• OPINION

  Two hats not good

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 07/10/2018

  » When Bangkok got too noisy because of all the criticism about cabinet ministers taking advantage by openly playing politics unfairly, the general prime minister escaped to the North on another scrupulously non-political trip to give away money and be photographed with every local personality and housewife within 20 kilometres.

• OPINION

  Data security a foreign concept

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 22/04/2018

  » You'd think that just about the worst thing that could happen in today's charged smartphone-internet intersection is the theft of many thousands of the most important identification documents and personal details of mobile phone owners. But you'd be wrong.

• OPINION

  Life without populism

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 06/05/2018

  » Once upon a time in a land very, very far away with a "government by the people, for the people" there was a plan to fix recalcitrant taxi drivers and make them pick up passengers, politely, and then to reward the drivers with a fare increase. And that plan was carried out in the faraway country, and passengers were happy to reward deserving, hard-working, uncomplaining taxi drivers.

• OPINION

  Searching for sanity

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 28/05/2017

  » It now is pretty much confirmed by all available sources that the world is nuts. Last week was just more proof piling up.

• THAILAND

  SMOP is a flop

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 08/10/2017

  » Last Sunday night, an anti-drug squad caught two men carrying 400kg of crystal methamphetamine from Myanmar, ya ice worth 400 million baht on the street. On Monday and on Tuesday, police in Udon Thani and Mukdahan busted two cross-Mekong shipments of compressed marijuana from Laos, now Japan's major weed supplier. Combined, they weighed a tonne.

• THAILAND

  The Intimidation Game

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 22/10/2017

  » The military government has a propaganda unit. People know this, including reporter-people, which includes us, and editor-people. But they still call the chief manipulator of regime propaganda a "government spokesman". A two-star general whose sole task is to justify military actions without ever admitting an error was possible is also, on all front pages and news broadcasts, a military "spokesman".

• OPINION

  Military firepower

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 06/01/2019

  » There are certain people who have stayed quiet for four-plus years who now are emerging with little bravado.

• OPINION

  Independence muted

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 09/12/2018

  » The famously annoyable general prime minister was annoyed last week. The country's two largest political parties politely RSVP'd his invitation to a prayer meeting but declined because of the raucous nature of the worship.

• OPINION

  Still watching

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 16/12/2018

  » In its infinite benevolence and wisdom and all-around sacrifice, the exclusive men's club known as the National Council for Peace and Order (Junta) gave back some of the stuff they took from us four and a half years ago.

• OPINION

  Inching towards legalisation

  News, Alan Dawson, Published on 26/08/2018

  » Getting a sensible new law into the books is an extremely difficult task. But it's lightning compared with getting sensible changes to your great-grandfather's laws still on the books "because that's how we've always done it".

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