PeterRS

I am not taking sides in this discussion, but I do want to point out that with predictive spelling (correct term?) it is far from uncommon for it's and its, you're and your etc. to come out not as typed. This happens to me so often I rarely spot it. Naturally a check would pick this up - but who always checks the fine detail of their posts?

Describing Obama to Medvedev (during Putin's mandatory sabbatical as Russian President), Berlusconi said "he's young, handsome and tanned!"

I wish I understood some detail of the law in the US. I fail to understand why the various legal actions against Trump that have been talked about in some cases for years take such an inordinate amount of time to get anywhere near a law court. The attempt to manipulate the last election results in Georgia took place two and a half years ago. Yet despite the considerable evidence already made public, the case is dragging on and is still not ready to get to a court. Then there is the much older 2019 Deutsche Bank case where the Trmp Organisation allegedly failed to repy loans of $640 million +. I recall that Deutsche Bank was in a total internal mess at the time and that having stated it would not loan Trump any more cash, one of its departments did cough up a further $48 million - to help him pay off the $640 million! We also know that with appeal after appeal, whatever decision is come to in the case involving the documents found at Mar A Lago, a final outcome is not going to happen till after the 2024 Presidential election. With a Supreme Court packed with the likes of the dreadful sexual predator Clarence Thomas, that final verdict may itself be open to question!

I'm curious. Is ladyboy a name given to those men who wear outrageous make-up and lipsync in bar shows, or merely a boy who prefers to look like a lady and who may eventually have an operation to change sex? I recall quite a few years ago (perhaps a dozen) going with friends to a bar in Nana Plaza with a stage full of beautiful young girls who just happened to be boys (and most seemed to be in the 18-22 range). We had four over for drinks and they not only spoke some English they seemed extremely well mannered. Even a little hand wandering was not discouraged. None had breasts although we saw a few on stage who seemed to have started developing breasts. We did not take anyone off but felt that as we were tops they might turn out to be little different from twink boys!

A strange thread title, I agree, but one that is I believe quite apt. A few days ago Italy's Silvio Berlusconi died. A media mogul with an outside personality whose businesses had made billions (€s or $s makes little difference) and who owned one of the country's top soccer teams, was attracted to right-wing politics. In 1994 he was elected to the first of his four separate terms as Italy's Prime Minister. Despite many scandals with young women (some being hookers and at least one alleged to be underage), continuing to own and run 90% of national television broadcasting whilst in power, alleged links to the mafia, a plethora of legal actions against him and his companies which saw him convicted several times for abuse of office, false accounting and bribery of judges - with the outcome in at least six occasions being politically altered to "no conviction", and a host of other scandals, he was always able to keep the public on his side. He was very much a model for Trumpism. Like Trump he liked to give his critics nicknames. Britain's Economist magazine was one of his sternest critics. Berlusconi called it The Ecommunist. The magazine was also taken to court. No doubt Trump watched and noted what was happening in Italy. Another avid viewer must unquestionably have been Britain's now disgraced Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Having lied to parliament years after he had lied massively to the British public when he led the campaign to get the country out of the European Union (an act that has seen the UK economy with the highest rate of inflation in Europe since the oil crises of the 1970s and the country's economy suffering badly through loss of jobs with the transport, farming and hospitality sectors particularly badly hit, stalled investment spending and a host of new export and travel regulations infuriating many), he had to resign as Prime Minister last year and has in recent days been forced to resign as a Member of Parliament. His ruling Conservative Party is about to go to war over whether he will be permitted ever to stand again for election as a Member of Parliament. He did not set himself up as a model. But Berlusconi certainly started the rot now eating away at US and UK politics.

No! Not even in coutries around the region.

I think Rogaine is named Regaine in the UK. I remember a friend checking it on line with a well-known UK on-line pharmacy and being somewhat horrified at the price. Seems it has to be applied twice daily. He also told me it only promotes growth on the crown of the head and has little effect on premature balding at the front. Also heard that there are Regaine/Rogaine pills. But from what I have read minoxidil (the ingredient of Rogaine/Regaine) does not stop hair loss or encourage its regrowth. It merely reduces the rate of hair loss. Can anyone confirm?

I just discovered it is indeed a pic from a movie about the boys being at school - although nearer final year. The three starred in two 'school' movies - Encore and On Trial. On Trial is avaiable on youtube - but it's a typical low budget early 1980s Hong Kong film. The nice thing is that the long trousers the boys wear are all quite tight fitting over their cute asses! Also there is a scene when they are playing some sort of game with very short white shorts! Danny Chan had become famous as an actor and singer a few years before Leslie. Indeed he was probably Hong Kong's first pop idol. I liked his voice a lot and thought it was marginally better than Leslie's singing voice. There is one gentle ballad number he sings in the film - it starts at 1:24'25". He also sings the song during the closing credits. He liked fit gay young westerners and always had a group around him. Unfortunately he started on drugs quite early. In his last years he used to frequent a little known mostly gay club on Ice House Street just down from the Foreign Correspondents' Club. It was there one evening that he collapsed and fell into a coma presumed to be a result of combining narcotics with alcohol. His parents kept him alive for 17 months before finally allowing him to die. I frankly find little difference between the physiques of Hong Kong and Taiwanese young guys. I guess it's where you go and where you tend to see them. Certainly both can be incredibly attractive and handsome!

To whom are you responding? Certainly not me. Quoting from that member would help others understand your response, the more so given that the last post was mine and it was around 8 months ago!

And did @vinapu snatch the King or the Queen 😵

Taladafil which we know under the generic Cialis was discovered in August 1991 and approved by the US FDA in November 2003. To my understanding, with patents lasting 20 years, doesn't this mean the price of genuine Cialis should plummet by the end of the year?

My concern was that putting the entire article under one thread would just make it far too long for the average reader. By listing the Part numbers, I think it becomes clear that it is a series of posts and readers can dip in and out if they wish. With few posts under this section of the Board, I am not concerned about readers losing the plot, as it were! Please also remember Leslie's first major international movie Farewell My Concubine which won the Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. In 2005 TIME magazine listed it as one of the Best Movies of All Time. Leslie is marvellous and the tragic ending often brings tears. Happy Together is a totally different type of movie. Two lovers travel to the Iguazu Falls in Argentina (only because in their tiny Hong Kong apartment they had a lampshade with a picture of the Falls) in an attempt to save their relationship. It is dramatic, gritty, violent and frequently moving. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or and its director Wong Kai-wai won Best Director at the 1997 Cannes Festival. Leslie's death was a complete tragedy. On the surface he had it all. A superb actor and singer, he once played 33 concerts on consecutive nights in the 10,000 seat Hong Kong Coliseum. Jean-Paul Gaultier designed some of the costumes for his last ever mega-concert series. It was at these concerts that he announced he was gay and had a long term partner. That relationship was by all accounts very important to him. What hardly anyone knew was that he suffered from and was being treated for severe depression. That one with so much talent and so many gifts should elect to take his own life shocked much of the world. In a 2010 CNN poll Leslie was voted the Third Most Iconic Musician of all Time after Michael Jackson and The Beatles. In a short suicide note he thanked his family, his lover and his psychiatrist. He added, “I can’t stand it anymore . . . In my life I have done nothing bad. Why does it have to be like this?” Had he lived he would be 66 this year. On a tangent, some time ago I found this photo on the internet. Can you imagine three cuter young Hong Kong guys? Actors Danny Chan, Leslie Cheung and Paul Chung in the 1981 Hong Kong movie On Trial. Danny and Leslie were closet gays at the time. All died tragically young. Danny of a drug overdose aged 35. Paul like Leslie committed suicide aged 30.

That certainly seems to be my experience when travelling in the region. Am I complaining?? 🤣

In my dozens of visits to Taipei I have never been to a massage shop. I have heard of lots of individual masseurs who come to your hotel. Most are available for appointment on Line. I have heard of these shops below. Not many twinks it would seem, but then most going for massages are after a proper massage with guys with a bit of weight on them. It also seems (although not sure) that afters consist almost exclusively of HJs if you have a massage on the premises. If you have a massage in the hotel, anything goes according to the masseur's agreement. I also believe professional massages are a bit more expensive than in Thailand with NT$2,500 (US$82) being the minimum plus tip. https://www.muddan.com/master-team https://kingsmanspapro.weebly.com https://www.theroyalspa.com.tw/en/team

I do not know - and am not asking - how old you are. But as you tell us you are not retired, I am a little surprised you find getting hard (or at least suggest it might become difficult to become hard) as you get older. Certainly this is true for some guys, especially those who might have medical issues. Since the brain plays a part in erections, I very occasionally used to find it hard (sic) to get hard. I once tried viagra and decided never to use it again. I found the blood pulsating in my temples very prominently and did not enjoy it. On the other hand, after a friend recommended cialis, I never had a problem. I use it rarely but whenever I do it works a treat - and goes on working for at least the 36 hours the makers claim. I have never felt a need to be a bottom and the guys I am with, including my partner, do not wish me to change from being a top.

Thank you @reader. I have written you a PM in the hope of resolving our differences.

As suggested, that was his persona. He kept it up pretty well for quite some time but occasionally let his guard fall and it became obvious he was neither Asian, in his 20s, nor did he run a company in Sydney as he claimed. I don't think any other poster uploaded photos of hotels where he had allegedly stayed but had blacked out everything in the rooms that could possibly identify him!

Years earlier I would occasionally visit Amsterdm on business. I was persuaded to try one of the saunas - would it be Night Thermos? I was surprised at the number of Asians and ended up having a great time with a young Indonesian.

We all have choices. You could do as I did (although I did it for business reasons), leave Europe and resettle somewhere in Asia. Not easy to do, I know, but it's surely a question of priorities. What is more important to you? A nice apartment/house in The Netherlands, a decent job (I assume), healthcare (I assume), pension to follow etc. or a plethora of gay venues and an abundance of young gay Asian men? As a UK citizen, when I start to draw down my pension the amount is frozen for all time - even if as recently inflation has been around 10%. I paid all the contributions up to age 62 (the maximum) to give me continuing access to the UK National Health Service. That benefit has now been withdrawn. But I choose to continue living in Asia. Just a thought. Is there no possibility of finding a nice young Asian boyfriend in the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe and prepared to relocate to The Netherlands? I have a friend who will soon relocate to Munich for a post-graduate degree. He wants to find a nice middle-aged man there and has started looking on apps. There must surely be Asian students in The Netherlands? No?

There is no need to be so childish!

i seem to recall - and I am sure someone will correct me if this is incorrect - several years ago there was a poster here (whom I shall not name) who was infected with HPV which had become cancerous. He had written a post lauding the treatment he had received at the King Chulalongkorn Public Hospital across from Lumphini Park. Sadly he was only in remission and the cancer returned. But this time, though, he had no funds left to pay for further treatment. Friends put him up on their sofa where he soon died. Looking at the Cancer Council website, HPV is responsible for 90% of anal cancers. https://www.cancer.org.au/what-is-hpv#

You know Tweed Harris? You have met him? You have conversed with him? Had drinks with him? If not, then how - in your wisdom - do you know for certain which is accurate - what was reported in that news item or in @gayinpattaya's personal observation of him? Yet again, you make assumptions! Clearly it is your trademark!

Yet again, you criticise. And when your criticism is demolished, you backtrack. What about your own wisdom which you post virtually daily here, I wonder - or should I say the wisdom of the media which you post here?

Why do you always get assumptions about what i write wrong and then misquote? Point 1. You accuse me of "being old and trying to share my wisdom with others. He'll, man, you do that all the time." Response. My age is nothing to do with you and you have no idea of my exact age. Yes, I do try to share wisdom (if by that you mean knowledge) with others and I enjoy doing that. Given the number of 'likes' these posts attract, clearly this "wisdom" is appreciated by many. No doubt they are in considerably greater number than the likes you receive for your cut and paste news articles. But then you have said you enjoy posting these. Surprise! I also enjoy making my posts! You are not alone! And since you clearly have some reason for disliking what I write, why do you even bother reading my posts? I am not going to cease writing about my travels and others issues that i hope may be of interest to more than a few members here. So you had better get used to it. Point 2. You accuse me of accusing that expat of "spouting drivel". Response. What rubbish! Do you not read responses to your own threads? I was merely quoting @gayinpattaya's response to your post! Since you have clearly forgotten what he wrote, this is the relevant post. Oh, and you forgot that @gayinpattaya called him "offensive". Is that not important to you? Point 3. You accuse me of discussing the "evils" of a poster on another chat room. Response. I was not persuading you of the "evils" of anyone by trying to persuade us of the evils another old man is sharing on some mystery website you follow Why do you have to make things up? I was again responding to a post by another member here @Londoner and in particular a man he had met in Pattaya whose wife had just died and turned to gay young men for companionship. That was the starting point of my response. The issue of how often I look at that other chat room is yet another of your assuptions that are wrong. I do not follow it. Inever stated anywhere that I follow it. In fact I visit it only occasionally as I have pointed out in another post. And I visit the site for its Travel section! Since you now criticise almost everything I write, perhaps you will put a warning sticker on your next complaint so that those with absolutely no interest in your nonsense can avoid it.

The Impact of MacLennan’s “Suicide” The tragic circumstances of MacLennan’s death are unlikely ever to be known – or at least made public. Could it possibly have been suicide? Was he indeed murdered, as so many continue to believe? Several books and articles have been written on the subject. The latest “A Death in Hong Kong” by Nigel Collett was published early last year. I have not read it. Based on its reviews, though, Collett places the suicide/murder in the context of the times, something not generally well known now and which I have also tried to explain above. As the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong’s primary daily English language newspaper) reviewer noted, many homosexual and bisexual men had arrived in the 1970s to take up official positions in Hong Kong where, despite the law, the city was more open to gay behaviour than Britain where it had actually been decriminalised. That relatively casual approach to homosexual affairs all changed after Richard Duffy was jailed and opened the Pandora’s Box which revealed a degree of sleaze and corruption that shocked many to their core. There can now be no doubt that that one act inevitably led, albeit indirectly, to much of what followed, including MacLennan’s death. It is also unlikely we will ever understand how MacLennan’s death and the resultant utterly shambolic attempts by the RHKP and the government to keep it quiet had such an impact in changing what were allegedly entrenched beliefs about homosexual behaviour amongst the Chinese population in Hong Kong. I suspect the vast majority of the Chinese population had never given much thought to it. With most being an immigrant population fiercely determined to work hard and make lives better for their families, homosexual behaviour was well down their list of priorities. After a thorough examination of facts, Collett concludes that MacLennan did commit suicide. Before his death last year, I spoke to Peter Moss who had been a friend for decades, a former Deputy Director in the Hong Kong Government Information Services Department for my first dozen years in Hong Kong. Peter was then living in retirement in Malaysia where he had served the colonial government prior to independence. I asked for his views. Collett had consulted him when drafting his book and Peter agreed with the suicide theory. I, though, have three reasons for doubting Collett’s conclusion. First, Collett did not arrive in Hong Kong until 1984. He therefore had no first-hand knowledge of the events he describes. I lived in Hong Kong for 25 years from 1975 and witnessed the events as reported at the time. Second Collett’s main occupation had been as an officer in charge of Gurkha regiments. In 1994, he formed a company Gurkha International Manpower Services Ltd. He has written only two books but contributes to a number of publications. Through his company he had links to law enforcement in colonial Hong Kong. There is therefore the possibility, however remote, that his views might have been swayed in favour of the RHKP. Third, in 2014 he wrote Firelight of a Different Colour, a biography of the extraordinarily talented gay Hong Kong superstar actor and singer, Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing, who committed suicide in 2003 aged 46. I worked with Leslie on two occasions, I had known his manager, Florence Chan, for many years, and I knew in detail the background to an offer made to him by the London impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh which could have led to his appearance in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. I knew because I was in Leslie’s dressing room at the Hong Kong Coliseum when the offer was made by Sir Cameron’s Managing Director, Martin McCallum! I did not know Leslie well but admired him immensely both for his amazing talent and his total modesty. InFirelight Collett relies on a vast amount of speculation and few specific sources – understandable, since Leslie’s family did not want the book written. The Phantom episode Collett describes is totally wrong. When one book gets this and other alleged “facts” wrong, I hear alarm bells when another book allegedly based on a reconstruction of “facts” appears by the same author. We all love conspiracy theories and most of us believe – or want to believe – that we know better than official versions. I believe I know who killed John F. Kennedy and how, based on facts that keep emerging as time goes on, it is not what the Earl Warren Commission wanted us to believe. But I will never know if my theory is correct. Equally I believe I know that John MacLennan could not have committed suicide – not given the background of the times and by shooting himself five times in the abdomen. That to me defies credibility. As he had told Elsie Elliott, MacLennan still was in possession of a great deal of information about the homosexual activities of many people in high places. Most, if not all, of these prominent individuals would not wish that information to become public. I accept that MacLennan came from a small town in the north of Scotland where his life would have been massively different from that he enjoyed amidst the bright lights and temptations of a teeming international city like Hong Kong. It was known he had a girlfriend in Scotland whom he planned to marry and that he had fooled around with at least three mistresses on various occasions during his time in Hong Kong. Yet, I also accept it was perfectly possible that he was in some way enticed to try sex with one or more male prostitutes. I do not believe for a moment that makes anyone a homosexual. It may at best have illustrated a tendency towards his being bisexual. Yet, given the determination of his superiors to “set up him”, even that must surely be open to more than considerable doubt. Would the very huge psychological pressure he was under, given the detailed knowledge he had obtained whilst working for Special Branch, the knowledge that Brooks and Quinn were out to “get him” and the further knowledge that the planting of evidence by the RHKP was well-known within the Force – would that have been enough to unhinge his mind and pressure him towards suicide? The resultant publicity of a trial would have unquestionably brought unbelievable shame to his family in Scotland. He must also have realised that the vague chance of an acquittal could not undo the public damage to his reputation and the almost certainty of his never being able to work in any police force again. There can be no doubt that he would not on that evening have been capable of particularly rational thinking. But does all that explain his actions on the night of his death? Can it possibly explain the reason for attempting to commit suicide with five bullets to his abdomen with the gun pointed in an unnatural direction for firing? If indeed it was a suicide, why were so many outright and provable lies told in the subsequent investigations? Why did the Governor through his aides and the Attorney General do all in their power to keep the case under wraps? Taken all together, it indicates at least to me that there was much more to the MacLennan affair than we know even today. And so I and the few friends I still have who also lived in Hong Kong at the time of MacLennan’s death refuse to believe that it was suicide. To us it was a botched murder to cover up a great deal of sleaze and sludge in a filthy little swamp. I wish I could prove it! All I know is that that death of one very insignificant member of the police force contributed in no small way to a major ‘clean up’ of the forces of law and order in Hong Kong. At the start of the millennium an opinion poll was conducted amongst Hong Kong people to name the most significant events in 150 years of Hong Kong history The establishment of the ICAC was voted as the sixth most important. Equally, MacLennan’s death was eventually to result in Hong Kong becoming a much more tolerant, open and free society for gay men and women. If only for these two reasons, Inspector John MacLennan should always be remembered. Sources 1. https://unhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/GRHS.2007.CaseStudy.Crime_.HongKong.pdf 2. Hong Kong welcomed the ICAC. In 1999 the people of Hong Kong were polled about the most important events since the founding of Hong Kong. The establishment of the ICAC was voted as #6 3. https://www.thecrimevault.com/exclusives/what-was-it-like-as-a-brit-in-the-royal-hong-kong-police/ 4. In an article about MacLennan’s death, the following appeared in Scotland’s National newspaper on 16 January 2018. Writing after the inquest in 1981 [see below], the investigative journalist Duncan Campbell, who inquired into the death of the Scot, wrote: “MacLennan’s death is a savage reminder of the style of operation of the notoriously corrupt Hong Kong police. At the centre of the affair is a police campaign against homosexuality: MacLennan was about to be arrested, it was said, by a Special Investigation Unit which hunted down homosexuals. But the police campaign is more a means of stabilizing police power in the colony, than an actual piece of law enforcement. “In this enterprise, the police have collaborated with the Triad, criminal syndicates procuring youths, and have thus ensnared several government officials in compromising circumstances. “The police venture had two objectives: first to pursue minor offenders against Hong Kong’s repressive sexual laws; and second to render more highly placed officials liable to pressure – from the police. Those who complied were secure. One person who did not give in to this racket was an English lawyer Howard Lindsay. As a result he was put on trial for sexual offenses last year” 5. HC Deb 11 March 1983 6. The Hong Kong government had established the Urban Council in 1883. Its functions were primarily to look after local issues like waste collection and hawker control. Eventually its portfolio would include arts and entertainment facilities. Council members were appointed by the government. In 1952, two seats were offered for election and by 1956 the number increased to half, although there were major restrictions re those entitled to vote. The Council became an autonomous body in 1973. A social activist who had arrived from England as a missionary in the early 1950s, Elsie Elliott (later Elsie Tu) had been an elected member since 1963. She was a passionate advocate for the ordinary men and women of Hong Kong. She was a thorn in the side of authority but loved by most Hong Kong people. 7. Ken Bridgewater “Open Verdict: A Hong Kong Story” 8. Paragraph 12.22 on page 135