Good afternoon,

Former PM Samak Sundaravej has died of liver cancer, it has been announced. He was a colourful character with a long and eventful career, which reached a peak in 2008 when he was appointed PM of the People’s Power Party – this was something of a surprise as his brand of combative right-wing populism appeared antithetical to the PPP’s pro-poor redistributive policies. It appeared that his appointment was an attempt to try to outflank the squalid nationalist xenophobia peddled by the PAD mob and their supporters in the Democrat Party and the Secret Hand we are supposed to pretend does not exist. Readers might recall the particularly shabby way Khun Samak was removed from office by an ‘unorthodox’ court decision (which it is illegal to criticise and I certainly would not dream of doing so) decided that by hosting a couple of episodes of his long-running TV cookery show, he was the employee of a private party and hence should be stripped of office. The PPP was also dissolved in another ‘unorthodox’ decision (which it is illegal to criticise etc and so forth) over the supposed misdeeds of one individual. A royally-sponsored bathing ritual will be held on Thursday and then, no doubt, we will have to put up with the rank hypocrisy and self-serving lies from the usual people.

In another entirely transparent and even-handed decision, the government has decided yet again to use the sinister Internal Security Act to suppress the pro-democracy rallies due to be held in Bangkok and Chiang Mai this weekend. Announcing the decision, disgraced former Interior Minister Suthep Thaugsuban did not seem to explain why pro-democracy rallied are relentlessly persecuted by the security forces while the anti-democracy PAD mob, which openly calls for a war against Cambodia, can go about its vile business without hindrance.

The floods in the south seem to have receded somewhat although that situation could still reverse itself and, in any case, the clean up will reveal the extent of losses suffered by local people will become more evident.

Back tomorrow at some stage – I am off to India tomorrow evening and am teaching at Pathum Thani during the day so it is possible I may not get time. Email access in Ghaziabad may be limited. I’m due to return to Bangkok on Saturday evening.

Can we get Drogba in on loan, at least until the transfer window opens?

Good afternoon,

The latest plan to rescue/sell off the railway system seems to be doomed to failure through neglect: it features possible division of the overall system into three separate agencies, privatization of saleable assets, separation of the airport rail link as an individual unit and changes to the staffing procedures, also known as sacking about half of the workforce. A previous attempt to privatize the railway foundered on a national strike in 1988 and it is likely that the same response will come again – increased media attention makes it more difficult (although not impossible) for disappearances and murders of labour activists to take place these days.

Two people have been killed in the flash floods in the south and thousands of houses have lost power and (fresh) water supplies, while another 60 schools are closed. What with the regular closing of schools for a variety of natural disasters, together with the relentless violence aimed against school teachers and indeed schools themselves, it cannot be surprising if the quality of education in the region suffers. That would act to lock in under-performance and, eventually, poverty.

The propensity of people in the public arena to make stupid, dangerous and inflammatory remarks continues – we are all too familiar with the slanders of flap-mouthed buffoon Kasit Piromya and other members of Abhisit’s sleazy and repressive regime are also only too willing to spread lies in public with a view to damaging rival political ideologies and dissidents (or ‘enemies of the state’ in Abhisit’s own words). When lies or criminally reckless remarks are made, prosecution by the police and courts is the proper response – hence, if the Chiang Mai radio DJ really did threaten to murder Abhisit during his recent scheduled visit to the city is true, he should be liable to the proper sanction. Applying the law to hinder libel and slander is not suppressing free speech and the only people who say as much about the Thai Rak Thai administration are fools or charlatans or quite possibly both.

My most recent article is Collaborations of Shakespeare: Rationale, which is available at Bookstove here.

Back tomorrow.

Told you we would beat Blackpool – Rodgers is God and any suggestion that I may have varied from this line previously will be airbrushed out of history.

Good evening or, indeed, morning,

The news continues to be dominated by the right wing dominated) media’s attempt to follow the (name of certain people deleted) desire to promote the possibility of a war with the poor, innocent people of Cambodia. Nonsense professing to be news can be found here, here, here and – stuff it, the papers are full of this lying nonsense. What kind of regime would promote a wholly unjust war to deflect attention from its onw lack of legitimacy? Yes, [delete inflammatory name] obviously, Thatcher of course, Reagan’s deeply shameful invasion of Grenada, oh what’s the point – the blood of the poor is willingly expended now as always by those certain people I am not allowed to name or even allude to the gender of the leader of this certain group of people.

In wholly unrelated news., the traitor Sonthi Boonyaratkalin who led the illegal and wholly disastrous 2006 military coup, apparently is being presented as a figure who will ‘unite’ the country and the people. Curious how ‘uniting’ the country always, always, always means the poor have to put aside their interests and obey what the rich and powerful tell them to do. I don’t in principle support the death penalty but for a vile traitor like [deletes name] I would hang the bastard from the Democracy Monument myself.

At times like this, where all seems grim, I am heartened by the appearance in Pathum Thani of the Asian Openbill, which is I suppose my first stork. Do remind me to tell you the story of ‘my first yak’ sometime.

Two new articles have been published at Bookstove, which are (again following the secret, Dan Brownesque theme) Poetry of Shakespeare: A Lover’s Complaint and Critics of Shakespeare: T.S. Eliot. I will move on to the Sonnets shortly (I plan a series of four to six articles), together with two more disputed ownership plays and some more critics (of whom there are many, of course). Today I started reading the Kermode book on the life and times of Will Shakeschaft and that will help in providing some more background articles. Various new themes (probably for the New Year) already present themselves.

Back later today, tomorrow or indeed Monday, which is in two, three or four days.

Blackpool? Smackpool! Despite the relentless series of tedious defeats and the occasional draw, we will certainly win this one by at least five goals. Nothing can possibly etc and so on.

Good evening,

Thailand’s credibility continues to decline since the disastrous 2006 military coup – the perception of corruption in the Kingdom has increased more and Thailand is now down to 84^th in the world – the democratic deficit, the enormous power of the military and extra-constitutional forces and their propensity to kin muang (eat the state) have all presumably had an impact. Thailand is 10^th in Asia. The least corrupt country in the world is considered to be New Zealand, followed by Denmark and Singapore.

In wholly unrelated news, General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, who led the 2006 military coup and has never been prosecuted or faced any negative result from seizing power at the barrel of a gun and awarding himself and his jackbooted pals substantial pay rises, is to enter politics. He is to lead the new Matuphum (motherland) party. General Sonthi’s ideology, based on his previous acts, includes the willingness to use force to disperse democratically-elected governments, set his own interests above those of the Thai people, willingness to set aside the rule of law for his personal gain and the restorative properties of apple pie. His character is only one letter away from the name of famed comedian Steve Punt.

In more wholly unrelated news, the Democrat-led coalition (which was installed as the result of a shabby deal by the 2006 coup-leaders and the PAD terrorists) has decided to award MPs and Senators substantial pay rises during an economic recession when millions of poor people have been thrown into unemployment and misery. You wouldn’t dare make it up.

My review of Louis Althusser’s Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays has been published at Bookideas and may be found here, while my article What Is American Exceptionalism? has been published at Socyberty and may be found here. Even as we speak, the article Critics of Shakespeare: The Marxist Approach has now been published at Bookstove and is available here.

Back tomorrow at some stage.

Good evening,

The proto-fascist PAD thugs have been on the streets again promoting their noxious brand of nationalism and hatred – as ever, their actions have been characterised by outbreaks of violence. A grenade apparently launched by an M-70 launcher injured 12 people at the rally – no one seems to have been found responsible and obviously we cannot expect the police to notice someone carrying an M-79 grenade launcher in central Bangkok. General Panlop Pinmanee has denied involvement (criminally convicted liar Sondhi Limthongkul accused him and others of being responsible but his flap mouthed slanders are matched perhaps only by the buffoon Kasit Piromya). Were you all at the massage parlour? The police have been asked by PAD thugs, conveniently forgetting the numerous cases of attempted murder against the police by PAD goons during the illegal airport seizures, which Foreign Minister Kasit thought was so much fun.

A government suit has declared that the tension between Thailand and Cambodia have eased somewhat in recent days – possibly this is wishful thinking and guff poured out to try to persuade the international media that the Thai government, despite all evidence to the contrary, actually knows what it is doing.

As from December 5^th (to coincide with HM the King’s birthday), there will be a week-long trial run of the Airport Train Link, just a couple of years after the airport actually opened. Passengers can travel free every day from 9-12 in the morning and 1-4 in the afternoon. Presumably, 12-1 is lunchtime. The other day when I was at Suvarnabhumi on the way to Khon Kaen there was a sit-down demonstration by maybe a hundred or so local people complaining that the airport was ruining their lives (according to one placard I saw). On the one hand, I have some sympathy for anyone having to live next to an airport; on the other hand, plans were announced to build an airport on that site in the early 1960s, before (so far as I know) most residents ever came to live there.

My review of Ian McDonald’s Cyberabad Days has been published at Bookideas.

Back tomorrow.

Let them have 10 overs and we can get 20 – then it should be a good game.

Good evening,

Well, it has been big news all week. Khun Thaksin, former PM ousted by the 2006 military coup, has been in Cambodia to act as an economic advisor to Hun Sen – this has led to (in part manufactured) outrage – the Thai government submitted a request for extradition which was rejected out of hand by the Cambodian government on the grounds that the prison sentence given to Khun Thaksin was a blatant miscarriage of justice perpetrated for political reasons (their words, not mine, it being illegal to criticise court decisions in Thailand and of course I would not dream of doing so). Most recently, a Thai man has been arrested for espionage after he allegedly stole the flight plans for Khun Thaksin’s plane and sent them to Thai Embassy officials in Phnom Penh. This has been denied by the PAD’s Kasit Piromya, the Foreign Minister but Khun Kasit is notoriously unreliable and is to be prosecuted for terrorism charges. He also made a number of other inflammatory and obvious false accusations. He may be annoyed because he was forced to cut short his all-expenses paid holiday in Singapore important role in preparation for the APEC Summit in Singapore. Opposition Puea Thai MPs repeated their demand that Kasit should be sacked for the repeated way in which his false and frequently slanderous allegations have caused diplomatic incidents and his general buffoonery.  

There is due to be some kind of demonstration by the proto-fascist PAD thugs on Sunday – an act not deemed worthy of the heavy-handed approach of the repressive Abhisit government which routinely declares the use of special measures against any hint of a pro-democracy demonstration. It is of course this kind of flagrant double standard that so upsets people.

There is mixed news about the impact on cross-border movement and trading as a result of all of this: most activities seem to be continuing as normal although gamblers travelling to the Poi Pet border casino may be getting some stress.

Two new articles published today: Romances of Shakespeare: The Winter’s Tale and Romances of Shakespeare: The Tempest (get the secret, underlying theme?).

Back on Monday.

Not playing, can’t lose, so much is clear.

Good evening,

In an act which can by no means be described as immature, intemperate and risibly predictable, the sleazy and repressive Abhisit regime has decided to recall the Thai ambassador to Cambodia, on the basis that the appointing of former Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic advisor is an act of political interference and ainterference in the Thai judicial system (by revealing what most people think about the quality of the judicial process that led to the prosecution in the first place). Khun Abhisit himself is reported to be holding his breath until he is sick and thtamp and thtamp on the floor until he gets what he wants – and why not? It has got him everything he wanted in the past.

Meanwhile, elsewhere among the Diddymen, this: “A DNA test of the new US fragrant rice strain known as Jazzmen shows it is developed from a Chinese strain and is inferior to Thai Hom Mali fragrant rice when cooked, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Theera Wongsamut says.” Chinese eh? Possibly Communist therefore and a spy.

And the third? This from never terribly bright Assistant Editor of the Bangkok Post Sanitsuda Ekachai: At a time when Thailand cannot escape erratic weather patterns and natural disaster threats from global warming, our nation's priorities are pretty clear. We must preserve what little is left of our healthy environment. At the same time, we must nurture the degraded natural environment back to health to ensure that the majority have enough to eat.

When climate change keeps breeding new diseases, we also need to protect our biodiversity as a source of medicinal ingredients that will save the lives of millions.

Yet, under the Asean Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA), our government is going to do just the opposite. Instead of ensuring that the majority, ordinary people have control over their local natural resources, the government will serve our precious natural resources to a handful of rich foreign investors on a silver platter.” So what is the justification for this apocalyptic outbreak of fear and loathing? A proposed measure to increase economic integration among ASEAN partners.

Whatever happened to meritocracy? Eh? Oh.

As advertised yesterday, more of my book reviews have appeared at Bookideas. They are those of Lavinia by Ursula K Le Guin, Mefisto by John Banville and We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.

Back tomorrow at some stage.

Remember, remember …

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.

Good afternoon,

More protests at Government House today – some hundreds of disabled people are there to hand in a petition requesting a fairer quota for their share of lottery tickets (selling lottery tickets is one of the occupations that has been reserved at least in part for people with disabilities). Also, hundreds more of public sector union workers are demonstrating in favour of the union of the State Railways of Thailand who have a six point petition – reinstate the strikers sacked by the SRT and reject all plans for privatization. I may of course be wrong (it did happen once before, in 1989) but I would be surprised if any investors could be found for the SRT given the state of dilapidation into which it has fallen over the years. There would have to be some kind of strong ‘sweetheart’ deal to persuade anyone to take it on and, under the current climate, this would probably result in court-based accusations of bribery in due course.

From the sublime to the ridiculous – well, not quite but it was only a matter of time before the obviously nonsensical case against the ‘rumour mongers’ transmogrified itself into the obviously politically motivated suggestion that it was all a plot by the ‘old political clique’ led no doubt by the Dark One himself. Absolutely disgraceful.

The army was full of itself a few weeks ago with talk about its shiny new airships, not least because they could actually point to something to show for the enormous budget it receives under the Abhisit regime. Alas, the shiny, shiny airships are grounded because the Americans (no doubt under the influence of ill-intentioned people, wink, wink, nudge, nudge) are hesitant to sell high definition cameras to General Jackboots (why can’t they just go to Pantip Plaza like everyone else?) – because “"The US first needs to be confident that the cameras will not be misused or fall into the wrong hands when they arrive. "Internal coordination between the manufacturer of the airship and the US administration is required before the endorsement for the export of the cameras.” But surely, General, your name is all over the paperwork? Surely everyone trusts the Thai army? Eh? Oh.

Two more of my articles have appeared at Bookstove, they are Romances of Shakespeare: Cymbeline and Romances of Shakespeare: Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Nearly finished all of the plays now.

Back tomorrow.

It’s cooler outside than in here.

Good evening,

The Department of Special Investigations (DSI) apparently believes that there was a concerted and coordinated effort to force the Thai stock market to decline (with a view to making money by those involved – you buy when the market plunges and then sell when it picks up again). This effort involved individuals, juristic individuals, local news agencies and foreign news agencies. Two people have already been arrested and more arrests are being threatened (nice to see employer KT Zmico Securities standing up for its employee in a country in which there is supposedly still the presumption of innocence). So, are all these people in league with Bloomberg with a view to damaging the Thai economy or, given the nature of their jobs, was it just a case that there were discussing press reports already published around Asia and the world? Or perhaps another explanation is possible ….

The SET is down more than 1% again today – time for another Witch Hunt!

Schools are opening again in the southern border region, albeit under the usual high levels of security. The murders continue, meanwhile. Here are two people killed by unknown gunmen near a patrol in Yala. New Pheua Thai star General Chavalit Yongchaiyud was planning to visit the region today as part of his plan to establish a new autonomous region there (‘Pattani City’), which might work if the army can be forced out of its position of secretive authority. Meanwhile, the lack of any kind of talent in the ‘elected’ government was shown again when super-privileged Abhisit announced he was going to have a meeting about human rights in the south, another issue about which he would appear to know and care very little indeed, based on his previous performance.

Back tomorrow.

Blind me, we won. Evidence mounts again: despair is the way forward.