PeterRS

There may be some sort of end in sight. Both parties in the conflict have agreed to meet in Malaysia with a view to finding a way of ending the fighting. Malaysia's Prime Minister is the Chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations.

We are close to the 44th anniversary of President Reagan firing 11,000 air traffic controllers who had disobeyed his order to return to work following their strike on August 3 1981. I know that thousands of flights had to be cancelled in the days following that action. But I can't seem to find references on the internet as to how the administration immediately was able almost immmediately to replace such key, highly trained and important specialist jobs in a vital industry. Anyone remember?

Then a new thread might be more appropriate. That could prove quite interesting.

Three guys in history? They're still with us 🤣

I love Sydney and visited regularly on business and to stay with friends around 15 times, usually around the Christmas/New Year period. Thankfully I was never involved in the bush fires. But I was at a meeting in Pacific Grove CA on the afternoon of 1 October 1989 when the magnitude 6.9 quake occurred in the Santa Cruz mountains only around 30 miles away. It awas the largest to strike the San Franscisco area since that of 1906. The quake was quite frightening, but as much for the aftershocks as the event itself.

I subscribe to just one youtube travel channel because I have found quite a few are generally a waste of time! No doubt others will disagree. Solo Solo Travel is run by a young Japanese guy - I am assuming he is late 20s/early 30s. How he pays for his travel I do not know because he rarely has any sponsors. Yet he travels a lot in first and business class around the world. One vdo even has him travelling on Etihad's hugely expensive Residence Suite. He also has some fascinating vdos of bus and train trips in Japan and low cost hotels, including one to a fabulous Japanese winter spa town which I hope to visit. Thankfully there is no intrusive music or aural commentary. His comments are all in English at the foot of the vdos - and some are often quite funny. He has become extremely popular with over 1.4 million subscribers. Today I noticed this vdo posted only a few hours ago. I was surprised that ZipAir started in 2018 and is wholly owned by JAL. It is a no frills low cost carrier, but it does have a business class with flat bed seats in a 1-2-1 layout and free wifi throughout the aircraft. And that's about all. No drinks, no TV monitors, no overnight kits - just the bed and a low price. As usual, you pay extra for luggage, pre-ordered meal service, even a rather nice overnight kit. The flight in the video is from LAX to Tokyo's Narita airport. The one way business class price was US$1,050. The add ons for hold baggage, meal and overnight kit seem to come to around $75. The Kayak website has the cheapest one way ticket on regular carriers at over $3,000. ZipAir now has services to other North American cities. For Bangkok residents interested in visiting Japan, ZipAir seems to be linked to Air Asia as one sector is usually on that airline with the cheapest eonomy daytime flight cost of Bt. 13,785, but that does mean paying for hold baggage on the Air Asia outward sector. Not on the ZipAir return. For both flights in business class, Zipair has flights but the outward sector has to be overnight. The basic price is US$1,100 which is at least $500 cheaper than full fare scheduled carriers. Great if all you want to do is sleep on a flat bed!

I have often wondered what gay stories Alexander the Great would have to tell. We know of his deep love for Hephaistion and how Alexander was overwhelmed with grief at his death aged 32. We know, too, from Mary Renault's excellent book The Persian Boy about Bagoas, the beautiful young boy from a noble family, castrated and presented to the Darius King of Persia who in turn presented him to Alexander. Almost certainly they became lovers even though Hephaistion was still alive at this time. Castration, a common practice for millennia in many countries where eunuchs were entrusted with conrol of harems and in some countries like China could wield great power, must have been an incredibly painful operation with many young boys dying in the process. One who fascinates me is a man castrated in order to retain his glorious boy soprano voice who went on to become as famous and as wealthy as many of today's pop stars, Carlo Broschi known as Farinelli. Born in 1705 when the use of the castrato voice was becoming very popular in the world of opera, he had arguably one of the greatest operatic voices of all time. Women fainted in his presence, others roared approval at his vocal feats - with the lung power and strength of a man allied to the sweetness and agility of his unbroken voice - it is unlikely any singer today could match him. But then Farinelli was not gay, so he would not be on my list. He was though an unsurprising result of an edict from the Catholic Church around 1592 which banned women from making sounds in churches. Some singers had to take the soprano and alto lines. Hence the increasing tendency for castration, even though most of those mostly poor boys either died or lived desperately sad and unhappy lives. For those who rose to the top like Farinelli, though, they could become fabulously wealthy. It was not until the mid 1870s that the Catholic Church banned the practice. The last castrato, a man named Moreschi, sang in the Sistine Chapel Choir which had six other castrati when he joined. He was known as the "Angel of Rome". The only known examples of the castrato voice were made by Moreschi on old cylindrical devices. Although by then only in his early 40s, the voice is nothing like that of Farinelli in the movie. Many regard the thin, often off-key sound as a voice well past its prime. Nowadays the castrato voice has been taken by countertenors who use their head voice to reach the higher pitch. This is a short example by the superb - and very good-looking! - French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky who has been in a long term gay relationship since 2007.

Today's Observer newspaper has a series of articles about the acute housing shortage in Europe, with the Mayor of Barcelona recently saying - "The housing crisis is now as big a threat to the EU as Russia" He is right to include almost the entire continent of western Europe. Renters now find that virtually half their incomes are routinely swallowed up by rent. Year on year increases are now routinely 10% or more resulting in many having to live in ever more cramped conditions and increasing the number of homeless. It is also having an increasingly vocal move towards political disenfranchisement in the continent and away from established political parties towards those fuelling the far-right. Not everyone is suffering, of course. The housing crisis is lining the pockets of a small number of individuals and institutions who moved in a big way from more traditional investments to housing. Major financial institutions such as banks, insurance companies, pension funds and other mega financial groups have been pouring more and more of their investment cash into property since the 2008 financial crisis. Whereas these investments accounted for US$385 billion in 2008, by 2023 that had risen to $1.7 trillion. So all those who almost brought the world to its knees in the 2008 financial crisis and not one of whom has gone to jail are now on another financial rampage, this time controlling the homes many of us live in. In Vienna 42% of all new private rental homes are in the hands of institutional investors. One of the Observer articles ends - "In the coming years, housing will occupy centre stage in European politics. As investors have come to dominate, so the power of residents has been systematically undermined. We are left with a crisis of inconceivable proportions . . . Now is the time for fundamental structural changes that reclaim homes from the jaws of finance, re-empower residents and reinstate housing as a core priority for public provision." https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/07/europe-financial-sector-house-prices-politics

The number killed has now risen to 32. The United Nations and even Donald Trump, now engaged in his favourite pastime (no, not political smear mongering, but golf as he tries to relax at the courses he owns in Scotland), have joined Cambodia in calling for a ceasefire. Thailand's foreign minister has said Cambodia needs to show its sincerity for talks to proceed. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9x99n79v8o

In a very interesting twist, the country-wide Taiwan electorate yesterday voted against a highly controversial bill that would have ousted from the yuan (parliament) one fifth of the voters in the legislature, all from the China-leaning KMT, the opposition Nationalist party. Supporters of the pro-independence leaning Democratic Alliance Party which won last year's general election had forced recall votes. All the recall votes failed. As KMT Chairman Eric Chu told reporters - "“All Taiwanese people chose stability, chose that the government should focus on getting things done, rather than engaging in bitter political fighting,” This vote and a poll last year should be a reminder to all outside the island that Taiwanese remain deeply split on the independence platform. Many outside commentators, especially in the corridors of power in Washington, push the independence agenda while failing to accept that a majority of voters, although still very small, does not want independence.

So Trump is rejoicing over his trade deal with Japan. "Maybe the largest deal in history!" Well not quite, oh orange-topped buffoon! Part of the deal apparently is that Japan will open its doors to American made cars and trucks. Will someone tell the idiot that the number of vehicular units he will sell in Japan will be infinitesimal. Why? Well he just has to look back into history. When Presidents Reagan and Bush 1 were pushing Japan to devalue its currency in the 1980s, one of the deals was Japan opening its market to American made cars. I recall walking every weekday between the subway and my office passing a brand new Chrysler dealership. In two years I never saw one customer inside. The answer is perfectly simple. While Japanese producers accepted from Day 1 that they would have to adapt their cars to the US left-hand drive roads, American car makers just assumed that the Japanese, who drive on the right, would happily accept their wrong-sided cars. Americans also failed to do much if any research. Most Japanese city roads are far narrower than American ones. It is vastly more difficult to atempt to drive an American car in Japan than it is a Japanese car in America. So unless carrot-top persuades Detroit to spend a lot of money on making much smaller right-hand side cars and trucks, this part of the "largest" deal is a dead duck.

Trump may feel some weight off his mind as he is presently visiting the homeland of his mother - Scotland. Years ago before he first became president, he decided he wanted to develop a links golf course in Scotland. He chose a prime site just north of the offshore oil capital of Aberdeen. There were protests galore, but Trump as usual lied all the way to the bank and got his way. Trump's proposal had included a 450-room hotel, 950 holiday apartments, 36 golf villas and 500 new homes. Virtually none of that happened and the course has lost money for 11 straight years. Trump was taken to court for overvaluing the properties and found guilty. Typical. Now he is in Aberdeenshire opening a second course which he is naming in honour of his mother. A few locals living on a small parcel of land Trump wanted as part of his course held out. They refused to be bullied. As David Milne, one of the residets and an active anti-Trump campaigner, recently said - "Trump paints a story of how he wants things to be and how he expects other people to react to him. "It’s got no bearing on reality but that’s what he does and people seem to do what he says. "It’s a variation on the Goebbels theory of 'the longer and louder you tell a lie, the more it becomes true.'" "He’s an overbearing bully, there’s not much more you can say." "I’ve said from day one that people are only actually listening to what they want to hear, and as long as he promises them 'things are wonderful, things are going to be great on my watch', then that’s it, that’s all they’re interested in,’ he said. "He said he was going to fix the Ukraine war on day one!" It appears a resident of a tiny hamlet in Scotand has the balls to stand up against Trump when vast millions in his own country are so cowed by his rhetoric they dare not oppose him.

That is a very clear and perceptive video outining events of the last few days. The obvious warning comes at the end. While neither side probably wants escalation and war, neither has the strength of leadership required to see that end result. My view is that Thailand is in a worse situation than Cambodia here, if only because Hun Sen and his son are very much the strong men in Cambodia and they are not going to back down. Thailand at present has pretty much a leadership vacuum. And it is when there is a power vacuum that situations can get out of control.

Even if he did leak the conversation, PM Shinawatra was a near idiot in assuming it would remain secret, in my view. When secret conversations can benefit one party, that party is often the one to leak them. She should have known that, but then again she should never have become Prime Minister. It seems very clear now that the curtain has finally come down on the 25-year love affair of this country with the thieving Shinawatra clan.

Pardon after death has always seemed to me almost more cruel than the death itself. Under Turing's law passed by the UK parlliament in 2017, more than 50,000 homosexuals who had died were pardoned after being convicted and imprisoned for being just that under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act and later the 1885 Ciminal Law Amendment Act. Mind you, for several hundred years prior to that date the 'crime' had been punishable by death. The most prominent homosexuals pardoned included Oscar Wilde and Alan Turing. Turing, whose code-breaking work in WWII had, it is generally agreed, shortened the war in Europe by nearly two years, opted for suicide after choosing chemical castration rather than go to jail. This rendered him impotent, the government withdrew his security clearance and he was unable to work. The British government has now gone to considerable lengths to 'rehabilitate' him, not only through the name of the new law but by putting his photo on the back of £50 notes. Yet how can you possibly compensate for the misery and near hell he went through after being arrested? After all he was only arrested because a thief broke into his house and like any ordinary citizen he reported that to the police. It was during routine questioning that he admitted he had had a sexual relationship with the thief. That one simple answer wrapped the long arms of the law around him and effectively ended his life. He was officially - and most unusually - pardoned by the Queen in 2013.

Their state of health is not of concern. Better dead so they can not in fact answer your questions on a forum like this! 🤣

Or the old English tradition of having a male criminal guilty of treason hung, drawn and quartered. It was incumbent upon the executioners that the hanging part did not kill him. Merely got them nearer to death. Thereafter he had his genitals cut off when alive, disembowelled and then sliced in four. Presumably by then he was dead 😧

I think the James Vi and I situation was explained in a post not so long ago. In case anyone missed it, James VI was King of Scotland. As Queen Elizabeth 1 of England had no heirs, her nearest blood relation would have been Mary Queen of Scots, a great ganddaughter of Henry VII of England. Many believed Mary actually had a better claim to the English throne than Elizabeth, but we then enter murky religious waters best to avoid. Since Elizabeth had had Mary executed, her son became also James 1 of England. And quite a gay lad he was! This at a time when sodomy was punishable by death!!

I thought about Oscar Wilde for my list but I have read all the plays and several books, and i I reckon I know him quite well. There is no doubt he would lighten up any dinner party, though. Another i thought of was Michelangelo to learn more about the Renaissance period and all the rivalries between cities etc. And how he got the inspiration for the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

"Move Towards War" The BBC website is reporting that 16 people have now been killed including an 8-year old boy - all but one civilians, 100,000 displaced on both sides of the border and the Thai Prime Minster is saying the conflict could "move towards war." Suspended PM Shinawatra has strongly condemned Cambodia's "act of aggression." Funny that! It was she who started the escalation of the whole affair. She should just shut up! https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c98j77zde86t

Just a very general and perhaps light hearted topic Impresario Sergei Diaghilev Sergei Diaghilev was born in the Russian city of Perm to a noble family in 1872. Homosexuality in Russia at that time was virtually regarded as an illness and a detriment to success. Not that it did not exist. Russia’s most famous composer Tchaikovsky was very gay, as indeed was his brother Modest, and had all manner of affairs. But he could not shake off a continuing depression that being gay was wrong. Having moved to St. Petersburg, Diaghilev positively revelled in it and was perhaps the only major Russian to be accepted by society at the very end of the 19th century as openly gay – and how he showed it! When considering a dinner companion from that period, I had first considered his lover and protégé Vaslav Nijinsky, almost certainly the greatest male dancer the world has ever known. But although fabulously talented, Nijinsky was basically shy and withdrawn. Besides, his homosexuality merged into bisexuality after a disastrous marriage and his rapid descent into schizophrenia. Nijinsky was the star of Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes season in Paris, a company created from stars of the world’s most renowned company, the Mariinsky in St. Petersburg. When the company sailed to Buenos Aires for a season, Diaghilev did not go, allegedly because of a long-time fear that he would die at sea. But some have suggested his real reason was he wanted a travel to Venice where he could spend his days and nights in the company of beautiful young Italian men. On learning of Nijinsky’s marriage in Buenos Aires to a woman with no interest in ballet and whom he never really loved, Diaghilev went into a fury, sacked Nijinsky and started a series of affairs with other men in his company. He died of diabetes in Venice in 1929. The man whose ambition was to create only the finest in art died penniless aged 57. Diaghilev could tell of the gay clique in St. Petersburg which included having young male ballet dancers as lovers and sometimes passing them around. He could tell of Russian society, its views on being gay and the state of the country as it began is slide towards revolution. Writer Randy Shilts As one who had become very sexually active in the 1980s and was at times unbelieving, shocked and afraid of the new gay plague HIV-AIDS, although I have read several books on the disease, my second guest would be the gay journalist, Randy Shilts. There is a great deal more I want to know and Shilts is one of those whose hugely extensive research could tell me much of that. In the late summer of 1987 I had received a phone call from someone I knew in London. Well, “knew” is incorrect for I had never met him. I was only aware that he was the lover of a young Japanese who had been my lover until four years earlier. I had not the slightest idea why he was calling me. When he explained that it was to let me know his lover had died that I understood. When I asked how he died, he could not bring himself to say the word, merely spell it out: A-I-D-S. I was shattered. This young man was only just 29. I knew he had played around, even when we were together because we lived in different countries. He had even introduced me to my first Japanese sauna. I decided to fly to London for his funeral, such a sad occasion as much for his passing as for the fact that there were only six people there. In Japan he had been the life and soul of every party. He had so many friends. Shilts is best-known for his book And The Band Played On. In so many ways it is an amazingly detailed account of the early years of HIV-AIDS. It’s hard to recall now that despite the number of deaths and it having spread literally around the world, little was known about AIDS at that time. What we did know was that if infected with the virus, you were on a relatively long path to a ghastly lingering death. Nothing could save you. I learned so much from that book. Sadly Shilts was himself to die of AIDS in 1994 aged 42. Diplomat and Spy Guy Burgess With two guests who were openly gay quite early in their adult lives, I would like my third guest to be someone who was basically forced to live in a kind of self-imposed closet. In particular at a time when homophobia was publicly prevalent. So I choose perhaps an unlikely guest in Guy Burgess. For those not British, Burgess was one of five famous British spies recruited by the Russians at Cambridge University in the 1930s. The “Cambridge Five” became so well known that books are still being written about them. The others were diplomat Donald Maclean; diplomat and journalist Kim Philby; art historian and Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, Sir Anthony Blunt; and John Cairncross. Philby was unmasked in 1963 and defected to the Soviet Union where he even had a stamp made in his honour! The austere Blunt and one-time lover of Burgess was unmasked in 1964 and given immunity from prosecution provided he revealed all his knowledge of Russian Intelligence Operations. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher later informed parliament in 1979 of his treachery. Cairncross was a civil servant who for a time was attached to the WWII code-breaking department headed by Alan Turing. Guessed at being the Fifth Man, like Blunt he was unmasked in 1964 but the fact not made public until named by a Soviet defector in 1989. Burgess was very gay, known as a “hopeless drunk”, was a member of British Intelligence and later the Foreign Office. Maclean had spent some of the WWII years in Washington where the Americans started to suspect he was a spy. After the war, Philby also spent time in Washington where Burgess lived in his home. Philby got wind of the Maclean investigations, He arranged for Burgess to be recalled to England where he would warn Maclean. Maclean was urged to defect leaving behind his wife and children. Unsure, Burgess egged him on and arranged to drive him to the English channel port. Supposed to leave him there once on the ferry, Burgess joined him. Both ended up in Moscow. Outgoing, loquacious, outwardly friendly with everyone, especially the guardsmen from the nearby barracks, Burgess was seen by some as a great friend, by others as a boring old fart. I’d love to hear some of his stories of Cambridge, of life in what by this time was extremely anti-gay England, his spying and life in the Soviet Union. I’d try and keep him from drinking too much. But I expect that might be too much to hope for.

Sadly it happens too frequently. There was a thread here quite recently about the regular border skirmishes (I don't call these wars even though some soldiers are killed) between China and India. Back in 1969 there were months of much more serious border clashes between the USSR and China, one of which threatened to involve nuclear weapons. And when I arrived in Asia for the first time at the start of March 1979, the last sector of my flight, from Bangkok to Hong Kong, took an hour longer as it had to circle around the bottom of Vietnam. China and Vietnam had fought a border war earlier in the year and Vietnam airspace was closed.

I agree the fake moaning and other actions of bottoms in an attempt to make them appear actually to be hating the act can be quite off-putting. In this case, though, I am certain the boy did not in the least enjoy the movie making/. He was not acting, unfortunately. Not only did I know him reasonably well from having chatted on several visits to the bar, one of the other boys told me. He put up with it solely because of the cash.

The BBC now reports nine civilian deaths. https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c98j77zde86t

Latest report is that Cambodian rockets have killed two Thai civilians. All schools in the Thai border area have been closed.