MarkyM3

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....

Thank you everyone for your contributions. Very helpful 💯

Thanks for the detailed response Richard, appreciate it. 💯

Asking for a female friend. She's a UK citizen of Chinese descent presently living back in China, 38yo and unmarried. She has damaged fallopian tubes I think so can't conceive naturally. Quality of treatment is #1 consideration of course but a rough idea of what a reasonable cost might be would be great too. Many thanks!

If you could try engage in reasonable debate I could take you a bit more seriously. Not nearly as mouthy now I notice... Anyways, this is pointless, I rarely block but you're as obnoxious as I recall from the TV days.

You don't like being challenged, that's for sure. Now remember you from Thai Visa in the past. For starters, I've been a landlord for many years and done full refurbs and never paid floor fitters anywhere near the rate you quote. I've got a full Kahrs wooden floor in my place - all sourced and arranged via the dreaded mybuilder.com and nowhere near your annualised rates. Anyone paying them are welcome to but they're way over the odds for the skill level involved. And yeah, I did check various sites for quoted salaries around the UK so obviously they're obviously all lying of course.... As for the rest of your post, I don't give two hoots about carpet fitters earning more than me. There's always gonna be someone earning more than you. Last time I checked my net worth is comfortably north of a mill I'm hardly gonna be crying about it fella 😄. I work 35 hours a week from the comfort of my own mortgage-free home or remote and could retire today in my early 50s. I wouldn't typically post that but you've clearly got an unhealthy obsession with putting people down engaged in reasonable debate. Evident from your other posts on this forum as well. Returning to the point of this thread, again I repeat why this couple could struggle with costs in the UK but for various reasons their plan is half baked imo. The end.

Re: carpet fitters earning £90k. the average UK salary for that job shows as £39-£41k. I just checked it on several sources. Top rated area was Brighton at £50k. And the UK average salary across all occupations is about £37k. Not everyone here is making 6 figures, a loaded boomer or able to call on the bank of mum and dad. I make a package of circa £80k plus bens, working in IT for a UK bank, SE based, have a degree and plenty of experience etc. and I'd consider myself reasonably well off. Check LinkedIn or similar for typical salaries for various occupations. Your guys must be doing shed loads of overtime, have niche skills or your customers are happy to pay large rates. I use mybuilder.com to source labour for rates I'd consider more reasonable for the job. Plumbers and electricians earn top dollar but they need to be properly qualified and that's the market shortage. Regards plumbers.... call out where I am is minimum £75 an hour plus VAT. I paid just over 500 quid recently for a new water pump to be sourced fitted. Took and hour and a half. I can afford it but plenty can't and I rarely hear people saying they don't care about paying that kind of dosh, me included. So while I question the long-term viability the couple have in Thailand for many reasons, as stated earlier in the thread, I can certainly understand why they gripe about the cost of living aspects here.

Hang on...you raise a whole load of random assumptions and moan about stuff which wasn't even relevant to the story and the best you've got as a come back is to question my health and sanity😄 I take it that's addressed to all the others who saw the irony of your original post as well? Very interesting logic...not!

Says the forum's resident cretin. Jog on 🤡

Should they have done the Lisbon treaty and kept voting until the "right" decision was reached? You're obviously a card-carrying Labour party member and I'm not here to debate endlessly about the finer minutae of the UK, we're going off track. But I would say one thing - I wouldn't be quoting Scandinvia too much around the positive benefits of mass immigraition. I'm a regular visitor to the region. Sweden is a mess, the highest gun crime rate in Europe and places like Malmo are infested with gang acitivity. Speak to a few people on the ground in the region and hear what they have to. Germany also has issues, my friend went back to Stuttgart recently having worked there 20 years ago. Said he'd never go back again, the place was a carphole. Like significant parts of London these days. I'm 53 and can say London is unrecognisable even from the mid 90s. And not for the better imo. You have your own views obviously.

Well it is to most of us, clearly. If they don't want to be scrutinised about their means or motives when promoting a major move to the other side of the world via social media then it's a non-story and they should keep their affairs to themselves instead of touting for clicks 😄

Come off it. Record levels of knife crime, Jews harassed on the streets of London by mobs, a ULEZ scheme no-one supports. London is near enough minority native British so Labour shoe-in. Pensioners have just had 2 consecutive triple lock increases, despite the country being saddled with C19 debt. As for rents, perhaps if the population hadn't increased by 10 million since the millenium we'd not be so short of space.

So...how do they qualify for the social health system in Thailand then without proper residency? They can pay privately for sure (I'm getting a load of dental work done in Bangkok next month) but you're being economical with the truth. Also, never waited a year in the UK for treatment, though it can be slow for non-urgent stuff, as per my comments earlier in thread. I was treated for brain surgery in UK by a top neurologist within a month of needing it, also had a similar serious surgery in quick time as well.

Well, David Cameron offered the referendum. And it was voted for by the British people, not Boris... Whether it's a mistake or not long-term remains to be seen but if the EU had offered any concessions on migration that Cameron asked for (remember, he was laughed at when he came back empty-handed), it very likely wouldn't have happened. As for the EU, it's hardly an economic powerhouse either., though they didn't waste as much on C19 as the UK did. Germany is struggling big-time and they are the largest net contributor to the budget. Norway and Switzerland are outside the EU, they seem to be doing just fine. So I'm reserving judgement on that. Also, anyone with pensions spread across the world hasn't got an issue, the weaker pound makes overseas investments worth more ££££. I voted for Brexit for the immigration reasons but got some regrets because we've seen no impact on numbers due to Conservative incompetence on stopping the flow from elsewhere, bogus colleges and so forth. Not that I think Labour will be any better at all. No-one should forget Bliar's incompetence in skipping transitional arrangement veto in 2004 and seeing a mass influx from Eastern Europe/ The loss of free movement has been a price to pay for sure.

Similar to me but looking for maybe 7 or so months over in Thailand in the colder period with summer back in UK. I'd also look to break the longer stint with return to UK for a month to deal with medical stuff, prescriptions etc. I went off the idea of a full move to Thailand for various reasons, the medical considerations and not finding the wet season to be that enjoyable as 2 issues. Cooler. drier summers back in Europe with long daylight hours are also preferable for me.

So, Liverpool Lou, why bother touting the story around if they wouldn't want any forensics. The whole point of it is they are saying they can have a much better life in Thailand due to cost of living crunch in UK. But as we know, the realities of working there in your 20s and with a young child is a bit different. How it's going to be financed is totally relevant if this is being portrayed as a realistic long-term option...

As per my posting, I live in Surrey and frequent visitor to Bangkok and elsewhere. I'm there all of next month. I first visited Thailand as a backpacker in 2005 and have been a regular visitor twice a year since. Also spent 3 * 6 month periods living there, most recently 2 years ago, and other times doing some remote work around vacation while retaining my highly paid job in the UK. I've also travelled around the world since my late 20s so your last point is somewhat misdirected if it was aimed towards me. Can't tell from your style of writing.... Not sure what the point is about beer costs either. We know what it costs in Thailand. All I said was the £2.10 cost theBlether mentioned was way out of line of most of the UK. That's a positive point for Thailand if you're into beer, despite Thai beer not being up to much. Your points about mortgage and pension are fair but most people do live until their 70s and 80s and beyond as medical advances occur. What do you do then if you're potless with no property equity, state or private pension contributions - start a GoFundMe? Your son is still a teenager, no worries, this couple aren't and have a kid. I know for a fact I couldn't have earned a decent living in IT in Thailand so my career was better done in the UK. All power to those who can make a career as real entrepreneurs elsewhere - I've seen people on here who say they have or been in niche areas like Oil & Gas and more power to their elbow. But for the vast majority, the prospects are better back home. I'm in a position to contemplate semi or full retirement at age 53. Very unlikely that would the case in Thailand for me, for better or worse. I took a look at the couple's linkedin page - she is a freelance "general PR" and wanting to set up some kind of online giftshop. That's not a long term wealth plan so I don't think they will find they can stick at it long-term unless they have a proper plan or are independently wealthy (which they clearly aren't). By all means have an overseas adventure for a few years though.

The guy stated he was flying intercontinental so I somehow doubt he's flying an A320 considering it's a short/intermediate haul aircraft.....likely flying cargo 747 or something.

Thanks to the OP for putting the vid up. I found it an interesting watch, as someone who might be spending a lot more time in the country in future as I move to semi-retirement. Difference in my case is I've spent plenty of time there in previous years and the reasons he gave are not an issue for me (and I don't even bother driving in Thailand tbh). It seems this guy didn't do his research or understand his motivations. Fair enough and good luck to him, he said he's lived in plenty of places before so it's just the next adventure. I can't quite understand people hammering him, he's hardly scraping the breadline, airline pilots are making serious dough these days in the US. Bit surprised he would pass the airline medical though carrying that amount of timber. Hope he drops a few pounds for his own sake.

Yet you found time to post a wildly speculative precis of it in the post before that, despite having not watched any of it. Yeah right 😄