Davedub

Alcohol is indeed a dangerous drug. However: Education and the provision of mental healthcare would absolutely reduce the harm caused by alcohol. A scaling up of the enforcement of existing laws for drink driving would also make a huge difference Prohibiton always results in the creation of black markets. Prohibition thus funnels huge sums of money into the hands of criminal enterprises that often have little regard for quality control issues. This often leads to people getting poisoned by unregulated bootleg booze Historically, banning drink (or drugs for that matter) has consistently failed whilst simultaneously leading to the formation of the largest criminal enterprises in human history (e.g. The Mafia, the South American drug cartels) These are the realities of the prohibition theory, as borne out by the last 100 years of history The reality is undeniable. It's time to look at alternative measures. In the words of Einstien: "Repeating the same action over and expecting different results is the definition of madness"

It's refreshing to see a pulling back from the 'solve alcohol related issues by using a broad stroke, heavy handed control' approach. Issues like problem drinking are better dealt with by treating the underlying cause of alcohol abuse - treating mental health issues or eduction on more effective, healthy coping mechanisms for stress being good examples of this. Issues like drink driving are best dealt with by targetting offenders (as opposed to implementing broad stroke reductions in alcohol availablity). Better enforcement of current drink driving laws is the obvious solution. It's good to see progress in what I'd consider the right direction.

All presented as if this will make any difference to drug supplies or reduce overall drug harm. It won't. Drugs won the war on drugs, decades ago. The only result of this bust is that some hapless mule will get the 'lock them up and throw away the key' treatment, that's all. Without condoning what he has done, I am of the opinion that taking such a risk is almost certainly an act of desparation or the result of coercion, blackmail or exploitation. This is a sad situation. I'm not even going to bother banging my usual drum on the subject - suffice to say that education and the provision of mental health care are the answers if the goal is truly to reduce drug harm. See my many previous posts on the subject for further details.

There is one thing that is holding back investment, foriegn businesses and people visiting Thailand in the medium to long term - unecessary bureacracy. Starting with the need to fill out my name, address, passport and phone number multiple times on many types of visa / permit applications and culminating in inch-thich piles of pointless paperwork for anything more substantial. Discovering that single items of documentation require another ten pages of other documents from other government agencies feels like a normal part of many processes. Every application I have to make fills me with dread. In my 17 years in Thailand I have wasted so much of my given time on Earth producing needless paperwork. I mean, where do they keep it all? I am entertaining the theory that Thailand actually has power stations entirely powered by burning the tonnes and tonnes of pointless paperwork they force visitors to produce - it's the only possible good reason I can think of for making us do this stuff! Really though, the bureacratic hurdles presented at every step of any 'official' process in Thailand are, for me, by far and away the worst thing about living in Thailand. Time is the most precious thing any of us possess. To have it wasted on pointless bureacracy should be a crime, regardless of the country.

The dual pricing at hospitals is the big issue for me. When I see the procedure I'm paying for can be profitably performed at a fraction of the price for a Thai it leaves me feeling ripped off and disrespected.

I have been using Google Sheets, Google Docs and Open Office for many years now. I only really use Open Office Calc for quick calculations that I don't intend to keep - i.e. to avoid clogging up my Google Sheets folder. I understand that Microsoft Excel might be the only solution for deep statisical analysis and other 'advanced' functionality - beyond that, I have no idea why anyone would ever pay for Microsoft Office.

I suspect that many travellers will not get this done three days ahead of their arrival. I imagine a certain amount of chaos at Suvarnabhumi with travellers needing to find somewhere to stay for three days on the wrong side of the immigration counters. Or perhaps people will not be able to board at the departing country unless they can show a valid digital arrival card? Either way, I am not convinced this scheme is going to enhance visitor support or ensure a smoother arrival experience in Thailand.

It seems to me that if the OP had paid then his son would be in the position of having seen his father haplessly going along for the sake of getting along. I think the son witnessed an excellent lesson in maintaining boundaries and maintaining self respect. Learning that part of that process is that when you stand up to people they may bad mouth you is also a valuable lesson.

How on earth are people supposed to 'respect authority' with the boys in blue pulling stunts like this? When did handcuffing become standard practice for arresting people for non-violent crimes? Has somebody been watching too many American cop shows on Netflix? It'd be laughable if this act of bullying were not so disrespectful, pointless and utterly disgraceful. Yet more tax payer's money wasted on yet another blow to public confidence in the police. Who will protect the people from the protectors? Police over-reach like this constitutes an abuse of power, pure and simple. I sincerely hope whomever made the decision to make these arrests has their career cut abruptly short, are made to explain themselves in court, are forced to make a public apology and are personally sued for every single penny they have to their name. At a minimum.

Addressing soaring PM2.5 levels with an effective plan and followup action would have far more positive impact if addressing public health concerns were actually the motivation here. I wonder how many people actually believe public health concerns are the real reason for this crackdown?

Well there is the problem right there - mindlessly repeating the same old action, every time expecting different results. Drugs won the war on drugs, decades ago. As proven by the Portugese for many years now, the provision of education and mental healthcare is a far more appropriate, effective and cost effective way of reducing drug harm. No well informed, mentally healthy person deliberately causes themselves harm. But no, like in so many other countries globally, the nature of politics demands that politicians be seen as 'tough on drugs' instead of compassionate and realistic, thus furthering and increasing drug harm and needless suffering whilst continuing the funneling of vast sums of money into the hands of criminal enterprises.

I'm reminded of a comment made in the British press years ago regarding Polish workers 'coming over here and stealing our jobs' The comment has stayed with me: 'If Polish workers have been coming over here, speaking English as a second language, not being familiar with British ways of doing things and are still seen as a better employment option, then surely the onus is on British workers to up their game no?' But then I'm a fan of fair competition as opposed to government control. Quite simply, if the education and training of Thai staff were to a higher standard then Thai jobs would not be in peril, regardless of the industry. Best person for the job and all that. It's a global market these days - as those of us who work in the tech industry know all too well. Being globally competitive is the way forward. Government interference in such matters is not going to raise the quality of goods and services offered in the Kingdom.

Yep. Perhaps a better way to ensure more Thai pilots get employed might be to incentivise an increase in the quality of training - that way whether or not a pilot gets employed would be a decision based entirely on their skill set and suitablility for the job. Piloting is a safety critical role after all - the best person for the job should *always* get the job. Their nationality should not be a factor.

I think a good start would be from a place of complete honesty. The above statement seems predicated on the idea that up until recently, trust and integrity were to be found within Thailand's institutions, which is quite obviously nonsense to anyone who has been here for any amount of time. I can't help but feel that starting from a place of dishonesty is destined to failure. To be clear; in living memory, there have never been acceptable levels of trust and integrity within Thailand's institutions. If the issues are truly to be tackled, I believe starting from the actual, ground zero truth would make a far better starting point.

The issue here is bullying, not vaping Do the authors of this article think that we're all so weak minded that we will see this incident as caused by vaping instead of bullying? Bullying behaviour typically stems from the family home - that is where the focus of this article should be if we are to take steps to prevent this sort of thing happening in the future I see this news article as a very naive attempt to sway public opinion against vaping when it should be addressing the problem of bullying - which is kinda reprehensible IMHO. It certainly does not fall into the category of responsible, unbiassed reporting, for sure.