blazes

While I agree with your sentiments, I find, as a lover of classical music, that while it is "timeless" (and lasts centuries longer than your average rock <deleted>) the fact is many symphony orchestras all over North America (less so in Europe) are dumbing down their concerts so as to make them more "accessible" to the modern breed of illiterates that our schools and universities are now producing. They have to be "tempted" into the symphony concert with some kind of assurance that it is a safe space, even though it is produced in the main by (gosh) white middle class people who have actually reached their position as musicians through lots of hard work and by MERIT. If posters here want a definition of woke, one aspect of it can be found in the numerous examples in modern life of people being promoted, not on merit, but on factors covered by the hateful term "diversity."

Tipping: in Hua Hin, in the restaurant I frequent quite frequently, I note (it's easy to do) how much different people leave for a tip. (Btw, as far as I can see, it is only higher-end restaurants that include a 10% tip - or "service charge" - in their bills.) I note that North Americans are likely to leave a 100 baht tip, no matter what the actual bill. I note that North Europeans (especially Swedes, Norwegians, Dutch and Germans )are total cheapskates and tend to leave 20 baht or NOTHING!!!!! Do these people think that leaving 20 baht is a serious way of acknowledging service? Have they ever stopped to think how much 20 baht buys????? Makes my skin crawl to see Europeans with far superior salaries to anything available to your average nong in a restaurant here being so cheap.

I wonder if Mrs Vardy's legal debts will be folded into that write-off?

"We"??????

Weird, truly weird......

Arab Israelis have the vote. What does "if they gave Palestinians a vote" actually mean? You can of course imagine how wonderful would be the "democracy" formed by the Palestinians whose first aim in life is to sweep the Israelis into the sea.....

Amnesty International's reputation for political neutrality has plummeted in recent decades (imo). Your quotation (from Wiki, a useful source when dealing with actual facts, but hopelessly biased when offering opinion) could apply to scores of modern states (including the United States and its historical dealings with indigenous people!) The fact remains that Israel is the ONLY country in the whole of the Middle East that has free and fair elections. You may not like the results, but their brand of democracy has guaranteed a vitality to all sectors of society. It is an insult to our intelligence to equate Israel with the former S Africa, where Israeli-type democracy was only a distant dream for 90% of the population.

Exactly how is Israel an "apartheid" state?

Oh goody. My shares in Raytheon and Northrop Grumman are going to zoom upwards. Thanks, Joe.

Enjoyed many trans-pacific flights on Eva Air. Still used for cargo, aren't they?

"Biggly" : the only other human being I ever heard converting "big" into an even greater adverb "biggly" was Donald J. Trump.....

Sorry, off topic, but this does remind me of an Eton report card about Anthony Armstrong Jones, later Lord Snowdon, and a little bit later, husband of Princess Margaret. The form master wrote: "He may be good at some subject, but it is not a subject we teach here."

This thread is largely a waste of space, since there is zero probability that Putin's invasion depended, for good or ill, on a conversation with the former Mayor of London. What the thread is omitting is Biden's (rather dementia-inspired) remark about an "incursion" being acceptable (with, presumably, the unspoken thought that maybe an "invasion" might be a missile or two too far).

From the headline I thought it was Putin threatening Johnson personally. Which might have been a useful contribution to the re-building of Britain....

A game which, obviously, you yourself are playing.....

Al-lested? How long will he have to stay in his new little loom?

Nice clean beach he found. Anyone know where? Or is that classified information?

Why all the frenetic toing and froing in and out of the country? Is there a lovely hotty involved somewhere in your plans?

Yes, I too had to take a second look, but then I realised I had missed that the "woman" is Canadian. Say no more.....

Must be the only guy in Thailand who wears a collar and tie....but maybe he wears the tie for the sake of his old mum back home?

Complaint about "cheap jibes" followed by cheap pun. Beam and mote come to mind....

What a stupendously lonely life, Willy or no willy.

Just returned from an expensive border bounce (by air) from Penang. So now I have a second 45+30 at my disposal. But it cost me far in excess of the 1900 baht for a VE extension. All that excess money spent in a foreign country, thus denying Thailand of a little extra business. I would have been quite happy to pay 3800 baht (twice the extension fee) in order not to go to the bother of flying in and out of this country for no gainful purpose whatsoever. (Maybe put a limit on the number of times one could do this, but....) Or why not do what Malaysia does: 90 days Visa Exempt. That's it! Or Mexico: 6 months, no questions asked as long as you don't have a Colombia stamp in your passport

Flight from where, though? Moscow? Los Angeles? Delhi? or just Beijing?