OPINION

Wind-up Boris

Re: "Could Boris Johnson make a comeback?" (Opinion, Sept 3).

I don't know anything about Boris Johnson. I liked his unkept hair, his fatness and his total lack of trying to fit in. He got my vote just because he didn't fit in. He got my undying vote the day he backed out of the EU. For all that, I thought he was going to make a great prime minister.

Now he is gone, about to land in a puddle in the middle of the ocean. Maybe we Americans can fish him out and wipe him off for a run in our presidential race.

Can you imagine a round and cuddly wind-up Boris doll who resembles Donald Trump in a Disney sort of way, with a penchant to party and carry on all night in a Hunter sort of way?

Give 'PR' a break

Re: "New, long visa favours expats," (BP, Sept 3).

Referring to the above, the government should also offer some benefits to permanent residents (PR) here.

First, the permission to work in Thailand. I have a friend who is a PR but retired, so he does not have a work permit.

He is working freelance for a company. But this company does not want to do anything illegal so he has to have a Thai friend's ID to draw his "salary". You see, he wants to pay taxes on his salary. If he has a work permit he won't have to do that.

Second, special lane at immigration.

Can PR go to the same lane as Thai people when going through immigration?

I have an experience before the Covid-19 pandemic. I went through with two Thai friends to Laos. I had to wait a long time with so many other tourists in a queue. I missed the comfort of sitting in the Bangkok Airways lounge enjoying their snacks while my Thai friends were happily having theirs.

Third, land ownership rights.

Give priority to PR to buy land of at least one rai. We are staying here for good. We spend money here although we are retired.

Organic first

Re: "Waste separation pilot begins," (BP, Sept 4).

Any sincere contribution to raising public awareness of the scale of this issue is of course welcome, though I fear the days of "every little helps" are long gone.

Every month that passes the volume of waste produced, much of it plastic, and the cost of handling it increases dramatically. In Bangkok alone, the BMA spends in excess of 7 billion baht annually on managing its garbage but is still disgorging thousands of tonnes weekly into the marine environment.

Governor Chadchart has launched a limited trial in some areas aimed at limiting the amount of organic waste, which comprises up to 50% of domestic and commercial collections entering the disposal system.

I would welcome feedback from any readers directly involved in this scheme; a similar trial in apartment blocks in Sydney Australia failed because too few residents participated and the communal, organics-only bins were too often used for general rubbish.

In any event, whatever the result in Bangkok, it will be a drop in the ocean (or, perhaps, a half-eaten hamburger in a truckload of food scraps).

The provinces have already been warned during readings for the national 2023 budget that revenue from the central government will be down on previous years and they should look at new taxes to compensate. I am not confident that expenditure on waste management will be high on their list of priorities.