Special Circumstances

24 Feb 2016
Introduction
15 Feb 2016
An academic article just released in the journal Nature Climate Change and reported worldwide further confirms we are entering a period of human-influenced climate change which will affect the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of this planet for tens if not hundreds or thousands of years. Put simply, melting sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic does not readily refreeze.
5 Feb 2016
For the past three years, as part of a growing trend which has now hit the international headlines, increasing numbers of what appear to be middle class, reasonably well-educated women have been purchasing ‘luuk thep’ – literally ‘angel children’ – cheap plastic Chinese-manufactured dolls which are then considerably marked up in price and blessed, either by Buddhist monks or spiritual
27 Jan 2016
One of the downsides of authoritarian military dictatorships is that the public has little influence on politically important issues, such as energy policy. No major Thai daily newspaper supports coal, and they regularly carry articles lobbying against a coal-fired future (e.g., see this recent lead opinion editorial in The Nation).
20 Jan 2016
  Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Juvenal (Satire VI, lines 347–8). Literally, "Who will guard the guards themselves?"  
9 Jan 2016
A 'Whiteness makes you win' ad by Thai skincare company Seoul Secret promoting skin-whitening pills called Snowz (seriously?) has hit Thai social media hard, made the major dailies such as the Bangkok Post and
3 Jan 2016
Back in 2003, Thailand ratified the 1966 UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), though it does not recognize the competence of the relevant Committee under Article 14 of the Convention regarding an individual complaints mechanism.
21 Dec 2015
The December 11 Bike for Dad’ cycling event was personally sponsored and led by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. The event attracted 99,999 people (registered) in Bangkok as well as thousands in 77 provinces (498,105 registered) and approximately 9,800 Thais in 66 cities in 52 countries worldwide, coordinated by a sophisticated operation and website. In total, 703,792 Thais registered for the event.
12 Dec 2015
This column is a follow up to this column on how Thailand is at the Bottom of the Global Creativity Index’s ‘ethnic and religious tolerance’ indicator, on which Thailand ranked 127th out of 130 countries. The importance of creativity is that it is linked to growth, especially in cities, where a cosmopolitan mix lends itself to dynamism.
3 Dec 2015
As the negotiations at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris are ongoing, the following column analyses the effects of various global climate change scenarios on Bangkok. The planet has already experienced a 1ºC increase since the industrial revolution and is expected to reach 5-6ºC warming in a business-as-usual situation (BAU) (which incorporates the 1,600 planned coal-fired power stations globally) by 2200 at the latest.
26 Nov 2015
The Bangkok Post’s front page lead story from 24 November, 2015, highlighted a speech given the previous day by General Prem Tinsulanonda, Thailand’s elder statesman, President of the Privy Council, and most influential non-royal Thai.
18 Nov 2015
On November 16, HRH Princess Sirindhorn visited the 2015 CRMA Exhibition at the spiritual heart of the Thai military - Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy. For those who have never been to the academy, it was founded in 1887 in Nakhon Nayok in the Fifth Reign and is a living testimony to HRH King Chulalongkorn the Great (Rama V), with various busts and statues of him dotted around the base.

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