PeterRS

I fully accept I am not at all sure about buying of votes in The Philippines. I just assumed nowhere could be worse than Thailand when it comes to little dollops of cash being liberally handed over. And as you say, cash seems to be king in just about every democracy. It can be a simple red bill to a village voter in Thailand. Perhaps a million dollar cheque in the USA to secure an Ambassadorship in some rather nice posting. Even an entire voting block guaranteeing their votes in return for an anti-this or pro-that seat on the Supreme Court. Or, as with Thaksin at his first election, very large bribes being paid to certain individuals on the Constitutional Court to ensure his "honest mistake" in having his gardener and housekeeper owning a gazillion shares in his company which should have been declared as his assets prior to the election and which should have disqualified him would be forgiven! Given the state of the world - or should I say the worsening state of the world - I often wonder if democracy as we have known it is all but dead. And yes I know the obvious follow on from that. If democracy is dying, what goes in its place? Major systemic reforms would be a good start, but does anyone seriously think that those presently with their hands on the levers of power will be prepared to promote reform? I certainly don't. Going back to the Philippines, as long as the financial power is concentrated in the hands of just a few dozen families, I cannot see much change there either. The US could have done something when they ruled the islands as their colony, but did nothing. Then they propped up the murdering, thieving dictator Marcos because they needed the air cases in the country during the Cold War. If only we could turn back the clock a century or more and undo much of what were to become our present day disasters!

Much as one admires Singapore's amazing success as an economic miracle on what until independence was virtually just a swamp, its rulers have never taken lightly any criticism of its governance. Indeed, that government has resorted to more litigation against the media, corporations and even its own opposition MPs than almost any other anywhere. The city state's founding Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew was admired worldwide. But even he admitted he had to resort to non-democratic methods. Two of his oft quoted dictums were - “We have to lock up people, without trial, whether they are communists, whether they are language chauvinists, whether they are religious extremists. If you don't do that, the country would be in ruins.” “I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn’t be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters – who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.” Now the present government led by his son is clamping down further on dissent. In what sounds more like a comment from mainland China, it has passed a law aimed at countering foreign interference in what it calls its internal domestic affairs. This permits the government to order social media sites and internet providers to disclose user information or block content it considers hostile. Given the ease which which the courts ruled in favour of the Prime Minister in similar cases involving publications like the International Herald Tribune and The Economist, few consider this new law as anything other than greater personal interference. "An offence is committed if a person publishes something in Singapore on behalf of a foreign entity to "influence a target to do something that is or is likely to be prejudicial to Singapore's interests, incite feelings of hatred or diminish public confidence in the authorities", according to an earlier Straits Times report. "Instead of open court, an independent panel chaired by a judge will hear appeals against the minister's decisions. This is necessary as matters may involve sensitive intelligence with implications for national security, the government said." In fairness other countries like Australia have enacted similar laws. But added to the 2019 "fake news" law, according to the Deputy Head of Human Rights Watch Asia the new law will be a human rights disaster because it hands arbitrary power to punish anyone on vague allegations of involvement with foreigners. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58798373

I don't think I agree with the first sentence. The Filipinos seem far more gullible with famous names getting much more of the vote irrespective of whatever platform and policies they may have run on. Filipinos are much more star struck! Also, I don't think most Filipinos are all paid for their votes whereas we know a great deal of cash changes hands in Thailand.

You can already see the huge queues at the airports to find baht currency because I'll bet they won't accept others. I note they say the fee is to be collected from tourists. What about Thais? If they don't pay then it is not the same as a departure tax which applies to everyone. With it just having been agreed that hospitals can charge more for non-Thais, sounds like yet another way to fleece tourists and those expats who live here.

More ridiculous comparisons (first price is Agoda - and so 17% for tax and service has to be added, but we do not know yet if these have to be added to the TAT prices - second price TAT site) The Landmark Bangkok: Baht 2,147 / 3,531 The Okura Presitge Bangkok: Baht 3,494 / 7,062 The Aiyapura, Koh Chang: Baht 1,347 / 2,000 Oakwood Hotel & Residence: Baht 784 / 1,199 With a 5-star hotel being almost 100% more expensive on the TAT site, that's another site for the trash bin.

How kind of the government to ensure that the locations of the pharmacies are pretty much difficult to find other than by taxi!

I could not agree more. Some years ago my bf finally persuaded me to join. Perhaps stupidly, I replied to the initial questions asked - names of my school and university. Within seconds I had more than 150 likes from people I had absolutely no idea who they were. Not even one from anyone I would have called a friend. If this is facebook, I decided, it's not for me. Within minutes I had cancelled the membership and have never once had any desire to rejoin. But it pisses me off mightily that some companies now assume everyone is on facebook. So increasingly I find that they have cancelled their websites and instead post information only on facebook. I have found a way around some of this, but I'll happily take my business elsewhere. This is especially true given the revelations over the weekend about facebook's policy of promoting inciteful and hateful posts since it makes more money that way. Governments should have investigated the social media apps long before now to ensure that such hideous practices are rooted out. This has nothing to do with free speech. It is about responsibility and destroying some lives.

Philippine general elections have been often proven to be a joke with a joker elected. Sadly the electorate seems to have little clue about governance.

Same with me. I have no doubt that a percentage of booking fees will be directed to TAT coffers. Given that there are already so many booking sites offering several perks, I cannot see what any new one will achieve. Also if one wants to cancel a booking, presumably the alternatives offered will only be in Thailand whereas on agoda etc. you can often transfer the funds to a hotel booking in another country.

Having posted a Jessye Norman video, I think I should balance this with one of Dame KTK. While her largest audience was no doubt singing Handel (wearing a ghastly hat!) at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, I am certain the next largest was when she sang in the wonderful Merchant Ivory film "Room With a View" set in Florence with a wonderful cast of British actors. KTK sang the theme song used in the movie. This was the popular Puccini aria "O mio babbino caro" (Oh, my beloved Father) from the comic opera Gianni Schicchi.

In the early-mid 1800s Scotland was at the forefront of technological advances in photography. One who took up an apprenticeship in the art of photography was Edinburgh-born John Thomson. In 1862 aged 25 he set sail on what was to become a 10 year sojourn in much of Asia, including Thailand, Singapore, Malaya, Sumatra, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Macao and China. 60 of his more than 600 photographs were featured in an Exhibition in Bangkok in 2015 "Siam Through The Lens of John Thomson." Thomson's are the earliest-known photos from these countries. His photographs not only introduced many in the west to the lands and peoples of the east, they established him as one of the pioneers of photo journalism. Thomson died 100 years ago last month. Thankfully his negatives were bought up decades ago by the Wellcome Foundation and are now safely stored in London, although prints from them are lent out for regular exhibitions. Copyright of the photos below being to the Wellcome Foundation but were widely used in publicity (e.g. in the Bangkok Post) for Exhibitions in Bangkok and Hong Kong. The Chao Phraya River from Wat Arun Sailing Ships on the Chao Phraya King Mongut (Rama 4) In a Buddhist Temple The Royal Barge Discussion amongst Han Chinese (the pigtails mark them out as not being Manchus) Chinese Ladies at Tea The Facade of St. Paul's Church in Macao (which still exists today) An Exhibition of Thomson's China photographs is presently running at Edinburgh's Heriot Watt University to mark the foundation of the university 200 years ago. The Exhibition finishes on 25 March 2022.

Good on BTS. I think they are marvellous ambassadors for their country - and pretty good singer/dancers as well. I am really curious as to how this industry came not just to develop within the country but to become a worldwide entertainment phenomenon. When I used to visit Seoul in the 1980s and early 1990s, even in the few gay and gayish venues, I never saw anyone as cute as these K-Pop stars. On True Visions about a year ago there was a series about Chinese born in Italy revisiting their homeland mostly for the first time to meet grandparents and other family friends. One very attractive slim guy who lived in Rome made his living there as a K-Pop dancer!

The voices were really so different and the repertoire suited to each also so different that i think a comparison is unfair on both. JN had a much larger, more dramatic voice with a beautiful mezzo quality when called for, although she always said she never wanted to be categorised. There was only one JN!. I first heard her in recital and then in a concert version of Die Walkure Act 1 in which she was a superb Sieglinde. But many of her roles could never have been sung by KTK - Wagner, the Ariadne Prima Donna, Cassandra in The Trojans, Aida, Alceste, and a wonderful Jocasta in Oedipus Rex amongst others. I have the amazing DVD which she recorded with Ozawa and the tenor Philip Langridge at Ozawa's Saito Kinen Festival. This was staged by Julie Taylor before she became a worldwide name with her staging of The Lion King. JN was also at home in comedy, at least in recordings. She loved France and worked several times with the lesser company in Toulouse under Michael Plasson. I have the CDs of her sparkling La Belle Helene. The full opera recording is available on youtube. It is full of typical Offenbach foot-tapping tunes. But equally JN would not have been at home in most of the roles KTK tackled. KTK was essentially a lyric soprano. I think she was unquestionably one of the finest Mozart and Strauss opera singers of her day with great success also in some Puccini and as Tatyana. She also tackled some earlyish Verdi, especially Amelia in Boccanegra which I hugely enjoyed. And of course as Desdemona, even if the recording with Pavarotti for Solti's Farewell Concerts in Chicago was a near disaster with Pavarotti clearly unable to sing the role! I heard her sing it nearer the start of her career and she carried it off with great conviction and finesse. But then again she did have competition which JN rarely had. For me, Dame Margaret Price, for example, had the more glorious voice especially in the Mozart/Strauss repertoire. It is such a shame that she did not like travelling and so confined most of her career to Cologne, Munich, London and San Francisco. Also that there are so few videos available of her singing. ,Gundula Janowitz was also wonderful in more or less the same KTK repertoire. But whereas Dame Margaret was very much a diva backstage I understand, Dame Kiri appeared to let it be known that she was a diva everywhere!

China is also terrified about Covid and the Winter Olympics due to open on February 4. One reason why it has banned international visitors. Only Chinese can witness the events. Hopefully those with the really cute guys - e.g. figure skating - will be televised live. Will Yuzuru Hanyu be able to make it three golds in a row? Or will his competition like Nathan Chan from the USA and Shoma Uno from Japan pip him to the post this time? Hanyu is one of the most recognised and loved Japanese athletes and has earned a fortune in endorsements since his first win in Sochi in 2014. This is Hanyu's short programme at the 2018 Olympics. Apart from his technical excellence, I just love the way he interprets the music and the emotion he invests in it. And of course that smile and the tight little ass!!! There has been much internet chatter about his being gay, although nothing definitive has ever been written. He trains in Toronto with the gay Brian Orser and sometimes has his costumes made by a gay designer. I don't know where the teddy bears came from and how that tradition started. But he is often seen clasping one of them after his programme.

Fascinating post @msclelovr. Thank you. Regarding fees, I think you may have omitted Dame Kiri Te Kanawa who, at least for a time and perhaps only in certain Opera Houses, was another diva able to command the highest fees. But then I recall that Ms. Norman's appearances on the opera stages were far fewer than Dame Kiri's. Surely that can not only have been a question of fee and more her personal choice? What I find so interesting about her is that at the start of her career she had to move to spend years in Europe to become known. She got a contract with the Deutsche Oper in Berlin and made her debut there as Elizabeth in Wagner's Tannhauser in 1968. Her American opera debut did not come until a full 14 years later, and then it was not with the Met but in Philadelphia. Little wonder that she made her home in London for many years. Several other Americans who were to become major opera singers had to do the same. There were just not the opportunities in those days within the USA. Having seen only half a dozen of her recitals and concerts, I was always amazed that, despite her large size, she always seemed just to glide on to the stage. I only had the opportunity of meeting her once. Back in late 1989 she gave a concert for the opening of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. This was just a few months after Tiananmen Square. For her first encore, she waited until the audience were completely silent. She then started singing solo and very quietly "Amazing Grace". As she did so, she very slowly turned full circle so that she sang to every single member of that audience. There were many tears. After that concert, a very good friend of mine was giving a small dinner for her and I was thrilled to be invited. She was quite wonderful company and clearly had a huge sense of fun. On a more serious note and going back to your point, the Chairman of the Opera Board at London's Royal Opera was also a guest. A very boring man, Sir James Somebody, he really put his foot in it when during a slight lull in the conversation, he piped up, "Ms. Norman, you were a sensation when you first sang with us at the Royal Opera and we have tried so many times to have you back, even offering you your pick of roles. Why do you not return?" This was a huge breach of etiquette at someone else's private dinner! But quick as a flash, Ms. Norman put this idiot in his place. "Well, Sir James, the answer is very simple. You just will not pay my fee!"

To those who enjoy classical music (horrible term but I can't think of a more obvious one) the name Jessye Norman on an ad for a concert or a CD or a DVD was enough to ensure a sell-out. Along with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa she was the reining worldwide diva for more than four decades. To the non classical world, she is best known perhaps for her appearance in 1989 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution when she sang the Marseillaise draped in the French flag on the back of truck as it progressed down the Champs Elysees. Or singing at the opening ceremony of the Olympics in her home town of Atlanta in 1996. A big and tall African American with a soprano voice described as a "grand mansion of sound" - having heard her several times I would actually change that to a magnificent mansion of sound - that thrilled listeners with the intimate delicacy of quiet passages to the pure thrilling majesty of the highest of high notes, she died in 2019 aged 74. I addition to that amazing soprano voice, she was incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable. I heard from a friend that when she did a tour around the National Museum in Taipei, there was virtually nothing she did not know about Chinese jade. Then, surprisingly, she had rarely sung in public since 2015. An exclusive article in yesterday's Guardian explains that her death was not as earlier described. Suffering from constant back pain, she had been persuaded by her doctor in America to consult a specialist team at London's London Bridge Hospital. They advised she undergo a little performed procedure which they had performed before. This was to leave her paralysed from the waist down and the desperate sadness of her final years when she was rarely seen in public. While in London she had commenced a lawsuit against the doctors and the hospital which is, like several other London hospitals, owned by an American Insurance giant HCA. Following her death, her brother has taken over the suit. Naturally, no-one is talking. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/sep/30/jessye-normans-family-sue-over-treatment-that-allegedly-left-her-paralysed All this reminds me of the fate of the voice of Dame Julie Andrews. With a voice of extraordinary range, she had been appearing in the stage version of her earlier hit film "Victor Victoria" when informed that she had developed a small polyp on her vocal chords. Her husband, the movie director Blake Edwards, persuaded her to have it removed. The 1997 operation failed and she was left without that amazing voice. A substantial settlement was agreed. Unlike the case of Jessye Norman, though, Dame Julie was able to resurrect her career as an actor. This is a short song from one of The Four Last Songs written by Richard Strauss two years before his death in 1950. This is "Beim Schlafengehen" (When I am falling asleep) which beautifully illustrates her extraordinary voice with amazing breath control and notes that seem to float in the air. The theme of the song is basically "All my senses now want to sink into slumber."

This is merely typical Thai gobbledygook. And it's nonsense. As if retirees earn more than the Thai hi-so set or even many middle income Thais. In the last few months, for the same condition I have seen a doctor at Bumrungrad, one at BNH and one at the public King Chulalongkorn Hospital. The first was at Bumrungrad where the doctor's fee was Bt. 1,500. At BNH it was Bt. 900. At Chulalongkorn it depends which of two options you choose. In the first which means you have to first register to see the doctor between 06:00 and 07:30 am, the fee is Bt. 250. For the more convenient and much less crowded afternoon time, it is Bt. 700. As far as medical tourism goes, I don't think the increase will matter one jot. The fact is that most medical tourism is paid for by major insurance companies who refer patients to Thai hospitals where it is still much cheaper for many procedures than it would be at their home base. Or, as at Bumrungrad, it is very often the rich from the Middle East. Those put off by prices here, still have Indian clinics and hospitals where average prices are still far less than Thailand.

Based on my limited experience, I agree. In fact I did not like HCMC at all. The area around Danang, Hoi And Hue was very active, though. And I am told that in Can Tho a little further south there are some eager young guys.

More competition should be good for cheaper fares - even in biz class. I'd be happy with a few days stopover in Vietnam - although HCMC is not my favourite part of the country. Easy, though, to get to the southern delta, the lovely island of Phu Quoc and the central part of the country in and around Da Nang.

I wonder who was your best and worst Bond actor? I suspect George Lazenby, the former used car salesman and model who replaced the irreplaceable Sean Connery, will be at the top of most readers' lists for the worst. He had met the producer Cubby Broccoli when they were having their hair cut in the same barber shop. His co-star Diana Rigg did not enjoy working with him. "I can no longer cater for his obsession with himself." she said, adding, "He is utterly, unbelievably, bloody impossible!" Desmond Llewellyn who played Q in many Bond movies was no kinder. "How can you expect someone who's never acted before to take on a leading role?" Amazingly, although he had first been offered a contract for seven Bond movies, he did just the one. Thankfully! Roger Moore? I totally disliked the use of silly comedy throughout many of his Bond movies. He was always too lightweight and I enjoyed none. I actually enjoyed Timothy Dalton who started to bring back more drama and daring. Pierce Brosnan never convinced me even though many really liked his portrayal and believed he would be impossible to replace. To me he was just Pierce Brosnan being Pierce Brosnan, the actor acting a part. Is it age that results in Connery being top of my list? Or the fact that the genre was so new and so exciting in those days? Perhaps, but he is still my top Bond. That said, Daniel Craig has grown on me and seems a better Bond for our time. I hope his swan song will consolidate his reputation in the role.

Wonderful!. Just love that A380 aircraft although I definitely prefer the Emirates seating layout to that of Qatar. I wonder which routes it will serve. Since one full A380 is roughly the equivalent of two A350s or 787s, I wonder how the total emissions compare.

After delays of 18 months due to covid, Bond is back. Its premiere was held last night in London with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in attendance. No, I haven't seen it, but the reviewers so far seem to give it huge plaudits and 5 stars. The Guardian review starts - Craig’s final film as the diva of British intelligence is an epic barnstormer, delivering pathos, action, drama, camp comedy (Bond will call M “darling” in moments of tetchiness), heartbreak, macabre horror, and outrageously silly old-fashioned action in a movie which calls to mind the world of Dr No on his island. Director Cary Fukunaga delivers it with terrific panache, and the film also shows us a romantic Bond, an uxorious Bond, a Bond who is unafraid of showing his feelings, like the old softie he’s turned out to be. The BBC reviewer writes - No Time To Die does exactly what it was intended to do, which is to round off the Craig era with tremendous ambition and aplomb. Variety writes - “No Time to Die” is a terrific movie: an up-to-the-minute, down-to-the-wire James Bond thriller with a satisfying neo-classical edge. It’s an unabashedly conventional Bond film that’s been made with high finesse and just the right touch of soul, as well as enough sleek surprise to keep you on edge. Only CNN so far is less enthusiastic particularly critical of its 2'43" length.

The article notes that flight distance is around 12,500 kms. And perhaps adding "one of" clarifies that it is not the longest. But pre covid and even now there are plenty of longer flights. I listed three, one of which is almost 3,000 kms longer. I could have added Dubai to Buenos Aires at 13,670 kms, Dubai to San Francisco at 13,000 kms, Doha to LAX at 13,321 kms etc.

I think that is a slight overstatement. Qantas non-stop 787-900 from Perth to London covers a distance of 14,498 kms. Qatar's 777 Doha to Auckland is 14,535 kms. And Singapore Airlines has restarted its non-stop Singapore to New York flight (changing to JFK from Newark) using A350-900s covering 15,341 kms. Good for PR, though!