Gillespie

Your Excellency, have you ever said anything off the record about Thai politics and/or society that might return to bite you on the bum via WikiLeaks or similar?

This has very little to do with sex or propriety, everything to do with class. Woody is just one more metrosexual rich kid, representative of those freakish hi-so's who pop up time after time in the pages of Thailand Tatler and the like, flaunting their ostentatious consumerism and execrable taste in soft furnishings in front of any passing camera. The primped-up ponce needs to demonstrate that, no matter who won the election, the inbred elites still have their feet on the necks of the poor. The punters turned round and told him and his botoxed buddies that the rules just changed.

I think they should let Thaksin back. It's not as if he's done anything *really* bad, like destroying evidence and pressurising witnesses so one of his kids gets away with murdering a policeman, is it?

European airport-city links may have their glitches, but I've never encountered one where to change stations passengers have to cross a road and a railway line, as you do to get from Makkasan to Phetchaburi MRT. I regularly see commuters take a tumble as their clicky heels can't cope with the surface. Now try that when you're lugging a couple of suitcases and/or children as well. I suspect most long-haul travellers would rather get ripped off.

A recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report has pegged the number of female prostitutes in the country at 2 lakh.

can someone enlighten me? how much is 2 lakh.?

thaisabai

2 lakh = 200,000

The incompetance of the soon to be gone and not missed government is utterly staggering. When the Dems have their little soiree to select new leaders and executives they would well advised to ditch anyone in or associated with formation of this government (with a possible exception for Korn). Even their utterly incompetent election campaign pales compared to their total inability at governance with foreign policy deserving a special award for incompetence. My god what next reselect an unelectable and utterly despised by many leader and chose a secretary-general due up in court on corruption charges?

For me, it is all relative. Was this government incompetent? Yes. Was it more incompetent than all those that have come before it in recent history? Absolutely "no". Did it face unique and highly tricky challenges that would have brought prior governments to an early end? Yes. Let's not forget the number of people who were predicting the downfall of the Democrat coalition days after it was formed. It didn't collapse. It stayed reasonably strong under immense strain. Something i think to be said for that.

And as for Abhisit being "utterly despised by many", if that is indeed who you were referring, i personally think that it is mostly just hard-core red shirts that would harbour feelings as strong as that against him. The more common prevailing negative view i hear voiced against him would be more along the lines of him being a gentleman but a gentleman who was unable to get things done and who was under the control of others.

The common one I have heard around upcountry folk when someone says they dont support Thaksin or criticise him is "who do you support then? Abhisit?" with the "Abhisit" stressed in a very negative manner. Im not reffering to openly red shirted people here but just those who vote for any party Thaksin is linked to. I'm not even sure it is the red shirt villification of Abhisit for the deaths that is the major reason for the way he is despised as much as that he is seen as being a representative of the establishment who only does things at their behest. Im not even sure people up there felt that way when he came to power (its hard to remember), but he is just very damaged goods with them now.

Sure the Dem government survived. It also managed to give away probably more than Thaksin ever managed, but it never ever managed to win over the people. And apart from some foreign policy nightmares, the April-May stuff, the 3G nightmare, populist policies that looked embarrasingly like just giving cash to people and which massively increased national debt, what can be rememebered about this government?

There is also just so much political awareness and talk about politics in Thailand now and the Democrats are just as a party not suited to this. They rely a lot more on "trust us", "clean leader even if flawed party", "not as dirty as the others", "natural party of government". They just dont listen to concerns or have any vehicle by which people can reach them. And they basically are seen to respond only to the wealthy elements of BKK, the people of the south and the middle classes around some central urban areas. There is no connect at all to virtually any rural Thai people north of BKK, and this is now all openly talked about. The Democrats used to the previous managed democracy have been left behind as Thailand becomes more demcoratic in terms of people realising their power, and they are struggling to catch up, or as we may see on August 6 if they select the same old faces under BKK and South faction dominance in total denial

More democratic? It's Mr. T's sister. This is the banana republic style of government. It's like Fidel's brother taking over in Cuba.

Except that Fidel's brother wasn't elected. Thaksin's sister was, with a nice comfortable majority; more than Abhisit ever achieved. Maybe people were mistaken in voting for Yingluck, but that's what they did. And that's democracy, like it or not.

With four out of the country, one remaining commissioner Somchai Juengprasert would not be able to handle fraud complaints should any arise, he said.

This is Thailand, where if you pretend hard enough that bad things won't happen, they miraculously go away. So, if a fraud complaint is made, but there's nobody around to hear it, does the fraud exist? Result: a fraud-free election! I think they've just gone to Europe to celebrate their success.

"Apichai believes that the craze will soon fade away, especially if it is frowned upon by the society."

That's right. Society frowns upon drugs and prostitution and corruption, and you never hear about them any more, do you?

I think it's interesting that many people respond to the original poster with sarcastic implications of homosexuality, which says far more about them than about him.

In fact, he's just a man who seems to have had problems coming to terms with modern western feminism. And as such his experiences probably chime with those of 95% of the male expat community in Thailand - in many cases, it's why they came here.

To get zero in a multiple-choice test, you actually have to try pretty dam_n hard.

That said, if academic aptitude and knowledge really started improving across the board, I imagine a few people in positions of authority might begin to get a little nervous...

If a pub needs 20 security guards a day, it has bigger problems than under-age drinkers and bare boobs.

Is there a Thai equivalent of the phrase "if you're in a hole, stop digging"?

Who says?

An old lady - 70 at least - wearing a t-shirt with the Pepsi logo amended to say "PENIS".

Bit embarrassing the extent to which Thailand is suddenly scurrying after Vietnam looking for tips on how to sort out its problems.

Just to pull out one of the many questions at the top.

"Do they know so much more than Thai people do about their own country, the planet or life in general?"

I would suggest that, in very broad terms, foreigners in Thailand do know more about the wider world than the locals (although there are bound to be exceptions). For financial reasons, most Thais have never left their own country; the education system does not equip them with a deep knowledge of the wider world, nor does the Thai media. Those who do leave often fail to take advantage of their travels: they go as part of a Thai organised tour group or, if they go for educational purposes, many of them make a point of hanging around with other Thais. Even if they leave their own country, they don't want to leave their own comfort zone.

As for knowing about their own country, that's rather more complex. Yes, obviously, one would expect Thais to know their own language and culture and geography well. But I've found many startling gaps in the knowledge of supposedly educated Thais, especially about their own recent history. When did Siam become Thailand, and why? What side was the country on in World War II? What does the Victory Monument commemorate? When did the tradition of standing for the Royal Anthem in cinemas begin? What can you tell me about the Thammasat massacre, or the events of 1973 or 1992 - or, for that matter, 2010?

I think it would be unfair to say that Thais are less clever than foreigners; but their lack of intellectual curiosity is often quite astounding.