radioman

Really, Robbie Williams huh? Who'd a thunk it!

I said, I said, I said. You did. I'll see your Ning Nang Nong and raise you one Ying Tong Yiddle I po.

Well you started it

T'all depends. If I could get off the dog and bone, drag me plates of meat down the apples and pears to quiz the trouble and strife she'd probably let me know in her jauntiest Kham Muang something to the effect of "ee by gum lad av ya no idea hoo ya soond"!

The upshot of Empire, most of whom are long since settled in the UK and to an extent assimilated. Though there has long been an anti johhny foreigner brigade, think Enoch Powell, a divisive politician who nonetheless carried a large following of British traditionalists. The last few decades have seen them more or less accepted particularly as legislation was put in place to limit immigrant numbers. The effects of such policies are still being felt today, the windrush story exposes a lot of the goings on that few would have otherwise known about. If you ask current younger generations how they feel about fifth and sometimes sixth generation kids of immigrants they often find it hard to see them as anything other than British, which is indeed how they feel themselves. It's telling how now, after a few generations a number of these immigrant offspring are turning out to be more, well, British, than some of their more historically naturally British peers. The lines are starting to blur a bit, certainly more than when I was a youngster even. I think there is a certain grudging acceptance that those who came to the UK as a result of Empire do have a certain claim and that it simply is what it is. The primary concern today is with the great hordes of Europe and the fact that once those of the wider (poorer) world have breached its borders the freedom of movement eventually let those people reach UK, the ultimate and intentional destination of a disproportionate number. Oh yeah, and then there's the pikeys!

UK tax laws are such that everyone is assessed on their specific status. A prime requirement for paying income tax is that the income which is taxed should arise in the UK. However if your residential status can be shown as other than what is classified as UK resident, and there I think it is still less than 90 days in UK on average in a tax year. They did change the rules on when you could apply for this so it only kicks in after about 18 months now whereas before you could get it pretty much immediately. You also need to show that you don't have anything like property in UK, or income from renting out a property in UK. Really quite complex and variable depending on individual circumstances though the basic premise is this. If you can show that you are, to the UK tax authorities satisfaction, non-resident such that they will change your personal tax code to NR or ZR then you pay no UK income tax whatsoever. Says he who has worked and been paid by UK companies for many years and yet been a a non tax payer for the last 3 decades.

Not to nitpick, because I think the points are valid, but when you talk about Filipinos and college degrees you have to be a bit careful. I know and worked with a whole bunch of them this last 5 year and more and to a one I would say those with a Philippines college degree at their bachelors grade are at what I would call basic high school certificate level by my standards. I have met several with masters degrees and a few with PhD, these last are more at what I would consider a UK bachelors degree level. With one exception, those from the University of the Philippines where a bachelors degree is a bit closer if not quite at what I would call European parity. As an example one electronics college graduate, bachelors grade had a basic understanding of Ohms law, a brief recognition of Kirchoff's laws, no concept of Lenz's law, no calculus capabilities and essentially no AC circuit theory. These would all be considered basic electronics first year diploma requirements in UK. But we were talking about English abilities, and in that they are reasonable albeit it to my ear often massively twisted and at times quite painful, though they have a tonal range that makes it sound almost pleasing. And yes, their girls do have some moves the Thai girls lack and even though they are also quite conservative meeting 'decent' Filipinas is generally much easier, probably because of language, than equally decent Thai girls. Though again even that's changing thanks I think in large measure to social media and dating applications.

Absolutely correct. I had a real shock the first time I went to question my kids English teacher about some things I didn't feel comfortable with. I wasn't combative or confrontational, I just wanted to understand. That the English teacher could hardly hold a conversation in English did not endear the school too me, most of my Thai neighbours speak better English. A couple of years later they started to employ foreign English teachers, initially a Chinese woman, a Brazilian and then when it became clear they needed native English speakers they replaced them with a Filipino and a Nigerian. The Nigerian was quite good I must admit, though his continued use of "gonna" started to irritate me after a while. You soon understand how important simple conversation is in the learning process when you realise just how well many BG's can get by in English. Excluding the farm fresh ones it's a fair bet that if you search out an older more well trodden (on) example she will likely be able to hold down a reasonable conversation. It might not be the long term answer but as a great stop gap employing a few ex-BG's as English communicators might up their game(sic) a bit.

I don't disagree with most of this. I likely would have voted remain but I think there was just so much spite and fear rolled up in the whole thing and watching from afar it always looked like a train wreck. Unfortunately the European experiment, as partly authored by the US has evolved significantly, and not always for the best. It is easy to understand some of the British dissatisfaction with the EU. The UK joined the common market on the very clear expectation and understanding that it was a trading partnership to benefit business and not a pan European government able to dictate the shape of bananas. When the dissatisfaction became palpable, in large measure a result of the freedom of movement, remember Brits ain't too keen on johnny foreigner, what! The biggest mistake was to grant a binary choice referendum, open to all. What could possibly go wrong? Well quite a lot it seems. Had there been a possibility to allow opt outs, as with the Euro, monetary union etc and prevent, the less desirable to the Brits, parts of the experiment this whole debacle would not have ensued and in truth the UK may well have been better if it had a "special relationship" with the EU from the start, as a number of countries do rather than trying to be at its core. The binary political landscape in the whole of Europe probably did more to create this monster than anything, I can't just blame the EU for that though. The then UK government policy of choosing one of two equally bad options didn't help. It's over now but my thinking then, and it hasn't changed yet is that a vote on a vote would have been an appropriate first step and further that it should have excluded anyone over the age of about 75, anyone unlikely to be directly affected long term by its outcome one way or the other. A second step would have been to vote on a simple list of options, of which totally in and totally out would have been choices, but not the only choices. I think it should be clear that the result would have been very different. In summary I don't think a large percentage of those who voted to leave the EU would want total separation, rather a realignment of the understanding and expectations, and requirements, of being a part of the EU. Cherry picking, yes, and why not. Much is made of the UK's wish to do just this as if it were a bad thing rather than exactly the right way to go about the whole EU project and the way some other countries form their relationships with the EU. Recognising the need for individuality and difference and making that a core part of the system would seem a far more workable arrangement. As with the way a lot of social online activity has gone these days make it a choice to opt in, not a fight to opt out. Oh and I think for the most part a big driver in UK people wanting out of the EU had to do with some very simple factors. Town centres loaded with slavic drunks, national health waiting times and zero hours contracts. All of which positively exploded with the freedom of movement. It was very easy to tie those things to an EU is bad horse and watch it buckaroo! We'll keep the pretty Czech girls pulling pints at the boozer though, see cherry picking is good.

My experience with my own kids, their friends, and other family members suggests this is the single biggest problem with English education in Thailand today. Typically their English language studies focus almost entirely on grammar with even the classroom instruction being given in Thai and with actual conversation in English delayed well past the critical ages.

Ya what?? \ Me mucho dumb, no idea, too much soju.

It might all be a question of understanding though. I've drunk with Koreans and I think they are quite capable of clearly differentiating between drunk and just simply comatose. Korea is a country where you will often find helpers at bars. These are people charged with assisting guests into the place who would otherwise be unable to do so from intoxication, the sole purpose being to continue drinking.

Whilst naturally I am delighted that they found these boys alive truly I am surprised no one has mentioned the status of the foreigners helping out. I mean, this is work right, even voluntary work in Thailand needs a work permit. I'm also rather surprised that cave diving is not a reserved occupation. Still I am sure the immigration department is watching and learning in order to be ready for any future similar opportunities. Cynical, me? Now as for getting em out. Is boring not an option? I thought I remembered where some miners were trapped underground that they bored a shaft and lifted them out one by one. Took a week or two, but not months.

Ah so if they speak Catalan thay can join with Cataloonia when it gets its independence

Goodness that's all a bit modern from where I was sat. First work stuff was done with CompuServe. They had a web browser as well, NCSA Mosaic, that I think became Netscape Navigator, maybe. This was early 90's. As well as that it was converted 1200/75, (yeah that's 1200 baud download and 75 baud upload) Prestel (BT's first vision of how the connected world would look) modems (that we board as just the populated pcb's and boxed them with power supply's) into dial up bulletin boards where you could download dodgy GIF files of birds jiggling their tits. This was the day of the Amstrad PC 1512 and 1640 or where I was raking it in by flogging built up 286 (with co-processor) or 386 (for the flash fucks) machines that I bought as boards and cases and put together myself. The days when you went deaf from 9 pin printers. So we did messaging over CompuServe, at outrageous costs. What a time

Maybe you meant Andorra. Perhaps there its Spanch or maybe Frenish.

I'm no legal expert but I would take exception if that were to be the complete statement of the law being applied in the cases which are being discussed here. First I would would want a clear and unequivocal explanation that relates to two very significant letters and how they are applied in this case, vis. UN-accompanied children and non UN-accompanied children, that is accompanied children. The law does seem worded such that it could be interpreted in a way far from its intention or spirit. If application of C (i) or (ii) were to be pursued, on the basis that the parent or legal guardian is not "in the United States" and for the purpose of application in these cases said parent or legal guardians presence in the same detention facility is considered to be not in the United States then I would suggest the law is being subverted from its original intent. In fact I would suggest that there ought to be a wholly different codicil for dealing with people in border detention facilities as opposed to people actually in the United States, two very different places, legally. Of course this snapshot statement of law is seen here in isolation so could well be being assessed out of context. Certainly it seems very incomplete.

More likely asking for advice on what to do with separated families.

The Apple iPhone 7 A1778 TD-LTE 32GB (Apple iPhone 9,3) supports 4 GSM bands, 5 UMTS bands, and 23 LTE bands The Apple iPhone 7 A1779 TD-LTE 32GB (Apple iPhone 9,1) supports 4 GSM bands, 7 UMTS bands, 25 LTE bands, and 3 CDMA bands. Both of these will actually handle all the bands that are used in Thailand but you could get caught out if you have an A1778 model and need to use one of the UMTS or LTE bands that it doesn't have. Some of the Samsung models which is what I was looking at for a friend are much more complex in terms of bands and modes fitted to different models of the same series. Also worth noting is that only dtac and True offer real LTE (in some areas) AIS and dtac also offer UMTS at 4G speed (hmm) so called 3.5G. Carrier locking is another thing altogether and although it might be partly acceptable, depending on a very favourable contract with the phone at no charge etc etc. But then again who wants a contract?

Just be aware that if you are using a non-stupid phone and require data access then SOME U.S. phones will not necessarily work on ALL of the available service providers networks. Use: https://www.frequencycheck.com/ Tell it your exact phone model, especially any letters and numbers after the basic model number as this usually determines the frequency set of the particular phone and the country you are visiting. This will advise you which carriers will work (or not) with your specific phone. Old fashioned voice phone calls will work with pretty much anything but an analogue brick phone.

No confusion to me but I wonder if them what did the survey are privy to such taxological niceties.

There are school teachers living out here on the northern fringe teaching at private schools and unis, 4 or 5 to a large detached house which rents for about 20k a month so they do quite well at likely 5k or less all in.

Not all expats are Europeans. There are plenty of "Expats" from countries where living anywhere with a roof and four walls would be considered a luxury. I guess if you average those against the white European manger class living in CBD condos at 100-200 k THB per month you might end up close to the number they arrived at. I'm guessing it's an AVERAGE?