MarkyM3

So sad. This tragedy will hopefully ensure travellers, young or otherwise, think twice before drinking spirits from street bars etc. in SE Asia. Has made all the news here in the UK and will have in the other countries/regions affected by this. Wouldn't touch anything except Beer Lao in that country. As others have pointed out, it's a corrupt place. Friend of mine got shaken down by the military at a rail station when travelling there not that long back and was forced to pay the guys $100 USD and had 2 bottles of Beer Lao in their bag confiscated.

Read that Holly Bowles has also died now 😞

That's the best you got? Thought so😄 😄 That's for our Donnie btw. NL...long had you on ignore after you made cretinous remarks about me having to go into hotel quarantine in 2022 when I had a long-planned stay in Thailand for 6 months during 2021-22 so save it for someone else in case you're tempted to engage🙂

Your comprehension skills need improvement, duh - in my OP I said I'm in the UK most of the year! My location next to my username might also give you a clue if you struggle to read. I'm semi or fully retiring in 12-18 months at age 54 and yes that won't be in the UK. I made my own money, been a higher rate taxpayer since my mid-20s before you say I've sponged off the govt. I'll go back for the summer because I have property there but even that's subject to change in future. Unfortunately the place is sinking. Walked around Wembley the other day for a medical appt, you couldn't have reliably identified it as British, as is the case of large swathes of London. As I said in my original response, Thailand controls its own immigration policy dependent on the benefits it brings them and has a cohesive culture and society. Good for them. I have absolutely no problem if they don't want me or others to be there if that's threatened, plenty of other places I've travelled to in the past which work just as well. I've no intention of retiring FT in Thailand in any case. The rest of your riposte is a lame swipe at British tourists, which has sweet FA to do with long-term immigration and the points raised in my original post. And you could easily say that about plenty of other nationalities. If you're going to come up with some decent counterpoints, do try a bit harder. As for you - are you British or lived there for a good length of time recently? If not - a fair bet judging by your response and username - you don't have any real credibility. Like I said in the original post aside from financial costs there are numerous social costs. You said nothing about that. Low-skilled migrants cost taxpayers £150,000 each ...source OBR which is an government-funded body. And to repeat, this is purely financial....this takes no accounts of the numerous social costs of migration. Cost of illegal immigration, is running at several billion pounds per year with an estimated average cost pp over lifetime once settled - since they invariably can't be removed or sneak back - of £400k. Note unofficial illegal migration is way higher. Numerous citations on the internet on figures so do your own research.

It's his very own nationality. how embarassing 😄

Yes it's a typo, I assure you I can spell and construct sentences 😄 My bad.

I'm very glad Harris didn't win but wish the GOP could have found a less controversial candidate than Trump. Has some positive aspects but not a trustworthy/reliable individual at all and I suspect his economic policies are going to stoke inflation and hit the working class in the pocket when the cost of their imports soars. Saying that, at least the US is in a far better place than my home country is.

Thought it was Reni from the Stone Roses 😄

IIRC I contributed to a thread the OP was running recently asking what would happen after the value of all world currencies went to zero, which was believed to come fruition soon. Will make for interesting lunch/dinner conversation if nothing else...

Truly pathetic, how old are you?! Arrested development springs to mind.

I've called Gottrid out previously about comments he made about an abuse case some time back which backfired on him. He promptly tried to row back on them after an avalanche of criticism. Evasive to say the least when faced with logical reason debunking his little rants, anti-Brit or other BS! Unfortunately the ignore function doesn't hide replies to other posters like you....he hasn't changed one iota by the looks of it LOL.

Stellar grammer from Geoff as usual as well as the usual drivel...

Patong2021 is mounting a covert bid to oust Liverpool Lou as ANs answer to Mr Logic....

As for the OP, his post on this thread tells you what kind of loser he is...

Except other stats show they aren't. Recent survey done by Cambridge academics - non partisan - showed the exact opposite and the average net cost over lifetime quoted was in the 100s of £K. You're also ignoring the various non monetary costs that multi-culturalism has had on social cohesion, costs of providing translators for all walks of public life, broken education system with kids from multiple countries in one classroom who don't speak English at home as their first language to name but two. Meanwhile, you get to sit on your behind in the sun in a country not subjected to mass immigration pontificating about why the UK needs more immigration.....right. UK has had >15% (official census figures, the real ones are acknowledge to be far higher) population increase in the last 25 years. That's 10 million - officially. The UK is creaking at seams, I doubt you have any idea what it's like in major cities there now. Several where the indigenous population is in the minority and other to follow. I do know what it's like, I live there for a good part of the year although like lots of others, am planning to disappear for most of the time ASAP. Thankfully, I'm in my early 50s and can afford to retire on a good income, most can't. Speak to ordinary people and you'll find the prevailing mood really is that they have had enough. Social unrest in the summer was a portent of that. Labour are already heavily unpopular, looks like their support is evaporating as the turkeys realised they voted for Christmas. Of course, more immigration benefits Labour despite public murmurings to the contrary since they get the lion's share of that vote, aside from educated/established immigrants who've moved up the economic ladder. Tony Blair, ex UK PM, said it himself in the past... Carefully managed immigration which is beneficial both socially and economically is good, what has happened in the UK is anything but. And, tourists/retirement people in Thailand are hardly comparable. They are temporary visitors who the Thai authorities won't hesitate to remove if not desired. Thailand uses its visitors for their benefit, if that stops they won't partake. Having said that, try getting a visitor's visa for your wife or gf in the UK now. A friend in Europe married to a Pinay, where they've both got good jobs and established residency there for 10 years, can't get a tourist visa now, despite her having had no issue previously. Meanwhile, we have all sorts arriving in the UK. The system is well and truly f**ked.

Same sick loser left it on your post as well. Must suck to be them if that's how they get their kicks each day. Not being able to see who has left what response is a major fail versus the old forum. A few other predictably bottom of the barrel responses from BigStar and Chris Daley as well.

Says he has "clients" back in the US but while also saying he's broker than ever. Probably just earning enough from them to cover low cost flights to circulate around various countries to avoid being chucked out for staying in one place too long and pay for bottom dollar accommodation and dining. By sounds of it, he's the author of his own misfortune if he doesn't want to pay his way properly i.e. work in farangland in your chosen career during your prime earning years, visiting Asia when you can with the goal of retiring there in a financially sound position in your 50s or early 60s. Or, move to Asia at a younger age but on the proviso you've got good enough skills to develop a proper career or your own business, online or otherwise, which leaves you in a similar position and not without 2 pennies to rub together come your late 40s. Everyone's had misfortunes in life, medical, personal or otherwise. I've had my share. It's how you respond that counts and being realistic as well. This guy has no real life plan and will be screwed in the not-to-distant future. He just seems oblivious or not bothered about it. There was a case on here some time back about a UK guy, a bit older than this one, who'd run out of luck in Asia after years overseas and had to go home and throw himself on the mercy of social services. Wasn't a pretty picture. From what I can tell, the US safety net is somewhat less than the UK so he's potentially in a dire position if there's no family or friends to fall back on.

Hope he wasn't wearing a 100k baht gold necklace.....but seriously, beating up a customer is beyond the pale. Presumably they got CCTV or will it be found to not have been switched on

Are Aisha's existence and the concept of kuffar assumptions and digs? I think not, they are factually correct. And I'm not seeing any other "peaceful" religion pushing global domination of their ideology in the way this does. Someone earlier mentioned over 48k separate Islamic-related incidents I believe. Speaks volumes. The NI conflict you were pushing was about the fate of the 6 counties and whether they rejoined Eire. Not about Catholicism v Protestantism. Using that as an example didn't work too well. Palestinian conflict is again about land rights primarily, not about the merits of Judaism v Islam.

If you're saying that Aisha was made up then I don't think your Islamic friends will be too impressed. Or are you a kuffar in disguise?

If you look at my sig, I split my time between the UK and Thailand. So no, I'm not a full-time expat, I spend around 60% of time in Thailand. I don't buy into your doomsday predictions. The fortunes of countries may rise and fall in future and some countries are no doubt accumulating precipitous amounts of national debt but predicting the global collapse of every currency in the world is way off the mark. Are we going to go back to bartering, or have crypto (a ponzi scheme imo) takeover? I don't think so. We've seen some major financial crises in the last 100 years and none has brought about a financial apocalypse. Major shocks, such as the 2008-10 financial crisis but humans seem to be more resilient economically than given credit for. Personally, I feel I've got enough assets to see me through the rest of my time on earth (I'm 53). I keep them in a mixture of pensions, various stock & bond investments and cash. I'm more worried about rogue leaders deciding to use nuclear weapons or invade countries by force, which could in turn have major economic consequences. But I don't believe all currencies will collapse, far from it.

You clearly know little about the true causes of the conflict in NI. Religion was the side issue. Why don't you educate us about Aisha, Mohamed's 6 year old wife by the way? Or kuffar. Or are these made up as well?

Lots of posts about the rise of BRICS in this thread. My view on the countries involved... Brazil - stock market has gone nowhere for the last 10+ years. Currently run by someone previously in jail for corruption. Say no more. Russia - run by a despot and can't even win a war in Ukraine. The sanctioned economy is overheating due to shortages of skills and resources. China - in the middle of a major housing and financial crisis that's been dragging on for several years, with no coherent plan on how to exit it. Again, look at the market returns. Hang Seng Index until recently was trading lower than in 1997! Factor in inflation and it's even worse. They don't get on with India. India - the real challenger with favourable demographics but infrastructure is still under developed, education system is poor with blatant cheating an accepted feature. But, English speaking and relatively open, this is the real challenger to Western economies. They don't get on with China. South Africa - a basket case, look at Eskom for example - rolling power cuts. They have a coalition govt for now which has seen an upturn but talk to most white South Africans and they've either left or want to if they can. The new BRICS joiners are mainly a rag tag of competing interests. India itself wants to keep on the right side of the West considering its export markets while gaining advantage from cheap Russian oil and arms. China currently rely heavily on exporting to the West too, while trying to advance its interests globally. I've invested in emerging markets and follow what goes on pretty closely. To me, the reality is the majority of BRICS countries have not performed well at all over a prolonged period, except for India. So, imo it's wishful thinking to believe BRICS is going to supersede the West with a new global reserve currency or alternative to SWIFT anytime soon. They simply aren't a cohesive entity, as compared to the G7 for example. It's also worth considering where the real talent in countries like India want to work, as well - generally not in their own country with wages a fraction of what they can earn in the West as software developers or the like.

I guess having an Masters from Oxbridge (which you've repeatedly mentioned on this forum, why not just add it to your sig so people know in advance) precludes people from having an interest in football or sports other than RU (a borefest imo but I wouldn't slag off or cast aspersions people who follow it)? Plenty of degree educated people involved with or interested in football, perhaps they don't come up to snuff though in your mind. Btw...isn't Thailand rather too downmarket for you, with "dim women" and simpletons everywhere? Surely your MSc could have got you a better location to ply your trade?

Just block him (although sadly you still have to see the posts in replies from others). Anyone who's been around this forum a while know LL thrives on being anally retentive to the n'th degree. 🤪 Definitely shades of Mr Logic from Viz comic....