I'd only dispute that you were an 'early' victim...but one in a long line.

Otherwise..pretty well agree

I believe we came up in a golden era..the 1950s to the 1980s..what a fun era it was !

Keep those weekend essays coming JK. What disturbs me is indeed the attention these 'riots' (they weren't riots it was simply mass opportunism to get nice tellys) have given to the online social networks...which are mostly vital in this day and age and mostly inhabited by sane and law abiding citizens.

I don't want the internet policed...full stop.

The trick being missed, do as you wish online, but bring it out onto the streets then you will be caned. That's fine but keep clear of the internet Cameron...that isn't the problem...what you need to do is make young people your priority and start to revolutionise education and further education.

Here's David Cameron on 22 February in Kuwait, talking up the power of social media in the wake of the nascent Arab Spring:

"[The movement] belongs to a new generation for whom technology - the internet and social media - is a powerful tool in the hands of citizens, not a means of repression."


And here's Cameron on Thursday 11 August talking up the perils of social media in the wake of the English riots:

"Mr Speaker, everyone watching these horrific actions will be stuck by how they were organised via social media. Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. And when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them."

www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/...al-media-arab-kuwait

Corruption is a way of life,here in Thailand it is acepted.The only difference being the British pretend it's not there.
Now even the fools have to admit Britain is crawling with it,but instead of liberalising they use it as an excuse for even more repression.
Will Britain go the same way as America?

Hi Pattaya..yes corruption with public officials is a way of life there (and in Cambodia and Vietnam)and that is one of the objections I have to the Bangkok journalist Andrew Drummond who sees corruption only when he wants to.

For instance he fully accepts the charges against GG knowing not only that he paid to have the most serious charges dropped (that should alert the world to how the system works and would result in any trial being dropped in the West).

At the same time he has helped publicize- without any result- the very bad case of an former English nightclub owner busted with 'yabba' pills in what looks like an appalling set-up by his Scottish gangster partners.

Then he publicizes the ridiculous statement from one of the frightful NGOs who plague Asia..their idiotic claim that there is a $4M fund available for 'pedos' to bribe local police.

Not content to pervert English public life, these tabloid hacks export tabloid mentality to the East.

I have been stopped several times, as I'm sure you have, on Thai highways by police (except when traveling with my Bangkok policeman friend)and paid the $1 'fine' to continue (that subsidizes their wages) and I am more than happy to pay similar minor 'fines'.

# Asian lecture ends here.

veritas wrote:
Hi Pattaya..yes corruption with public officials is a way of life there (and in Cambodia and Vietnam)and that is one of the objections I have to the Bangkok journalist Andrew Drummond who sees corruption only when he wants to.

For instance he fully accepts the charges against GG knowing not only that he paid to have the most serious charges dropped (that should alert the world to how the system works and would result in any trial being dropped in the West).

At the same time he has helped publicize- without any result- the very bad case of an former English nightclub owner busted with 'yabba' pills in what looks like an appalling set-up by his Scottish gangster partners.

Then he publicizes the ridiculous statement from one of the frightful NGOs who plague Asia..their idiotic claim that there is a $4M fund available for 'pedos' to bribe local police.

Not content to pervert English public life, these tabloid hacks export tabloid mentality to the East.

I have been stopped several times, as I'm sure you have, on Thai highways by police (except when traveling with my Bangkok policeman friend)and paid the $1 'fine' to continue (that subsidizes their wages) and I am more than happy to pay similar minor 'fines'.

# Asian lecture ends here.

The problem with Thailand is when Yanks full of money and stupidity bribe the government to their way of thinking.
Otherwise fully agree,u have a good analytical brain,unlike a certain Knowitall who is a laughingstock here in Thailand

Locked Out wrote:
JK,
Your conclusion states that ""This is the beginning of the end".
I'd conjecture that we've moved a stage beyond that. And, with a nod to WSC himself, borrow his next sentence and present it as the de facto real position. Where do we go from here? I have no idea, but I'm sure it's nowhere good. The whole western world is screwed as far as I can see. The sacrifice of everything that was good, fair and noble upon the altar of huge profits for the very few. This, to coin yet another phrase, is where empire building brings us.

A spam bot could write more meaningful comments.

And would certainly contribute more than your observation OI.

opted in wrote:
Locked Out wrote:
JK,
Your conclusion states that ""This is the beginning of the end".
I'd conjecture that we've moved a stage beyond that. And, with a nod to WSC himself, borrow his next sentence and present it as the de facto real position. Where do we go from here? I have no idea, but I'm sure it's nowhere good. The whole western world is screwed as far as I can see. The sacrifice of everything that was good, fair and noble upon the altar of huge profits for the very few. This, to coin yet another phrase, is where empire building brings us.

A spam bot could write more meaningful comments.

A spam bot could also register an account before making such sweeping comments