pitrevie

The guy that banged his shoe and said Russia would bury the USA? Soon his country will bury him. just another evil politician.

I believe you are confusing him with another Soviet leader, I don't think it was Gorbachev who was the shoe banger.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but I think you've got it incorrect.

I think your history is a bit askew, the shoe banger was Khrushchev who was responding to a speech at the UN by the then British PM MacMillan.

In fact MacMillan who was using his reading glasses could not see what was happening and he asked for it to be translated which was regarded as a wonderful British riposte but as MacMillan admitted was nothing of the sort, he just didn't see Khrushchev on his feet banging the desk with his shoe.

It is indeed a hassle to renew UK passports here now, easier 10 years ago. But just to put things in perspective, would it be so easy for your Thai friend to renew their Thai passport in the UK? I renewed mine there a few months ago. This is how it went: phoned up for appt, went in 10mins before time, number called and paid in 3mins, passport delivered within a week. Also don't forget that most Britons have a passport, while most Thais don't.

Sorry I should have made that clear I am actually referring to renewing my passport in the UK where there have been waiting times of weeks to get a passport renewed. I don't even want to get into doing it from Thailand, the next time I want my UK passport renewed I will actually be in the UK.

A Thai friend of mine applied for a renewal of his passport, appointment arranged on line for Monday. Interview time less than 30 minutes and receives his passport by Thai post on Wednesday.

I do hope the UK minister responsible for passports is going to visit and see how it is done.

Once we get out the EU we will be saving a lot of money.

Look how much EU (and non-EU) migrants cost the taxpayer every year.

Coming out of Europe will save 55 million a day just for starters. That in itself will cover around 2.7 million pension payments per week.

Yep that will solve all our problems and Britain can return to what it was before joining the EU, a thriving dynamic world leader with the world queuing up to get British exports just like in the good old days.

Great that we will be able to solve all our problems just by getting out of Europe, who would have thought it would be so easy?

And the two senior naval officers both experts in their fields also playground thinkers?

And Richard Muller a Koch funded scientist also a playground thinker.

Only if they believe that everyone who disagrees with them is not only wrong, but evil and repugnant.

That's the childish attitude, much favored amongst the Green/Left.

Well it was you that used those words and not me. I just want to see some sort of case against man made climate change and thus far I haven't seen any of that.

For me, it's simple. How does throwing up billions of tons of greenhouse gases NOT affect the climate?

Well according to that renowned climate expert Michelle Bachmann carbon dioxide is a natural byproduct of nature and therefore it cannot be harmful, that is the sort of logic that is used by the opponents of man made climate change.

I am not sure what any of that means. Presumably these people are funded to carry out research and their conclusions will be based on where the evidence leads.

Now if Susan Crockford is getting financed by the Koch brothers and produces research which supports climate change how long do you think she will continue to receive that funding?

That conclusion is straight out of a kindergarten Goodies v Baddies game -- "our" scientists use research money to nobly and impartially follow where the evidence leads, but "their" evil scientists take money to advance a sinister political agenda.

That's cops and robbers thinking, cowboys and Indians stuff, and should be left in the school playground where it belongs.

And the two senior naval officers both experts in their fields also playground thinkers?

And Richard Muller a Koch funded scientist also a playground thinker.

Perhaps you should give us some quotes from that doyen of climate deniers Lord Christopher Monkton that should be worth a laugh.

Suggest it? I'll guarantee the money is a motivator.

Well, having established that scientists will falsify their science for financial gain, I wonder if there are some other scientists whose work we can dismiss on the same grounds.

Let's try Michael Mann, he of Hockey Stick fame. Does he have the motivation to falsify science for financial gain? Does he receive any grants for his research?

2009-2013 Quantifying the influence of environmental temperature on transmission of vector-borne diseases, NSF-EF [Principal Investigator: M. Thomas; Co-Investigators: R.G. Crane, M.E. Mann, A. Read, T. Scott (Penn State Univ.)] $1,884,991

2009-2012 Toward Improved Projections of the Climate Response to Anthropogenic Forcing: Combining Paleoclimate Proxy and Instrumental Observations with an Earth System Model, NSF-ATM [Principal Investigator: M.E. Mann; Co-Investigators: K. Keller (Penn State Univ.), A. Timmermann (Univ. of Hawaii)] $541,184

2008-2011 A Framework for Probabilistic Projections of Energy-Relevant Streamflow Indices, DOE [Principal Investigator: T. Wagener; Co-Investigators: M. Mann, R. Crane, K. Freeman (Penn State Univ.)] $330,000

2006-2009 Climate Change Collective Learning and Observatory Network in Ghana, USAID [Principal Investigator: P. Tschakert; Co-Investigators: M.E. Mann, W. Easterling (Penn State Univ.)] $759,928

2006-2009 Analysis and testing of proxy-based climate reconstructions, NSF-ATM [Principal Investigator: M.E. Mann (Penn State Univ.)] $459,000

Nice work if you can get it, but obviously scientifically worthless, since money is the motivator, just as you say it is for Susan Crockford.

So much, too, for that 97% of scientists who "believe" in climate change -- all paid shills, motivated by the money. We obviously can't trust those scientists, so the climate scare ends straight away.

I am not sure what any of that means. Presumably these people are funded to carry out research and their conclusions will be based on where the evidence leads.

Now if Susan Crockford is getting financed by the Koch brothers and produces research which supports climate change how long do you think she will continue to receive that funding?

In fact a Koch funded scientist Richard Muller who had been a climate skeptic after examining much of the evidence was forced to reverse his opinion. I doubt that he is now funded by the Koch brothers.

Read any comments by the top people in the USA Navy who are dealing with this problem, are they all lying or misinformed?

America’s top military officer Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III, in charge of monitoring hostile actions by North Korea, escalating tensions between China and Japan, and a spike in computer attacks traced to China provides an unexpected answer when asked what is the biggest long-term security threat in the Pacific region: climate change, is he lying or misinformed?

“There are multiple, independent lines of evidence that the climate is changing, and that the primary cause is a change in atmospheric composition caused by the burning of fossil fuels.”

David Titley, rear admiral (ret.) is an expert in the field of climate, the Arctic and national security. He served as a naval officer for 32 years, rising to the rank of rear admiral. Titley’s naval career included postings as commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, Navy oceanographer and navigator and deputy assistant chief of naval operations for information dominance, is he lying or just misinformed?

Humans do strange things. Why do this to your self I wonder ?

Money?

How many women in Australia wear burquas ? Just another fear-mongering no-news item. Many Catholic nuns wore full face habits for years in Australia.

Firstly I'd love to see you substantiate that claim that nuns ever wore full face covering habits! Secondly, nuns are women of God. They are devout ladies who are celibate and consider themselves married to God. You cannot even compare a nun with a common and garden Muslim woman with 10 kids and and an abusive husband. The deal with banning the burqa is a security issue. Burqas have no connection at all with Islam; There is nothing in the Koran or Haddith that suggests a woman must have her face covered, the face covering was originally for protection against sand storms, now it's an excuse for Muslim men to subordinate their women and start rows like this.

In Bangladesh the largest state-run hospital has banned staff from wearing full-face burqas after an increase in thefts of mobile phones and wallets from wards.

Go to a public office in Switzerland requiring services that mean an ID check be made, and refusing to remove the face mask (or whatever it's called) results in refusal. Seems like common sense to me.

I walked into a bank in Cambodia wearing my sun hat and I was told to remove it, quite right too.

Every body knows that British don't feel Europeans and that they want to be alone in their island ; but I thank them for giving the world a pleasant language

but your miles, pounds, inches, square miles etc, keep them for you : metric system, kilos etc are understood by every body in the world

I think the Celts, (Scots, Irish & Welsh) tend me be more pro European than the English (Anglo Saxons). As Thatcher once opined, "all our troubles come from Europe" and someone pointed out that her ancestors also came from there and the Celts have been paying the price ever since.

It's funny how flickle many (if not most) of you are. I remember a few years ago when a thread came up about Obama if there were a couple of detractors (usually American) they got torn apart and the praises of Obama were sung by nearly all the TV members from other countries and many left leaning Americans.

Now, you all know him for what he is... an incompetent, lying, blaming everyone, never taking personal responsibility, waste of space in the oval office or on the golf course, even much of his base and one time staunch supporters are turning on him.

Summary; never elect a President to set a precedent... not because he is black or Latino, female or the first alien President. Elect the President on his competency and experience to run the country. Obama had and still has neither.

How long did it take Obama to get Bid Laden and good old competent George had the best part of 8 years. Then when good old competent George left office the country was in financial meltdown with the GOP candidate for President McCain having to interrupt his electioneering for president to scurry back to Washington and find a solution to the mess the country was in.

Obama is still trying to extricate the USA from the mess that good old competent George and that idiot of a VP got embroiled in looking for weapons that never existed, costing trillions of dollars and several thousand allied lives and we are still up to our neck in it as a result of that.

That along with having to deal with a congress dominated by the nuts in the Tea Party.

This is damage control...pure and simple...his military advisors had to finally get on national TV...to tell the world and the US public...how dangerous ISIS really was...and that the commander-in-chief...was refusing to act on a problem that was threatening the Middle East and eventually the world...

Obama is a career politician...had almost no experience in world affairs when he came to office...his worldview is immature, un-sophisticated, lacking the reasoning of a seasoned leader...

Thankfully he has a few leaders who have the balls to tell the world what is going on...and even more thankfully...his time in office will soon be over...

No experience in world affairs, perhaps like GWB. Then go back to Reagan what experience did he have in world affairs. Lest we forget we almost got Palin, oh I forgot she could see Russia from her house.

A career politician, I guess there have been so few of those in the White House.

If you pay a travel company for example with a Thai visa card what happens if that travel company goes bust. Does the visa card company bear the loss or is it down to the cardholder?

I believe I am correct in saying that in the UK it is the visa card that bears the loss.

Just think of the mischief they could be getting up to if they were not spending their time berating all and sundry.

Just think of it as you would the guy with the beer gut, a can balanced on it as he lies sprawled out on his sofa watching some sporting event and yelling abuse at the TV and calling some highly trained athlete a <deleted>.

In the UK I can understand why criminals steal cars because the punishment is a "slap on the wrist" by our pathetic Courts, but here, I wonder what the punishment would be? 6 months inside? Any ideas?

The police in UK now use ANPR Automatic Number Plate Recognition so try driving a vehicle without a valid test certificate, insurance, tax or licence. You get picked up asked to vacate the vehicle which is then confiscated and destroyed no matter what age or model and just to add to the good news you then get done for any of the above offences. Some slap on the wrist.

Now imagine the same system introduced in Thailand.

Been using Phyathai Dental Hospital for quite a few years - can't really compare it with anything else but i am satisfied with the quality and price. I think you will find most dentists like pharmacists in Thailand speak English . Must be part of their university courses i guess.

http://www.phyathai.com/specialcenter/38/PYT3/en

I agree with that, I use Phyathai its only a short walk from Phyathai BTS station and I have been going to Dr Panlert for several years and also recommended him to several visiting friends who have been hugely impressed with the price and service.

He speaks good English as do all of them including the nurses and my most recent check up and clean cost 1000 baht.

I like it as I always arrive early and I am usually in the chair about 10 minutes ahead of time and out within 30 minutes and I feel he has done a good job and I get the usual reminder to report back in 6 months.

Nothing but petty cash, in the UK, USA and various other countries the banks have scammed billions out of the taxpayer and thus far not one person has been sentenced to one day in jail.

Far better if you want to engage in illegal money dealings to work for a bank, then when you finally get caught you get to leave on an enhanced pension plus compensation for termination of contract.

Its about time that a former distinguished interior minister was brought back out of retirement to solve this case. With his determination and knowledge of criminal affairs this matter would be solved within the week or he would behead himself.

Those of us who were around at the time were very well aware of the oil potential. Westminster did everything possible to avoid losing Scotland. Why else do they continue to do this? Because the oil is still flowing strongly and the revenue lost to Westminster would be massive. They will pull every trick they can think of, including the last-minute promise voiced by Gordon Brown, which was certainly pushing the bounds of the rules on campaigning prior to the vote.

I guess using the same arguments that places like the Shetland isles who didn't want to remain part of an independent Scotland would have been allowed to separate and they would have been even richer than their southern neighbors. Or would they have seen their oil riches going to the prosperous south of Scotland?