kimamey

I thought they claimed tap water was clean years ago.

Those guys are going to kick themselves when they find out submarines go underwater

Well the army are experienced in protest management, and maybe they're expecting flooding

I can source some oars if it helps. Are they ok for rowlocks?

Is the space at the front to enable the picture to be taken, or are they all looking at a TV with a Zoom guest?

The trouble with that is that a lot of it is down to education. Grandmother and/or Grandfather rides a bike without a helmet, and possibly without a licence and therefore insurance. Mother and father also drive without a helmet but slightly more likely to have a licence. They all take the kids on the bike in varying numbers, thereby teaching them that helmets don't matter. Unless they go on a main road they won't see police checks as there isn't enough room on the back roads for all the cones, police, table for taking fines and checking phone for hours, tent to shield from sun and enough pickups to transport it all. When they get to 10 years old, or sooner they want to ride the bike and since their parents and grandparents couldn't be bothered with laws and safety there's no reason they should be either. That's what they've been taught. Even if the parents are responsible adults. Yes I know, but I'm not talking about that many. Even in that case the child will still want to ride a motorbike at 10 because all their friends are, which puts the parents under pressure because it's not just some of their friends, it's how things are done here. If the police took it seriously they could help, but they don't. Part of that is probably because pocketing fines is part of the funding plan rather than using taxes. So it goes right up to the government. I remember a few years ago after Songkran or New Year the police in one area paid for some monks to walk along a road that had seen a lot of accidents and deaths, whilst chanting to ward off evil spirits. The guy in charge did admit that poor driving might have been an issue as well. Before I came here I think there was a transport minister who said "Thais don't need helmets as their skulls are thicker". Maybe someone can tell me if that's true. Anyway, since Thai heads don't seem to be any bigger than anyone else, a thicker skull can only mean less space inside. I nearly forgot the policeman in Mahasarakham who wouldn't fine helmetless children riding to school as they wouldn't be able to buy sweets.

What can I say? I'm a dreamer and an optimist.

The fines do need to be carefully set, and you also need follow up measures for those rich enough not to be dissuaded by the fine. The points system recently announced would fit that so long as there aren't any loopholes for those with influence of course. Other countries manage it, as they do with driving tests on the road rather than a car park with cones, so there's no reason not to do it here.

I know I've said this before, but why not get Food Panda, Grab ect to takeover. Their riders always seem to wear helmets. Either that or ask them how they do it. I suspect it's something to do with making the financial cost of not wearing a helmet, 'No helmet no job' a worthwhile incentive. That's instead of the police business model of allowing you to break the law so long as you pay a fee, and pitching that fee so people are prepared to pay it and continue doing business.

Perhaps it's a typo. It should read: No-one likes untainted goods.

Prachin Buri MP Wuttiphong Thonglour and Bangkok MP Chaiyamparwaan Manpianjit have 30 days from their expulsion to find a new party, otherwise their memberships of Parliament will expire. “If no party is willing to recruit them, Thai Civilised party is willing to take them. This is because, if they cannot find a new party, their memberships of parliament will end and the Election Commission will have to spend about Bt10 million on each constituency’s by-election,” If what you say is true then the above quotes make no sense and the MFP would need to replace them as the seats belong to the party.

Of course we don't know which part of the business is underperforming, or if they all are. It may be the the Miss Universe sector is financially sound. I don't know how well it was doing before it was sold.

Yes it's standard uniform for government workers, but with differing decorations. My wife has one as well as the white dress uniform. The normal ones are worn on Mondays, I think nationally. Next Monday look around and you should see a lot of them, particularly after working hours. The government is fairly militaristic in it's look and setup. If you look at the boards in a lot of government offices showing the hierarchy, the uniforms get more flamboyant the further up you go, until they almost look like the military head of a dictatorship.

The guy on the left isn't wearing a helmet and unlike Thai roads the laws are respected and enforced on racetracks.

I don't think the issue is so much with these pictures, but with the ease of producing harmful misinformation. As for the legality, I don't know. In Thailand the Computer Act, or whatever it's called can probably be used as it is in other cases of real or perceived harm.

How long have you been looking at Bob's rear

I was going to make a comment about this, but this article is a lot more knowledgeable than I am. It's worth remembering that tax officials do it as a job so they may well be better at it than you are unless you are in employment that requires expertise in the area of taxation. Not living anywhere has many implications as shown in the article. In my case, until Covid I was spending time here and the UK on a roughly 3 months basis but slightly over the 180 days in the UK. Now I still have to pay tax on the rent I receive, my small private pension (I have a larger one to take soon) and my state pension. At the moment I'm still able to use the NHS, although that may change, but as I'm married to a government worker I get state healthcare here anyway. My pension doesn't get increased and I'm losing, I think, about £940 a year, before tax. That will increase in April with the next rise. I still have a UK driving licence and car, but it's getting more difficult, and expensive in regards to insurance. It might be cheaper to pay tax here as I don't have a great income, but I'm not sure it's worth it for the small saving If it looks easy to just move around to avoid tax, check you aren't missing something first.

I have a DJI Osmo Action, the fist version. I used in at Cha-Am beach and it stopped working whilst using it in the water. I took it out of the holder and the battery case wasn't closed properly, so my fault, although I'm not sure how it happened. It became quite hot and the 2 red lights were on, but nothing else worked. It seemed dry inside but then it doesn't take much water to cause problems, and the heat will have dried it out. I've seen people on YouTube who have just dried them out and they work again but this will have been salt water. Anyway I need to see if it can be fixed. I'd seen a DJI sign but I couldn't remember where. On searching I found a DJI Phantom shop in Khon Kaen and this must have been the one I saw as we go past there a lot. I'm in Mahasarakham but that's easy for me to get to. It's on route 2 from Ban Phai, south of the city between Toyota and the bus station Has anyone used them? What's their service like? I could take my wife but it would help if they speak some English. Thanks for any help.

There is something that's sometimes bystander syndrome where a person is less likely to help if there are others around. I'm not sure that covers the laughing, comments and filming though.

Thanks for that. I only have a limited knowledge of what happened so your post was very helpful.

Japan might have taken over if Thailand hadn't supported them from what I know. The reason I've heard put forward as the reason for them to not be invaded is that the British were on one side in Burma and the French were in Lao and Vietnam. There was a border between Lao and Burma but if one side had invaded Thailand it may have caused both more trouble that they needed so it was a sort of buffer zone. I'm sure the Dutch were involved somewhere but I can't remember. Off topic really but it might explain the desire not to take sides but I'm not sure it's a very good excuse.

I would have thought the downside for Putin is that there will be a lot of military age Russians avoiding fighting in Ukraine. by hiding in Thailand.

Maybe the Israelis are going for 2 years? Bad taste possibly but if you don't laugh it'll ruin you.

With Russia it's mainly the government that's the problem rather than the majority of Russians themselves. However it does seem strange that Canadians, amongst others, are considered less welcome than Russians. I suspect that Russians will bring in more money than Canadians so you won't count as much to politicians who may have financial connections and incentives. Plus extra money to Thais in those tourist areas will get more votes.

I wonder how Putin will feel about it, given that quite a few of the 'tourists' will be avoiding callup for military service?