BangkokReady

Well, sure, politicians are typically lying or promising things they cannot deliver, and they generally do just enough to stay in power and get rich. But there's a difference here. Thaksin is held up as a man of the people, a folk hero, someone who cares about the little guy and shares the wealth around. Someone who would never behave in the terrible and unscrupulous way that the current government would. So the truth is quite important here. "Thaksin behaved the same way that all politicians do" is not the get out of jail free card that it might sound like, given his carefully constructed reputation. Anyone who wants to play the "man of the people" role in Thailand, but doesn't do something about the education system, is being dishonest. Especially someone who has been to the best schools in Thailand and then educated abroad. The logical conclusion is that fixing the education system, while desperately needed, wouldn't have bought him votes, or at least it was not as cost effective as other measures, so he didn't bother.

Well that courier's got a pretty good tip now...

An interesting point. Surely anyone claiming to truly care about the Thai people would make the education system their priority, not simply throw them a few quid to buy their vote? The only real changes Tony made were involved in either enriching himself or keeping the public superficially happy to ensure they voted for him.

Andrew MacGregor Marshall and he must be soulmates.

I'm pretty sure the parent doesn't care about the embarrassment of the child and only cares that it embarrassed him, as he was the only parent who was considered so unreliable that the only way they could be sure of contacting him was by literally pinning a note to the front of his child.

The note was to the parents asking them to ensure that the student wore a particular style of dress on a particular day. The purpose was not educate the child.

Would anyone have felt the need to do it in the UK? Probably not.

The most important thing is to never proactively try to solve a problem, particularly where doing so highlights a mistake that another person is likely to make or has made in the past. Better to allow the problem to occur and then pretend that it didn't. This is Thailand, after all.

So what are the baskets of chicken broth? Aren't they the elixir of life?

Your comment would suggest that they are concerned about Marijuana being legal, but not actually anyone taking it.