PeterRS

Like the USA and the UK, for example! 😵

This is far from uncommon with the airline alliances and mileage programmes. One airline in the programme 'charges' different numbers of miles for the same route and/or at a different time of year. Equally, I find it is becoming more common for members of an airline's loyalty programme to have advance booking for mileage seats. This was always the case with Qantas when I wanted to fly, as I did annually, from BKK to Sydney. Granted it was a popular route but even when I tried to book a ticket on the first day seats were made avaiable, none were ever left. The same was true when I spent a month in South America using BA flights from BKK to Buenos Aires via LHR. I booked the outward sectors 51 weeks in advance on the first day seats were put on the market. I was told I could not book the return because I'd have to wait for another 4 weeks for the 51 week in advance opening. When I repeated the exercise, again on the first day, I could book Buenos Aires to LHR but there were no seats LHR/BKK. I had to return to HKG and pay for a ticket from there. I later realised that BA withheld mileage seats on popular routes hoping to sell them before opening them for mileage redemption. In general, though, I shouldn't really complain because I have had many dozen long-distance free mileage tickets and upgrades over the years since they were first introduced.

There's a lot missing in that article. The researchers, their methodology, number of participants, where were they are living, how measurements were taken . . . and so on. But if we click on "press release" we find more info. "In a study published Feb. 14 in The World Journal of Men's Health, Eisenberg and his colleagues compiled data from 75 studies, conducted between 1942 and 2021, that reported on the penile length of 55,761 men. The team found that the average erect penis length increased by 24% over 29 years, a trend they saw around the world." Yet I find these 'findings' somewhat spurious despite the expertise of the team's lead author, Michael Eisenberg. 75 studies over 79 years does not seem to indicate an extensive sampling. Nor does that sample of 55,761 men. They cannot have been the same men measured each year. So they must have been different men spread over the full 79 years. In theory that makes 706 men per year. In other words, a tiny sample. Also, were men from the same group of countries sampled every year or were the samples taken from a much wider group of countries. That would render the results even more 'flaccid'! It all seems a bit like those surveys that appear every few years giving the average penile length of men in all the different countries in the world. These may give an indication, but most of us can usually give many instances where those results are equally 'flaccid'.

It's not just social media. Any well-known personality is often hounded by the national media and assumed to be guilty. Of course some are - but then some are not. There was a famous case in Thailand a little more than a decade or so ago when one of the world's most famous classical pianists and conductors who happened to visit Pattaya where he had a house outside the city was accused of being a pedophile. A 14-year old boy alleged the man had molested him. In Thailand the police have three attempts to question a potential law breaker. Failure to do so results in an arrest warrant being issued. With a very hectic worldwide concert schedule, he only visited his Thai house for a week to 10 days maybe three times a year when he was en route to or from countries like Japan and Australia. He was never in his house when police tried to talk with him. Accordingly the arrest warrant was issued. When arrested in the summer, the police, as is usual in this country, were accompanied by a posse of news media. He was taken to the local police station. He denied the accusation. Being someone obviously very wealthy, he could have passed around a few large brown envelopes and immediately left the country. The world would have known nothing. From the outset, though, he stated he was innocent and would prove it in Court. Remarkably for anyone accused of being a pedophile, he was not thrown in prison. He was bailed for less than $10,000 and given his passport back so that he could take part in upcoming concerts. He promised he would return every 12 days for bail renewal hearings. Rumours quickly spread that the police had discovered a pedophile ring providing underage boys for expats and tourists. It was then claimed this man was its ringleader. And so on it went. His "arrest" was on the front pages of most world news media. His concert contracts were cancelled and social media had a field day. "No smoke without fire" was one of the most common. Another was "why spend short vacations in Thailand if he was not a rampant pedophile?" The fact that his career regularly took him to many of the world's cities with a gay scene went totally unremarked. It turned out he was gay and he had a boyfriend aged around 25. That was enough to brand him as a child molester. After he had left Thailand the first time, the Deputy Director of Immigration was quoted in banner headlines in the nation's newspapers, "He'll never come back!" It was then announced that he was on a blacklist and would not even be permitted to return - despite the Court mandate that he had to return! It was all b/s! True to his word, he returned to Thailand at his own expense for the six bail renewal hearings every 12 days. Each time, the judge renewed his bail. And each time there was a media scrum outside the Court. On five occasions there were between 15 and 20 media reps waiting for him including the main news agencies. Except once. For the last, the police had informed the judge that they had informed the Publc Prosecutor they had no case. After all the media furore and the damage to this man's career, the case was dismissed. When he left court that day a totally free man, all the media had disappeared. Not one media rep was there to hear the verdict. Who had issued the order for "no media" is not known. What has never been answered is what happened to the 14 year old boy. He was in the custody of some family child-care facility. But he disappeared and was never found. Then it was discovered that the day before the "arrest", an internet cafe owner who lived close by had been stopped by the police and discovered to have underage porn DVDs in his motorcycle. He was arrested, admitted that he had had sex with the 14 year old boy who worked in his internet shop at least 20 times (and also with the other underage boys who worked there), but then immediately escaped and could not be found. He was eventually discovered some weeks after the musician's case had been dismissed. He was watching a movie in a Pattaya cinema. He had been under the police noses the whole time. The whole affair was obviously some sort of set up, but by whom and for what reason has been open to speculation. The internet cafe owner seemed to know of this man's reputation. Was his name given up when the jerk was arrested in the hope this might get him a lighter sentence. It was also known that a publlic service organisation which received funding from a United Nations agency was applying for additional cash. If it could show more activity by snaring a well-known personality, might this help release more funds? Who knows what the reason was. All we do know is that one man's career was severely affected in the short-medium term and goodness knows what else it did to his reputation. In that case, all media and the Thai authorities have a great deal to answer for.

This case has been before the National Anti-Corruption Commission for about a decade. And it has done absolutely f--k all! For the very simple reason that the government, the rich and the elite did not want it to do anything, and no doubt some of the Commission members received very substantial brown envelopes. This whole case stinks! The man at the centre of the charges has been seen both in Thailand and overseas several times - and nothing has been done. The government alleged it had had Interpol put him on a Red List. I went through the nearly 8,000 profiles on that red list. Guess who was not on it! His family is one of the richest in Thailand. Yet it paid a pittance to the widow of the motorcycle policeman this criminal mowed down and dragged along Sukhumvit doing what was then alleged as 200 or so kph at around 5:00 am. The family would not permit the police access to its compound until mid-afternoon, by which time the drugs in his system could have dispersed. It also at first alleged he had not been driving and tried to set the family chauffeur up as the driver. They are a bunch of disaceful crooks. If Move Forward ever gets in to power, I hope it uses all its powers to find this criminal and put him in jail for deacdes for outright murder - with additional years for having failed to turn up for about half a dozen court appearances.

And think of all the land that has to be appropriated and then sold to the goverment at hugely inflated prices!

In Japan, the name Johnny Kitagawa was until recently revered. In the 1960s he had started up the all-male agency which went on to manage most of the country's mushrooming boy band entertainment groups. He was arguably the most influential and powerful figure in Japan's entertainment industry. His agency was the gateway for many thousands of young men hoping to become stars. When he died in 2019 aged 87, his death was a national event. Even the Prime Minister sent his condolences. For those not clued in on Asian pop prior to K-Pop, J-Pop was its predecessor and a huge favourite both in Japan and around Asia for decades. When I worked in Japan in the 1990s, it was almost impossible to turn on the television without at least one programme featuring J-Pop bands. Now, thanks to an investigative team of reporters from the BBC, it has been discovered that Kitagawa was a sexual predator of the worst kind even before starting his agency. In the new documentary Predator: The Secret Scandal of J-Pop, the reporters uncovered a scandal that is at the least on a parallel with that of Harvey Weinstein in the USA - only it seems to have gone on for much longer and involved many more individuals, in his case boys. As with Weinstein, there were many in the know - but no-one dared to speak out. Several singers openly tell the BBC they were scared their careers would be over if they did not give in to Kitagawa's sexual demands. One states the abuse started when he was 15 and lasted four years. When Kitagawa was alive, some of the allegations against him were proved in a civil case. But Kitagawa sued for defamation on more than one occasion. Japanese media failed to cover the allegations against him for decades. The reporters discovered that Kitagawa's family management knew of the abuse and allowed it to continue for decades. Even his niece knew what was going on. After his death, she took over the management of his company. She finally resigned today. But in her place is Noriyuki Higashiyama. He was one of the first talents recruited by Kitagawa's company. He states he was never abused by Kitagama. The future of the agency which was once known for fame and glamour which has been so publicly disgraced will no doubt be a matter for a long public debate as more and more men tell their stories of sexual abuse at the hand of a monster. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-66737052

I have never looked up Spacey's past. But there are plenty of other people who have been "tortured" in one way or another as they were growing up, often by relatives. I do not think that necessarily means their lives are "ruined". Therapy helps a lot of people who have endured often shocking childhoods. Did he seek any? I have no idea. I just know from the basis of what friends who have met him have told me that he is not someone I would wish to meet or whom I admire as a person. As an actor, I think he has shown many fine qualities. It is, I suggest, interesting that today we have news from the BBC's website of a massively long string of abuses of underage boys by the founder of the agency which had the largest stable of boy bands in Japan. In view of the depravity of this man, I have started a new thread. It's interesting, I think, that the legal system in Scotland is different from that in England and Wales. Under Scottish Law there is a third verdict a jury can deliver - Not Proven.

If that was for a return ticket, it was an almost unbelievable deal! Under the standard Asia Miles award scheme, that should be a minimum of 170,000 miles. But then other One World airlines often have different mileage requirements.

With most airlines still increasing mileage requirements, can any member advise what is the best site for finding out the cheapest mileage redemption tickets? I can find several but all seem to be based on travel ex-USA on US airlines. Asia has always been more stingy when it comes to mileage redemption and it is Asia in which I am more interested. Thanks in advance.

As I understand it, the plan is to extend the rail line to Bangkok and then on to Singapore. Timetable of the existing high speed service is here - https://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/laos/

Isn't this true of almost all mileage tickets now? Cathay Pacific's Asia Miles programme is about to increase mileage requirements yet again after a major overhaul only 5 or so years ago. On my last trip to Tokyo 4 years ago, an economy round trip ticket using Asia Miles BKK/HKG/TPE/TYO/BKK cost around 45,000 miles. Now this iitinerary would have to be built around individual sectors at over double required mileage.

Air New Zealand does weigh passengers for international flights but not to charge extra for those who are overweight. It is conducting a long-term survey to find out what the average weight of passengers on its long haul flights is likely to be. It still uses averages per passanger as set by nation's Civil Aviation Authority. But I remember seeing some years ago an episode of the Air Crash Investigation tv series about the crash of a small commuter aircraft somewhere in the USA. It occurred about 20 years ago and one reason was that the average weight of passengers as mandated by the FAA had been considerably exceeded. The Accident Report recommendation was that this average weight had to be increased. Clearly the larger the aircraft, the more likely it will be that the average weight is higher than mandated. In a small 20-seater, individual passanger weights become much more crucial.

Someone in authority is going to suffer financially due to this. Presently Thais can buy their way out of military service. It's some years since I last spoke to a Thai friend about this but I believe it was around 35,000 baht.

Interesting point - and very factual. The railroad between Vientiane and Kunming is costing Laos a pretty penny for its 30% share of a loan totalling around US$3.54 billion from the China ExIm Bank. Yet it could perhaps result in significant commercial development for Laos. Certainly for those in Thailand, it will be an easy way to reach Kunming and some of the wonders of China in Yunnan Province.

The desperate state of Chinese property developers was outlined in the following forum last month. Having taken over as China's No. 1 property developer company from massively indebted Evergrande, Country Garden has been warning of its own disastrous financial position. At the end of last month it issued a warning to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that its first half year loss was close to US$6.72 billion. It has also defaulted on overseas loans and is likely to be booted off the HKSE. In Malaysia,some of its woes are there for all to see. Its massive residential development outside Johor Bharu and close to Singapore was launched under China's Belt and Road initiative. The ambitious aim of Forest City was to provide housing for 700,000 residents. Many were expected to be purchased by Chinese from the mainland seeking to park their savings offshore. One such investor was 29-year old Zhao Bojian from Henan province who purchased one of the existing 26,000 apartments prior to completion 5 years ago. He is one of only 9,000 residents. Most of these, though, do not actually live there. Despite the Malaysian government being desperate to encourage local buyers, especially from neighbouring SIngapore, few have done so. To attract more overseas buyers, a special economic zone has been developed with duty free shops, a special income tax rate and multiple entry visas. Llittle has worked. With China's economy now in a very bad state, the flood of Chinese buyers has evaporated. Consequently, much of the overall development is incomplete. There are no streetlights, for example. Worse, the 4-lane access road has collapsed forcing drivers to take a longer detour. Country Garden is now saddled with debts of almost US$200 billion. Its ability to continue with Forest City is unlikely. Virtually a ghost town, Forest City is destined to become an enormous whilte elephant. Photo: AFP https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/malaysias-forest-city-teeters-over-china-property-giant-woes

The leaders of both Malaya, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew, were constantly at odds over the degree of power each would wield in the new Union. There were frequent and sharp exchanges between the two. Lee was frustrated at the delays in getting KL to give Singapore industries the agreed pioneer tax status, and KL was frustrated that its constant requests for a greater share of tax revenues from the Singapore entity were not met as it sought to combat confrontation from Indonesia. Then the two main political parties (PAP and UMNO) started bitter political wrangling, often publicly, in particular re UMNO's continuing insistence on dominance for ethnic Malays in governance. The imbalance in populations between the greater Malay population on the one hand and the greater Chinese population of Singapore on the other did then lead, as @vinapu points out, to race riots in July and September 1964. It was at the Commonwealth leaders Conference in London in 1965 that the Tunku announced privately the Union with Singapore had to end. In the ensuing negotiations, most Singapore ministers and departments were kept completely in the dark. Lee and his colleagues did not want to leave but they were left with no choice. Lee still believed that Singapore could not succeed as a nation on its own. How wrong he proved to be!

Try as I have, I totally fail to see the connection.

A perfectly fair account. Could one perhaps also suggest that Vietnam was not unlike Laos in the 1950s/early 60s with a staunchly nationalist regime in the north which was virtually a communist-like state? Like Laos, Vietnam was decimated during the US war and remained so in the early years of reunification. It was then one of the world's poorest countries. It did not start to develop economically until the mid-1980s. Since then its economic development has been remarkable. Yet Vietnam is also an authoritarian single party government. We can assume that the authoritarian government in Laos has severely hampered development. But had Vietnam started its development after it managed to kick the hated French from its territory in 1954, we cannot know if the country would have developed more quickly. We also cannot know if in so doing it would have dragged other countries in Indo China along with it.

Thanks for that clarification. I had just assumed that as a result of Brexit, those living in the EC would be treated similar to those living in Thailand. Indeed, I cannot imagine why they are not.

That yahoo story is dated June 24. GIven that Prigozhin was murdered long after, I cannot imagine his comments now bear much weight in Russia.

Ok, just go and try it! There are such things as passports and the information about entry and exit to the UK is recorded and passed to more than one government organisation. In order to qualify for the full UK pension and access to the National Health Service facilities, you must stay in the country for a minimum of six months each year. Having an address is useless unless it is known you are staying there!

Yes, I am British. Britain's hands were not nearly as 'clean' in the Indo-China wars as stated at the time. Prime Minister Harold Wilson was a shifty, duplicitous character who managed to convince the British public that Britain stayed out of the war, but this was a lie. Recently declassified documents show that Britain did indeed play a role in the American illegal war in Laos. But I can find no information that it bombed Laos. It did send intelligence flights over Laos as well as ship war materiel for use by the Amerians from Hong Kong to the illegal secret CIA airbase at Long Chang. There is even evidence now that Britain did send forces to Vietnam. In a 2022 article in Declassified UK, it is reported that in 1962 Britain's Military Attache in Saigon, Col. Lee, wrote to the War Office in London attaching a report by someone whose name remains censored but who is described as an advisor to the Malayan government. The advisor proposed that an SAS team be sent to Vietnam, which Lee said was unacceptable owing to Britain's position as Co-Chair of the Geneva Agreement. Then Lee added: "However, this recommendation might be possible to implement if the persnnel are detached and given temporary civilian status, or are attached to the American Special Forces in such a manner that their British military identity is lost in the US unit." In essence, Lee recommended that secret British forces be "grafted on to the American effort in the fleld." This team was sent, and was known as the Noone Mission. The covert operation began in the summer of 1962 but there are only a few further references to it in the available files. One shows that it was still in operation in 1963. As Rhiannon Vickers wrote in the article Harold Wilson, The British Labour Party, and the War the Vietnam War for the Journal of Cold War Studies, in order to stay in power Wilson had to maintain a very delicate balancing act. While many in his party, including most of the leadership, saw the war in the context of the Cold War, many of his rank-and-file members saw Vietnam (for what it really was) largely a war of national liberation. Until release of these documents, Wilson was praised for having stayed out of Indo-China whereas Blair has been excoriated (rightly in my view) for his involvement in Iraq. Wilson does not deserve such plaudits in view of the lies he told. https://declassifieduk.org/britains-secret-role-in-the-brutal-us-war-in-vietnam/#:~:text=The Royal Air Force also,MI6 station heads in Hanoi. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26923428

With respect I think your view of history is incorrect. Malaysia wanted Singapore to stay. It was Lee Kwan Yew who decded to leave. No. I wrote and meant "our". Although to be fair you could substitute "our own".

How on this good earth can you state that with any degree of certainty? You cannot. And I cannot either. Neither of us have lived in countries which were the most bombed in the entire history of warfare or had well over a million of our fellow citizens massacred by our countrymen. During those years, Japan developed from a bombed out shell into what was to become an economic powerhouse. During those years, Japan's exports increaased by an annual 15%. You and I have zero idea how much economic development might have taken place in Laos and Cambodia during the years of the illegal US wars and their horrific results. Nor can we determine how wealthy the countries might now be.