Good afternoon,

Violence continues in the south: a teacher and a police officer have been killed in separate attacks, while a rubber planter has been beheaded and his body set on fire in what is said to be a revenge attack for the previous massacre at the Al-Furqan mosque, during which ten people were killed and twelve others injured. The situation appears to be out of control – the Abhisit regime clearly has no real idea what to do and even if they did the military will not let them interfere with their control (there is a lot of money and power involved in being in charge of the situation and the army very rarely disgorges either without a fight). On the other hand, the violence does not seem to be achieving anything – there is not an undisputed leadership of the insurgency and so no one with whom to negotiate (negotiation is usually ruled out by politicians on the ‘we don’t negotiate with terrorists’ rule). The problem is, of course, that terrorism tends to be successful more often than not in forcing states into negotiation in one form or another and sooner or later. The human cost tends to be enormous.

The Public Health Ministry has decided to set aside centuries of proven good sense and instead prevent provincial officials from talking to the media about the extent of H1N1 infection. Meanwhile, wiser counsel prevails in Pattaya where a large, communal cleaning up exercise is taking place to try to buttress confidence. The latest figures (assuming we can believe them) has 109 new cases confirmed today for a total of 310 in the nation overall. More schools are closing. Last year, there were apparently 17,400 cases of flu reported around the country.

More evidence of the shameful double standards that have set in to the judicial system since 2006. So, southern insurgency out of control; public health ministry hiding pandemic details from the public; justice only available to some; who voted for Abhisit anyway? Eh? Oh.

Back tomorrow.

Quarter-final exit = normal service resumed.