geosname

Sadly it's what grabs the news and distracts from the mundane failures. Leak here, screw up there, balls up here, racism there, throw in a bit of condemnation for effect etc etc etc. Meanwhile in the real world, where the people live things are going on no one notices..... and it all slips by in the ether and murky slime of what passes for news and politics. When will the batman come to save us?...... no not a new leader of the Tory party, buffoon or screw up...... not comrade jezinsky.... someone who can kick the crap, and the crap politicians, out of politics..... please don't suggest the farage balloon, all P and wind, as much use as a fart in a wind tunnel.... May your God help us all..... we need it.

The budget is the budget, whatever it is, it's foolish to spend more than you can afford, it leads to places we don't want to return to. It's not about how much you spend it's what you buy.

Bloody hell mate, you could have said, would have saved some typing.

I missed that you cheeky sod

Patong is a bit touristy for me but enjoyable..... karon beach is nice, or was, beware of rip tides though, very dangerous..... krabi is ok..... lots of boat trips to the islands and snorkelling . Few tips incase you haven't been before. Get a jar of tiger balm for the mosquitos... make sure the taxis put the meter on.... tuck tuks are not all 3 wheelers, cheap in the day expensive at night.... the local open mini buses are extremely cheap.... so are moped hire and moped taxis 100cc usually.... bike hire is cheap..... 7 11 stores everywhere.... don't touch Thais on the head..... don't put your feet up and show your soles... markets will charge you more so barter hard, even if it's cheap, jump in at about 50-60% of asking price.... the law isn't like the UK you can buy yourself out of almost anything..... heavy penalty for drugs..... the Bangkok Hilton isn't a hotel.... all the ladies are not all ladies..... you get a lot further with a smile. If you haven't booked yet check out Asian rooms.... booking.com..... check the prices in Thai baht....... only about 38 to the £ at the moment. Don't change your money in the UK...... or the airport you land at...... change a bit for incidentals ...... find one of the many exchange booths....... check a few for the best rate on the day..... avoid the banks. Hope this helps a little...... if you need more specific info let me know..... Remember it's rainy season (so hotels should be cheap) that doesn't mean it's cold...... 30c to 35c in the day..... bring some aftersun.

Brief outline..... There was a vote to change the constitution...... no public debate was allowed.... dissent was frowned upon and punished. It's a two chamber system, similar to ours, the army have taken a majority of the upper house.... as per the constitution..... everything has to go through the upper house to get passed. Party leaders and parties have been banned and or prosecuted..... votes have probably been rigged. Local town/village elections are decided by vote..... the canvassing goes as follows..... I represent the X party, here is 200bht, vote for me. A cynic would say that was rigged.

Best described in one word mate. Rigged. If you want detail I can provide it in general terms.

What...... you and me on the same side?...... whatever next. I don't need to attack the Tory party, like I've said you do a decent job of that yourself..... you attack the Tories, I do sometimes, and I attack Labour and it covers what I think of politicians.... saves repeats 555. I am not a member of any party...... anymore.

As a PS...... there is no need to apologise.

The only football clubs outside of thailand are the usual....man u..... man city..... Liverpool.... Chelsea etc..... so no they don't read my posts..... I hope. I agree... it's difficult to comprehend unless you have lived with it. I have no religion, it doesn't mean I wasn't born with one..... if by "one of them" you mean a well hung stud...... I'm afraid not.

It impacts everywhere...... can't get a job, to old and no work visa. If I could it would depend on the job, a natural English speaker would get preferential treatment to teach English etc. Thai law favours Thais...... a foreignerbringing a case against a Thai is almost certain to lose, many cases to back this up. Again as an example...... foreigner .... farang.... can not buy land. An English guy married a Thai girl, bought a house a car and a bar..... all in his wife's name..... she died..... her family inhereted everything including what he left in the joint bank account.... I could go on. The answer to the market problem is simple...... I walk past and touch what I want to buy...... my wife follows behind and barters the original (normal) price down by 10%. Some kids go screaming when they see me in the supermarket..... others laugh or mock or make comments my wife won't translate...... I've been accused of stealing Thai women, I've been married, this time, for 14 years.... I get pulled over by the police more..... I could go on but I'm sure you get the picture.... and I'm circumcised.... hey ho.

Living in a foreign country I appreciate racism more than you seem to think. Racism is not confined to whites or westerners. I am a foreigner...... I see it and live it first hand. To give you a very silly example..... if I go to a market the price goes up..... usually about 50%

I was suggesting that after watching the car crash panorama I didn't want to watch a car crash buffoon. You know my thoughts on politicians....... all of them..... I don't care what colour Posey they wear or what colour flag they wave, which side of the isle they sit...... I don't need things to reinforce my position on politicians. I take it your post wasn't meant as a private message...... and therefore was open to comment by anyone..... I made a comment..... get over it.

I was simply stating that the survey is useless and not productive...... for one the numbers are not accurate..... it needs accurate numbers..... they do more damage than concocted figures that detract from the seriousness of the situation. Convictions for hate crime offences has risen from XXXX in 20?? To XXXXX in 20??..... then expand on the crimes ..... has far more impact than..... people have reported an increase of hate crimes, which includes talking about brexit. It's a serious problem and people bull**iting the numbers is counter productive and gives the nay sayers an easy exit.

If 1 in 3 are prosecuted then presumably 2 in 3 are not crimes..... it you transfer that ratio into the survey it makes it bloody useless. I would suggest that a pretty large percentage of young black males from cities would say the police are racist....... I would agree with them