PeterRS

Oh goodee! The bitching has started. Long may it continue. Bring it on ladies! Let's have fun. And talking of bitchiness, dear Lord Ozzy really ought to know that it is Bridgerton (as one which crosses a river - of filth, perhaps?) and not Brigerton.

With the UK having promised to take in up to 5.4 million British National Overseas passport holders from Hong Kong (a relic from 1997) with the offer of citizenship after about 5 years residency, good luck to any Thai wanting to relocate there! But that poll is surely more an expression of utter dissatisfaction over the way the pandemic has been handled and the general governance of the country. The elites will find a way of staying in power whatever happens. And they will still fail to find the Red Bull heir who murdered the traffic cop. If Interpol can find Carlos the Jackal and the Lord knows how many other from its "most wanted" list, its failure to find Vorayuth Yoovidhya is clearly a result of the Thai government deliberately not providing the information Interpol requires. It sucks, but TIT.

I wonder who is leaving who and for what reason? The worrying point raised in at least one newspaper today is that Bill Gates has still not contributed most of what he promised to the Foundation. How much of that will end up in the divorce settlement?

If I was Chinese and saw that lot, I'd head for Singapore or Taiwan

Lady Persephone Campariton of Nakedness (I didn't wear shoes today!)

Not too negative at all. I agree with 10tazione. But my friend is quite new to Thailand and he is quite desperate to find a boyfriend. He is slowly learning by experience.

Is anyone else concerned about mobile banking on their phones? I'm sure I'm too old fashioned but I want nothing to do with it.

I'm not sure I like those rooms compared to other similar class hotels. But as for opening another 5 star hotel, It already has very strong competition. In a couple of years or so it will have a lot more as the huge The One development on Rama 4 is scheduled to have five 5-star hotels.

One tip which I heard from a friend who has recently located to Thailand and uses the apps quite a lot. He likes the hook ups but really hopes to find a boyfriend. He chatted last week to a very nice looking 22 yo boy next door type allegedly from Udon who had moved to study in Bangkok. Soon they switched from the app to Line. After they chatted for one evening and then about 2 hours on the next day, the boy asked for money as he needed to pay for his studies at Ramkhamhaeng University and pay rent on his room. He asked nicely for 5,500 baht. My friend thought the amount not unreasonable but was not prepared to pay it. So he said he would give him 2,000 if they could meet first for coffee. The guy said he had to go home to Udon for 2 weeks and he needed the money before he left. He would happily meet with him on his return. He added he did not speak good English. The photos he posted (naked from just below the waist up and also of family gatherings) seemed genuine. He also sent a photo of his bankbook details page and gave his phone number. To my friend, all seemed genuine. He ended up sending the guy 4,000 in two installments. Then the boy said he could come back from Udon a couple of days early. Could he stay with my friend? My friend said no since they had still not met, whereupon the Line account was blocked. When my fried told me this tale and showed me the correspondence, I said the clues should have been his pics - near pure white skin. How many Udon boys are anything but reasonably dark? Then each time money was transferred, he wanted not just the sms message but also a photo of the transmission slip. With some banks (all?) these slips also show the balance left in the account. So had my friend not just thrown them away, the boy would have had a clue as to his financial status and whether it was worth milking him for more. Having a second account with a minimal balance always helps when it comes to in country transfers. My friend still thinks there is a chance he is genuine. I just told him never to send money to anyone until you have actually met and had a chance to size the guy up.

Agree on both counts. But overall I agree with the comment in a newspaper I normally do not read. Britain's Daily Telegraph described the show as "a broadcast that was at once bombastic and underwhelming, and which swung between unbearable grandiosity and giggling amateurishness."

I have heard of it but living in Asia at the time of its release, it was never going to get a showing. I particularly love the work of the actors Tilda Swinton and Robbie Coltraine and will look out for the DVD or on streaming. Jarman was a fascinating, outrageous character. I only saw productions with his designs. Ken Russell's TV The Devils about a sexually repressed nun with Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave allied to Ken Russell's direction I thought stunning. Unfortunately I also saw what I considered a dreadful design of Mozart's Don Giovanni at London's Coliseum Opera House. The great actor John Gielgud directed it - abysmally, I thought!!

Having spent a week in Hua Hin at the end of November last year, the city desperately needs tourists. But then, so does the entire country. Hua Hin was dead. Even in our large chain hotel, it felt dead, the only other visitors being Thai families. I wished we had opted instead for a small guest house on or close to the beach.

I have seen quite a few. Although I love much in the larger paintings,I think my favourites are The Fortune Teller in the Louvre and The Lute Player in The Hermitage.

I thought moving the Best Actress and Best Actor above Best Picture was crazy. Besides, I don't recall seeing Joaquin Phoenix accepting Anthony Hopkins Award. Was I asleep at that point? I heard that Olivia Coleman was supposed to accept the award but that for some reason (technical?) she could not appear. Hopkins himself has been in isolation in Wales for some time and so his absence must have been expected. I thought the whole thing was a near disaster.

People can argue - successfully - that the world has much more important things to attend to than hundreds of millions visiting a cinema act year. But they do. Masses could do more important things than watching mlndless television shows round the world. But they do. It is, like it or not, a part of 21st century living. I see no problem with an Academy Awards Ceremony as such. You could say - again successfully - that movies bring a touch of joy, magic, glitz, glamour, call it what you will, to the lives of vast numbers. And if the Academy Awards are to continue, they really have to mirror that sense of joy and magic. From the little I watched this morning, the show has descended to new lows of sheer boredom. Unless the Academy can get its act together, I would also get rid of it.

Since the South China Morning Post is owned by Jack Ma, former Chairman of the Alibaba Group, it is perhaps understandable that the article makes only a brief reference to Taiwan. Yet while Thailand and Vietnam have been taking baby steps on LGBT rights, Taiwan has marched forward at considerable speed. It's extraordinary to realise that until 1987 Taiwan had been under martial law for close to 40 years. Since then, it has become a rare beacon of true democracy in Asia. It has also become the regional leader in LGBT rights. I don't know enough about the history but I do think it is partly a result of a group of committed LGBT activists who decided they would not use aggressive tactics. Instead, they emphasised co-operation with local and national governments and aimed at winning over what was regarded as a very socially conservative population. The end result is that almost two years ago, Taiwan enacted laws permitting gay marriage, the first country in Asia. Discrimination within the island is virtually a thing of the past. I believe the annual Gay Pride Parade in Taiwan had more than a little to do with this. The first formal Parade was held in 2003. Instead of being financed by commercial gay venues and associated gay products and attended only by sex workers and lardyboys (as was the case in Bangkok around the turn of the millennium - one reason why that Parade died very quickly), Taipei was organised solely by individuals. They wanted the Parades to be fun for both participants and those watching from the pavements. Each Parade also promoted a social message. The emphasis was co-operation. Over the years the numbers attending increased. Originally it was only gay guys and gals from Taipei. Quickly they were joined by members of the LGBT community in other cities on the island. Within ten years, there were regular attenders from other Asian countries. By that time the attendance was 65,000. Now it is a truly international fun weekend with around 200,000 participants. So large has it become that the Parade route has had to be split into 3. All start and end close to City Hall where a number of gay singers and other stars entertain the crowd. Presently Taiwan is closed to foreigners. Hopefully this will change later in the year. The 2021 Parade is on Saturday 30 October.

I think it will be useful to explain for those who do not know Singapore about Pink Dot. For years the LGBT community in Singapore had been trying to organise a Gay Pride Parade. Several other cities in the region had been holding one for some years - Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong and by far and away the largest and best organised of them all in Taipei. Close to 200,000 attended the 2019 Taipei Parade which was part of a week-end of parties and other events. Taipei is not the only city in Taiwan to hold a Gay Parade. Most of the major cities have their own Parades. By comparison, attendance in the other cities around Asia is usually only a few thousand, rarely more than 10,000. Singapore gays, like their counterparts in Malaysia, suffer from the notorious British colonial law, Section 377A. This punishes gay sex with terms in jail and sometimes a few lashes of the cane. The government of Singapore has consistently refused to remove this law (as Hong Kong did in 1990) because, it believes, it will upset the ethnic balance in a city with major Chinese, Malay Muslim and Indian communities. It also panders to the several large Christian evangelical churches that have sprung up in recent decades who are extremely vocal in condemning gay life and behaviour. Although the present Prime Minister has said he will not repeal Section 377A, he added it will not be enacted. So entrapment by cute young police officers will no longer take place. Gays can live their lives without harassment as long as they do not upset the apple cart, as it were. Without a Pride Parade, the local gay community (which by all accounts is quite large) decided to hold an annual gathering in a local park. They encouraged everyone to wear pink and called it Pink Dot. After a few years, this became extremely popular. As the Asian base for many international companies, an increasing number sponsored Pink Dot. These included J P Morgan, Godman Sachs, Google, Visa and General Electric. But this had become too much for the authorities. In 2017 they banned non-Singaporean companies from sponsorship. The organisers had very little time to replace it with sponsorship by local companies but they succeeded. For an even longer time, they have also banned foreigners from taking part. For the government, Pink Dot is just an embarrassment. Yet, if anyone is embarrassed it should be the Prime Minister. Not only is his nephew gay, he married his partner two years ago in South Africa. Months later the couple attended the Pink Dot event accompanied by the Prime Minister's brother and his wife. The happy couple with their parents at the 2019 Pink Dot. Photo: Singapore Pink Dot In the dark of the evening, all the attendees, many of whom come with family members and just people from the community who believe the law should be changed, light up the park with pink torches. These images go around the world and are a further embarrassment to the Singapore government. Photo: Singapore Pink Dot

The Oscars will be on television this weekend - and few of my friends even know about it. No doubt the lack of new movies and the closure of movie theatres during the pandemic have much to do with it. But viewership of the Oscars ceremony in the USA has been in a steep decline for years. From 45 million in 2014 to a paltry 24 million last year. I don't know the worldwide figures, but China and Hong Kong have banned the telecast this year, due to the nomination of a short documentary on the Hong Kong protests in 2019. Over the years I have watched various attempts to spice up the ceremony. None worked for me - apart from one brief moment when Ellen took a selfie with the pizza delivery man. So how would you change the format to make it more palatable for an increased viewing audience? I'll start the ball rolling with a few. 1. Reduce the length. It is far too long. 2. Get rid of some of the categories. How many are really interested in the two documentary sections (no matter how good they may be)? Do we really need to see the Awards for Best Song and Best Music? Whilst we're at it, jettison the Short Film (Animated) and Short Film (Live Action). I would also be tempted to jettison the technical categories but I know that these tend to be the few that include extremely popular movies (unlike the Best Picture and Best Director categories) and so I would give them a reprieve. 3. Why the need for two often incredibly boring Presenters for each Award? We know they are reading equally boring lines from a screen. They have not even had the courtesy to the audience to learn them by heart. One Presenter with a brief that their short introductions must be pertinent, descriptive and witty would be infinitely preferable. 4. Why have a slew of separate sections to show excerpts from the nominated best movies? This can surely be shortened and done as the Presenter announces the movies in that category. 5. What is the point of Best Foreign Film any more? Foreign films often appear in the other categories - Foreign films have even won Best Picture. The Oscars should be open to more than just western-made/western-financed movies. 6. Too many awardees make speeches that could have been written by 6-year olds. Either that or "Oh, my gosh! I never expected this and I don't know what to say!" Nominees should be 'instructed' at the time of nomination that they must prepare an acceptance speech of not more than 45 seconds or so. This can not thank husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, dead ancestors and others who have nothing to do with the movie. Thanks to agents and managers are also banned. Who watching worldwide will have any clue who they are? Thanks to a movie's producers and crew must be limited to a fixed number - say, six. Finally, their acceptance speech should either be witty, promote social change or both - and that's it! 7. The entertainment between the presentations is frequently just plain dull. it is surely not outwith the imagination of producers to take a tip or two from Broadway where stage ensemble numbers are often spell-binding. Even if there are no musical-type movies one year, there is absolutely nothing to prevent the producers going back in time to create exciting numbers from movies of earlier years. 8. And then the crux - the awful show hosts. Yes, I know that is an exaggeration but so many have verged on the awful. When you have a Presenter or Presenters for each category, why do you also need a host? Just to give a boring monologue with a host of usually lame 'in' jokes? The Oscar show has become the antithesis of the 'Magic of the Movies'. Movies ARE magic. Whatever format the Academy eventually adopts, it absolutely must get the magic back into the ceremony - or become totally insignificant.

Why would anyone in a time of extreme financial distress be so careless as to invite into his home or hotel room a total stranger just because he wants sex? How does he know what might happen? Even in a high end hotel, if he gets past security what is going to happen if he pulls out a gun or a knife and demands your cash and other valuables? Or drugs your drink when you are in the shower? In cheaper hotels there might be little or no security when he arrives. If he departs when you are in a drugged stupor, the chances are he will never be caught and you can say goodbye to what he has stolen.

He should come to Bangkok. There are enough potholes to fix to keep him employed for at least 50 years.

I am not sure if there really is any justice when a member of a family has been murdered, especially by a cop. The cop can serve his prison term and still have a semblance of a life. George Floyd can never see his loved ones again. But I know what you mean. What I find extraordinary about policing in the United States is that when police fire a gun in trying to apprehend a person they believe to have committed some level of criminal activity or even just have a broken tail light or an out of date licence on the car, they always seem to fire and that almost always seems to result in death of the suspect. Why on earth are they not trained first to incapacitate? A shot in the shoulder or a leg would surely be as effective in stunning the alleged perpetrator in the first instance. A belief that a 13-year old child who has obeyed instructions to stop running, turn around and raise his hands might have a gun is no excuse in my view for murder of that youth. Similarly a long-term officer just happening to confuse a gun with a taser and then murders a 20-year old beggars belief.

Thanks @spoon I had not realised that in 2009 the government passed a law permitting tourists to stay on some of the non-resort islands where the local inhabitants stay. These are a great deal cheaper. The only drawback seems to be the ban on alcohol and an adherence to "Muslim values".

Having visited Thailand for many years before I came to live here, I used to love going to massage spas. I had my regular masseurs who always gave me great service. But seeing the photos above, I'd be put off having any massage in future! There is not one I would select, no matter how good the massage. Come back Albury! Come back Aqua!

Has anyone been to the Maldives recently? That article sounds great but it fails to make any mention of price. A long stay would only be possible for the very rich and mega rich. The Maldives is one of the most expensive vacation spots anywhere. Discount the relatively few airbnb homes and the handful of cheaper islands (relatively speaking again) each of which accommodates only a tiny number of tourists, the remainder of the 100 or so resort islands cost from around US$250 to US$2,000 per night and upwards. That's just for starters. Food and drink are are also far more expensive. That's not only because it all has to be imported. Many of the staff are also imported. Unless the policy has changed since I was there, the Maldives government does not permit most of its people to work in the resorts. It does not want their strict adherence to Islam to be corrupted by hedonistic holidaymakers. Many staff came from Sri Lanka. The website budgetyourtrip.com estimates that the average cost of two people spending a month in the Maldives would be US$14,366 before air travel. Eliminate the cheaper islands and you can think of starting closer to $25,000. One person alone will obviously be a lot less expensive, but who would want to spend a month on a beautiful tropical island alone? Forget meeting some nice cute guys on the beach. Sex with staff is a definite no-no.

Sadly I agree. The world can do little for a country that has been fucked over by so many greater powers with yet another tyrannical regime tied to a fierce interpretation of a religion about to take over. The future is bleak for gays. Some would argue that this has been true for centuries - and they are probably correct. The real sadness, though, is that, as in their other war follies, when western powers have invaded countries of whose history, culture, customs, aspirations etc. they know precious little, they have done so spouting the goodies their invasions will bring - democracy, freedoms, rights for women, proper education, protection for minorities. Tell that to the Iraqis! It's a load of crap! No invading country should be given the authority to open a door promising a brighter future unless it is actually prepared to hunker down and deliver that future. Slamming the door in its citizens' faces as you depart with your tail between your legs just because you screwed up and got bogged down in an unwinnable war should be total humiliation. "Oh I'm really sorry you gays and women of Afghanistan" but it now no longer serves US interests to try and protect you. You are on your own again . Fuck you!