
PeterRS
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Everything posted by PeterRS
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Goodness knows what their reasoning is, but not contributing to the economy of the country granting the pension is plain nonsense. In the UK, all employees pay into what used to be called National Insurance. This is what guarantees two things - a pension from the relevant age and access to the National Health Service. This was always the case and was the case when i moved to work abroad. Because I was not sure if I might return to the UK or not, I continued to pay what were called voluntary National Insurance contributions every month. I continued to pay these in full until the 40 years of contributions was complete. The problem is that at some point during the Thatcher and Blair governments, decisions were made that (1) those living overseas would have their pensions frozen from the first year of drawdown, and (2) access to the UK national health service similar to other UK citizens would be withdrawn after six years abroad. What is so wrong about these new decisions is that they were never informed to those who were working overseas. I never had anything from any government department. Absolutely nothing. I had to find out for myself. And what is unfair is that I deliberately elected to pay the contributions into the National Insurance Fund as required by the government. So I paid for benefits I am no longer allowed. As for not spending money in the UK, I actually save the country money by having my own private health insurance and not being a drag on the National Health Service and quite a few other services available for older people. Besides, those people in receipt of basic pensions pay no tax. That argument is a false one. Not true. If you are a UK citizen living in the UK and having contributed annually to the National Insurance scheme, your pension increases each year. It is only if you live outside the UK that your pension is frozen. The basic state pension for single men and women living in the UK in 2023/24 is £203.35. Those living overseas who started to draw down ten years ago receive £110.35.
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ASEAN is ‘at a loss for ideas’ on how to address Myanmar crisis
PeterRS replied to reader's topic in Gay Myanmar
ASEAN will do nothing re Mayanmar without China's nod. And China will continue to do everything to avaoid problems on its borders. Nothing has changed! -
So what has changed? Absolutely nothing!
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You are exceedingly lucky. Living overseas UK pensions are frozen from the moment you start withdrawing them. If you are now 80 and started drawing it down aged 65, although you paid your full national insurance contribution which provides for your pension, you would probably be getting around £95 per week - or less than 18,500 baht per month! No one living overseas can live on that. Had that hypothetical person been living in the UK, his pension would be close of triple that, I guess. So if you think you might wish to live overseas in retirement, you have to start financial planning decades earlier so that you have a financial pot big enough, literally, to last a lifetime. That and/or some private pensions as well. As for going back to use a public health system, that sounds all very well and good - but what happens if you have a serious coronary or a stroke and require major medical treatment before you can get near an aircraft to take you home? You're screwed (but not as you like to be screwed 😵)!
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When we talk about Laos and poverty, we should never forget that the country was all but destroyed by war - an undeclared war by the United States. The 1962 Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos was signed by the USA, the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam and 10 other countries. Yet that did not stop the USA from starting a covert undeclared war against the country, a war run by the CIA taking orders not from Congress but from the White House. In the years from 1964, the USA dropped a planeload of bombs on this poor landlocked country every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years - 580,000 bombing runs. Can any of us imagine what that must have been like? Most of those were cluster bombs of the type now banned by many countries. It is estimated that 30% or 80 million bombs did not explode, but they continue to do so, maiming and killing 20,000 Lao people since the bombing officially ended, many of them children. Initially, the bombers came from U-Tapao airbase in Thailand which had been leased to the USA. Soon they were coming from aircraft carriers off the coast of Vietnam. The number of planes which failed to drop their full load of bombs on Vietnam could not land on a carrier with bombs on board. So they just flew a few extra miles and dropped them indiscriminately over Laos. Unsurprisingly, Laos became the most bombed nation in history per had of population - with more bombs dropped than during the entirety of WW2. If any nation requires international aid to recover from that absolute disgrace, it is surely Laos.
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As has been noted in other threads, the world in general is much more welcoming for gay visitors than it was even a couple of decades ago. Many potential tourists have already been to Thailand more than once and done Thai temples and other cultural elements that the Tourism Authority of Thailand think should interest visitors. I have gay friends for whom a beach is the priority. They are tired of Phuket which has become expensive and overrun with tourists. They now prefer to visit the Maldives or Sri Lanka. They have also discovered Vietnam's beaches which in many cases are better and cleaner than those in Thailand, especially in the central area. The increasing availability of gay guys also makes Vietnam very attractive. I believe younger gay tourists have different priorities from those of us who loved coming to Thailand 20, 30 and 40 years ago.
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PM to look into extending tourist visas to 90 days
PeterRS replied to reader's topic in Gay Thailand
As I understand it, visa policies are usually on a reciprocal basis. So I get 90 days visa free when I enter Japan and Japanese get 90 days when they enter the UK. If Thailand exempts Chinese from the requirement for a visa, will Thais then get visa free entry into China? Somehow I think the Chinese authorities are going to find that difficult to agree. -
How much you pay for medical insurance is largely dependent on three factors: your age, the insurance company, and exactly what you want your policy to cover. First age. When you are young, a fully comprehensive medical policy is very inexpensive. Even by what used to be termed middle age (i.e. mid-40s to 60ish), premiums should not have risen significantly, the more so as your earning power will have increased. In my case, I had an amazing worldwide policy that, given my income, was perfectly affordable and covered everything with no deductions. By the time I reached 55, though, suddenly that insurer introduced a few deductibles and I discovered that the 5-yearly increases (which I believe are common with all medical policies) started to jump significantly. Stupidly, although I received a chart each year showing the cost of policies with various deductions and at various ages, I had not paid any attention to what I'd be paying when, for example, I hit 70. When I did, I realised I had no choice: I had to change to a less expensive policy. By this time I was based in Thailand. Even though I was still travelling extensively, I took out a new much less expensive policy more suited to Thailand with much less cover worldwide. To be safe I also took out an annual travel policy. The killer as you get older is the 5-yearly increase. I am still paying a lot less than I was 10 years ago and that will continue. But at the next 5-year increase, I will probably have to increase the deductibles. With much less travelling, I have ditched the annual travel policy in favour of short term trip cover through a credit card. Second. From comments made over the years on this and other chat rooms, there is clearly quite a difference between the policies which different companies offer. Some will require you to pay up front and then be reimbursed. Others will provide a list of hospitals where the company will first pay. Yet others seem to have a deal with any hospital when all you need is your insurance card. This needs investigation, especially for those retiring to a specific country. Third. What do you want covered? My policy would allow outpatient treatment but at a 40,000 baht premium. Since I don't think i have ever paid anything like as much as that in any one year, I dropped that cover. I have also dropped dental cover. I'd love to have eye cover but that cannot be included due to pre-existing conditions. I have also allowed for a degree of co-insurance whereby I'll pay a small percentage of bills. All that brings down the cost. And having had no claims over the last ten years, I get a nice no-claims bonus! Lastly, would I self insure? Never! Even though I am pretty healthy, I have had one cancer scare which turned out to be benign although i still need an annual MRI scan. As we get older, we become more liable for long term often very expensive treatment with things like strokes and cancer which has developed unnoticed. Would I leave a decision on a medical policy until just before retirement? Again, definitely no. The danger with all policies is that in almost every case you will not get cover for pre-existing conditions. And some policies have a clause stating that a certain period must elapse after the policy is taken out (sometimes as much as three years) to prove that you have no pre-existing conditions. So if you are planning to retire away from your own country and it has no reciprocal health insurance benefits with your home country, my advice is simple: get medical insurance a.s.a.p.
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PM to look into extending tourist visas to 90 days
PeterRS replied to reader's topic in Gay Thailand
I'm merely curious. When Chinese tourists were flowing pre covid into Thailand like a river in flood, were there many Chinese guys to be found in the gogo bars and other gay venues? I realise it's difficult to be specific given that ethnic Chinese from other parts of Asia were no doubt customers, but my impression is that tourists from mainland China were not prolific gay bar goers. -
I always found that a problem in Hong Kong: air con in hotels and most shopping malls way too high. I was surprised when I learned that Government House, the large home of the Hong Kong Governor, did not have air con installed until the start of 1979. Had it been located on The Peak, the breeze would have kept the rooms cool. But it is a 2-storey structure situated very close to the harbour virtually behind the HSBC building.
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When a reasonable percentage of your time has to be spent outdoors, AC is of little help.
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Anutin is a real snake in the grass. He made no secret that he wanted to succeed Prayut. No doubt he is merely biding his time.
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I remember my first year in Hong Kong. Having arrived from the UK in early March, the weather was pleasant although the humdity did start to rise quite quickly. By May the temperature was rising daily and by early June I was not sure I could take an entire summer of it, the more so as it was allied to a level of humidity I had never before experienced! But the body adjusted relatively quickly - or is that much more a young body? I can understand those much more used to a variety of seasons finding constant heat more difficult to bear year round.
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Watching that vdo, I do wish each contestant had worn a number. I also found it rather strange that the models were all virtually identical in height with almost the same sculpted bodies. I'd have assumed a slightly greater variety (or perhaps would have wished for a greater variety since that model look is not my type 😉) I was not aware until I looked up wikipedia that Mister International was actually founded by a Singaporean and run from Singapore from 2006 to 2021. With the death of the founder, the organisation has been moved to Thailand and has a Thai President. Originally it was only for single men. Since the move, fathers, married and divorced men are now permitted to enter as contestants. It has always been held in Asia. Interestingly, the country with the most titles is Lebanon with 3. Vietnam and Brazil come second with 2. Thailand has never won nor have its entrants ever come in any subsequent positions from 2nd to 5th. I find that rather surprising given that of Asian contestants Vietnam, South Korea and The Philippines have each had 3 finalists in the top 5, whereas Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, India, Hong Kong and China have each had one. Last year, though, Mr Thailand won the Mister Photogenic prize.
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Best way to serve cock 😵😵
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So the Minister for Agriculture is another ex-army man. And not just "another"! He was deputy in the department in the previous government. Funny how this man served four years in jail of a six year sentence in the 1990s for conspiring to import 3.2 kg of heroin into Australia. Of course he now denies it but BBC reporters uncovered Australian court records showing he served four years before being deported back to Thailand. In a censure debate in 2020 he was accused of having lied to parliament about the case. He claimed he had imported flour! In the ensuing vote, he was rebuked by 17 members of his own small Party. In September 2021 he was sacked from that Party. He was also a known "fixer" for the 2014 Prayut junta. Odd, isn't it, how whenever military high-ups were accused of building for their own use on government land, their cases were almost always thrown out? Then there was the mask fixing scandal during the early period of covid when one of his aides claimed to have a stockpile of millions of masks for sale privately at a time when hospitals were desperately short of them. When the aide was asked about the stockpile by the media, his answer was, "I know nothing." Thammanat dismissed the story as an attempt to discredit him. The Prime Minister then refused to comment and also did nothing, despite the fact that stockpiling or profiting from the sale of sanitary masks was at that time a crime punishable with up to seven years in prison. In his declaration of assets for the 2019 general election he listed a Bentley, a Rolls Royce, a Tesla and Mercedes along with 12 Hermes and 13 Chanel handbags plus a stash of luxury watches. Not unlike a lot of the others in the list, I presume 😵
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He has no idea? That has to be the joke of the month!
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Sorry - it's actually already 200% as I was only away once in the UK and once in Taiwan in 2002.
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Huh? I've been here 6 times (but then I've been returning home each time 🤣)
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It was almost certainly a deal done and negotiated before he arrived. Remember his return was delayed once if not twice? Dotting of is and ts so he was 100% sure it was genuine. He would never have returned if he had thought for even one second he might spend his 70s in jail. Never!
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Since democracy was introduced in 1932 the country has had 20 different charters - most changed after the latest military coup. As good a reason as any for getting the military out of politics IMHO.
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Live in Thailand and you still have the enjoyment of returning. @10tazione has already mentioned the border runs which make it easy to travel to neighbouring countries with the joy of returning to look forward to. I live here and frequently travel to Taiwan, Vietnam and occasionally Japan. Airfares are a great deal less expensive than from Europe or the USA, I love those travels and I love returning. Best of both worlds! Plus it's much cheaper living here than in the UK.
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Ditto! I am more than a year or two older than @vinapu (even though I may look younger 😵). In all my years of riding the Skytrain, only once has anyone offered to give me a seat - and she was a middle-aged woman. I compare this to Taipei where I am frequently offered one of the seats for those with special needs of one sort or another. And no, I don't carry a cane! 🤣
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Only four of the scheduled airlines which were flying A380s pre-covid have not so far brought them back into service - Air France, China Southern, Malaysia and THAI. Not all the delivered aircraft are flying, but a good many more than anyone expected even a couple of years ago. THAI should never have bought them in the first place! It already had more than enough capacity on its 747-400 fleet which it continued operating until 2020, considerably longer than almost all other scheduled airlines. JAL retired its 747-400 fleet in 2011, Singapore Airlines in 2012, ANA in 2014, and Cathay Pacific its entire fleet in 2016. So TG did not need the additional roughly 100 seat capacity that it offered on its individual A380s, the more so when these extra seats were almost all in the cheaper economy cabins. When purchased, the airline only increased the number of high revenue-generating seats in first and business class by a mere 8 more than on its 747-400s. They had no premium economy cabin. Re THAI's plan to sell their six aircraft, in January this year Emirates purchased a second hand 14-year old A380 from a leasing company for US$30.5 million. It was actually an aircraft Emirates was already flying and so it was aware it was in perfect condition. That's roughly the amount it would cost THAI to get each of its A380s properly maintained and ready to fly again. Effectively, therefore, the value of each THAI A380 is now pretty close to US$0!
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Hidden camera scam exposes vulnerability of online sex workers
PeterRS replied to reader's topic in Gay Pattaya
. . . and what's the top line? 😵