Conno

What an absolute pain in the rear this news is. For UK people who just need cheap and infrequent VoIP calls back home, banks, government offices etc and don't need a Skype number this might be an option. I've just signed up with Rakuten Viber which was one of the suggestions on page 2 of this thread. They offer subscription plans and a prepaid pay-as-you-go option like the one I had with Skype. I bought £9.99 credit using PayPal but there are options for Apple Pay and a Debit/Credit card too. They say £9.99 on the prepaid gives you 67 mins to UK landlines and mobile [plus worldwide numbers at different rates] which works out at around £0.15p per minute. or.... They also do a regular monthly £1.99 subscription that gives you 100 mins per month to the UK specifically, which works out a fair bit cheaper at just £0.02 per minute. So if you only need to call UK numbers the monthly subscription might be a better solution and the prepaid [while more expensive] if you want the flexibility of calling other countries too. One thing to note is they quote all rates in dollars and cents but when I bought the $9.99 USD credit it was charged at £9.99 GBP, which is a bit cheeky. I tried it out calling my UK bank and it went straight through and was a sharp and clear line. An option at least and up yours Microsoft. Not recommending them 100% as I only signed up 1 hour ago. Better and cheaper options may surface on here later, but this seems to work smoothly for now. https://account.viber.com/en/call-united-kingdom

Brill, the usual thing then when transferring to a Thai bank. Thx for the help once again.

Gotcha Big thanks for that. I'll give it a go with my UK bank sometime in the future. Not actually planning on selling anything atm anyway, waiting for that $1m BTC number. You know it's coming just a matter of when ha ha ha 2030 at the latest. Even then hoping BitcoinOS type applications on Cardano will allow smart contract staking of BTC, so will never need to actually sell the principle, only the rewards. Same same ADA. Increasing passive income for life in other words. So the wires you send from Kraken to Kasikorn are in Dollar, GBP or Baht? On a side note, I was living in fear for a while with regards my UK bank after hearing so many stories of Brits being debanked when they discover you are non-resident, The address they had for me was with relatives in the UK. I got one of those CRS forms from them late last year and I thought here we go. So filled it all in truthfully expecting my account to be closed. As it turned out the Halifax have absolutely no problem with me being retired in Thailand, so my fears were unfounded. Their online customer support desk actually expressed surprise when I said 'you'll be closing my account now then I suppose?' No she said, 'we have many customers who are now living abroad, it isn't a problem'. So dodged that bullet.....for now.

Hi mate. Can I ask you to elaborate a little on that Kraken account? Was the Thai addressed bank statement they accepted a UK bank and therefore GBP, or a Thai based bank and Baht? My UK bank is fully aware I am out here and therefore has my Thai address on the statements too. I have Thai crypto exchange accounts for Baht, but a UK GBP linked one would be a real bonus and backup if possible. What else did Kraken ask for along the KYC lines. cheers bud

You know you shouldn't have said that, now look what you have caused ha ha ha. Can't post the link as not allowed, but go to that well known BK publication and search for the following. ----------------------- Navigating new foreign income rules The Revenue Department is studying adoption of the principle of worldwide income. -------------------- Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Lets see how this plays out.

Think Jenkins reply to you may be being a bit harsh considering the limited details. You may be just an innocent 3rd party caught up in a scam operation, depending on your own actions all being above board of course. Found this which may shed a little light on the matter.

There you go BigBruv, was on the telly so still safe and effective. /S

OK MOD here's a non paywall link to the same story. AstraZeneca to withdraw Covid vaccine (bbc.com)

Thailand's NVI backing didn't age too well either did it. But all A-OK nothing wrong with the product, just not as much demand as there used to be 555555

Just announced full withdrawal from global markets from yesterday. For commercial reason only of course. Jeeeze you can't make this stuff up. Nice bit of face saving.....for commercial reason. What a clown world we live in really. New non-paywall link covering the same story posted further down in the chat.

Deepest respect to you sir. Humility is the sign of a truly genuine individual. Sadly not so much of that around these days.

How I felt in 2021

Bday Prang - When you say 'Reluctantly' was that due to work or the need to travel? That was outrageous too. My sister actually died of cancer in 2021 in the UK which resulted in me having to make a heartbreaking choice. If I left Thailand unjabbed to attend her funeral I would have been unable to return as I didn't have the "cert' the authorities were demanding for travel/re-entry. I was also adamant I would NOT comply and take this juice. In the end I decided not to return to the UK as she had already passed and my being there wouldn't have helped her. In the two weeks or so before she actually died, relatives also informed me that nobody was even allowed to visit the hospital at that time anyway, even immediate family. So once again returning would have accomplished nothing. So consequently she died alone with faceless medical staff dressed in PPE. She was mentally handicapped too with cerebral palsy so doubt she even would have understood what was going on. It brings a tear to my eye even today thinking about it and also a rage I cant describe. Never Again. NEVER AGAIN.

Again 100%, including on here. The pressure was off the scale globally to comply. One bloke I was friendly with shocked me one day by telling me I was a rebel, just shut your mouth and wear your mask and stop fighting against the system. That was the end of that relationship. He still lives in the same condo and we just pass without speaking these days. Sad state of affairs, but luckily not a loved one or close family and I know that happened too many times too.

What I found particularly terrifying at the time was the complete lack of informed consent. I mean people were lining up in shopping centers FFS and just having some 'nurse' administer a completely unknown product into their body because of the pressure that it was the right thing to do. I will never forget that era or how close we came to losing sovereignty over what goes into our own bodies. In Thailand's favor it did remain a voluntary choice here throughout the whole insanity, but there were times I thought that might not remain the case. Phew.