https://aseannow.com/rss/44-thailand-news.xml/National and regional news from all around ThailandenFifth-generation farmer Chris Wray Ten years after delivering the strongest Brexit vote in Britain, the Lincolnshire town that became the face of the Leave movement is wrestling with a painful question: what exactly did it get in return? Standing on 700 acres farmed by his family for five generations, farmer Chris Wray delivers a stark verdict. "I can't afford to employ my own kids," he says. For a family whose land has survived wars, recessions and political upheaval, the statement lands like a thunderbolt. The 46-year-old father of four says his own future in farming once seemed guaranteed. Now he cannot say the same for his children. When Britain voted to leave the European Union in June 2016, Boston voted harder for Brexit than anywhere else in the country. More than 75 per cent of residents backed Leave, turning the market town into a national symbol of frustration over immigration, economic change and a feeling that Britain had lost control. For years, Boston sat at the centre of Britain's immigration debate. Following EU expansion in 2004, workers from countries including Poland, Lithuania, Romania and Latvia arrived in large numbers to work in agriculture, food processing and logistics. The town changed rapidly. New businesses opened, different languages became commonplace and some residents felt their community was transforming faster than they could influence. Into that atmosphere stepped Nigel Farage, UKIP and the wider Leave campaign. Their message was simple: end free movement, take back control and put British workers first. Boston embraced it completely. But a decade later, many of the industries that depended on migrant labour are facing serious difficulties. Farmers and employers who once relied on overseas workers have struggled to fill vacancies. Wray says the workers who became the focus of so much anger were also helping to keep local businesses running. "When you talk to Eastern Europeans, they've got that old-school work ethic you remember your parents having," he says. "They work crazy hard, all day, every day. British people just don't want that work." Not everyone sees the issue the same way. Twenty-seven-year-old Jacques Perdeaux says immigration remains the town's defining concern. Although he was too young to vote in 2016, he says he would support Nigel Farage and agrees with Reform UK's position on immigration and welfare. Yet even he struggles to argue that Brexit delivered everything promised. "Everyone blames the government," he says. "The system is flawed." Iga Bontoft, who runs EU Linc Just a few streets away, Polish-born community worker Iga Bontoft tells a very different story. Having lived in Boston for 16 years, paid taxes and built a life in Britain, she says many migrants still feel uncertain about their future. "None of us really feels settled," she says. Bontoft argues that vastly different groups are often lumped together in political debates about immigration. She says many people overlook the long hours worked by migrants who contribute to the local economy. The financial reality of Brexit has hit farming particularly hard. For decades, British farmers benefited from the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, which delivered around £3.5 billion annually to agriculture across Britain. Wray says those payments often represented the difference between profit and loss. "Our subsidy figure was essentially our profit figure," he says. Since Brexit, those payments have been phased out and replaced by environmental schemes. Meanwhile, fuel, fertiliser, machinery, insurance and energy costs have all risen sharply. "The margin under Brexit has just gone," says Wray. Across Lincolnshire, many farmers are now focused on limiting losses rather than generating profits. "Nothing makes any money," Wray says. "It's about what you're going to lose the least on." The pressure has pushed many farmers towards solar energy. Wray has already dedicated 100 acres of land to solar panels and says he would commit more if possible. "It could put me in profit," he says. "I could draw more money from solar than from farming." That creates a striking contradiction in Boston and Skegness, represented by Reform UK MP Richard Tice. Reform opposes large-scale solar farms and wants them removed from agricultural land. Yet many local farmers now see solar energy as one of the few viable ways to stay afloat . Wray is no enthusiastic supporter of Net Zero policies. But he says he has little choice. "It's hard to go net zero when you're poor," he says. "It'll bankrupt us if we're not careful." The impact is also being felt on Boston's high street. Fruit shop owner Sayid Kutan questions whether his business can survive, saying the streets have become noticeably quieter and the town feels divided. Driving through Boston today reveals a landscape of waterlogged fields, solar farms, migrant-owned businesses and shuttered market stalls. For many residents, the promises of Brexit were clear: stronger industries, greater prosperity and a brighter future. Ten years later, critics point to lost subsidies, labour shortages and mounting financial pressures. For Chris Wray, the issue is deeply personal. The question is no longer about politics or slogans. It is whether a sixth generation of his family will be able to make a living from the same land that supported every generation before them. Boston voted harder for Brexit than anywhere else, 10 years on what have they got for it?Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:53:59 +0000According to information obtained by Exilenova+, the Moscow Oil Refinery has been shut down following the attacks. The facility is one of Russia’s largest refineries and a key supplier of fuel to the Moscow region. According to Reuters on June 18, citing industry sources, the latest strike damaged the Euro+ crude oil processing complex, commissioned in 2020 as part of the refinery’s modernization program. The unit includes a crude distillation section with a nominal capacity of around 140,000 barrels per day—approximately 47% of the refinery’s total processing capacity. Sources told Reuters that the damaged complex also includes a catalytic reforming unit and a diesel hydrotreater. In addition, several secondary processing units, interconnecting pipelines, auxiliary equipment, and fuel storage tanks were reportedly damaged and caught fire. Reuters previously reported that another major crude distillation unit, CDU-6, responsible for roughly 53% of the refinery’s processing capacity, was damaged during an earlier Ukrainian drone strike on June 16.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:50:35 +0000Here's some weirdness. While the summer weather in Vina is similar to Southern California the ocean water is VERY COLD and not suitable for swimming. That would be frustrating. Another plus is that it's about 90 minutes to bus to Santiago, similar to Pattaya to Bangkok. Some other options in Chile:Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:41:22 +0000A new generation of Ukrainian mid-range drones is severely disrupting the Russian military’s supply lines to the southern front lines, striking bridges, trains and fuel trucks – and giving Kyiv a chance to derail Moscow’s plans for a summer offensive. Video and images of about 150 strikes against Russian fuel tankers, trucks and other vehicles have been geolocated and analyzed by French open-source analyst Clément Molin and the volunteer-run OSINT group Geoconfirmed, as well as CNN’s OSINT team. It’s likely that many more strikes have gone unrecorded. Most have occurred since the beginning of May, in addition to a surge in strikes on other targets such as port facilities and ships. With a range of 50 to 300 kilometers, the drones, all made in Ukraine, are designed to throttle the Russian army’s logistics – adding a new dimension of strikes to Ukraine’s strategy as the war grinds through its fifth year. Among the newly designed drones are the FP-2 and the Behemoth, which has a cruising speed of 180 kmh (110 mph) and can carry a 70 kilogram warhead.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:34:37 +0000The ‘Rape Gang Report’ sponsored by Restore Britain MP Rupert Lowe, estimates that at least 250,000 mainly White British girls had been victimized nationwide since the 1950s. Now, we all know what Restore Britain is all about—racism, Tommy Robinson style. And then we have Russia Today, surely a bastion of free reportage. Hm, what might be Russia’s agenda for the United Kingdom, well, other than fomenting discontent? Let’s take 1955 as an arbitrary start year. That’s 71 years ago. Let’s do the math, that's ~3,500 rapes a year to 2026. Sorry, but the sexual assault statistics simply don’t support that figure. There were ~12,500 Pakistani male immigrant to the UK in the decade up to 1960. No gender breakdown is available but a total of ~67,000 immigrated up to 1970. From 1971 to 1980, there were ~77k Pakistani men in the UK. ~80k total to 1990. Okay, I’m bored looking this up. Obviously, Pakistani families have had British children, resulting in 1.6M to 1.8M people of Pakistani heritage in the UK today. How many of these Pakistani men are children under 18? How many are infants? The statistics don’t disclose that. In 2026, ~56,000 immigrated from Pakistan. And 70k left the UK for elsewhere. I’m going to go with “The Rape Gang Inquiry Report lies to support a racist agenda, the Dishonourable Rupert Lowe’s anti-immigrant agenda. You can’t fool the numbers. This is nothing more than a shameful ploy to fool the gullible. Are you going to tell me that the 24,000 people who crowd-funded £500,000 did not have a racist agenda??? Doesn’t Restore Britain have the same sort of ring as Make America Great Again? Umm, white power?Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:29:36 +0000You are right he has been driven mad by consuming extreme material designed for just that end and to plug into personal fears and insecurities often as a result of disappointed lives looking for scapegoats. Happy people don't generally hate.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:23:34 +0000One needs no proof if one has faith. One side makes you smaller, and one side makes you taller. Just have faith. Just ask Alice.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:10:52 +0000No. But, maybe they should make him the head of the CIA?Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:08:15 +0000I presume that you also fully realize that I was similarly fixated on Elizabeth Holmes, and Bernie Madoff. In fact, being fixated on scammers is my main hobby in life, other than posting Topics on TV. Psychopaths have always fascinated me. Their psychopathy is inexplicable from an evolutionary perspective, or do you not think so? This psychopathic aberration seems to have no evolutionary advantage..... Or does it? Any ideas?Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:07:34 +0000Radicalised. There are 2-3 on here who are similarly radicalised, but they can't see it. Farage and Yaxley sowing division and creating this false narrative. I fear for the UK.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:07:11 +0000Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:05:18 +0000Watched Türkiye vs Paraguay today on free Monomax channel 29. Obviously not all are free. Pro tip: VPN to Ireland www.rte.ie/player No need to create an account. (You're welcome.)Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:03:01 +0000BREAKING - MASS STABBING IN EDINBURGH Should we respond with pure,cold,rage ?Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:58:08 +0000He's sick mentally. He's sick physically. Nothing new to see here. He's not even to blame anymore. It's the republicans who refuse to remove him which indeed they have the power to do.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:57:43 +0000The article is correct. Trump surrendered.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:54:04 +0000Israel sees Trump’s deal a ““diplomatic Oct. 7” Israel Can’t Believe Trump’s Total “Capitulation” in Iran Deal Trump’s memorandum of understanding has left those in Israel gobsmacked. Malcolm Ferguson The New Republic: 18 Jun 2026 “Iran came out stronger, and I believe is now the regional hegemon,” former Israeli deputy national security adviser Chuck Freilich said. “They stood up to the U.S., the global superpower. They can have missiles, and there’s nothing in the agreement about the nuclear issue except [that] we’ll talk about it. This is an Iranian victory over the U.S. and Israel.” Ensuring Iran is defenseless and economically crippled has been a priority for Israel for years. Trump’s recent deal all but assured that won’t happen. In the last 48 hours alone, the president has defended Iran’s right to have ballistic missiles, suggested that they should have the right to use nuclear power just like its neighbors, and criticized Israel for its deadly strikes in Lebanon—all which are points within the deal. And while it’s still unclear whether this is a temporary rift or a complete heel turn, this MOU endangers Israel’s long-term goals of a disarmed Iran and an occupied Lebanon.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:48:01 +0000Jonny, you're losing it now. Every day getting more and more irate and more and more outrageous and aggressive and nonsensical.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:41:33 +0000[Opinion. No wonder Israel loves him!] Trump Seriously Compares Himself to Hitler The president made the comments after signing his memorandum of understanding with Iran. Malcolm Ferguson The New Republic: 18 Jun 2026 Trump shared this post on Truth Social, attributed to “Presidential Historian Dave King.” “Donald Trump is, without question, the most powerful man that the planet has ever known- by a long way. Historically, powerful people were characterised by brutal conquest and the fear that they instilled in the populations that came under their influence. Common names that would come to mind are Alexander the Great, the Caesars, Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, Tamburlaine, Napoleon and, more recently, Hitler, Mao, and Stalin,” read the letter. “The overwhelming difference between each of the above when compared with President Trump is their lack of global reach. Their power was limited to restricted local areas (even though some of these areas were quite large in a local context). They had nowhere near the control over modern logistics, manpower, technology, and the global economic muscle that President Trump can enforce. “Hitler repeated Napoleon’s mistake in Russia. Mao and Lenin had access to immense power within the Chinese and Russian populations and some of their satellite states. They maintained this power through fear and authoritarianism. But, they lacked the economic and technology resources of the new industrial power, the USA, which resulted in the Cold War and prevented them from ever having a meaningful global reach,” the letter continued. “Additionally, President Trump is the first leader to be willing to use that power on a global scale. That makes him by far the most powerful person that has EVER walked this planet.”Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:39:52 +0000He didn't lock her up. She pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred. You'll never ever let that get through your skull though. Too inconvenient a fact.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:38:24 +0000Thank you.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:32:58 +0000A bunch of Germans in front of my condo walking to a matchSat, 20 Jun 2026 17:32:34 +0000Ceasefires mean nothing to Israel, a rogue state.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:18:10 +0000Iran needs to write in compensation to the families of each of the families, nilled to Israel. Their war. They started it.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:16:49 +0000Even warmonger Bibi wouldn't be that stupid! He lost the plot before he lost the war. Did he have any idea at all that Iran was just as determined at warmaking as Israel?Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:15:14 +0000Sat, 20 Jun 2026 17:13:13 +0000