• OPINION

  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".

• OPINION

  Please don't forget the unknown reindeer

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 18/12/2022

  » As we hurtle into the festive season we will be hearing a lot of familiar songs associated with this time of the year. However, it's probably true that most of us can't remember more than a few lines of a song and even then don't get the words right.

• OPINION

  It is what it is … whatever it might be

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 29/05/2022

  » An expression which is increasingly heard these days on television and in political comment is the rather cryptic "it is what it is". Not exactly an illuminating observation, and it prompts the question, "But, what is it?" Apparently it means a certain situation that cannot be changed however much you want and carries an element of resignation.

• OPINION

  Great snakes! Or maybe, not so great

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 24/07/2016

  » Anyone who has lived in Thailand for a while will have experienced some kind of unscheduled meeting with a snake. I've had a few close encounters over the years and have not exactly covered myself in glory. Just like crocodiles, I think snakes are best left to their own devices -- preferably as far away from me as possible.So what was I doing last week sitting face to face with a King Cobra?

• OPINION

  Well, after that things can only get better

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/12/2020

  » What a dreadful year. We found ourselves having to tackle a whole new vocabulary and most of the words were enough to make even the most optimistic among us depressed. It all began in March with "self-isolation", a horrible expression inferring you have become a hermit, hidden away, exiled, incommunicado, which in fact is exactly what we were.

• OPINION

  A look back at another 'amazing' year

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 31/12/2017

  » It is customary at this time of the year to take a not too serious look back on the past 12 months, although there are some events you may well prefer to forget. If nothing else it will serve as a reminder that Thailand will always be Truly Amazing.

• OPINION

  Fond memories of Brazil's coffee culture

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 07/08/2016

  » With the Rio Olympics finally under way, I can't get out of my head the old Frank Sinatra song that starts: "Way down among Brazilians/Coffee beans grow by the billions …" It was entitled The Coffee Song and a big hit when I was a kid back in the Stone Age. In fact, that song just about summed up my knowledge of Brazil in those days.

• OPINION

  It's feeling a bit on the warm side

  Roger Crutchley, Published on 07/04/2024

  » It was Oscar Wilde who observed that "conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative". He might have had a point but it means there are a lot of unimaginative people in Thailand at present. I can hardly recall a conversation lately without a reference to the heat. It has definitely been "a bit on the warm side".

• OPINION

  Farewell George, a colleague and friend

  Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/03/2024

  » I begin with the sad news that former Bangkok Post colleague George Stevens has passed away after a long illness.

• OPINION

  Shaking off the laundromat blues

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 26/03/2023

  » In last week's item concerning boutiques I wondered whether their influence could extend as far as the world of laundromats. My thanks to reader Jenifer Divine in Hamburg for informing me that in the German city's St Pauli district there is a laundromat dedicated to Jimi Hendrix which just about gives it boutique status.

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