Showing 1-10 of 13 results
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Delicate art of being nasty and nice
Roger Crutchley, Published on 31/03/2024
» One word we have been subjected to almost on a daily basis recently is "diplomacy" as politicians grapple with the world's woes without much success. A dictionary definition of diplomacy is "tact or skill in dealing with people". Unfortunately it is more complex than that as the world is in such a mess. Perhaps Ambrose Bierce was nearer the mark in his Devil's Dictionary when he described diplomacy as "the patriotic art of lying for one's country".
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When it twigged Thailand was different
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/04/2022
» For the third year running we have experienced muted Songkran celebrations, and I for one won't complain if it remains that way for a while. Of course there have been a few naughty tourists who have broken the water-throwing protocols, but maybe the heat got to them.
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French learn about their Aussie 'mates'
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 26/09/2021
» It is encouraging to learn that it is not just Thailand that gets into deep water involving contracts over submarines. France is most upset with Australia for pulling the plug on a nuclear submarine deal, resulting in various shades of not-so-diplomatic name-calling. Standing out was the rather poignant observation from the recalled French ambassador to Australia that "what makes me sad is that we thought we were mates but we were stabbed in the back".
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A country so different to anywhere else
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 22/08/2021
» The dramatic events in Afghanistan inevitably sparked memories of my own brief experiences of the country more than 50 years ago while on an overland trip from London to New Delhi and beyond.
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A chimp that became a space pioneer
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 31/01/2021
» Today marks the 60th anniversary of the first chimpanzee in space. Not a lot of people know that.
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Fifty fascinating years in Wonderland
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/04/2019
» Having first arrived in Thailand a few days before Songkran, each year the festival approaches it sparks memories of those early days in the Kingdom. This year is slightly more significant because earlier this week marked my 50th year in Thailand, or to put it another way, roughly 18,250 days. That sounds decidedly scary. The frightening thing is that I can remember those early days better than the events of last week. The immature youth is now an immature wrinkly.
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Poster faces prepare for the Big Day
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 10/03/2019
» In recent weeks PostScript has studiously avoided reference to the upcoming Great Event on March 24, concentrating instead on more pressing issues like the delights of eating insects, men wearing earrings, and tattoos in unusual places.
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Which street is the Gettysburg Address?
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 30/10/2016
» Most Americans are aware of the Gettysburg Address, one of the most famous speeches ever given in American history, delivered by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 at the height of the civil war.
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Possibly time to look on the bright side
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 07/01/2018
» Having just about scraped through the Year of the Chicken, here we are seven days into 2018 and wondering what's in store during the Year of the Dog. It probably won't be all that great, but we'll leave the gloom and doom to the experts. Let's just hope it's a least a bit more enjoyable than the past couple of years which have really been quite awful, and almost of an annus horribilis nature.
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Are you sure you're in the right job?
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/05/2017
» Following last week's column on the perils of picking mushrooms, I received an email from a professional mushroomologist. I thought he might embark on heroic tales from the forests and how to avoid poisonous varieties of fungi. However, his advice was quite blunt. He admitted the mushrooms he consumes "have to come wrapped in cling film in an environmentally unfriendly polystyrene carton and from an air-conditioned establishment with a name like Sainsbury's, Tesco's, Waitrose etc".
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