Chris Ubon Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Jalansanitwong, are you suggesting that gay men are not real men? If so, that is bigoted and highly offensive. Depends how one looks at it don't you think.......? No, I don't think so. It's amazing the views that surface here and what it can reveal about people's mindsets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I wonder how the Thais will perceive this? When he presents his papers at the palace will his partner accompany him given that same sex marriage is not recognised in Thailand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy50 Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I got really excited with this news for a split second as i thought it said they had appointed Jim Davidson as ambassador, and i thought finally the PC, bearded, anorak wearing Liberal lefties had all been kicked out of goverment departments and was really looking forward to the odd joke from the new ambassador..... Isn't he in prison with all those other 70's comedians? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bantex Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I bet Mr Chang can get the quickest UK passport in history if desired !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukrules Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Kind of surprising, I heard the current ambassador speaks Thai very well, if he moves elsewhere then this will be useless to him. Then again they move these guys around all the time on some kind of rotation don't they ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evadgib Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Let's hope he can Sort out the mess when you try to renew your British passport. You can only pay for the Renual with a British credit/debit card Not cash, money order or foreign visa card. For a lot of Expats with no Bank account in the UK its a really stupid rule. But this is of no concern to him. We are only the people he has been sent to look after. Is the right answer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
English 1 Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Good Luck to the Happy couple! Maybe now my Thai friend can get a Tourist Visa having been turned down by the totally unhelpful and rude Embassy Staff twice. Poor Mark Kent he sucked up to the Thai so much and learnt Thai too LOL!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evadgib Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 (edited) Good Luck to the Happy couple! Maybe now my Thai friend can get a Tourist Visa having been turned down by the totally unhelpful and rude Embassy Staff twice. Poor Mark Kent he sucked up to the Thai so much and learnt Thai too LOL!! Required by intl protocol. His predecessor spoke eight languages & he speaks at least four. You 'visa' swipe is incorrect too. They must love Monday mornings @ Wireless road if this board is any indication as to what they have to deal with. Edited September 8, 2015 by evadgib Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dick turpin Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Good Luck to the Happy couple! Maybe now my Thai friend can get a Tourist Visa having been turned down by the totally unhelpful and rude Embassy Staff twice. Poor Mark Kent he sucked up to the Thai so much and learnt Thai too LOL!! It is a requirement you fool. His predecessor spoke 8 languages & he speaks at least 4. Not Cockney though. ........ havin' a laugh, ain't ya.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayboy Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Good Luck to the Happy couple! Maybe now my Thai friend can get a Tourist Visa having been turned down by the totally unhelpful and rude Embassy Staff twice. Poor Mark Kent he sucked up to the Thai so much and learnt Thai too LOL!! You cannot know Mark Kent.He does not suck up to the Thais (by which I take it your suggestion he is over deferential.) He has also been quite punctilious about making UK's position clear on democracy, human rights etc.of all the Ambassadors I have known here I would rate him as one of the very best - and that's not including his language skills.He has steered a difficult line very skilfully here.Lastly he is recognisably a representative of modern Britain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Let's hope he can Sort out the mess when you try to renew your British passport. You can only pay for the Renual with a British credit/debit card Not cash, money order or foreign visa card. For a lot of Expats with no Bank account in the UK its a really stupid rule. But this is of no concern to him. We are only the people he has been sent to look after. Absolute rubbish, i havent had a bank account in UK for over 15 years and have have had 4 new passports, and i paid for my passport renewal last time round with a Thai credit card from SCB, if your going to have a whing at least make an effort to try and get your facts right, further renewing a passport these days had nothing to do with the embassy, that stopped a while ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayboy Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Good Luck to the Happy couple! Maybe now my Thai friend can get a Tourist Visa having been turned down by the totally unhelpful and rude Embassy Staff twice. Poor Mark Kent he sucked up to the Thai so much and learnt Thai too LOL!! You cannot know Mark Kent.He does not suck up to the Thais (by which I take it your suggestion he is over deferential.) He has also been quite punctilious about making UK's position clear on democracy, human rights etc.of all the Ambassadors I have known here I would rate him as one of the very best - and that's not including his language skills.He has steered a difficult line very skilfully here.Lastly he is recognisably a representative of modern Britain. Why don't they leave 'im here then.........? Because an ambassadorial tour of duty is never more than four years.Same for all countries in the British Foreign Office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandtee Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Let's hope this guy has more pizazz than the singularly unimpressive and unfortunately misnomered "Mark Kent" - who certainly wasn't superman's big brother.... maybe the release of the British academic has something to do with this? Maybe Mark Time would have been more appropriate when considering the plagiary debacle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Wetherall Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Quite likely. Thais would not admit to holding someone (a UN consultant no less) on stupid or trivial or flimsy grounds, so they probably released him 'to honour the new ambassador'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaiturkey Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Good Luck to the Happy couple! Maybe now my Thai friend can get a Tourist Visa having been turned down by the totally unhelpful and rude Embassy Staff twice. Poor Mark Kent he sucked up to the Thai so much and learnt Thai too LOL!! You cannot know Mark Kent.He does not suck up to the Thais (by which I take it your suggestion he is over deferential.) He has also been quite punctilious about making UK's position clear on democracy, human rights etc.of all the Ambassadors I have known here I would rate him as one of the very best - and that's not including his language skills.He has steered a difficult line very skilfully here.Lastly he is recognisably a representative of modern Britain. He is a typical example of a GUTLESS career diplomat. He didn't give a shit about my human rights when I was victim to a false Criminal Charge by a crooked lawyer. I also complained that farangs are routinely abused by Thai Courts (forced to sign Thai documents without proper translation). He didn't even have the manners to reply to my complaint. Good riddance to the worst ambassador ever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evadgib Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 (edited) Complaints to any UK Govt dept are thoroughly scrutinized; not least because of the likelihood of litigation. I therefore suspect the previous post, at the very least, to be somewhat selective in detail. Edited September 8, 2015 by evadgib Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiyaibob Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 (edited) Guess he didn't want that senior posting in Moscow then....being married to a Mr and all Edited September 8, 2015 by kaiyaibob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lildragon Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 It is a requirement you fool. His predecessor spoke 8 languages & he speaks at least 4. Not Cockney though. ........ havin' a laugh, ain't ya.. Yes I am.......The UK sends a gay guy to LOS when LOS shuns that stuff. It is crazy. In fact stupid............. Thailand shuns gays? Are you sure you are in the right country? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertthebruce Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 British Embassy in Bangkok, have to say found it no help at all, for many a query... So what's the point ??? Walk in query service would be nice, or just a friendly "British Face or Voice" to assist... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonmarleesco Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 in succession to Mr Mark Kent, That was quick. He underwent quite a lot of training (language and otherwise) before being taken on as a long-term ambassador. The previous guy (Pakistani name) took over for a year as a temp while Mark was trained up. Somewhat longer than a year; long enough to start to impose his own (non-Christian) religious beliefs on the embassy, and by default, the British community. He 'temped' while Kent was apparently still getting to grips with the Thai language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phrodan Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Good Luck to the Happy couple! Maybe now my Thai friend can get a Tourist Visa having been turned down by the totally unhelpful and rude Embassy Staff twice. Poor Mark Kent he sucked up to the Thai so much and learnt Thai too LOL!! You cannot know Mark Kent.He does not suck up to the Thais (by which I take it your suggestion he is over deferential.) He has also been quite punctilious about making UK's position clear on democracy, human rights etc.of all the Ambassadors I have known here I would rate him as one of the very best - and that's not including his language skills.He has steered a difficult line very skilfully here.Lastly he is recognisably a representative of modern Britain. He is a typical example of a GUTLESS career diplomat. He didn't give a shit about my human rights when I was victim to a false Criminal Charge by a crooked lawyer. I also complained that farangs are routinely abused by Thai Courts (forced to sign Thai documents without proper translation). He didn't even have the manners to reply to my complaint. Good riddance to the worst ambassador ever! What did you expect the Ambassador to do for you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phrodan Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Complaints to any UK Govt dept are thoroughly scrutinized; not least because of the likelihood of litigation. I therefore suspect the previous post, at the very least, to be somewhat selective in detail. It was just stupid talk on a stupid thread full of stupid bigoted old men spewing homophobic bile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thaiturkey Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Good Luck to the Happy couple! Maybe now my Thai friend can get a Tourist Visa having been turned down by the totally unhelpful and rude Embassy Staff twice. Poor Mark Kent he sucked up to the Thai so much and learnt Thai too LOL!! You cannot know Mark Kent.He does not suck up to the Thais (by which I take it your suggestion he is over deferential.) He has also been quite punctilious about making UK's position clear on democracy, human rights etc.of all the Ambassadors I have known here I would rate him as one of the very best - and that's not including his language skills.He has steered a difficult line very skilfully here.Lastly he is recognisably a representative of modern Britain. He is a typical example of a GUTLESS career diplomat. He didn't give a shit about my human rights when I was victim to a false Criminal Charge by a crooked lawyer. I also complained that farangs are routinely abused by Thai Courts (forced to sign Thai documents without proper translation). He didn't even have the manners to reply to my complaint. Good riddance to the worst ambassador ever! What did you expect the Ambassador to do for you? When British and EU citizens are routinely abused in Thai Courts, it is his responsibility to investigate, pending a Formal Complaint. Even more shameful, .some consular staff have a close relationship with a very crooked lawyer. Foul play suspected! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Good Luck to the Happy couple! Maybe now my Thai friend can get a Tourist Visa having been turned down by the totally unhelpful and rude Embassy Staff twice. Poor Mark Kent he sucked up to the Thai so much and learnt Thai too LOL!! You cannot know Mark Kent.He does not suck up to the Thais (by which I take it your suggestion he is over deferential.) He has also been quite punctilious about making UK's position clear on democracy, human rights etc.of all the Ambassadors I have known here I would rate him as one of the very best - and that's not including his language skills.He has steered a difficult line very skilfully here.Lastly he is recognisably a representative of modern Britain. He is a typical example of a GUTLESS career diplomat. He didn't give a shit about my human rights when I was victim to a false Criminal Charge by a crooked lawyer. I also complained that farangs are routinely abused by Thai Courts (forced to sign Thai documents without proper translation). He didn't even have the manners to reply to my complaint. Good riddance to the worst ambassador ever! What did you expect the Ambassador to do for you? Dispatch the SAS mobility troop of course to "take out" the native lawyer ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Good Luck to the Happy couple!Maybe now my Thai friend can get a Tourist Visa having been turned down by the totally unhelpful and rude Embassy Staff twice. Poor Mark Kent he sucked up to the Thai so much and learnt Thai too LOL!! You cannot know Mark Kent.He does not suck up to the Thais (by which I take it your suggestion he is over deferential.) He has also been quite punctilious about making UK's position clear on democracy, human rights etc.of all the Ambassadors I have known here I would rate him as one of the very best - and that's not including his language skills.He has steered a difficult line very skilfully here.Lastly he is recognisably a representative of modern Britain. He is a typical example of a GUTLESS career diplomat. He didn't give a shit about my human rights when I was victim to a false Criminal Charge by a crooked lawyer. I also complained that farangs are routinely abused by Thai Courts (forced to sign Thai documents without proper translation). He didn't even have the manners to reply to my complaint. Good riddance to the worst ambassador ever! What did you expect the Ambassador to do for you? When British and EU citizens are routinely abused in Thai Courts, it is his responsibility to investigate, pending a Formal Complaint. Even more shameful, .some consular staff have a close relationship with a very crooked lawyer. Foul play suspected! So one suposes you have proof of said foul play and have informed the foreign office in the UK, and its not his responsiblity to investgate anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poohy Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 we're doomed Captain Mainwaring! Being married to a bloke his postings must e pretty limited, he wouldn't get a job on the bins in Dudley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baerboxer Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Good Luck to the Happy couple! Maybe now my Thai friend can get a Tourist Visa having been turned down by the totally unhelpful and rude Embassy Staff twice. Poor Mark Kent he sucked up to the Thai so much and learnt Thai too LOL!! You cannot know Mark Kent.He does not suck up to the Thais (by which I take it your suggestion he is over deferential.) He has also been quite punctilious about making UK's position clear on democracy, human rights etc.of all the Ambassadors I have known here I would rate him as one of the very best - and that's not including his language skills.He has steered a difficult line very skilfully here.Lastly he is recognisably a representative of modern Britain. Of course Mr Kent and previous Ambassadors make a point of knowing you well, confiding in you and taking you along so you can observe how they interact with senior Thai officials when representing HM Government. How else would you know what he makes clear? Or did you read it on his FB and Twitter? Steered a difficult line skillfully - would you care to elaborate on that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SantiSuk Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 The new UK Ambassador to Thailand is married to ...........Mr Chang ? He's going to love it here! Who's a big boy then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayboy Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Good Luck to the Happy couple! Maybe now my Thai friend can get a Tourist Visa having been turned down by the totally unhelpful and rude Embassy Staff twice. Poor Mark Kent he sucked up to the Thai so much and learnt Thai too LOL!! You cannot know Mark Kent.He does not suck up to the Thais (by which I take it your suggestion he is over deferential.) He has also been quite punctilious about making UK's position clear on democracy, human rights etc.of all the Ambassadors I have known here I would rate him as one of the very best - and that's not including his language skills.He has steered a difficult line very skilfully here.Lastly he is recognisably a representative of modern Britain. Of course Mr Kent and previous Ambassadors make a point of knowing you well, confiding in you and taking you along so you can observe how they interact with senior Thai officials when representing HM Government. How else would you know what he makes clear? Or did you read it on his FB and Twitter? Steered a difficult line skillfully - would you care to elaborate on that? Most British businessman of a certain level who have been here decades will know the Ambassador and his staff well.I have known all the Ambassasdors of the last 20 years except Barney Smith (don't ask). I did not claim to be a friend of Mark Kent, but I have seen enough of him to form a clear impression.Along with James Hodge and Christian Adams, he is one of the best. Do not attempt sarcasm if you lack the wit to make it amusing.Of course I didn't accompany Mark Kent on his official visits. Steering a difficult line, as I had assumed would be obvious, means retain good relationships with the host government while sometimes having to communicate unwelcome positions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogmatix Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 As much as I despise the British Embassy, and dread ever having to go there, it is enlightened and progressive that a gay married man has been chosen as the next ambassador. Good luck to him and his lovely wife. Lovely wife? How would you know this .Youve met them? Youre simply expressing the opinion of the minority and by the way gays have partners not wives. Men have wives. Please dont twist things to suit your agenda. Getting back to the real issue of the embassy. I think alot of Brits lost it for their embassy when it turned its back on a Briton who was cuffed to a cell bar and left to starve. He was a human skeleton by the time someone texted a pic of him to the media.The embassy had no choice but to get him out. They followed that one by letting a British teacher in Thailand die of heart disease because they wouldn't repatriate him for emergency medical treatment in the UK as a special case. If you remember the case, the poor bastard was working for some miserly Thai Chinese owner of a private school. His employer deducted social security contributions from the foreign teachers but when the Brit suddenly fell seriously ill and tried to go a social security hospital, he found out to his horror that his employer had simply stolen the contributions and not enrolled him in the scheme at all. Both the employer and the embassy happily left him to die, while they went on enjoying life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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