[In leaked call, Obama describes Trump handling of virus as chaotic]

21 minutes ago, riclag said:

Your rant is irrelevant and has nothing to do with this topic! Mr. Obama political rhetoric not only reeks of bad taste but most importantly has indirectly attacked the task force , health experts  and the excellent effort they have shown over the months!

And that's Mr Trumps prerogative

...

[Tesla's Musk says ready for arrest as he reopens California plant against local order]

8 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

And the dead bodies continue to pile up.

No matter - most of them are old and/or poor. Old and/or poor people don't buy Mr Musk's izzy whizzy electric cars...

[Panel formed to select next BOT governor]

52 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Why not give the vote to the people of Bangkok?

In the immortal words of Hercules Grytpype-Thynne, "You silly twisted boy, you!"

[Malls head list of venues due to reopen at end of week]

19 hours ago, BobbyL said:

I hope so. Desperate to get to ikea (yes I know you can order online but not everything is available on there). 

An interesting definition of desperation.

 

There are families in my village who are desperate to feed their children.

 

Mainly day labourers, don't qualify for assistance.

[Thailand tourist arrivals may fall by as much as 65% in 2020 due to virus outbreak]

5 minutes ago, Don Mega said:

I'd prefer to eat dirt than any of those.

Well that may go some way towards explaining your remarkably cheerful disposition...

[Thailand tourist arrivals may fall by as much as 65% in 2020 due to virus outbreak]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Not much in the way of local substitutes for English breakfast tea.

"Heldive" (Sri Lankan import into Big C) does a pretty good Breakfast tea. But most businesses catering for Western customers will have to rely on the expat community, which away from Pattaya/Bangkok/Chiang Mai is pretty thin on the ground in most areas - even if you disregard the curmudgeons who never...

[Thailand tourist arrivals may fall by as much as 65% in 2020 due to virus outbreak]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Let's assume no tourists after March 2020 ..... that's 75% loss.

Probably no tourists in 2021 at all ........ 100% loss.

 

Well I would agree that there will probably be few if any tourists for the remainder of this year.

 

I suspect that there may be a resurgence ( not necessarily a dramatic one) amongst package groups from South and East Asia next year. They are not noted for being free spending, certainly away from the "shopping attractions" to which they are bussed.

 

So the mother of one of my daughter's pals, who works in a Chiang Rai restaurant, Chinese owned, which solely caters for Chinese tour groups will probably get her job back, but anyone whose business or jobs depend on catering for independent or Western tourists, forget it.

[What's happening with TESCO ?]

On 5/8/2020 at 12:49 PM, northsouthdevide said:

Everything normal, except they don't seem to be replacing tesco own brand stock once sold. 

Not good news for those who like a nice cup of tea at a decent price. 

Any alternative suggestions anyone? 

"Heladiv English Breakfast Tea" works for me - Big C sell it in boxes of 100 bags, it comes from Sri Lanka

[What's happening with TESCO ?]

4 hours ago, Postmaster said:

Is there a Monopolies Commission in Thailand investigating this sale ?

And if so, why is there only one Monopolies Commission?

[SURVEY: Thai Airways -- Save it or let it go?]

6 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

Then there was Hungary's flag carrier, Malev,

Gosh yes, I remember them. They were one of the cheap charlie options when I first started globetrotting to this neck of the woods; along with Air Uzbekistan, Biman Bangladesh (the aircraft interior smelt and looked like a  Curry house in Campbeltown after a particularly rough Saturday night) and of course Aeroflot - flying with the latter was about the equivalent in terms of comfort, cabin service and (perceived) risk as a trip to Berlin in a Lancaster bomber in 1944.

[SURVEY: Thai Airways -- Save it or let it go?]

2 hours ago, Greg O said:

Horribly mismanaged and too many fleet types for one thing. A380's ? Ya gotta be kidding 747,777,787, A350,  320 etc...The logistics and duplication of parts and spares is completely illogical and a logistical nightmare. Nothing is common between those fleet types. It seems they will order anything (some incentives may be involved)

This is the case with just about any procurement process in this country, from buying airliners, equipment for the military, railways, down to buying textbooks for the schools.

 

There is one reason - kickbacks.

 

The tentacles of corruption get everywhere.

[Free or very cheap phone offers by operators]

You can get an OK (Realmi/Oppo, Huwai or similar) for around ThB3000 from one of the online suppliers. DTAC will sell you unlimited Internet at 580mbps, plus free calls to DTAC numbers for ThB100 a week. It works out much cheaper - my last phone lasted 4 years. If you buy one of the offers from the companies not only are you locked in to their plan, but the phone will only work on their network, which makes it useless if you travel, and renders the dual sim option fairly pointless.

[“Successful” Thailand hangs its fate on vaccine quest]

2 hours ago, brucec64 said:

Yes, this is all a trick to keep people down, and Prayut is so smart he managed to get 185 other countries to go along with his scam. 

 

Do people even think before they post here?

No one is suggesting that is the case.

 

Quite a lot of us wonder whether the regime is taking advantage of it.

[Irrigation Dept mulls water strategy for wet season]

11 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Thongplew Kongjan, director-general of the department, said the dry season had technically ended and the wet season was about to begin.

 

So what is it at the moment?

 

The slightly soggy season?

[“Successful” Thailand hangs its fate on vaccine quest]

Opinions in this forum vary across a broad range, from those expecting (relishing even) successive waves, with massive death tolls globally. possibly ending life as we know it; to the "grow up and put your long trousers on, it's only a nasty bout of flu" brigade! Both sides seem to have marshalled statistics and collected expert opinions to support their hypothesis - perhaps a result of having too much time on their hands during "lock-down" and the astonishing amount of contradictory opinion on the internet. I am somewhere in between, aware of the deaths, but conscious of the fact that in societies where more exhaustive records have been kept many were elderly, with other health problems - put callously, they were likely to die from many causes soon anyway!

 

I am also like many struck by the disparity between the effects of the virus in South East Asia and Western Europe, and even more so the USA. I am sure that geographical factors (climate, social habits, open air living, diet, comparative lack of access to air conditioning [in my mind perhaps the biggie] and general genetic and population wide immunities) play a very wide part in this. I am sure that social distancing, personal protective habits and school closures have played a part as well - I teach primary and junior secondary so I know what a disease incubator a classroom can be.

 

There are so many variables in play here, that I expect it will take a long time before any definite answers emerge, perhaps never as they will inevitably be viewed through various political prisms. But as I said, I tend to the middle view, and have some confidence in humankind and natures ability to come through it; perhaps despite our political establishment's best efforts.

 

I am also concerned, like many, that over authoritarian responses could lead to massive damage - greater than maybe the effects of the epidemic - on our societies. Again, I am sure that I am not alone in questioning some of the motivations of those in power.

 

[Covid-19 centres to be set up in all provinces]

52 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

This makes me think they know something they're not telling us. If everything is under control as they continue to tell us with extraordinarily low numbers of infections and deaths one has to wonder why. Of course I may be wrong by thinking covid-19 centres are about testing, indentifying, isolating and tracing rather than setting up committies and then give the fat cats big bonuses for 'being on the frontline'. Mmm! Having re-read the article it's definitely the latter.

They will, I think, be a jolly useful tool. Let's face it, if you feel the need to control the population, which this regime clearly does, then having a network of regional offices, unaccountable, with seemingly unlimited powers to dictate how life is lived and to impose sanctions at will, even as a form of collective punishment; all set up without any judicial or parliamentary oversight has clear advantages - George Orwell and Aldous Huxley would wish that they had thought of it when writing their novels.

 

Doing it at a local level is jolly clever too - it will allow for much better targeting of particular areas, very useful given the territorial aspect of the Thai political scene. Sanctions which may be need to be applied in, for example Issaan and the North may be less desirable, counterproductive even in provinces south of Bangkok!

[Leadership tussle roils Phalang Pracharat again]

11 minutes ago, webfact said:

...as the group comprises at least two politicians being investigated by the NACC [Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission], while some of the rest were involved in party fund embezzlement scandals.

What, it cannot be, surely not, I mean, the whole point of the exercise, the coup, the new constitution, the election, all that time counting, recounting, reallocating and designing new ways to count and interpret votes, the relentless fight to expose corruption (well sort, no, very "sort of") in the ranks of the opposition; and now we learn that the white knights of Phalang Pracharat may not be unsullied...

[Thais emerge to a “new world” after lockdown]

On 5/6/2020 at 6:52 PM, Lacessit said:

Today in Chiang Rai, I was eating ( not takeaway ) with my GF in a Japanese restaurant. That's been going on there for two weeks, so lockdown requirements are either not being enforced, or are at the whim of individual governors.

I'm sure that permits which allow exemption from the requirements are available. It will just depend on the amount of "influence" you can muster...

[Tesco Lotus sets new procedure for alcoholic beverages sales amid Covid-19 risk]

2 hours ago, lee b said:

It makes alot of sense, the scenes from a few days back were shocking.

Have they been repeated?

 

Is it now a permanent problem?

 

Or were they a one off, the result of the lifting of a ban which had been imposed for a few days at short notice, and then arbitrarily and considerably extended? Whilst many, vendors and buyers, may have reluctantly accepted the initial ban, they saw the subsequent extension, and the lack of transparency over relaxing or further extensions, coinciding as they did with the regime effectively asking for "a bung" from the producers and sellers, as likely to mean another arbitrary ban would be imposed shortly. Hence the urgency, particularly on the part of small businesses, to restock.

 

As so often, the consequences of their inchoate actions, make the problem worse.

 

You see, it does make quite a difference doesn't it - unless you were too shocked by the appalling scenes to consider that.

[Sheikhul Islam Office announces COVID-19 measures for mosques]

12 hours ago, Boomer6969 said:

At least they admit, indirectly, that prayers won't protect them. Not sure the catholics would do so. 

The catholic churches have been closed for a month now, services are being streamed live over the internet.

[Prayut warns THAI that govt will step in if bailout fails]

So the existing bunch can carry on p*ss*ng taxpayers money up against the wall, confident in the knowledge that eventually someone else will sort out the problem.

[Shoppers may get two hour time limit when visiting malls]

30 minutes ago, tribalfusion001 said:

Unenforceable in malls, what are they going to give a ticket when entering and what time to leave. This is just micromanaging people lives to the extreme.

Power, power, glorious power!

You can do this, but only the way I tell you!

If you don't do it as I tell you, then I will ban you from doing it!

[Obey social distancing rule or lockdown will return, Wissanu warns]

2 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Khun Wissanu should come up and take a look at the day market in Chiang Rai. About as much social distancing as a litter of puppies.

Something is protecting Thailand from the infection rates seen in other countries. Various hypotheses as to why.

Khun Wissanu should reflect on the fact that for the past few decades he and his ilk have presided over a social and economic system which has ensured that the only way that probably the only way that the majority of the population can afford to trade and buy is in crowded, cramped and insanitary environments like the Chiang Rai market, where social distancing is simply impossible. If he closes them he cuts off both the source of food and goods, but many businesses.

[Rise in curfew violations since Sunday amid warning booze ban could be reinstated]

3 hours ago, Geoffggi said:

What troubles me is why punish all for the sake of the guilty, this is dragging Thailand back to the "Dark Ages"; it is the guilty people who should be punished then you would not upset the whole nation by a thoughtless decision.!!!!!!! 

That would involve patrolling, observing, raiding, arresting, processing, bailing or remanding in custody, prosecuting and taking to jail/collecting a fine - which as it is awarded by a court is not subject to the less rigorous informal accounting procedures favoured...

 

Much easier and more satisfying to dress up in your tightest uniform and go on the telly to announce a ban - although you will have to practice your "stern, regretful but you leave me with no choice" mode of delivery. That shows that you have real power and influence. The ban also may provide your chaps, who are quite hard hit now so many businesses which they "looked after" have closed, with the opportunity for some informal accounting procedures.

 

Bear in mind, you wear a uniform, and so are not accountable - to anyone really.

[Rise in curfew violations since Sunday amid warning booze ban could be reinstated]

59 minutes ago, Mattd said:

I wish somebody would explain to me the logic behind the curfew in terms of COVID-19, what purpose does the curfew achieve in useful COVID control, other than reducing the opening hours of businesses that are normally open for 24 hours and therefore making these shops etc. busier during the shortened opening hours.

The only advantage I see it is that it possibly helps to reduce the criminal element.

The police force, and indeed most state agencies here are primarily tasked with controlling rather than serving the population.

 

The imposition and enforcement of a curfew is an effective and salutary reminder that "the uniforms" remain in charge.