PeterRS

I'll bet they'll be wearing masks and using hand sanitiser. i think I should have a little bet on how many of these tourists are found to have covid on arrival!

That seems to be American thinking. These two young people were seasoned British actors and they worked in Europe. Nudity in movies was not such a big thing. Parental consent was required for Hussey showing a flash of her tits and it was given in writing. With the age of consent being 16, Whiting did not require any parental consent for showing his ass. After seeing the movie, the producers of "True Grit" offered Hussey the lead role of Mattie. She turned it down, saying "John Wayne doesn't do anything for me." In 1968 she was also offered the title role in Hal Wallis' movie "Anne of a Thousand Days" a movie that was nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Actress. She turned it down. The role went to Canadian actress Genevieve Bujold who won a Golden Globe for her performance. So much for Ms. Hussey's career having suffered! She inflicted those wounds on herself! "Romeo and Juliet" was regulated by the British Board of Film Censors for showing in the UK. It gave it an A classification as being acceptable for minors in the presence of an adult. The BBFC was more concerned about the violence and suicides than it was with the nudity! In the USA it was given a G rating meaning all ages could see it. Only in 1973 was this rating changed to PG, meaning it MIGHT be inappropriate for children under 13. Children of 14 and 15 were still able to watch the movie without a guardian. This idiotic law suit is no doubt a ploy by an unscrupulous lawyer out to make a quick buck through a hefty percentage of any winnings. It such cases, often the accused (Paramount) will make a small out of court payment simply to avoid the cost of hiring lawyers and fighting the case in court. Hopefully Paramount will counter-sue. At least they stand to make perhaps a lot more cash with reruns of the movie on TV.

This diotic saga continues. Franco Zeffirelli's son has hit out against the two actors for basically lying. He reminds us that Olivia Hussey went on to work on Zeffirelli's mini-series Jesus of Nazareth and Whiting attended Zeffirelli's funeral in 2019. Hardly the actions of actors who believe they were violated. Pippo Zeffirelli adds - "In all these years, they have always maintained a relationship of deep gratitude towards Zeffirelli, releasing hundreds of interviews about the happy memory of their very fortunate experience." I hope Parmount counter sues!

I doubt if changing planes changes anything. Immigration authorities want information about yout primary departure city. If the authorities don't believe you, all they need do is put you to one side and then check your baggage tag. You can only fool them if you deplane at the intermediate stop, reclaim your baggage and then re check in.

I don't doubt your reasoning re Eastern European countries. But if I recall correctly, we KNEW and the WHO KNEW what was happening in those countries. Do you know what is actually happening in China re covid? Not even the WHO knows! All we hear from a large variety of sources is that covid is now rampant in that country and about to get a great deal worse. Hospitals are already overrun. The Chinese authorities reported 5 deaths on January 5 and 3 on January 6. No one in China believes these firgres. CNN had an interview with one Chinese national who had four deaths in his family in recent days. He believes the official firgures are nonsense. Well over 200 million Chinese are about to roam freely around the country returning to their ancestral home towns and villages in the countryside - where a huge number have not been vaccinated - to celebrate Chinese New Year for several days around January 22 for the first time since 2019. As already mentioned, at least 1 million deaths are expected and a vast number of new infections. Because of the lockdown policy over the last 3 years, there is no herd immunity in China. Who knows how many will become infected by the end of this month? And who knows how many will get round the regulations and be desperate to get out of the country in the hope of avoiding infection? We know that money talks in China. No doubt it will help getting some on aircraft flying out of China. Like you I know several who died of covid including one a close friend. I don't want to see any more. Do you know anyone with long covid? That is a hideous long term health problem. I am all for freedoms - but as I have written several times before, freedom rightly demands responsibility. In terms of covid that means those who might be infected with the disease have a responsibilty to do all possible to avoid infecting others. At the same time governments have a duty to protect those who might become infected with it. In medical terms, I firmly believe caution is the best policy. Anutin is a total self-serving idiot whose sole aim is to become Prime Minister for believing that he knows how better to handle the massive China outbreak compared to the health authorities in a large and increasing number of other major countries.

The more I read about this law suit the more I confused I get. The movie was filmed entirely in Italy. Nudity in many European movies was far from uncommon at that time, unlike the much more prudish American fim industry. The two actors are both British, not American. Conveniently the lawsuit states they were all but forced to be nude by Zeffirelli, but he is dead and his estate is not named in the suit. The actors' lawyer has stated his clients "were very young children who had no iunderstanding aobut what was to hit them. All of sudden they were famous at a level they never expected, and in addition they were violated in a way they didn't know how to deal with." What a load of utter rubbish!

I wonder why you think this is fine? Two years ago, the world was in virtual panic as millions were dying of covid and many forms of measures against the virus were adopted in most of the world. This included lockdowns and the inability of most of us to travel. We were all afraid of getting the virus. Thanks to China's stupidity, first in trying to control the spread of the virus through extensive lockdowns rather than vaccinations and now in opening the stable door long after the horses have bolted, covid infections are not merely rife, they are spreading with great rapidity around China with the likelihood - according to many in the medical profession - of a million deaths in the relatively near future. The country's health system is overrun and unable to cope. We know that more than half the Chinese passengers on a flight to Italy tested positive. We know that 28% of Chinese passengers on a flight to Taipei tested positive. If these represent even a fraction of those about to flood the world, how are the world's health services going to cope? Yet you seem happy to accept the possibility of many thousands (tens of thousands?) of Chinese ariving in Thailand bringing covid with them. Yes, Thailand is much better prepared and many Thais are fully vaccinated. But vaccination does not mean you can not be reinfected. Three members of my own family and two friends in Taipei became reinfected even after three vaccinations. I am not prepared to treat anyone from China as an adult making his/her own choice - yet! I am not prepared to let the Chinese government use its economic leverage to pressure worldwide governments to accept its own citizens when it has done precious little to protect those citizens over the last 3 years. Thailand should do as other countries are doing - ban travellers from China until that country has covid under control.

And how many had health insurance, I wonder? Probably a stupid question. Then one wonders how many of those testing positive end up in a hospital, thereby reducing hospital beds and facilities for Taiwanese and for other proerly vaccinated tourists who fall ill for other reasons.

The growing number of Chinese public figures whose deaths are being made public is prompting people to question the official Covid death toll. The death of Chu Lanlan, a 40-year-old opera singer, last month came as a shock to many, given how young she was. Her family said they were saddened by her "abrupt departure", but did not give details of the cause of her death. China scrapped its strict zero-Covid policy in December and has seen a rapid surge of infections and deaths. There are reports of hospitals and crematoria becoming overwhelmed . . . According to a tally by Chinese media, 16 scientists from the country's top science and engineering academies died between 21 and 26 December. None of these deaths were linked to Covid in their obituaries, but that hasn't prevented speculation online. "Did he also die of 'bad flu'?" one of the top-rated comments under news of Mr Ni's death said. "Even if you trawl through the whole internet you can't find any reference to his cause of death," said another internet user. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-64173824

A joke! Another Thai joke from one of the principal jokers! My sister-in-law has just been diagnosed with cancer. I was to be staying with her and my brother in a few weeks' time. But her treatment means she has to keep clear of other possible infections for a minimum of 12 weeks. Even if I take daily covid tests, I can not guarantee that if I stayed with them I would be virus free. But for me that is a relatively minor inconvenience. For a great many Thais, it could mean infection and then more time away from work in a hospital. The measures being taken by India, the USA, Canada, the EU and others is sensible prevention. Anutin is in some dreamworld if he believes that planeloads of Chinese will have health insurance. Even if they do, how overwhelmed will Thai hospitals become if flights arrive - as they have in Europe in the last few days - with bewteen 25% and 50% of passengers infected with covid? Madness!

With the Thai government seeming ready to open its borders to waves of Chinese tourists, I am pretty certain many individuals fro other countries will reconsider Thailand for a vacation because of the possibility of a new outbreak of covid here. The government cannot have it both ways.

It surely has to be the most frivolous case for a law suit! in 1967 the great director Franco Zeffirelli auditioned 300 young actors to play Romeo and Juliet in the new movie version he was making to be released the following year. He wanted more realism than possible for a stage version and actors for the lead roles who were roughly the ages Shakespeare's play intended. He selected two who already had not only aspirations to become actors but considerable experience. Leonard Whiting had been spotted by a theatrical agent at the age of 12. For 15 months he was a regular member of the cast of Lional Bart's musical "Oliver" in London's West End. He then spent 15 months with Britain's new National Theatre Company performing in a production of the classic William Congreve play "Love for Love" with Sir Lawrence Olivier in London, Moscow and Berlin. Olivia Hussey was also an apiring actor. In 1966 she had appeared along with Vanessa Redgrave in the London West End production of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie". Both Whiting and Hussey would have been perfectly well aware that if they got the parts in the Zeffirelli movie, it would almost certainly do wonders for their careers. In the movie, their frivolous law suit suggests they were told by the studio and Zeffirelli that there would be no nudity in the movie. During shooting they allege they were then told there had to be mild nudity in the scene covering the morning after their wedding. In it, the upper part of Whiting's bare back is shown with the camera lingering for a moment on his buttocks. Hussey is shown with a sheet covering her front. For one brief moment it slips and reveals her breasts. Now, 56 years after filming, these two actors are alleging viollation of California and Federal laws against indecency and the exploitation of children! No doubt there is also something about emotional distress and long term mental damage in there! Is there anything more stupid? Why wait 56 years? Is it perhaps because Whiting's career never took off? Nor indeed did he have much success in his personal life. The child by his second wife, Charlotte, claims he never saw her until she was 12 years old. Hussey has had a much more successful acting career, but not in the leading roles she perhaps had thought might come her way. But surely Hussey gave away the fact that the present suit is indeed frivolous. In an interview in the show business publication Variety in 2018, she actually defended that nude scene (well, let's be honest, scene with tiny flashes of partial nudity!). "Nobody my age had done that before," she said, adding that Zeffirelli had shot it tastefully. "It was needed for the film. Everybody thinks they were so young they did not realize what they were doing. But we were very aware. We both came from drama schools and when you work you take your work very seriously." In a Fox News interview the same year, she said, "It wasn't that big of a deal. And Leonard wasn't shy at all! In the middle of shooting, I just completely forgot I didn't have clothes on!" Surely any judge reading that will throw this ridiculus law suit into the trash can where it belongs.

Good tries @forrestreid and @10tazione. It was a difficult quiz which I had perhaps more fun setting that those even considering answering. 1. Graveyard Street was in Istanbul. The quote comes from the excellent Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern istanbul by Charles King. The Pera Palace was/is the luxury Hotel built to complement the opening of the Orient Express train but the book examines all the many changes in the city as the Ottoman Empire collapsed. Allegedly Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express while staying in the hotel. 2. Istanbul again. And again a quote from Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern istanbul. The eunochs guarding the harem in Topkapi Palace were mostly Ethiopian Christian slaves who literally were out on the streets as the Ottoman Empire collapsed. 3. The make of shoe is Moreschi. Alessandro Moreschi sang in the Sistine Chapel Choir from around 1866. His voice was recorded in 1902 and 1904 and one is avaiable on a youtube vdo. He was then in his 40s after a castrato voice had reached its peak. It's a strange thin sound - neither soprano nor countertenor. 4. The Austro-Hungarian Empire which existed only from 1867 until the end of World War I in 1918 and was cobbled together from the breakup of several central Europen states. It was the assassination of its heir that led to World War I. 5. I was really surprised that the quote about Hitler was made by the future US President John F. Kennedy. 6. Another surprise for me. All the possible answers had strong anti-semitic views but the anti-Jewish quote was made by Martin Luther.

I often wonder what travellers are looking for in business class lounges. If I am about to take a shortish flight, I want peace and quiet, a nice drink (meaning a glass of good wine - certainly not a cheap one - or a vodka that is also not the cheapest on the market), perhaps a canapé - and that's it. I was only once able to get into the Concorde Lounge at LHR which was streets ahead of the business and first class lounges. The wines there were fabulous. But that has just been a memory for a couple of decades. If on a plane change mid-way through the total journey, food and drink is not a priority. I fly Qatar quite a lot between Bangkok and the UK and the food and drink on board are always very good to excellent. I don't need more in the lounge at Doha. With another 6-7 hour sector ahead of me, I don't need a shower. Once again it is more peace and quiet where I can read or catch up on mundane things like emails. A no-mobile phone area is wonderful if you can find it. When I used to take BA from Asia and had an onward flight after landing at LHR, a shower is essential for me as well as a decent breakfast (if I have been able to sleep through the service on the aircraft). A newspaper with the latest news and again peace and quiet. For that reason I totally dislike the main CX lounges at HKG. They have slate floors meaning that almost every passenger drags along their on board baggage on it, each one making a very considerable noise! I didlike the TG lounges in BKK because I find the chairs hideously uncomfortable. But those are merely my thoughts.

US politics continues to amaze me. I gave up on UK politics years ago and nothing there amazes me. But the whole fiction spun around George Santos and the people who refuse to condemn him has me - well - staggered! This man - I assume he's actually a male - has made up so much of his persona that he must surely be a work of total fiction. He doesn't exist. He's not just a phoney, he's a kermit-like figure with someone's hand up his ass making his mouth move. (Yes, I know. Kermit was not a glove puppet, but you get my drift.) Every day brings new revelations about this impostor's life and totally fake existence. Yet all but a handful of the Republican Party refuse to condemn him. The awful Kevin McCarthy, the one whose head was up Trumps' ass most of the time (can anyone imagine the utter disaster if he becomes the third in line for the Presidency?) clearly sits around waiting for Santos' vote as Speaker and then hoping he will somehow magically just disappear. His party colleagues sit in waiting to grab the power they believe they are entitled to all ready to set the dogs on Hunter Biden, seemingly perhaps a more difficult task if they condemn one of their own for far more serious crimes/misdemeanours - call them what you will. Politics has become a joke - literally. Ever since John McCain (wasn't he supposed to have more than an ounce of common sense?) annointed the frightful Sarah Palin as his Presidential running mate, an even greater number of frightful ghouls has found Congress the way to promote their idiotic platforms. That good ordinary folk actually believe their lies seems to indicates that someone sooner rather than later will become the next Dr. Strangelove. A real one! And then God help not just the USA but the world.

The only aircraft I would consider this would be those A380 operators which have toilets at the front upstairs. These are always about 3 times the size of the usual plane facility and allow for lots of freedom and positions 😂. Some, like BA, have business class at the front upstairs. Sadly the BA product is very second rate now.

I am curious about one aspect of this ghastly event. I recall reading that the electrical system in the hotel quickly failed. As a result many were locked inside their rooms. From this it seems an obvious assumption that room doors were opened with key cards electronically. I am trying to recall if I ever stayed in any hotel when, once inside a room, it was necessary to use the key card also to exit. I always remember manual operation to open from the inside. But could a total electrical failure render this impossible?

I don't pay for any of the apps but I have noticed in the last few months that the number of ads has increased considerably. The worst now is Blued.

I recall a thread some years ago which informed readers that flying via Dublin was considerably cheaper than through London. This was because the passenger taxes at Dublin were far cheaper than LHR which has some of the highest passenger taxes anywhere. Just a thought.

You clearly don't bother to read any other medical journals published in other countries. Colo-rectal cancer is on the rise among the 20-49 age group in most countries. You should at least have a colonoscopy. That might finally get most of the shit out of your system!

SInce we are on the topic of quizzes, perhaps the following might elicit a spark of interest. But please do not consult wikipedia! 1. A quote from a book. "Venereal disease was rife . . .Since the bar run by the sometime madame Bertha Proctor was just down Graveyard Street from Dr. Chukri's office – a bar that employed women whose names are recorded in history only as Frying Pan, Square Ass, Mother's Ruin, Fornicating Fannie, and Skinny Liz – it was possible for men and women to acquire a disease and be relieved of it on the same city block." Where was Graveyard Street? Liverpool England, Calcutta, Portsmouth England, Istanbul, Shanghai. 2. Another quote from a different book. ". . . these men . . . had exchanged their sex organs for a profession that offered prestige, and a certain degree of power – or, more frequently, such a transaction was forced on them in childhood. They had been brought into slavery by middlemen on the far reaches of _______'s domains and eventually found themselves at the centre of the Imperial system. But in a time of changing mores and political revolution, they were out of a job. Many of them drifted into penury. They could sometimes be seen begging on the street, their elongated limbs the visible signs of prepubescent castration." Where were these men seen? Naples, Beijing, Rome, Istanbul, Hyderabad. 3. While on the subject of castrati, the fashion of child castration was adopted in earnest in Italy after Pope Sixtus VI pronounced in 1588 that from henceforth women would not be permitted on stages and in church choirs. As a result, the female soprano parts in choirs were taken by castrati. The fashion soon spread to baroque opera. Anyone who has seen the movie "Farinelli" about one of the most famous of them all knows that they were in effect the pop singers of their day, some earning fabulous sums for short appearances at ladies' soirees. In 1903 the last castrato sang in the Vatican choir. He had a name that is synonymous with a famous brand of shoe. Which brand? Ferragamo, Moreschi, Jimmy Choo, Gucci, Testoni 4. The parliament of this empire conducted business in no less than 12 languages with no official translators. Not surprisingly it collapsed. Which was it? Russian Empire, China's Qing (Manchu) Empire, Ottoman Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Mughal Empire 5. Which American wrote this in 1945 after Hitler's suicide? "Hitler will emerge from the hatred that surrounds him now as one of the most significant figures who ever lived." Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, JF Kennedy, Joseph McCarthy 6. Who described Jews as "poisonous, envenomed worms?" Adolf Hitler, Martin Luther, King Richard the Lionheart, Richard Wagner, Amin al-Husseini Answers in a couple of days. Extra marks if you can identify the sources of Q 1 and 2. Happy New Year!

My spelling and mis-naming people (see the Pope thread) are sadly occasionally deficient.

Lucky you! Wonder how old you really are. Perhaps you are only 19 as you clearly did not read all my post. Note the following - "By 2030, predicts a study published in April, colorectal cancer will be the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in people aged 20 to 49."

Ah yes! Old people! Funny, isn't it, that rates of colon cancer are increasing among so-called "young people". Chadwick Boseman 43 - colon cancer 2020 Dame Deborah James 40 - bowel cancer 2022 Jay Monahan 42 (husband of Katie Couric) - colon cancer 1998 "For many young, healthy people colon cancer was never on their radar because it is typically seen as a disease that affects older people. But since the 1990s, even as colorectal cancer rates have declined for people 50 and older, they have more than doubled among American adults under 50, according to the National Cancer Institute. By 2030, predicts a study published in April, colorectal cancer will be the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in people aged 20 to 49." https://www.statnews.com/2021/06/22/colorectal-cancer-hot-spots-young-men-dying-higher-rates/

So if a doctor inserts a camera up your big ass and tells you you have colon cancer - you clearly believe you are not sick. Bye!