I was blue in the face but it made no difference, it was their word against mine. So rather than give up my license and make a trip to some obscure police station, I paid up. If I'd been in the inside lane, they'd have invented another offence, so what's the answer? I know I'm encouraging them by paying the bribe, but I also know that if I go to the police station, without proof of my case, I'll end up paying double. The little git that stopped me won' get the majority of the money, it'll go to his inspector for his Xmas booze. I hope it chokes him.

I, tried my UK Nationwide visa/debit card in Kasikorn atm at Tesco Lotus Pattaya, earlier and there was a 150 baht charge, so I aborted the transaction. Got my usual 10,000 from Bank of Ayudthay (green) atm instead with no charge.

I thought Ayudhya ATMs were yellow and Kasikorn ATMs were green.

Maybe as he was in Pattaya he was colour blind with the Amber Nector

BT

With so many hovering these days to leap on your typos etc you have to be like b....y grease lightning to get your corrections in!

Sorry. Sorry sir. Very very sorry. I'm honestly so #%$*^&g sorry.

I, tried my UK Nationwide visa/debit card in Kasikorn atm at Tesco Lotus Pattaya, earlier and there was a 150 baht charge, so I aborted the transaction. Got my usual 10,000 from Bank of Ayudthay (green) atm instead with no charge.

B....y ell, going senile, or should that be MORE senile! Should read "......Bank of Ayudthaya (yellow) atm...."

I, tried my UK Nationwide visa/debit card in Kasikorn atm at Tesco Lotus Pattaya, earlier and there was a 150 baht charge, so I aborted the transaction. Got my usual 10,000 from Bank of Ayudthay (green) atm instead with no charge.