Good afternoon,

Bangkok is heading for life under the waves: like many other parts of Thailand, it rests in a very low-lying area and is sinking, owing to the nature of the land. There is also the problem of global climate change, coastal erosion and the rising sea levels – depending on which forecast is believed, some or all of the city will be underwater within 10-40 years (I’m just hoping to finish paying the mortgage on our place before the Muddy Waters arrive in Soi 64. At least the current Bangkok Governor seems to be prepared to take this seriously (although the newspaper report rather alarmingly makes it sound as if all of this were new to him) and a Dutch company has been called upon to advise. Details on what advice was actually given are sparse but seem to involve building better embankments and perhaps dikes, which would at least be good for sub-editors.

The censure debate against the government will begin tomorrow – it has been brought forward, apparently, to reduce the risk of more mass pro-democracy rallies affecting the national sentiment. No confidence votes are due to be held on Friday – PAD leader Kasit Piromya, ‘controversially’ awarded the Foreign Ministry by the quisling, is thought to be the most vulnerable, even though police seem to be no closer to charging him and the other conspirators who seized the international airports four months ago, despite the overwhelming evidence against them.

On the basis that irrelevancy is ignored, it appears that the right wing establishment’s supporters in the media are still worried about the truth.

If I might draw your attention to this: Walsh, John, "The Rising Importance of Chinese Labour in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region," The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 12-2-09 (March 16, 2009), available online at: http://www.japanfocus.org/products/details/3088.

Back tomorrow.

1,000 games as manager for SSC: will it be another dispiriting defeat?