title: London Overground

text: Richmond and Clapham Junction to Stratford, Watford Junction to Euston, and Gospel Oak to Barking services are served by Willesden TMD.


title: London Overground

text: London Liverpool Street to Enfield Town, Cheshunt and Chingford, and Romford to Upminster are served by Ilford EMU Depot, Chingford sidings and Gidea Park Sidings.


title: London Overground

text: London Overground's head office and control centre are at Swiss Cottage. Rolling stock is maintained at Willesden Junction and New Cross Gate TMDs, the latter being newly built for the extended East London line. There are also sidings at Silwood Triangle (just north of New Cross depot), built in 2013–14. Satellite locations for stabling trains include Stratford, London Euston and sidings (mainly used by London Northwestern Railway), and c2c's East Ham Depot. Train crews are based at stations including Euston, Willesden Junction, Watford Junction, New Cross, Stratford and Gospel Oak. Until recently London Overground operated with a conductor or guard on its North London, West London and Gospel Oak services. With the other 60% of Overground services already operated by only a driver, it was decided in 2013 to convert these remaining two-person operated trains to driver only.


title: London Overground

text: London Overground is operated by a private company, Arriva Rail London. Following a model similar to that used for the Docklands Light Railway, TfL invited tenders for operation of the Overground. Unlike other National Rail operators under the franchise control of the Department for Transport, TfL sets fares, procures rolling stock and decides service levels. The operator takes only a small element of revenue risk, with TfL taking 90% and the operator 10%.


title: London Overground

text: The first operator, London Overground Rail Operations, a 50:50 joint venture between Laing Rail and MTR Corporation, was chosen by TfL on 19 June 2007. The contract was signed on 2 July 2007 for seven years with the option of a two-year extension. In preparation for the launch of the Overground, MTR Laing renamed itself London Overground Rail Operations. In February 2013, it was awarded a concession extension until 14 November 2016.


title: London Overground

text: In April 2015, TfL placed a notice in the "Official Journal of the European Union", inviting expressions of interest in operating the next concession. In March 2016, TfL announced that Arriva Rail London had won the right to operate the London Overground concession, starting from 13 November 2016.


title: London Overground

text: Ticketing is a mix of paper, Oyster cards, electronic smart cards and contactless payment cards for "pay-as-you-go" travel. As with all National Rail and TfL services in London, passengers can use a Travelcard (daily, seven-day, monthly or annual); as on other National Rail services in London, paper single, return and cheap day return tickets priced under the zonal fare scheme are also available.


title: London Overground

text: As part of an effort to improve safety and protect revenue, TfL has announced that it will introduce ticket barriers at a number of stations. The stations that did not have barriers when TfL took over have been fitted with standalone Oyster card readers similar to those at ungated Underground and DLR stations. The validators at which were needed to enter/exit the Oyster card system when changing to and from the Victoria line were replaced with route validators, coloured pink: these are used to show that a traveller using Oyster PAYG changed lines at that station, showing which of the possible routes was used. Typically, this avoids paying for zone 1 when the passenger did not travel into it.


title: London Overground

text: Ticket stock is common National Rail stock, as Overground services remain part of the National Rail network, but sometimes with a large TfL roundel in the centre and the repeated legend "Rail Settlement Plan" or on newer versions "National Rail" on a light green background. This ticket stock, coded "TFL" on the reverse, was introduced in November 2007.


title: London Overground

text: Oyster PAYG is charged on the same zone-based rules as for the Underground and the Docklands Light Railway. Stations outside Greater London (except Watford Junction) are included in the new Travelcard Zones 7-9. On 2 January 2008 Acton Central was moved from zone 2 to 3, Hampstead Heath from 3 to 2 and Willesden Junction from 3 to both 2 and 3.


title: London Overground

text: Paper tickets are charged on the same zone-based rules as for Underground and DLR paper tickets, which were expanded to take in the extra zones covered. Watford Junction has its own fare scale. Paper tickets are significantly more expensive than using Oyster PAYG.


title: London Overground

text: Although a TfL service, the Overground is part of the National Rail network, unlike the Underground. The most recent figures released by Network Rail (NR), for period 7 (20132014), showed that it had achieved 96.6% of the Public Performance Measure (PPM) target for punctuality and reliability set by the ORR – down 0.9 percentage points on the period last year. The moving annual average (MAA) of the PPM for the 12 months to 12 October 2013 was 96.5%. TfL, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has investigated the use of data from the Oyster smartcard ticketing system to measure the performance of the Overground explicitly from the passenger perspective.


title: London Overground

text: In the autumn 2011 National Passenger Survey, conducted by Passenger Focus, London Overground received an overall satisfaction rating of 92%, a 7% improvement on the previous survey. However, a survey in February 2014 by the consumer group "Which?" found that customer satisfaction of London Overground was at sixth place (out of 20 train operators) with a satisfaction percentage of 58%.


title: London Overground

text: Public presentation is visually associated with TfL design standards, using similar graphic design elements to those used on the Underground. These design standards have been applied to London Overground stations, signage, rolling stock and publicity. London Overground also uses the TfL corporate typeface, New Johnston, on its signage, publicity, and stationery and on its fleet of trains. In common with other TfL services, the Overground is denoted by its own colour, a vivid orange (Pantone 158C). The orange colour was inherited from the former East London line prior to its transfer from Underground to Overground.


title: London Overground

text: London Overground lines are shown on the tube map in orange; the map does not use colours to distinguish between the different Overground lines. Like the Docklands Light Railway and the Elizabeth line, the Overground is represented by a double line rather than a solid single line, to distinguish it from the colour-coded Underground lines. The London Overground also uses a variant of the TfL roundel. TfL denotes its different transport modes such as London Underground and London Buses with variants of the roundel device using a range of colours, and the London Overground version consists of an orange ring with a blue bar. The roundel has its origins in a 1933 design by the London Passenger Transport Board and has spawned many variations.


title: London Overground

text: Unlike other National Rail stations, London Overground stations which are not served by another National Rail operator now omit the red National Rail "double arrow" logo from signage outside the stations, using only the Overground roundel instead. A few refurbished or new stations on the reopened East London line display the station name in large orange three-dimensional uppercase letters.


title: London Overground

text: Passenger numbers have grown very quickly since the start of London Overground in 2007. There were big increases in 2010/11 and 2011/12 due to the opening of the extensions of the East London line and South London line. The transfer of some suburban services from Liverpool Street in May 2015 from the Greater Anglia franchise to London Overground also distorted numbers, contributing to a very large growth between 2014/15 and 2015/16.


title: London Overground

text: Since the London Overground took over from Silverlink, TfL has pursued a programme of rolling-stock replacement in order to remove from service the ageing second-generation EMUs and Class 150 DMUs it inherited from Silverlink. In 2009, Class 378 Capitalstars built by Bombardier's Derby Litchurch Lane Works were introduced on the electrified lines to replace the and units used previously, while the Class 150s were replaced by new Class 172 Turbostar units on the non-electrified Gospel Oak to Barking Line. By October 2010, the new rolling stock had completely replaced the units previously operated by Silverlink. The Class 313 and 150s were cascaded to other train operating companies Southern, First Capital Connect and First Great Western. The Class 508 units were stored at Eastleigh Works but were subsequently scrapped in 2013 after being deemed unfit.


title: London Overground

text: Before its closure to become part of the London Overground, services on the East London line were operated with London Underground A60 and A62 Stock.


title: London Overground

text: The Class 378 trains were officially unveiled at on 13 July 2009. They include a number of tube-style features, including longitudinal seating and increased standing room to provide a high-capacity metro service. They also benefit from walk-through carriage interiors and air conditioning. The North London line has a base fleet of 24 four-car units, Class 378/2. However, these were delivered as three-car units (378/0), with the extended trains being introduced from September 2010, following platform extension works and delivery of the first 20 four-car units (378/1) for the East London line. A further 13 dual-voltage units were delivered to expand services, taking the total fleet to 57 four-car units. These trains are to be extended to five-car sets towards the end of 2014, starting with the East London line sets.


title: London Overground

text: The trains are leased from newly formed rolling stock company (ROSCO) QW Rail Leasing until 2027. TfL planned initially to buy the new fleet outright, but in February 2008 announced that it would lease the trains in order to free up the £250 million capital cost of purchase, combined with reducing the risk of making a loss through any future sell-on of the fleet.


title: London Overground

text: Eight two-car Class 172/0 units, leased from Angel Trains, entered service in 2010. At first their speed was restricted to but the restriction was lifted when a test was found to be flawed.


title: London Overground

text: TfL invited expressions of interest for a total of 39 four-car EMUs in April 2014, with 30 required for the Lea Valley lines, eight for the Gospel Oak to Barking line, and one for the Romford–Upminster line all to replace older Class 172, Class 315 and Class 317 trains. Since then the planned procurement was increased to 45 four-car EMUs, with the additional six units intended for the Watford DC Line. In July 2015, TfL announced that it had placed a £260M order for 45 four-car Bombardier Aventra EMUs, with an option for 24 more, for use on the Lea Valley lines and the Watford DC line, Gospel Oak to Barking line and Romford–Upminster line from 2018. The type will be known as the and will be similar to the used by Crossrail. Nine further units were ordered in February 2018, split between an additional three Class 710/2 units for use on the extended Gospel Oak to Barking line, and six 5-car units to allow Class 378 units to be cascaded to strengthened East London line services.


title: London Overground

text: On 22 May 2019, TfL announced that approval had been gained for the Class 710s to enter passenger service. The first two units entered service on the Gospel Oak to Barking line on Thursday 23 May 2019 and the remaining six were in service by August 2019, with the first unit entering service on the Watford DC line on 9 September 2019. The first units on the Lea Valley lines entered service on 3 March 2020 after a first attempt on 24 February 2020. Their use on Romford–Upminster line services began in October 2020.


title: London Overground

text: All Capitalstar and Aventra stock in service now carries Overground livery. It is similar to Underground livery, and consists of white and black coaches, a longitudinal thick blue stripe and a thin orange stripe along the bottom, London Overground roundels at midpoints along the coaches, black window-surrounds and orange doors. The ends of each Class 378 unit are painted yellow to comply with the National Rail standards that existed when the first wave of new trains began to enter service in 2009. However, Class 710 units do not have this as they were introduced into service after new standards released by the RSSB since most trains now have European-styled headlights allowing for better visibility from afar, unlike before when they needed the yellow fronts for visibility. The seat upholstery features a moquette by fabric designers Wallace Sewell.


title: London Overground

text: As railway lines have been transferred to London Overground operation, services are sometimes operated using rolling stock inherited from the previous train operating company, and for a temporary period these trains have been branded with transitional livery until they are replaced with newer rolling stock. When the first London Overground services began, they were operated using Silverlink rolling stock which retained Silverlink's purple and lime green livery with yellow doors. The Silverlink logos were removed and Overground banners were added. This rolling stock was eventually completely replaced with new, Overground-branded trains.


title: London Overground

text: Similarly, since the takeover of the Lea Valley lines, Overground services are being run with trains inherited from Abellio Greater Anglia which are mostly in a plain white livery with red doors. Prior to replacement of this rolling stock, the trains were repainted with full Overground livery and the interiors refurbished with Wallace Sewell upholstery and TfL standard signage and route maps.


title: London Overground

text: In June 2018, London Overground unveiled its first complete Class 710 unit, complete with a newly designed livery and moquette. In October, it then began a programme to refresh the Class 378 fleet, giving them a livery designed to appear similar to the one designed for the Class 710.


title: London Overground

text: It was announced in June 2013 that £115 million of funding for electrification was being made available as part of upgrades to rail infrastructure included in the government's 2013 spending round. At the same time Transport for London announced that they had obtained a £90 million commitment from the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Transport.


title: London Overground

text: In September 2015, Network Rail awarded the £56.9m contract to electrify the line to J. Murphy & Sons. Part closures (on weekends and from South Tottenham to Barking) were planned from June to late September 2016, followed by a full closure from October to February 2017, and further evening and weekend works until late June 2017, and finally around four months of further work to add the wires so that electric Class 710 trains can run from early 2018. The line was to be electrified using the NR Series 2 OLE range.


title: London Overground

text: It was announced as part of the 2014 United Kingdom budget that the Gospel Oak to Barking line would be extended to Barking Riverside station. £263 million was to be spent to extend the line to the brownfield 10,800-home Barking Riverside housing development, which Barking and Dagenham Council did not believe to be viable without improved transport connections. The developers of the site, Barking Riverside Limited, would provide £172million towards the project, with the remainder coming from Transport for London. Construction started in 2017 and was planned to be completed by 2021. London Overground services started running to Barking Riverside on 18 July 2022.


title: London Overground

text: London Overground began running 24-hour trains on Friday and Saturday nights, similar to the Night Tube of London Underground, between Dalston Junction and New Cross Gate from 15 December 2017. In February 2018 the service was extended to Highbury & Islington, which interchanges with overnight services of the Victoria line.


title: London Overground

text: In 2007, TfL proposed re-extending the Bakerloo line to . It was suggested that most or all of the line from to Watford Junction would be used exclusively by the London Underground; London Overground services would be withdrawn.


title: London Overground

text: As part of this change, Overground services would have been diverted at Primrose Hill Junction via (closed to passengers since 1992) to , providing a new service between Queen's Park and Stratford. Had this change taken place, and would no longer have had direct services to Euston station, hindering access to central London.


title: London Overground

text: The official Croxley Rail document states, "Bakerloo Line extension to Watford Unlikely" and "TfL’s plans to extend the Bakerloo Line to Watford Junction are on hold indefinitely due to funding and business case constraints".


title: London Overground

text: Plans were approved in 2011 for the Croxley Rail Link, diverting the Watford branch of London Underground's Metropolitan line to Watford Junction via , where it would share tracks with the Overground. However, in early 2017 this scheme was paused due to funding issues.


title: London Overground

text: A long-term plan exists to create an interchange with High Speed 2 at the proposed Old Oak Common station. Planning documents issued by the DfT suggest that the new station, on a site just south of , could open by 2025 and offer connections with the Overground on both the North London and West London lines.


title: London Overground

text: The station would also be served by Crossrail, Great Western Main Line services and Heathrow Express, and the proposals indicate the possibility of interchange with the Bakerloo and Central lines. The plans are supported by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.


title: London Overground

text: In June 2013, the Mayor of London and the London Boroughs of Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham released 'vision' consultation documents about the Old Oak Common area. These documents mention various connections to the London Overground system, linking Old Oak to the North London line, West London line, and to two new London Overground branches, to Hounslow, and – via the Dudding Hill Line – to Thameslink stations on the Midland Main Line.


title: London Overground

text: In October 2017, Tfl began a public consultation on the construction of two new Overground stations, on the West London line and on the North London line. If built, these stations would provide interchange between London Overground and Old Oak Common station.


title: London Overground

text: In addition to the plan to extend the Gospel Oak to Barking line to Barking Riverside, there are also proposals to extend it further under the River Thames to a station in Thamesmead, and then on Abbey Wood to connect with the Elizabeth line.


title: London Overground

text: Transport for London has confirmed that the Mayor has asked them to look at both the Overground extension from Barking Riverside and a DLR extension, for connecting to Thamesmead.


title: London Overground

text: Following the completion of the first phase of the London Overground network in December 2012, TfL has expressed its intention to take over the operation of other suburban lines in the London area. As with the original London Overground system, this would involve devolving National Rail services from the DfT's franchising system to a TfL-managed concession.


title: London Overground

text: On 21 January 2016 it was announced consideration was being given to the possibility of gradually transferring the suburban services operated by Southeastern, South West Trains and Govia Thameslink Railway (Great Northern and Southern) to TfL to create a London Suburban Metro.


title: London Overground

text: In 2012–13 TfL and the Greater London Authority publicised a proposal for further expansion, identifying a number of services in North-East and South-East London as suitable candidates. Part of this proposal was fulfilled in May 2015 with the transfer of the Lea Valley and Romford-Upminster Lines out of to the London Overground network, but TfL's aim of acquiring Southeastern metro services currently remains at the proposal stage. Under this scheme, TfL would take over rail services out of , and to , , and , but this was rejected following spending cuts imposed by the 2013 United Kingdom budget. The possibility of TfL acquiring routes out of London Bridge has also been discussed.


title: London Overground

text: In October 2015 the prospect of London Overground expansion was raised again when the London Assembly Transport Committee published a report which advocated the devolution of a number of commuter rail services and the creation of a "South London Metro". In particular, the report identified four rail franchises due for renewal which could be taken over by TfL:


title: London Overground

text: Kent County Council had initially expressed opposition to the Dartford route plans on account of limited capacity for Kent express trains being lost to expanded TfL services, but after negotiations with the London Assembly, reached an agreement to support the proposals.


title: London Overground

text: The Department for Transport has proposed that Transport for London should take over the Greenford to West Ealing line in West London. This would bring Greenford, , , and into the Overground network. Trains on this branch used to run directly to Paddington, but were curtailed at West Ealing in order to free up line capacity for the forthcoming Crossrail services, with West Ealing reconstructed to allow Greenford branch trains to terminate there. If this proposal were to go ahead, it would happen when the Greater Western franchise ends in 2023.


title: London Overground

text: Proposals to reopen the Dudding Hill Line to passenger services as part of the London Overground have been mooted for several years. In June 2019, TfL published a report examining the possibility of opening the line as a London Overground branch line connecting Hounslow with Cricklewood and Hendon, with stations at , Lionel Road, , and .


title: London Overground

text: In 2017 it was reported that a system is being trialled at Shoreditch High Street station that indicates the crowding in each train carriage. The technology, already in use on Thameslink trains, helps passengers find the least crowded carriage when boarding a train and should reduce dwell times at stations. If the trial is successful, it will be rolled out across the London Overground network.


title: Phil Collins discography

text: English musician Phil Collins has released 8 studio albums, 1 live album, 4 compilation albums, 50 singles, 16 video albums, 41 music videos, 2 soundtrack albums, 3 box sets, and 2 remix albums. A Grammy and Academy Award-winning solo artist, Collins has sold more than 34.5 million albums in the United States, and 150 million records worldwide.


title: Phil Collins discography

text: Collins' first solo album, "Face Value", was released in the United Kingdom in 1981 and reached number one in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Sweden. It was also certified 5-times Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The album's lead single, "In the Air Tonight", reached number one in Austria, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, and Switzerland, and is often cited as Collins' signature song. His second album, "Hello, I Must Be Going!", was released in 1982 and included the UK number one "You Can't Hurry Love", which also topped the charts in Ireland and the Netherlands. The album went number one in Canada while peaking at number two in the UK and receiving a triple-platinum certification from the BPI. In 1984, Collins recorded "Against All Odds"; the ballad shot to number one on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and number two in the UK. He also performed a duet with Philip Bailey, "Easy Lover", which reached number two in the US and spent four weeks at number one in the UK. In 1984, Collins participated in Bob Geldof's Band Aid charity project for the famine in Ethiopia, and played drums in the Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?".


title: Phil Collins discography

text: In 1985, Collins released his third album, "No Jacket Required", which contained the hits "Sussudio" and "One More Night". He also recorded the song "Separate Lives", a duet with Marilyn Martin that reached number one in the US. "No Jacket Required" debuted at number one in the US and UK; it is the best-selling album of his career and has been certified Diamond in the US for sales over 10 million and six-times platinum in the UK. In 1988, Collins contributed songs to the soundtrack of the film "Buster", in which he also starred: "Two Hearts", and a cover of "A Groovy Kind of Love", the latter of which became a UK and US number one. In 1989 Collins produced another successful album, "...But Seriously", featuring the anti-homelessness anthem "Another Day in Paradise", which peaked at number one in the US and number two in the UK. A live album, "Serious Hits... Live!" followed in 1990.


title: Phil Collins discography

text: Collins' fifth album, "Both Sides", was released in 1993; although it was less successful than his previous albums and produced only one UK top-ten single, the album still reached number one in the UK. His next album, "Dance into the Light", was released in 1996 and was even less successful, peaking at number four in the UK and was only certified silver. A greatest hits compilation, "...Hits", was released in 1998 and was successful, returning Collins to UK number one and multi-platinum status in the UK and US. The album's sole new track was a cover of the Cyndi Lauper hit "True Colors". Collins also wrote and performed songs for the Disney animated films "Tarzan" and "Brother Bear". Collins' seventh studio album, "Testify", was released in 2002. It was a success in Europe, peaking at number fifteen in the UK and within the top five in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. After the release of "Testify", Collins announced that he was going into semi-retirement, and released two compilation albums in 2004, "The Platinum Collection" and "". In 2010, Collins released his eighth and final studio album, "Going Back", after which he went into a brief four-year retirement, before returning to the music industry in 2015. By 2016, Collins remastered and reissued all of his studio albums and released his third compilation album, "The Singles".


title: Robin Quivers

text: Robin Ophelia Quivers (born August 8, 1952) is an American radio personality, author, and actress, best known for being the long-running co-host of "The Howard Stern Show".


title: Robin Quivers

text: Quivers was born on August 8, 1952, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Lula Louise Quivers, a homemaker and housekeeper, and Charles Quivers Sr., a steelworker at Bethlehem Steel. She has an older brother, Charles Jr., and two adopted brothers, Harry and Howard. Both parents were educated only to the seventh grade. In her 1995 autobiography, Quivers revealed that she was molested by her father at a young age. At seventeen, Quivers enrolled at a pre-nursing program at Maryland General Hospital. She graduated from Western High School in 1970 and then began to study at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.


title: Robin Quivers

text: In 1974, Quivers graduated from the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Her first position was at the Maryland Shock Trauma facility of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services System, where she described her role as that of "a shock-trauma, intensive care kind of nurse, so I saw unpleasantness all the time". Knowing she could use her degree, Quivers joined the United States Air Force in July 1975, where she was commissioned as a second lieutenant. She entered active duty at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas on January 11, 1976. After six months of service, Quivers was promoted to first lieutenant. By June 1978, she had acquired the rank of captain.


title: Robin Quivers

text: In 1979, Quivers returned to Baltimore, where she studied at the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland and worked in a hospital. She landed her first job in the radio industry with a newscasting position at WIOO in Carlisle, Pennsylvania,


title: Robin Quivers

text: followed by WCMB in nearby Harrisburg. She then moved back to Baltimore for a consumer reporter role at WFBR, where she also read newscasts with morning disc jockey Johnny Walker.


title: Robin Quivers

text: In March 1981, radio personality Howard Stern started his new morning program at WWDC (FM) in Washington, DC. He wanted an on-air newscaster to riff with him in the studio on the news and current affairs. Station program director Denise Oliver played Quivers a tape of Stern interviewing a prostitute on the air.


title: Robin Quivers

text: At the 45th NAACP Image Awards in February 2014, Quivers won for Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional, for her book "The Vegucation of Robin: How Real Food Saved My Life".


title: Robin Quivers

text: Quivers resides in Manhattan, New York City. From the mid-1990s until April 2007, her long-time boyfriend Tony was mysteriously referred to on the radio show as "Mr. X". On April 23, 2007, while calling in to the "Bubba the Love Sponge Show" on Howard 101 to wish the host a happy birthday, Quivers was asked about her relationship with Mr. X, and responded with an announcement that they had separated.


title: Robin Quivers

text: In 1990, she underwent breast reduction surgery. In June 2007, Quivers began a vegan diet, which she says helped to increase her energy and helped her to lose 60 pounds (27 kilograms) over a six-month period. Quivers was set to release a book about her experiences as a vegan in March 2013, but it was pushed back to October.


title: Robin Quivers

text: In August 2007, comedian Jim Florentine asked Quivers on the air to go on a date with him. Due to the attention this garnered, Quivers became tight-lipped about the topic. On July 28, 2008, Quivers announced on "The Howard Stern Show" she and Florentine had ended their relationship. She stated that the breakup was amicable, that Florentine was "genuine and honest", and that he was the one who initiated the breakup.


title: Robin Quivers

text: Quivers has had many different hobbies, including race car driving, painting, rock climbing and other physical activities. She claimed she would be a successful racer and challenged radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge, an experienced driver, to a future race. Quivers competed in the 2007 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, finishing in fourteenth place out of seventeen racers.


title: Robin Quivers

text: To promote his book "The Mirror Effect", Drew Pinsky administered a test designed to measure narcissism of many celebrities, including the staff of "The Howard Stern Show". At 34 out of 40, Quivers scored the highest of all celebrities polled; the average for Americans is 15. Quivers's voice is often joked about on the Howard Stern show as being condescending and "snooty."


title: Robin Quivers

text: Quivers works with The Girl Fund, a program organized by the United Nations that advocates for education of girls in countries where they are often exploited. Quivers also founded the 15 Foundation, a nonprofit organization.


title: Robin Quivers

text: Quivers announced in May 2012 that she needed to have surgery to remove a tumor from her bladder. Shortly afterward, she continued to provide commentary for the show from her New York home via an ISDN line, though this was hidden from listeners. Stern stated that Quivers was such an instrumental part of the show that he would quit radio if he ever lost her as a partner. On September 9, 2013, Quivers announced that her cancer was in complete remission after successful surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. After seventeen months, Quivers returned to the studio on October 2, 2013. Quivers' official diagnosis was stage 3C endometrial cancer.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS) is a sudden unexpected death of adolescents and adults, mainly during sleep. One relatively common type is known as Brugada syndrome.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: The syndrome is rare in most areas around the world but occurs in populations that are culturally and genetically distinct. It was first noted in 1977 among southeast Asian Hmong refugees in the United States and Canada. The syndrome was again noted in Singapore when a retrospective survey of records showed that 230 otherwise healthy Thai foreign workers living in Singapore died suddenly of unexplained causes between 1982 and 1990.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: A sudden death in a young person can be caused by heart disease (including cardiomyopathy, congenital heart disease, myocarditis, genetic connective tissue disorders) or conduction disease (WPW syndrome, etc.), medication-related causes or other causes. Rare diseases called ion channelopathies may play a role such as long QT syndrome (LQTS), Brugada syndrome (BrS), CPVT (catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia), PCCD (progressive cardiac conduction defect), early repolarization syndrome, mixed sodium channel disease, and short QT syndrome. In 20% of cases, no cause of death can be found, even after extensive examination.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: In young people with type 1 diabetes, unexplained deaths could be attributed to night time hypoglycemia triggering abnormal heart rhythms or cardiac autonomic neuropathy, a damage to nerves that control the function of the heart.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: Medical examiners have taken into account various factors, such as nutrition, toxicology, heart disease, metabolism, and genetics. Although there is no real known definite cause, extensive research showed people 18 years or older were found to have had a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart muscle becomes oddly thickened without any obvious cause. This was the most commonly identified abnormality in sudden death of young adults. In the instances where people experience sudden death, it is most commonly found that they had had CAD (coronary artery disease) or ASCAD (atherosclerotic coronary artery disease), or any level of stress. However, studies reveal that people experienced early symptoms within the week before the terminal event such as chest pain at ~52% of patients, dyspnea at ~22%, syncope at ~7% and ~19% who experienced no symptoms. Scientists have also associated this syndrome with the gene SCN5A that is mutated and affects the function of the heart. A 2011 autopsy-based study found that sudden death was attributed to a cardiac condition in 79.3% of cases, and was unexplained in 20.7%.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: In the Philippines, "bangungot" (or in their term, sudden adult death syndrome) is mainly caused by the Brugada syndrome.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: A 2011 retrospective cohort study using demographic and autopsy data for a 10-year period comprising 15.2 million person-years of active surveillance suggested prevention of sudden death in young adults should focus on evaluation for causes known to be associated with SUD (e.g., primary arrhythmia) among persons less than 35 years old, and emphasise atherosclerotic coronary disease in those older.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: A 2003 study found that the only proven way to prevent SADS is with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. Oral beta-blockers such as propranolol are ineffective.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: In 1980, a reported pattern of sudden deaths was brought to the attention of the Centers for Disease Control. The first reported sudden death occurred in 1948 when there were 81 similar deaths of Filipino men in Oahu County, Hawaii. However, it did not become relevant because there was no associated pattern. This syndrome continued to become more significant as years went on. By 1981–1982, the annual rate in the United States was high with 92/100,000 among Laotians-Hmong, 82/100,000 among other Laotian ethnic groups, and 59/100,000 among Cambodians.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: In a 2008 study it was found that over half of SADS deaths could be attributed to inherited heart disease: unexplained premature sudden deaths in family, long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy and others.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: A national SADS study in England, funded by the British Heart Foundation, reported results in a 2007 journal article published in "Health". The study surveyed 117 coroners' jurisdictions in England. Researchers found that deaths from SADS reported by these coroners occurred "predominantly in young males". There were 500 cases a year in England, eight times more than had previously been estimated. Families are more at risk of SADS if they have a genetic cardiac disease. The study recommended that affected families should undergo "specialised cardiological evaluation".


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: Southeast Asian immigrants, who were mostly fleeing the Vietnam War, most often had this syndrome, marking Southeast Asia as the area containing the most people with this fatal syndrome. There are other Asian populations that were affected, such as Filipinos and Chinese Filipinos, Japanese in Japan, and natives of Guam in the United States and Guam. The immigrants with this syndrome were about 33 years old and seemingly healthy, and all but one of the Laotian Hmong refugees were men. The condition appears to primarily affect young Hmong men from Laos (median age 33) and Northeastern Thailand (where the population is mainly of Laotian descent).


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: Laotian Hmongs were chosen for the study because they had one of the highest sudden death rates in the United States while sleeping. They were originally from Southern China and the highlands of North Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. The location that was picked for this study was in Ban Vinai in the Loei Province, which is approximately 15 kilometers from the Lao border. This study took place between October 1982 and June 1983 as this syndrome became more of a pressing issue. Ban Vinai was the location chosen because it had 33,000 refugees in 1982, and the largest number of recorded SADS deaths. Because this syndrome was occurring most commonly in those particular men, researchers found it most beneficial and effective to study the populations they migrated from instead of studying victims and populations in the U.S. Because of local religious practices, the Hmong men in Ban Vinai did not receive autopsies. Therefore, the only results and research obtained were relating to deaths outside of the local religion or geographical area.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: An interview was arranged with the next of kin who lived with them, witnessed the death, or found the body. The interviews were open ended and allowed the person who was next of kin to describe what they witnessed and what preceding events they thought were relevant to the victim's death. The interviewers also collected information such as illness history, the circumstances of the death, demographic background, and history of any sleep disturbances. A genealogy was then created which included all the relatives and their vital status and/or circumstances of death.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: During the 1970s and 1980s, when an outbreak of this syndrome began, many Southeast Asians were not able to worship properly due to the Laotian Civil War. Hmong people believe that when they do not worship properly, do not perform religious rituals properly or forget to sacrifice, the ancestor spirits or the village spirits do not protect them, thus allowing evil spirit to reach them. These attacks induce a nightmare that leads to sleep paralysis, in which the victim is conscious and experiencing pressure on the chest. It is also common to have a REM state that is out of sequence, where there is a mix of brain states that are normally held separate. After the war, the United States government scattered the Hmong refugees across the U.S. in 53 different cities. Once these nightmare visitations began, a shaman was recommended for psychic protection from the spirits of their sleep. However, scattered across 53 different cities, these victims had no access to a shaman who could protect them.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: Hmong people believed that rejecting the role of becoming a shaman, they are taken into the spirit world.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: The study author suggested that the Hmong who died were killed by their own beliefs in the spiritual world, otherwise known as "Nocturnal pressing spirit attacks". In Indonesia it is called "digeuton", which translates to "pressed on" in English. In China it is called "bèi guǐ yā" () which translates to "crushed by a ghost" in English. The Dutch call the presence a "nachtmerrie", the night-mare. The "merrie" comes from the Middle Dutch "mare", an incubus who "lies on people's chests, suffocating them". This phenomenon is known among the Hmong people of Laos, who ascribe these deaths to a malign spirit, "dab tsuam" (pronounced "dah chua"), said to take the form of a jealous woman.


title: Sudden arrhythmic death syndrome

text: "Bangungot" is depicted in the Philippines as a mythological creature called "batibat" or "bangungot". This hag-like creature sits on the victim's face or chest so as to immobilize and suffocate him. When this occurs, the victim is usually experiencing sleep paralysis.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: The Dassault Mirage 5 is a French supersonic attack aircraft designed by Dassault Aviation during the 1960s and manufactured in France and a number of other countries. It was derived from Dassault's popular Mirage III fighter and spawned several variants of its own, including the IAI Kfir. Pakistani Mirage 5s are capable of nuclear weapons delivery.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: The Mirage 5 grew out of a request to Dassault from the Israeli Air Force. Since the weather over the Middle East is clear and sunny most of the time, the Israelis suggested removing avionics, normally located behind the cockpit, from the standard Mirage IIIE to reduce cost and maintenance, and replacing them with more fuel storage for attack missions. In September 1966, the Israelis placed an order for 50 of the new aircraft.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: The first Mirage 5 flew on 19 May 1967. It looked much like the Mirage III, except that it had a long slender nose that extended the aircraft's length by about half a metre. A pitot tube was distinctively moved from the tip of the nose to below the nose in the majority of Mirage 5 variants.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: The Mirage 5 retained the IIIE's twin DEFA guns, but added two additional pylons, for a total of seven. Maximum warload was 4,000 kg (8,800 lb). Provision for the SEPR rocket engine was deleted.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: Rising tensions in the Middle East led French President Charles de Gaulle to embargo the Israeli Mirage 5s on 3 June 1967. The Mirages continued to roll off the production line, even though they were embargoed, and by 1968 the batch was complete and the Israelis had provided final payments.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: In late 1969, the Israelis, who had pilots in France testing the aircraft, requested that the aircraft be transferred to Corsica, in theory to allow them to continue flight training during the winter. The French government became suspicious when the Israelis also tried to obtain long-range fuel tanks and cancelled the move. The Israelis finally gave up trying to acquire the aircraft and accepted a refund.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: Some sources claim that cooperation with France resumed outside the public's eye and Israel received 50 Mirage 5s in crates from the French Air Force, while the French took over the 50 aircraft originally intended for Israel, as Mirage 5Fs. Officially, Israel claimed to have built the aircraft after obtaining complete blueprints, naming them IAI Nesher.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: Like the Mirage IIIE, the Mirage 5 was popular with export customers, with different export variants fitted with a wide range of different avionics. While the Mirage 5 had been originally oriented to the clear-weather attack role, with some avionic fits it was refocused to the air-combat mission. As electronic systems became more compact and powerful, it was possible to provide the Mirage 5 with increased capability, even though the rear avionics bay had been deleted, therefore in some sub-versions, the result was a "reinvented" Mirage IIIE.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: Reconnaissance and two-seat versions of the Mirage 5 were sold, with the designation Mirage 5R, and Mirage 5D respectively.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: The Mirage 5 was sold to Abu Dhabi, Belgium, Colombia, Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Pakistan, Peru, Venezuela, and Zaire, with the usual list of subvariant designations and variations in kit. The Belgian aircraft were fitted with mostly US avionics, and some Egyptian aircraft were fitted with the MS2 attack avionics system from the Dassault-Dornier Alpha Jet.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: In 1978 and 1980, Israel sold a total of 35 of their Neshers plus 4 Nesher trainer aircraft (Nesher Ts) to Argentina, where they were locally known first as Daggers and after their upgrade as Fingers. The Argentines lost two Mirage IIIEAs and twelve Daggers during the Falklands War in 1982. As a measure of solidarity, the Peruvians transferred ten of their Mirage 5Ps to Argentina, under the name Mirage Mara, to help alleviate its losses.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: South Africa purchased five Nesher trainers for trials during its own "Atlas Cheetah" fighter programme. All the aircraft were eventually upgraded to Cheetah D standard.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: In 1968, the Belgian government ordered 106 Mirage 5s from Dassault to re-equip No 3 Wing at Bierset air base. All aircraft but the first one were to be license-built by SABCA in Belgium. Component production at the SABCA Haren plant near Brussels was followed by assembly at the SABCA plant at Gosselies airfield, near Charleroi. The ATAR engines were produced by FN Moteurs at this company's Liège plant.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: SABCA production included three versions: Mirage 5BA for the ground-attack role, Mirage 5BR for the reconnaissance role and Mirage 5BD for training and conversion.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: By the end of the 1980s, a MIRage Safety Improvement Program (MIRSIP) was agreed to by parliament, calling for 20 low-time Mirages (15 Mirage 5BAs and 5 Mirage 5BDs) to be upgraded. Initial plans included a new more powerful engine, but this idea was abandoned to limit cost. The upgrade eventually included a more modern cockpit, a new ejection seat, a laser rangefinder, and canards to improve takeoff performance and overall maneuverability. A new government canceled the MIRSIP but SABCA was allowed to carry out the update, in order to sell the aircraft on the export market. After completion, the Belgian government sold all 20 aircraft to Chile, together with 4 non-upgraded Mirage 5BRs, and one non-upgraded Mirage 5BD.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: The new Atar 09K-50 engine, however, was still an improvement, and fitting this engine led to the next Mirage variant, the Mirage 50, during the 1970s. The uprated engine gave the Mirage 50 better takeoff and climb characteristics than its predecessors. While the Mirage 50 also incorporated new avionics, such as a Cyrano IV radar system, it did not prove popular in export sales, as the first-generation Mirage series was becoming obsolete.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: Chile ordered a quantity of Mirage 50s, receiving both new production as well as updated Armée de l'Air Mirage 5s. The Chilean aircraft were later modernised along the lines of the IAI Kfir as the ENAER Pantera. The Pantera incorporates fixed canards and other aerodynamic improvements, as well as advanced avionics. These aircraft have an extended nose to accommodate some of the new systems.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: In the early 1990s, Dassault upgraded a batch of Venezuelan Mirage IIIEVs and 5s to Mirage 50 standards.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: In 1982, Pakistan Chief of Air Staff ACM Anwar Shamim acquired an additional squadron of the Mirage 5 from France to provide effective support to the Navy.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: In the 1990s, the PAF launched a Mid-life update (MLU) program, codenamed as Project ROSE (Retrofit Of Strike Element), to its aging Mirage III and Mirage 5 aircraft with modern avionics provided by French, Italian, and Pakistani software conglomerates. The PAF acquired blueprint drawings of the aircraft from France, redeveloping and redesigning it at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: In the first phases of the project, the PAF acquired 33 former Australian Air Force Mirage III fighters were upgraded and designated "ROSE I". The PAF then procured surplus Mirage 5F fighters in the late 1990s from the French Air Force in two batches. Around 20 fighters from the first batch were upgraded with new cockpits, navigation/attack suites, defensive aids systems and a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensor under the aircraft's nose/cockpit, being designated ROSE II. The cockpits included new MFDs, HUDs, HOTAS controls, radar altimeters and RWRs.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: Additionally, there were 14 Mirage 5F fighters from the second batch that were upgraded similarly but with newer systems and designated ROSE III. The FLIR sensors allow the Mirage 5 ROSE fighters to specialise in the night-time attack role.


title: Dassault Mirage 5

text: Resultantly, Pakistan launched retaliatory airstrikes (Codenamed "Operation Swift Retort") on military installations at Indian Administered Kashmir. During the airstrikes, two Dassault Mirage-5PAs from the No. 15 Squadron dropped their H-4 SOW glide bombs which were guided to their specific targets by Weapon System Officers seated in Dassault Mirage-IIIDAs via data link. The operation was a success and the aircraft returned safely.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: Ichi the Killer () is a 2001 Japanese action crime film directed by Takashi Miike, written by Sakichi Sato, based on Hideo Yamamoto's manga series of the same name, and starring Tadanobu Asano and Nao Omori. Omori portrays the title character, a psychologically damaged man who is manipulated into assaulting or killing rival faction members of feuding "yakuza" gangs while being pursued by a sadomasochistic enforcer (Asano).


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: The film has garnered controversy due to its graphic depictions of violence and cruelty, and has been banned in several countries.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: Ichi is on a balcony, masturbating while spying on a pimp raping and assaulting a prostitute. When the pimp discovers him, he flees.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: A sadistic "yakuza" boss named Anjo has been massacred. A cleaning crew run by Jijii removes all traces of Anjo's blood and entrails, and credits Ichi for the slaughter. Later, Kakihara, Anjo's sadomasochistic high-ranking enforcer, and other crime lords visit the spotless apartment, concluding that Anjo fled town with the prostitute and ¥3 million of the gang's money. Kakihara visits an underworld night club with other gang members. He tells Anjo's girlfriend, an English-speaking Chinese prostitute named Karen, that Anjo must still be alive, perhaps kidnapped by a rival gang. Jijii feeds Kakihara rumors that Suzuki, a member of the rival Funaki clan, has kidnapped Anjo. Kakihara captures Suzuki and tortures him, but when Suzuki turns out to be innocent, Kakihara slices off the end of his own tongue and offers it to Suzuki's boss as penance.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: Kakihara and other gang members capture Kano, a drug-addled member of the cleaning crew. He reveals that although he helped clean up the murder scene, it was Ichi who killed Anjo, and that Kakihara has now been targeted. Later, Ichi returns to the pimp's balcony to again watch him brutalize Sailor, a prostitute whom Ichi is a regular patron of. A crying Ichi intervenes, killing the pimp and telling Sailor that he will now be the one to assault her. When Sailor tries to defend herself, Ichi reflexively kills her.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: At Suzuki's prompting, Kakihara is kicked out of the syndicate, but the entire Anjo gang defects with him. Suzuki then promises Jijii a million yen to "squash" Kakihara. Jijii, it is revealed, is secretly orchestrating events in order to pit "yakuza" clans against one another, with the help of Ichi. Though normally unassuming and cowardly, Ichi becomes homicidal and sexually aroused when enraged. Jijii is able to manipulate Ichi by implanting several false memories—a high school rape in particular—and uses Ichi as a killing machine.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: One evening, Ichi kicks one of three bullies attacking a boy named Takeshi. Takeshi is the son of Kaneko, one of Kakihara's henchmen. Jijii incites Ichi to enter an apartment containing several members of the old Anjo gang, and slaughter them all. Afterward, Ichi sees Takeshi, who thanks him for the earlier protection. Kaneko finds a brothel-keeper assaulting Ichi in an alley and, remembering his own long-ago rescue by a member of the Anjo gang, helps Ichi out.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: Kakihara enlists the help of corrupt twin police detectives, Jirō and Saburō, to find Myu-Myu, a prostitute connected with Ryu Long, a member of Jijii's gang. When Jirō fails to get information from her through torture, Saburō tracks Long down. Though Long outruns the brothers, Kakihara captures him so the twins can torture him for leads to Jijii. Meanwhile, Jijii has Karen seduce Ichi by pretending to be the raped woman from his false memory. When Ichi becomes confused by Karen's claims that she desired for him to rape and assault her, he kills her. Jijii informs Kakihara that Ichi is coming to kill him but is spotted by Takayama, one of Kakihara's men. After a pursuit, Jijii, who is surprisingly muscular, disarms Takayama and kills him. Ichi then arrives at Kakihara's base, where he kills Jirō and Saburō.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: Kaneko, Kakihara and Ichi chase each other to a rooftop. Due to Jijii's psychological manipulation, Ichi believes that Kaneko is his brother and confronts him. Kaneko shoots Ichi's leg, and Ichi slits Kaneko's throat in front of Takeshi. Takeshi attacks Ichi as he lies on the roof crying. Believing Ichi to be too unstable to hurt him, Kakihara inserts his skewers into his ears to drown out Ichi's cries. He suddenly sees that Ichi has decapitated Takeshi. Ichi charges Kakihara, embedding a bladed boot into his forehead. Kakihara falls from the roof to his death. However, when Jijii finds him, Kakihara has no wound in his head; he hallucinated both Takeshi's murder and Ichi's attack as he jumped to his death while Ichi cried.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: Years later, Jijii's corpse hangs from a tree in a park. A young man resembling an older Takeshi leaves the park with a group of schoolchildren.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: The soundtrack was written and produced by Karera Musication, a side project of the Japanese band Boredoms, under the direction of ex-guitarist Seiichi Yamamoto and percussionist/band leader Yoshimi P-We.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: Film journalist Tom Mes has suggested that the film is in fact a very sophisticated assessment of violence and its relation to the media and implicating the audience. He writes that "It's a paradox, but "Ichi the Killer", a film that sets new boundaries in the portrayal of violence and bloodshed, takes a strongly critical stance towards the portrayal and the consumption of the violent image. However, it does so without ever taking a moral stance towards either the portrayal or the consumption, thus circumventing any accusations of hypocrisy on the part of the director. Miike does not moralise or chastise, but provokes the audience into questioning their own attitudes towards viewing images of violence. He steers them into a direction but leaves it up to them to draw their own conclusion".


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: Mes is also very critical of the edits made to the film. He argues that "The film as a whole is a completely cohesive unity, in that all of its parts are absolutely crucial to the functioning of the whole. Any attempt at censorship or toning down the violence will have the opposite effect and will in fact make the film "more" exploitative and thereby undermine its critical stance. Excising scenes of violence, particularly the 'painful' scenes, will harm the symbiosis between the 'playful' and the 'painful' violence, which forms the basis for Miike's critical approach".


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: The film had its world premiere in the Midnight Madness section at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival on 14 September 2001. It was released in Japan on 22 December 2001.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: As a publicity gimmick, barf bags were received by viewers out at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to those attending the midnight screening of this movie. Similar bags were given during the Stockholm International Film Festival. Reportedly, watching this film caused one viewer to throw up and another to faint. The British Board of Film Classification refused the release of the uncut film in the United Kingdom, citing "scenes of mutilated, raped or savagely beaten women or of sexual pleasure from violence." A compulsory cut of three minutes and fifteen seconds of content was required for the film's release. For the Hong Kong release, sixteen minutes and 59 seconds were cut. The movie has been banned outright in Norway and Malaysia, and banned for distribution in Germany.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: In 2018, a digital restoration of the film was made by L'Immagine Ritrovata. The first public screening was at the HKIFF42.


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 65% based on 40 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 6.20/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Ichi The Killer" is a thoroughly shocking gorefest that will surely entertain those with strong stomachs and a penchant for brutal violence." Metacritic reports a score of 55 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: Some critics praised Miike's stylish and narrative approach. Tanner Tafelski of The Village Voice noted, "Miike layers a blood-stained commentary on a toxic world in which men offer protection to men but really end up dooming them to exist within a spasmodic, shambolic, and hypermasculine sphere of violence."


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: Other critics were more critical of the film's extreme violence and found the film inconsistent. Dennis Harvey said for Variety, "Even hardy gonzo-cinema auds will likely find the hectic pace overstimulating to the point of numbed-out tedium."


title: Ichi the Killer (film)

text: The film was followed by a prequel, "1-Ichi". Nao Omori reprises his role in the prequel, playing a younger version of Ichi.


title: Patrick Collison

text: Patrick Collison (born 9 September 1988) is an Irish billionaire entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Stripe, which he started with his younger brother, John, in 2010. He won the 41st Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2005 at the age of sixteen. In 2020, he founded Fast Grants to accelerate COVID-19-related science with Tyler Cowen.


title: Patrick Collison

text: Patrick Collison was born to microbiologist Lily and electronic engineer Denis Collison in 1988, and he and his brothers were brought up in the small village of Dromineer in County Tipperary. The eldest of three boys, he took his first computer course when he was eight years old, at the University of Limerick, and began learning computer programming at the age of ten.


title: Patrick Collison

text: Collison was educated in Gaelscoil Aonach Urmhumhan, Nenagh, before attending Castletroy College in Castletroy, County Limerick.


title: Patrick Collison

text: Collison entered the 40th Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition with his project on artificial intelligence (nicknamed 'Isaac' after Isaac Newton, whom Patrick admired), finishing as individual runner-up. He re-entered the following year, and won first place at the age of sixteen on 14 January 2005. His project involved the creation of Croma, a LISP-type programming language.


title: Patrick Collison

text: His prize of a €3,000 cheque and a trophy of Waterford Crystal was presented to him by President Mary McAleese. His younger brother Tommy participated with his project on blogging in the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2010.


title: Patrick Collison

text: He attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but eventually dropped out in 2009 after starting businesses. In 2007, he set up software company 'Shuppa' (a play on the Irish word , meaning 'shop') in Limerick with his brother John Collison. Enterprise Ireland did not allocate funding to the company, prompting a move to California after Silicon Valley's Y Combinator showed interest, where they merged with two Oxford graduates, Harjeet and Kulveer Taggar, and the company became Auctomatic.


title: Patrick Collison

text: On Good Friday of March 2008, Collison, aged nineteen, and his brother, aged seventeen, sold Auctomatic to Canadian company Live Current Media, becoming millionaires. In May 2008 he became director of engineering at the company's new Vancouver base. Collison attributes the success of his company to his win in the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.


title: Patrick Collison

text: In 2010, Patrick co-founded Stripe, which in 2011 received investment of $2 million including from PayPal co-founders Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, and venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and SV Angel.


title: Patrick Collison

text: In November 2016, the Collison brothers became the world's youngest self-made billionaires, worth at least $1.1 billion, after an investment in Stripe from CapitalG and General Catalyst Partners valued the company at $9.2 billion.


title: Patrick Collison

text: In 2017, the brothers were worth at least $3.2 billion each after Stripe raised $150 million from CapitalG, an investment division of Google parent's company Alphabet, and General Catalyst Partners.


title: Patrick Collison

text: In 2018, Stripe, under the direction of the Collison brothers, contributed $1 million to California YIMBY, a pro-housing development lobbying organization.


title: Patrick Collison

text: In September 2019, it was announced that Stripe had raised an additional $250 million at a valuation of $35 billion. Together, the brothers hold a controlling interest in Stripe and will be able to retain control should the company go public.


title: Patrick Collison

text: Both Collison and his younger brother John were featured on a young Irish persons rich list aired on an RTÉ television show during the 2008 Christmas period.


title: Patrick Collison

text: On 18 July 2009, at the age of 20 and following the publication of McCarthy Report, Collison outlined his ideas for the future of Ireland on popular talk-show "Saturday Night with Miriam".


title: Patrick Collison

text: According to Collison, he reads books and is interested in a broad range of subjects on history, technology, engineering, fiction, philosophy, and art. He publishes the list of books he read on his website. In November 2018, Collison published a piece in "The Atlantic" with Michael Nielsen entitled Science is Getting Less Bang for its Buck, arguing that increased investment in science hasn't produced commensurate output. In 2019, Collison published an opinion piece in the same outlet with Tyler Cowen arguing for a new academic discipline called "Progress Studies", which would study the cultural and institutional conditions which lead to the most progress and higher standards of living.


title: Patrick Collison

text: On 29 June 2020 Collison criticized the Chinese governments treatment of Uighurs tweeting: "As a US business (and tech) community, I think we should be significantly clearer about our horror at, and opposition to, the atrocities being committed by the Chinese government against its own people".


title: Patrick Collison

text: A profile of the brothers published in "Forbes" in 2021 claimed the brothers had "escaped" from Limerick, describing it as a "warzone" because of a gang feud and it was "the 'murder capital' of Europe". It claimed "shootings, pipe bomb attacks, and stabbings" happened there every night. It also claimed that "Some bad neighbourhoods are even walled off by a dirty graffitied 10-foot-high barrier, like the Berlin Wall".


title: Patrick Collison

text: The article received a lot of publicity online, causing a backlash. Patrick tweeted "Not only mistaken about Limerick but the idea of ‘overcoming’ anything is crazy. We are who we are because we grew up where we did". John tweeted it was "daft". Patrick O'Donovan called on the magazine and author to apologise to the people of Limerick "or the insult and hurt caused" by it. He also tweeted "I am calling on them to come to Limerick where I will gladly set the record straight in respect of what our county and city has to offer as opposed to what your work of fiction depicts," and "Please let me know when suits to visit." Niall Collins tweeted that the article was a "disgraceful description of Limerick, home to so many fine and decent people".


title: Patrick Collison

text: In June 2022, Collison married Swiss-American biochemist Silvana Konermann with whom he co-founded the Arc Institute. Collison met Konnermann during the 2004 EU Young Scientist competition.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The economy of Thailand is dependent on exports, which accounted in 2019 for about sixty per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Thailand itself is a newly industrialized country, with a GDP of 16.316 trillion baht (US$505 billion) in 2018, the 8th largest economy of Asia, according to the World Bank. As of 2018, Thailand has an average inflation of 1.06% and an account surplus of 7.5% of the country's GDP. The Thai economy was expected to post 3.8% growth in 2019. Its currency, the Thai Baht, ranked as the tenth most frequently used world payment currency in 2017.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The industrial and service sectors are the main sectors in the Thai gross domestic product, with the former accounting for 39.2 percent of GDP. Thailand's agricultural sector produces 8.4 percent of GDP—lower than the trade and logistics and communication sectors, which account for 13.4 percent and 9.8 percent of GDP respectively. The construction and mining sector adds 4.3 percent to the country's gross domestic product. Other service sectors (including the financial, education, and hotel and restaurant sectors) account for 24.9 percent of the country's GDP. Telecommunications and trade in services are emerging as centers of industrial expansion and economic competitiveness.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand is the second-largest economy in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia. Its per capita GDP (US$7,273.56) in 2018, however, ranks fourth in Southeast Asian per capita GDP, after Singapore, Brunei, and Malaysia. In July 2018, Thailand held US$237.5 billion in international reserves, the second-largest in Southeast Asia (after Singapore). Its surplus in the current account balance ranks tenth of the world, made US$37.898 billion to the country in 2018. Thailand ranks second in Southeast Asia in external trade volume, after Singapore.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The nation is recognized by the World Bank as "one of the great development success stories" in social and development indicators. Despite a low per capita gross national income (GNI) of US$6,610 and ranking 83rd in the Human Development Index (HDI), the percentage of people below the national poverty line decreased from 65.26 percent in 1988 to 8.61 percent in 2016, according to the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council's (NESDC) new poverty baseline.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand is one of the countries with the lowest unemployment rates in the world, reported as one percent for the first quarter of 2014. This is due to a large proportion of the population working in subsistence agriculture or on other vulnerable employment (own-account work and unpaid family work).


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In May 2018, the Thai Cabinet approved a FY2019 budget of three trillion baht, up 3.4 percent—100 billion baht—from FY2018. Annual revenue is projected to reach 2.55 trillion baht, up 4.1 percent, or 100 billion baht. Overall, the national budget will face a deficit of 450 billion baht. The cabinet also approved a budget deficit until 2022 in order to drive the economy to a growth of 3.5–4.5 percent a year.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand, formerly known as Siam, opened to foreign contact in the pre-industrial era. Despite the scarcity of resources in Siam, coastal ports and cities and those at the river mouth were early economic centers which welcomed merchants from Persia, the Arab countries, India, and China. The rise of Ayutthaya during the 14th century was connected to renewed Chinese commercial activity, and the kingdom became one of the most prosperous trade centers in Asia.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: When the capital of the kingdom moved to Bangkok during the 19th century, foreign trade (particularly with China) became the focus of the government. Chinese merchants came to trade; some settled in the country and received official positions. A number of Chinese merchants and migrants became high dignitaries in the court.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: From the mid-19th century onward, European merchants were increasingly active. The Bowring Treaty, signed in 1855, guaranteed the privileges of British traders. The Harris Treaty of 1856, which updated the Roberts Treaty of 1833, extended the same guarantees to American traders.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The domestic market developed slowly, with serfdom a possible cause of domestic stagnation. Most of the male population in Siam was in the service of court officials, while their wives and daughters may have traded on a small scale in local markets. Those who were heavily indebted might sell themselves as slaves. King Rama V abolished serfdom and slavery in 1901 and 1905, respectively.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: From the early 20th century to the end of World War II, Siam's economy gradually became globalized. Major entrepreneurs were ethnic Chinese who became Siamese nationals. Exports of agricultural products (especially rice) were very important and Thailand has been among the top rice exporters in the world. The Siamese economy suffered greatly from the Great Depression, a cause of the Siamese revolution of 1932.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Significant investment in education in the 1930s (and again in the 1950s) laid the basis for economic growth, as did a liberal approach to trade and investment.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Postwar domestic and international politics played significant roles in Thai economic development for most of the Cold War era. From 1945 to 1947 (when the Cold War had not yet begun), the Thai economy suffered because of the Second World War. During the war, the Thai government (led by Field Marshal Luang Phibulsongkram) allied with Japan and declared war against the Allies. After the war, Thailand had to supply 1.5 million tons of rice to Western countries without charge, a burden on the country's economic recovery. The government tried to solve the problem by establishing a rice office to oversee the rice trade. During this period, a multiple-exchange-rate system was introduced amid fiscal problems, and the kingdom experienced a shortage of consumer goods.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In November 1947, a brief democratic period was ended by a military coup and the Thai economy regained its momentum. In his dissertation, Somsak Nilnopkoon considers the period from 1947 to 1951 one of prosperity. By April 1948, junta Phibulsongkram, the wartime prime minister, returned to his previous office. He, however, was caught in a power struggle between his subordinates. To preserve his power, Phibulsongkram began an anti-communist campaign to seek support from the United States. As a result, from 1950 onward, Thailand received military and economic aid from the US. The Phibulsongkram government established many state enterprises, which were seen as economic nationalism. The state (and its bureaucrats) dominated capital allocation in the kingdom. Ammar Siamwalla, one of Thailand's most prominent economists, calls it the period of "bureaucratic capitalism".


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In 1955, Thailand began to see a change in its economy fueled by domestic and international politics. The power struggle between the two main factions of the Phibul regime—led by Police General Phao Sriyanond and General (later, Field Marshal) Sarit Thanarat—increased, causing Sriyanonda to unsuccessfully seek support from the US for a coup against Phibulsongkram regime. Luang Phibulsongkram attempted to democratize his regime, seeking popular support by developing the economy. He again turned to the US, asking for economic rather than military aid. The US responded with unprecedented economic aid to the kingdom from 1955 to 1959. The Phibulsongkram government also made important changes to the country's fiscal policies, including scrapping the multiple-exchange-rate system in favor of a fixed, unified system which was in use until 1984. The government also neutralized trade and conducted secret diplomacy with the People's Republic of China, displeasing the United States.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Despite his attempts to maintain power, Luang Phibulsongkram was deposed (with Field Marshal Phin Choonhavan and Police General Phao Sriyanond) on 16 September 1957 in a coup led by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat. The Thanarat regime (in power from 1957 to 1973) maintained the course set by the Phibulsongkram regime with US support after severing all ties with the People's Republic of China and supporting US operations in Indochina. It developed the country's infrastructure and privatized state enterprises unrelated to that infrastructure. During this period, a number of economic institutions were established, including the Bureau of Budget, the NESDC, and the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI). The National Economic and Social Development Plan was implemented in 1961. During this period, the market-oriented Import-Substituting Industrialization (ISI) led to economic expansion in the kingdom during the 1960s. According to former President Richard M. Nixon's 1967 "Foreign Affairs" article, Thailand entered a period of rapid growth in 1958 (with an average growth rate of seven percent a year).


title: Economy of Thailand

text: From the 1970s to 1984, Thailand suffered from many economic problems: decreasing US investment, budget deficits, oil-price spikes, and inflation. Domestic politics were also unstable. With the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia on 25 December 1978, Thailand became the front-line state in the struggle against communism, surrounded by three communist countries and a socialist Burma under General Ne Win. Successive governments tried to solve the economic problems by promoting exports and tourism, still important for the Thai economy.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: One of the best-known measures to deal with the economic problems of that time was implemented under General Prem Tinsulanonda's government, in power from 1980 to 1988. Between 1981 and 1984, the government devalued the national currency, the Thai baht (THB), three times. On 12 May 1981, it was devalued by 1.07 percent, from THB20.775/US$ to THB21/US$. On 15 July 1981, it was again devalued, this time by 8.7 percent (from THB21/US$ to THB23/US$). The third devaluation, on 5 November 1984, was the most significant: 15 percent, from THB23/US$ to THB27/US$. The government also replaced the country's fixed exchange rate (where it was pegged to the US dollar) with a "multiple currency basket peg system" in which the US dollar bore 80 percent of the weight. Calculated from the IMF's World Economic Outlook Database, in the period 1980–1984, the Thai economy had an average GDP growth rate of 5.4 percent.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Concurrent with the third devaluation of the Thai baht, on 22 September 1985, Japan, the US, the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed the Plaza Accord to depreciate the US dollar in relation to the yen and the Deutsche Mark. Since the dollar accounted for 80 percent of the Thai currency basket, the baht was depreciated further, making Thailand's exports more competitive and the country more attractive to foreign direct investment (FDI) (especially from Japan, whose currency had appreciated since 1985). In 1988, Prem Tinsulanonda resigned and was succeeded by Chatichai Choonhavan, the first democratically elected prime minister of Thailand since 1976. The Cambodian-Vietnamese War was ending; Vietnam gradually retreated from Cambodia by 1989, enhancing Thai economic development.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: After the 1984 baht devaluation and the 1985 Plaza Accord, although the public sector struggled due to fiscal constraints, the private sector grew. The country's improved foreign trade and an influx of foreign direct investment (mainly from Japan) triggered an economic boom from 1987 to 1996. Although Thailand had previously promoted its exports, during this period the country shifted from import-substitution (ISI) to export-oriented industrialization (EOI). During this decade the Thai GDP (calculated from the IMF World Economic Outlook database) had an average growth rate of 9.5 percent per year, with a peak of 13.3 percent in 1988. In the same period, the volume of Thai exports of goods and services had an average growth rate of 14.8 percent, with a peak of 26.1 percent in 1988.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Economic problems persisted. From 1987 to 1996, Thailand experienced a current account deficit averaging −5.4 percent of GDP per year, and the deficit continued to increase. In 1996, the current account deficit accounted for −7.887 percent of GDP (US$14.351 billion). A shortage of capital was another problem. The first Chuan Leekpai government, in office from September 1992 to May 1995, tried to solve this problem by granting Bangkok International Banking Facility (BIBF) licenses to Thai banks in 1993. This allowed BIBF banks to benefit from Thailand's high-interest rate by borrowing from foreign financial institutions at low interest and loaning to Thai businesses. By 1997, foreign debt had risen to US$109,276 billion (65% of which was short-term debt), while Thailand had US$38,700 billion in international reserves. Many loans were backed by real estate, creating an economic bubble. By late 1996, there was a loss of confidence in the country's financial institutions; the government closed 18 trust companies and three commercial banks. The following year, 56 financial institutions were closed by the government.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Another problem was foreign speculation. Aware of Thailand's economic problems and its currency basket exchange rate, foreign speculators (including hedge funds) were certain that the government would again devalue the baht, under pressure on both the spot and forward markets. In the spot market, to force devaluation, speculators took out loans in baht and made loans in dollars. In the forward market, speculators (believing that the baht would soon be devalued) bet against the currency by contracting with dealers who would give dollars in return for an agreement to repay a specific amount of baht several months in the future.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In the government, there was a call from Virapong Ramangkul (one of Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's economic advisers) to devalue the baht, which was supported by former Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda. Yongchaiyudh ignored them, relying on the Bank of Thailand (led by Governor Rerngchai Marakanond, who spent as much as US$24,000 billion – about two-thirds of Thailand's international reserves) to protect the baht. On 2 July 1997, Thailand had US$2,850 billion remaining in international reserves, and could no longer protect the baht. That day Marakanond decided to float the baht, triggering the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The Thai economy collapsed as a result of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Within a few months, the value of the baht floated from THB25/US$ (its lowest point) to THB56/US$. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) dropped from a peak of 1,753.73 in 1994 to a low of 207.31 in 1998. The country's GDP dropped from THB3.115  trillion at the end of 1996 to THB2.749  trillion at the end of 1998. In dollar terms, it took Thailand as long as 10 years to regain its 1996 GDP. The unemployment rate went up nearly threefold: from 1.5 percent of the labor force in 1996 to 4.4 percent in 1998.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: A sharp decrease in the value of the baht abruptly increased foreign debt, undermining financial institutions. Many were sold, in part, to foreign investors while others went bankrupt. Due to low international reserves from the Bank of Thailand's currency-protection measures, the government had to accept a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Overall, Thailand received US$17.2 billion in aid.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The crisis impacted Thai politics. One direct effect was that Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh resigned under pressure on 6 November 1997, succeeded by opposition leader Chuan Leekpai. The second Leekpai government, in office from November 1997 to February 2001, tried to implement economic reforms based on IMF-guided neo-liberal capitalism. It pursued strict fiscal policies (keeping interest rates high and cutting government spending), enacting 11 laws it called "bitter medicine" and critics called "the 11 nation-selling laws". The Thai government and its supporters maintained that with these measures, the Thai economy improved.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In 1999, Thailand had a positive GDP growth rate for the first time since the crisis. Many critics, however, mistrusted the IMF and maintained that government-spending cuts harmed the recovery. Unlike economic problems in Latin America and Africa, they asserted, the Asian financial crisis was born in the private sector and the IMF measures were inappropriate. The positive growth rate in 1999 was because the country's GDP had gone down for two consecutive years, as much as −10.5 percent in 1998 alone. In terms of the baht, it was not until 2002 (in dollar terms, not until 2006) that Thailand would regain its 1996 GDP. An additional 1999 loan from the Miyazawa Plan made the question of whether (or to what extent) the Leekpai government helped the Thai economy controversial.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: An indirect effect of the financial crisis on Thai politics was the rise of Thaksin Shinawatra. In reaction to the government's economic policies, Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai Party won a landslide victory over Leekpai's Democrat Party in the 2001 general election and took office in February 2001. Although weak export demand held the GDP growth rate to 2.2 percent in the first year of his administration, the first Thaksin Shinawatra government performed well from 2002 to 2004 with growth rates of 5.3, 7.1 and 6.3 percent respectively. His policy was later called Thaksinomics. During Thaksin's first term, Thailand's economy regained momentum and the country paid its IMF debt by July 2003 (two years ahead of schedule). Despite criticism of Thaksinomics, Thaksin's party won another landslide victory over the Democrat Party in the 2005 general election. The official economic data related to Thanksinomics reveals that between 2001 and 2011, Isan's GDP per capita more than doubled to US$1,475, while, over the same period, GDP in the Bangkok area rose from US$7,900 to nearly US$13,000.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thaksin's second term was less successful. On 26 December 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami occurred. In addition to the human toll, it impacted the first-quarter Thai GDP in 2005. The Yellow Shirts, a coalition of protesters against Thaksin, also emerged in 2005. In 2006, Thaksin dissolved the parliament and called for a general election. The April 2006 general election was boycotted by the main opposition parties. Thaksin's party won again, but the election was declared invalid by the Constitutional Court. Another general election, scheduled for October 2006, was cancelled. On 19 September a group of soldiers calling themselves the Council for Democratic Reform under the Constitutional Monarchy and led by Sonthi Boonyaratglin organized a coup, ousting Thaksin while he was in New York preparing for a speech at the United Nations General Assembly. During the last year of the second Thaksin government, the Thai GDP grew by 5.1 percent. Under his governments, Thailand's overall ranking in the IMD Global Competitiveness Scoreboard rose from 31st in 2002 to 25th in 2005 before falling to 29th in 2006.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: After the coup, Thailand's economy again suffered. From the last quarter of 2006 through 2007, the country was ruled by a military junta led by General Surayud Chulanont, who was appointed prime minister in October 2006. The 2006 GDP growth rate slowed from 6.1, 5.1 and 4.8 percent year-over-year in the first three-quarters to 4.4 percent (YoY) in Q4. Thailand's ranking on the IMD Global Competitiveness Scoreboard fell from 26th in 2005 to 29th in 2006 and 33rd in 2007. Thaksin's plan for massive infrastructure investments was unmentioned until 2011, when his younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra entered office. In 2007, the Thai economy grew by 5 percent. On 23 December 2007, the military government held a general election. The pro-Thaksin People's Power Party, led by Samak Sundaravej, won a landslide victory over Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrat Party.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Under the People's Power Party-led government the country fell into political turmoil. This, combined with the financial crisis of 2007–2008 cut the 2008 Thai GDP growth rate to 2.5%. Before the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the Yellow Shirts reconvened in March 2008, the GDP grew by 6.5 percent (YoY) in the first quarter of the year. Thailand's ranking on the IMD World Competitiveness Scoreboard rose from 33rd in 2007 to 27th in 2008. The Yellow Shirts occupied the Government House of Thailand in August 2008, and on 9 September the Constitutional Court delivered a decision removing Samak Sundaravej from the prime ministership.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin's brother-in-law, succeeded Samak Sundaravej as prime minister on 18 September. In the US the financial crisis reached its peak while the Yellow Shirts were still in Government House, impeding government operations. GDP growth dropped from 5.2 percent (YoY) in Q2 2008 to 3.1 percent (YoY) and −4.1 percent (YoY) in Q3 and Q4. From 25 November to 3 December 2008 the Yellow Shirts, protesting Somchai Wongsawat's prime ministership, seized the two Bangkok airports, (Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang), and damaged Thailand's image and economy. On 2 December the Thai Constitutional Court issued a decision dissolving the People's Power Party, ousting Somchai Wongsawat as prime minister.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: By the end of 2008, a coalition government led by Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrat Party was formed: "[The] legitimacy of the Abhisit government has been questioned since the first day that the Democrat party took the office in 2008 as it was allegedly formed by the military in a military camp". The government was under pressure from the US financial crisis and the Red Shirts, who refused to acknowledge Abhisit Vejjajiva's prime ministry and called for new elections as soon as possible. However, Abhisit rejected the call until he dissolved the parliament for a new election in May 2011. In 2009, his first year in office, Thailand experienced a negative growth rate for the first time since the 1997 financial crisis: a GDP of −2.3 percent.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In 2010, the country's growth rate increased to 7.8 percent. However, with the instability surrounding the major 2010 protests, the GDP growth of Thailand settled at around 4–5 percent from highs of 5–7 percent under the previous civilian administration—political uncertainty was identified as the primary cause of a decline in investor and consumer confidence. The IMF predicted that the Thai economy would rebound strongly from the low 0.1 percent GDP growth in 2011, to 5.5 percent in 2012 and then 7.5 percent in 2013, due to the accommodating monetary policy of the Bank of Thailand, as well as a package of fiscal stimulus measures introduced by the incumbent Yingluck Shinawatra government.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In the first two-quarters of 2011, when the political situation was relatively calm, the Thai GDP grew by 3.2 and 2.7 percent (YoY). Under Abhisit's administration, Thailand's ranking fell from 26 in 2009, to 27 in 2010 and 2011, and the country's infrastructure declined since 2009.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In the 2011 general election, the pro-Thaksin Pheu Thai Party again won a decisive victory over the Democrat Party, and Thaksin's youngest sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, succeeded Abhisit as prime minister. Elected in July, the Pheu Thai Party-led government began its administration in late-August, and when Yingluck entered office, the 2011 Thailand floods threatened the country—from 25 July 2011 to 16 January 2012, flood waters covered 65 of the country's 76 provinces. The World Bank assessed the total damage in December 2011 and reported a cost of THB1.425 trillion (about US$45.7 billion).


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The 2011 GDP growth rate fell to 0.1 percent, with a contraction of 8.9 percent (YoY) in Q4 alone.<ref name="Gross Domestic Product: Q2/2012"></ref> The country's overall competitiveness ranking, according to the IMD World Competitiveness Scoreboard, fell from 27 in 2011 to 30 in 2012.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In 2012, Thailand was recovering from the previous year's severe flood. The Yingluck government planned to develop the country's infrastructure, ranging from a long-term water-management system to logistics. The Eurozone crisis reportedly harmed Thailand's economic growth in 2012, directly and indirectly affecting the country's exports. Thailand's GDP grew by 6.5 percent, with a headline inflation rate of 3.02 percent, and a current account surplus of 0.7 percent of the country's GDP.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: On 23 December 2013, the Thai baht dropped to a three-year low due to the political unrest during the preceding months. According to "Bloomberg", the Thai currency lost 4.6 percent over November and December, while the main stock index also dropped (9.1 percent).


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Following the Thai military coup in May 2014, Agence France Presse (AFP) published an article that claimed that the nation was on the "verge of recession". Published on 17 June 2014, the article's main subject is the departure of nearly 180,000 Cambodians from Thailand due to fears of an immigration "clampdown", but concluded with information on the Thai economy's contraction of 2.1 percent quarter-on-quarter, from January to the end of March 2014.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Since the cessation of the curfew that was enacted by the military in May 2014, the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI)'s chairman, Supant Mongkolsuthree, said that he projects growth of 2.5–3 percent for the Thai economy in 2014, as well as a revitalisation of the Thai tourist industry in the second half of 2014. Furthermore, Supant also cited the Board of Investment's future consideration of a backlog of investment projects, estimated at about 700 billion baht, as an economically beneficial process that would occur around October 2014.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand's flagging economic performance led, at the end of 2015, to increased criticism of the National Council for Peace and Order's (NCPO) handling of the economy, both at home and in influential Western media. The country's economic growth of 2.8% in the first quarter of 2019 was recorded to be the slowest since 2014.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The military government unveiled its newest economic initiative, "Thailand 4.0", in 2016. Thailand 4.0 is the "...master plan to free Thailand from the middle-income trap, making it a high-income nation in five years."


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The government narrative describes Thailand 1.0 as the agrarian economy of Thailand decades ago. Thailand 1.0 gave way to Thailand 2.0, when the nation's economy moved on to light industry, textiles, and food processing. Thailand 3.0 describes the present day, with heavy industry and energy accounting for up to 70 percent of the Thai GDP. Thailand 4.0 is described as an economy driven by high-tech industries and innovation that will lead to the production of value-added products and services. According to General Prayut Chan-o-cha, the prime minister, Thailand 4.0 is composed of three elements: 1. Make Thailand a high-income nation, 2. Make Thailand a more inclusive society, and 3. Focus on sustainable growth and development.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Critics of Thailand 4.0 point out that Thailand lacks the specialists and experts, especially in high-technology, needed to modernise Thai industry. "...the government will have to allow the import of foreign specialists to help bring forward Thailand 4.0," said Somchai Jitsuchon, research director for inclusive development at the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI). "...that won't be easy as local professional associations will oppose the idea as they want to reserve those professional careers for Thais only". He went on to point out that only 56 percent of Thailand's population has access to the Internet, an obstacle to the creation of a high-tech workforce. A major thrust of Thailand 4.0 is encouraging a move to robotic manufacturing. But Thailand's membership in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), makes cheap workers from neighbouring countries even more readily available, which will make it harder to make the economic case to switch to robots. Somchai also pointed out that the bureaucratic nature of the Thai government will make realisation of Thailand 4.0 difficult. Every action plan calls for results from several ministries, "all of which are big, clumsily-run organisations" slow to perform.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: In September 2020, World Bank forecast that Thai economy would contract 8.9% by the end of the year due to COVID-19 pandemic. The Thai government cut jet fuel tax since February 2020.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2021 (with IMF staff estimates in 2022–2027). Inflation under 5% is in green.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Over the past 32 years, the economy of Thailand has expanded. The GDP at current prices shows that from 1980 to 2012 the Thai economy has expanded nearly sixteen-fold when measured in baht, or nearly eleven-fold when measured in dollars. This makes Thailand the 32nd-biggest economy in the world, according to the IMF. With regard to GDP, Thailand has undergone five periods of economic growth. From 1980 to 1984, the economy has grown by an average of 5.4 percent per year. Regional businesses account for 70 percent of GDP, with Bangkok contributing 30 percent.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: After the 1984 baht devaluation and the 1985 Plaza Accord, a significant amount of foreign direct investment (mainly from Japan) raised the average growth rate per year to 8.8 percent from 1985 to 1996 before slumping to −5.9 percent per year from 1997 to 1998. From 1999 to 2006, Thailand averaged a growth rate of 5.0 percent per year. Since 2007, the country has faced a number of challenges: a military coup in late 2006, political turmoil from 2008 to 2011, the US financial crisis reaching its peak from 2008 to 2009, floods in 2010 and 2011, and the 2012 Eurozone crisis. As a result, from 2007 to 2012 the average GDP growth rate was 3.25 percent per year.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: Thailand suffers by comparison with neighboring countries in terms of GDP per capita. In 2011, China's nominal GDP per capita surpassed Thailand's, giving the latter the lowest nominal GDP per capita of its peers. According to the IMF, in 2012 Thailand ranked 92nd in the world in its nominal GDP per capita.


title: Economy of Thailand

text: The number of Thailand's poor declined from 7.1 million people in 2014, 10.5 percent of the population, to 4.9 million people in 2015, or 7.2 percent of the population. Thailand's 2014 poverty line was defined as an income of 2,647 baht per month. For 2015 it was 2,644 baht per month. According to the NESDC in a report entitled, "Poverty and Inequality in Thailand", the country's growth in 2014 was 0.8 percent and 2.8 percent in 2015. NESDC Secretary-General Porametee Vimolsiri said that the growth was due to the effect of governmental policies. The report also noted that 10 percent of the Thai population earned 35 percent of Thailand's aggregate income and owned 61.5 percent of its land.