Bazle

The British Medical Association has weighed in on the new Prime Minister David Cameron's health care proposals. The Allergists voted to scratch it, but the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves. The Gastroenterologists had a sort of a gut feeling about it, but the neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve. The Obstetricians felt they were all labouring under a misconception. Ophthalmologists considered the idea short-sighted. Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!" while the Paediatricians said, "Oh, Grow up!" The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could see right through it. Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing. The ENT specialists wouldn't hear of it. The Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said, "This puts a whole new face on the matter...." The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists were pissed off at the whole idea. The Anaesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas, and the Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no. In the end, the Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up to the arseholes in London.

Does this mean you are now open to the masses, not just special invitees?

Thanks, JK. One of my favourite places in Patts is PBG. I think I'll be taking some extra care there.

Shortly, I hope to be staying on the 8th floor of a block. Someone told me that I won't have a mossie problem because they don't go that high up. Is that correct?

Back below 50 now. I knew Mervyn wouldn't let the party go on. Today he reduces his growth expectations and (in the opinion of some) hints at a double dip recession.

No, the investments do not have to be HSBC products. Most of mine are not.

I think we might be talking at cross purposes here! As with all unit trusts, there are annual mangement fees - imposed by the investment manager, not HSBC.

The investments are held in my own name so I don't think that that can be correct,

I'm not sure what you mean by "vehicle for investment". They employ IFAs who will advise as IFAs usually do - i.e. on a fee or commission basis. Yes, they do like to put forward HSBC's own offerings but it is not difficult to reject them if you think they are not for you. However, they do have some good products - take a look at HSBC World Selection Dynamic for instance.

If you have £50K invested already (e.g. in the stock market), when you come to sell it, you could place a re-investment through HSBC.

If you become a Premier customer, they will do it for you. There are other advantages of being a Premier cutomer, like free travel insurance (arranged through Aviva). That was one of the few policies that paid out for the dust storm problems. Also, during the Red Shirt problems, they were happy for me to travel to Thailand, as long as I didn't join in (a la Mr Savage!). (PS I have no connection with HSBC apart from being a customer.)

That link causes IE8 to crash on my machine. No problem with Firefox though.

All ATMs can be used. There is usually a charge of 10 or 15 Baht. It seems to be the same as I get using my Kasikorn card.

Yesterday, I converted £2,000 into Baht and got 101,104 Baht - a rate of 50.552055. No other charges involved. It was done very simply - by on-line transfer from my HSBC UK account to my HSBC Thailand account.

Thanks for the suggestion. Have done so already to no avail.

Same same.

Thanks for that. Unfortunately, travel insurance is a bit of an academic issue unless I can overcome the problems with buildings and contents insurance.

I know where Witherspoons is but I'm sure that's where all the noise was coming from - reverberating around Soi LK Metro which itself was relatively quiet.

That's interesting. Thanks. Did you have the option of collecting the TCs from a branch rather than them being sent through the post?

I moved out of the Irish Rovers after one night earlier this year because of the noise. I suspect it was coming from Witherspoons. Even the TGF couldn't sleep - and that's saying something!

I think you overstate the difficulty.

Thanks for the tip. I'll take my deposit book to be made up when I'm there next and check on that. However, I keep a reasonable amount in the account as I like to be able to get at some spending money when I arrive late in the evening.

Clothes with plenty of button-down pockets are useful. You can spread your money around that way, and also your plastic.

1. Please see 2. 2. Your account will be in THB. If you have foreign currency to deposit, it will need first to be converted into THB and that is the amount which is deposited. When Kasikorn Royal Garden had a money exchange booth, the foreign money would be passed there to convert into THB and the THB physically handed over to the teller. Now they don't, the teller will accept the foreign currency and convert it into THB at a rate she looks up, and that is the amount entered in your deposit book. 3. I guess that depends on the cost of the wire transfer. With a wire transfer, you do not control the exact time the conversion is made into THB. When you take the money to the bank yourself, you can do so when you think the rate is at its best (good luck with getting that right!). 4. I do not recall being told that.

It would be interesting to know the source of this information as it does not seem to be on the Nationwide website (http://www.nationwide.co.uk/current_account/foreigntransactions.htm). Was it a Sunday paper?