Gillespie

I'm quite fond of the "I-left-my-native-country-because-of-all-the-immigrants" brigade.

Don't forget that Bangkok will be World Book Capital 2013. Someone's got a sick sense of humour.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/bangkok_designated_world_book_capital_2013/

The problem is the self-delusion required to pretend the southernmost provinces are unequivocally Thai and that everybody's one big happy family; and that the borders of Thailand are fixed and immutable, as if determined by the gods (which ignores the fact that Thai territory was expanding and contracting according to the whims of geopolitics until the end of WW2). The deep South is Malay and Muslim. Get over it.

The bomb detectors work, in that they have helped to line the pockets of certain influential people. That is what they were intended to do. I really can't see the problem.

Incidentally, those nice people on the MRT who wave a torch in the vague direction of your rucksack if the scanner beeps - has anybody ever asked what exactly they're looking for? And what they'd do if they found it?

Desmond and Molly... So... Abhisit's gay and Yingluck's a katoey, right? And the Constitution Court judges are, what, Nigerian? German? A-holes?

Next time, if you have to extend a Beatles metaphor, maybe pick one of the songs they recorded *before* they started doing acid.

Well, at least this thread hasn't been hijacked by the sort of whining expat who only came to Thailand in the first place because he was intellectually and emotionally unable to function in a society where women aspire to be treated as equals.

Oh hang on...

Anyone would think the educated elite actively *want* the other 95% to stay poor and ill-informed. Perish the thought, etc.

According to the TAT, foreign visitors have been most keen in learning Thai massage, Thai cuisine and Muay Thai boxing.

Of course, if any of those foreigners actually tried to take their studies of those subjects any more seriously than a half-assed lesson taken on holiday, they would be told that only Thais can really do them properly.

The whole episode displays a combination of rank hypocrisy, juvenile prurience, abject dishonesty and blurry boobs. And the TV company is being fined for the boobs.

Something wrong here.

"We are not asking police to prosecute her but it's our normal procedure to file complaints to concerned agencies when we receive them."

So what's the point of it?

...as many as 500,000 Thai dogs per year are transported to Vietnam and Southern China, where they are butchered for dog meat...

The implication being that nobody in Thailand would eat a dog. Hmmm...

At least they're being honest about their own dishonesty. Better that than their elders, who complain about corruption while abetting it and benefiting from it.

You know how Thai people genuinely believe it's better to tell you what you want to hear than anything bearing even the vaguest connection to reality? Yeah, that.

Clearly a job for Sarah Lund (although her jumper may not be appropriate wear for Krabi).

No loog kreung politicians yet either

Jon Umpakorn (sp?) is a Senator. He is half English and half Thai.

And Mechai "Mr Condom" Viravaidya was a Senator and a Cabinet minister. His mother was Scottish.

Phew, at least Amnesty didn't say anything about a fake Rolex!

Hence, he said, these "famous and good schools" should expand.

Does this mean the utterly hopeless schools should contract, possibly to the point on non-existence? What proportion of Thai schools would this cover?

Also: is anybody else confused by all those flowers that Suwat's getting?

As for likely successors... what are Chalerm's sons doing these days?

The test has very little to do with understanding British life and culture: it's to do with learning the "correct" responses by rote and regurgitating them on demand. So anyone who's been through the Thai education system ought to find it a breeze - although you can't buy an enhanced result with tea money.

A picture is worth a thousand words we are told. This particular image left me speechless,.

Do we now see the true face of the Red Shirt movement appearing led by a despotic character who resides outside of the Kingdom.

Graphic image courtesy of http://www.facebook....35060922&type=1

No, you see the failures of the Thai education system. As exhibited here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2042097/Student-Nazi-dress-day-causes-outrage-Thailand.html

and elsewhere...

I was never a great fan of her music, but there were almost none of her songs I didn't enjoy.

Is that what they call cognitive dissonance?