48 minutes ago, Digitalbanana said:

If the settings in the phone are not set to receive Crisis Alerts, my Xiaomi phones are default off from the factory, you won't get anything.

Very good point.

7 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

There is NO editorial voice of the forum ? We (admin) do not dictate what is posted in the mainstream media. Articles are sourced across the board from a range of sources and yes there may be some articles from one side or another but its by no means a permanent bias and to suggest it is, is unfair, but then thats the nature of the forum members I suppose.

 

.....as evidenced by the fact that in this thread there are people complaining the editorial policy is left wing, and others complaining it is right wing. You can't win, as two people can see the same thing so completely differently.

I have my own opinion but it's more a reflection of what is in the MSM and who it is owned by.

26 minutes ago, Callmeishmael said:

12 people sitting in my office - only 2 phones went off!

Probably because the other ten are not registered in Bangkok, will still be listed under their home town. Not ideal.

I got it, my wife didn't.

So my brother in the UK has an Audi e-Tron. They are trying to push subscriptions on him for things like swooshy indicators. Not sure who would pay, but I guess they are all scrambling to make up for falling sales, or to make as much money as they can while they can.

Are any of the Chinese brands doing anything like this? Or is it is just you get all the options if you buy the top spec and that's it. I would hate to see subs coming in and for that to be normalised.

And amazing that indicators not only identify that the car is turning but also in which direction! What new fangled technology!

On another note I hate swooshy indicators, normal flashing ones are so much clearer to other road users, but that's a rant for another day.

2 hours ago, sungod said:

 More likely 16 or 17

Ah, that's ok then.

21 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Pensioner arrested over 'thought crime' tweet as officers examine 'Brexity books and wife's shopping list'

Some exerts from the article:

A retired special constable has spoken out about free speech being under attack after he was detained over a social media post warning about anti-Semitism in Britain.

The officers arrived after Foulkes challenged a supporter of pro-Palestinian marches on X.

Foulkes had responded to a post from an account called "Mr Ethical" featuring a Palestinian flag, writing: "One step away from storming Heathrow looking for Jewish arrivals".

Without warning, the Metropolitan Police Intelligence Command had referred his post to Kent Police, citing "concerns around online content".

Foulkes was locked in a police cell for eight hours and questioned on suspicion of malicious communications.

https://www.gbnews.com/news/free-speech-row-kent-thought-crime-tweet-police-brexit-books

Oh please, posting GB "News" is the most obvious thing ever - it is the most rabidly right wing broadcaster in the UK by far: like Fox News on anti-immigration, racist, right wing steroids. It also has a history of being fined and sued for breaches of impartiality, for breaching ethics standards, for using misleading graphics and fake statistics to link one certain ethnic group with certain types of crimes (and that was later deemed "inflammatory and misleading"). It has also faced issues with blatantly false reporting which it had to apologise for.

In short, it is a hideous, hate spreading channel and is not a serious source. No suprise you post the rubblish you do if this is where you get your "news".

However, Foulkes was genuinely arrested. What the GB News "article" fails to mention though is any context at all, just stupid quotes about "Brexity things". If you read the full context the post did seem to be a call to storm Heathrow and intercept Jews, so no surprise the police looked at it. However, eight hours does seem like too long to investigate and conclude that he actually wasn't making that call, and the police have publicly apologised. But incitement to violence is definitely a matter for the police to look at - just in this case they bungled it somewhat, mistakes can happen.

Even Foulkes realises this: On reflection he recognised it would have been better if he had made it clear he was challenging the original poster about their escalation of antisemitism, rather than it appearing as if he was the one who was planning action at Heathrow.

1 minute ago, BLMFem said:

So just a blanket free for all? Please tell me you know there are restrictions on what you can say in every country on the planet. Surely you can't be that ignorant.

Oh but he can.

11 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Are you saying people in the UK aren't getting arrested for social media posts? If you are I, and I'm guessing others on here would like to know your thinking on this. Surely people being arrested for social media posts is a curtailing of freedom of speech.

Some have been arrested for inciting violence amongst other things.

4 minutes ago, Sir Dude said:

As usual... Fakeland, and didn't take long.

You mean although foreign owned fake websites? Are they hosted somewhere called "Fakeland"?

45 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

I hope you realize how ridiculous this comment is. Maybe you don't and still yearn for the days when freedom of speech was curtailed by the authorities when the pandemic was on. Sadly such restrictions still occur. UK is a great example.

Ok, please do enlighten this Brit as to the UK's curtailing of freedom of speech. Make it good. And please don't say people get jailed for being mean on Facebook.

Just now, frank83628 said:

I said I hadn't watched any news, if the MSM weren't such blatant liars people would have more faith in them.

Yes, and you defended him saying you doubt it is true without even bothering to look for yourself. Nice attempt at blaming the "MSM" for your sheep-like response.

3 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

Yeah, so maybe the people giving negative emojis aren't the problem. Maybe there's something wrong with you. 

 

People complaining for thumbs down. What a joke.

Youtube has always operated that way. When you post content, subs have a choice between thumbs up or thumbs down and no Youtuber would last 15 minutes if they started crying every time they got a thumbs down. 

 

I can't believe this is a constant point of discussion. So so so pathetic. They're just EMOJIS! 

People really have very shallow lives if these get them so upset.

On 5/6/2025 at 6:10 PM, kidneyw said:

I just renewed my British passport using VFS Global in Bangkok. It took eleven weeks. A mate did his at the same time and it took nine weeks. In the UK, they used to renew passports in Liverpool, but now they do this in Corby. Think this might be the main problem, as they were unaware that we have to retain our passports in Thailand, thus the reason for photo coping all pages. In the end, I had to sign a paper saying I would return my lost passport if I found it.

Sent many emails, but each team did not seem to realise what had gone on before.

Reckon this will be my last passport renewal before I die, thank God. What a nightmare.

I submitted my daughter's renewal on 24th April. I haven't had any correspondence regarding holding the passport or saying it is lost so maybe they have worked that out now.

I did get an email to say I had only paid £14.51 and owed £129 though - even though they had my card details and on that super secure paper payment form you have to fill out it was clearly written £143.51, AND my card had a pending charge of £143.51 on it, no charge at all on my card for £14.51.

So they are still a shambles, maybe they are now a payment shambles rather than a "did you lose your passport" shambles.

A phone call to them did appear to sort it out (I had to pay the £129 over the phone). But I'll only really believe it when I receive the new passport.

2 hours ago, hotsun said:

90% of the news articles here are left biased. You being the most deluded one here

If you genuinely think that then you must off the scale to the right!

1 hour ago, JonnyF said:

 

The removal of the extreme leftist pensioner who used to delete half of my posts because they were too factual.

 

Much better place now. 

 

Marvellous.  

Not for the rest of us.