Good evening,

Yet another member of Abhisit’s sleazy mob (they call themselves the Bangkok Cabinet, apparently) has been disqualified from parliament owing to improper share ownership. Five other cabinet members were found not guilty on account of being too important as a result of the august and entirely fair decision-making by wise judges. It is of course illegal to criticise court decisions in Thailand and I for one would never dream of doing so. It is also apparently illegal to ‘spread rumours’ – interesting how they are able to identify these supposed rumour-mongers, by the way: “The police discovered that Mr Somjate posted the information himself from his personal computer, but the rumour suspects were not connected and did not know each other.” Maybe it is true what people said about the 2007 Computer Crimes Act after all?*

The South Bangkok Criminal Court has ruled that Khun Mohammad al-Ruwaili, who disappeared without trace in 1990, cannot be declared a missing person because there is no paperwork to show he had not left the country and his wife did not turn up to say he was missing. Why should we care? “The disappearance of al-Ruwaili and the murders of four Saudi diplomats in 1989 and 1990 worsened the relations between Thailand and Saudi Arabia.

It is believed he had knowledge about the embezzlement of the Saudi jewellery stolen by Kriangkrai Techamong, a Thai worker, from the palace of King Faisal in 1989.”**

The World Bank reports that the Thai economy will contract by 2.7% this year but may expand up to 3.5% next year. Then again, it may not. Given the snail’s pace at which the sleazy, repressive Abhisit regime has acted in terms of stimulating the economy, do not expect strong growth any time soon. Why are they doing this so slowly? It’s almost as if they think it is their own money. Eh? Oh.

My review of Norman Stone’s World War I: A Short History has been published at Bookideas – more are due momentarily. Meanwhile, my article Poetry of Shakespeare: The Rape of Lucrece has been published at Bookstove.

Back tomorrow.

* Yes, it is true.

** Don’t mention the jewellery – seriously, do not talk about it ever.