mfd101

So in just 3 hours AN readers who can't be bothered to read the full original article have managed to generate 6 pages of comments based on ignorance.

Before you convert the soil, you have to convert the farmers. I know of what I speak. When I arrived here in south Surin in late 2015 to live permanently near my B/F's family, I spent a fortune on earthworks for their tiny farm right next to a large lake, to build big ponds full of fish. Also geese & ducks to accompany the usual cows & chickens & 1 large pig. We also told them to stop growing rice (which they grew only for their own consumption in any case). Too hard work, we'll provide, we said. All splendid for a while. People came from far & wide to buy the fish, the military came once a week to buy a goose or 2 for dinner, the new vegies (seeds introduced from Oz!) were doing well, and local government bureaucrats came to inspect this marvel of modernity. Problem was that it was all a lot of hard work for the family, it turned out that they wouldn't eat the vegies themselves (their diet consists 98% of boiled white rice + chilis + fish or chicken) and they were quite unable to sell them at the local market. FIL would push a barrow thru the village selling produce but the villagers always wanted to pay next week, which of course never came ... And the fish ponds needed frequent cleanouts ... and on & on. Slowly they reverted to the past they knew too well, several of the ponds were filled in again, the geese went ("Too noisy"), and finally a (totally pointless) rice paddy reappeared ... So capitalism doesn't work for the poor & uneducated. What they have is a way of life that keeps them poor but it's all they know or understand. I now continue to support them on minimal handouts but without hope of change. Half the younger members (BILs, SILs, nephews & nieces) have disappeared off to poverty in low-skill factory jobs or cleaning maidery in BKK. My B/F has taken up cockfighting & I've retired to my library.

And then there's the quaint link that the article's headline makes between a reduction in train fares and Bangkok's 'renaissance' ... Dreamworld strikes again.

But but ... MFP are trying to overthrow the Monarchy! Or, as Shakespeare might have commented: Butter me no butts.

When you say 'the government' I guess you mean the bureaucrats? The current government has scarcely been in place for a couple of weeks ... In any case, while 'water management' is something that could no doubt be improved over the long term (though the fundamental geographical difficulties are challenging), 'severe drought' is more in Buddha's hands than anyone else's.

You may - like most people under the age of about 60 - use the word 'peasant' as a term of abuse. I do not. OED: "A poor smallholder or agricultural labourer of low social status ... chiefly with reference to subsistence farming in poorer countries." Which exactly describes my large and very poor Khmer family here in south Surin.

(1) They were'nt paid (2) Whether it's 'worth anything' depends on your value system. If 'marriage' and especially a wedding is about recognition and acceptance by family and friends, then we were amply rewarded both here and in Oz. As to the Thai bureaucracy, the attitude of the peasants here is one of contempt: "They've never done anything for us. We don't care about them."

When/If the CC gives him the all-clear, he can resume his leadership of the party and the position of L/O.

My b/f & I were 'married' in a village (Buddhist) ceremony here in Surin in 2013. The village elders did the job. "Marriage is for 2 people who love each other." All fine by family & friends, but of course unofficial ...

As far as I'm aware, there's no such thing (yet) in Thailand. PTP promised action on gay marriage during the election campaign (as did MFP) but don't hold your breath ...

Ever heard of 'self-exile'? Given that we live in a banana non-republic, your last sentence makes no sense. The laws of the land are not imposed equally, as has been amply demonstrated over the last 4 months. As to Thaksin I merely make the point that, whatever his sins, I am disinclined to take seriously the penitentiary outcomes imposed on him back then as a democratically-elected PM by the would-be authoritarian regime that had just overthrown him.

Golly, there are more Thaksin-haters out there - well, out there on AN at any rate - than I had imagined.

That would be fine if his exile & convictions were not the outcome of 2 different military coups, against his government in the first instance and against his sister's in the second. He may well have been guilty of all sorts of sins & crimes but people rabbiting on about how he should suffer the punishments dolled out by unconstitutional means are hardly in a position to preach virtue.

Both the bureaucratic boss AND the spokesperson? She is going to be busy!

Probably to let him be, as long as he plays no further role in politics. Thais are ready to move on and, depending how the current semi-new government pans out, they'll vote next time in overwhelming numbers for fundamental reform of all Thailand.

Only some people. People who find it hard to move on and hope for a better future.

That depends on how you read the complaint to which the CC was responding.

Occasionally the CC gets it right. Perhaps things are looking up ... or the wind blowing in a new direction ...

Just say No. Very politely to the parents, very sweetly to your girl. Over to them.

Useful change in salary payments for government officials (who often seem to an outsider like 90% of anyone in Thailand who earns a salary). Given the inability of so many people to manage money - yes, even government officials! - paying them every fortnight rather than monthly makes sense.

Which might suggest that actually changing the Constitution might stretch out in to Never-Never Land.

Of course. Just wait for the real thing.

Ping! went Ping Ping.

One set of metaphysical concepts has about as much value and as many contradictions as another ...

Such useful advice! I imagine he was a highly successful PM in his day (he got 6 years, I see, in 2 doses).