• OPINION

  A headline that went around the world

  Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 21/01/2024

  » There has recently been some discussion concerning the quirky law that bans the sale of alcohol in supermarkets and restaurants from 2pm to 5pm and also before 11am.

• OPINION

  Those were the days, my friend...

  Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/01/2024

  » A fortnight ago I enjoyed Thai hospitality on a very pleasant New Year's Eve at a small gathering in our neighbour's garden in Chaiyaphum. There were about 10 of us and although I was the only non-Thai the hosts insisted on playing western music rather than the mor-lam they almost certainly would have preferred.

• OPINION

  Welcome to the really silly season

  Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 24/12/2023

  » It's Christmas Eve and we are well into the Jinger Ben season in Thailand (Jingle Bells to the uninitiated). But in these dodgy times one suspects there might not be too much jingling going on. Nonetheless, considering all the gloomy news of late, a couple of weeks of being a bit daft offers a welcome break. So we might as well make the most of the Jinger Ben jollity, like a lady teller at my bank who was sporting some rather cute rabbit ears.

• OPINION

  Good chance of being caught on the hop

  Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 22/01/2023

  » To mark this weekend's Chinese New Year celebrations for Year of the Rabbit it seems appropriate to dedicate today's column to our cuddly cottontail friends, otherwise known as bunnies. Let's hope not too many of them end up in a pie or stew. As a precaution, just be careful when you order "today's special".

• OPINION

  It can't be worse than last year, can it?

  Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 01/01/2023

  » Well, here we are on the very first day of a brand new year. There has to be something auspicious about that. A good day to purchase lottery tickets with a few number ones perhaps?

• OPINION

  Come on baby, let's do the Twist

  Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 10/04/2022

  » The other day I heard on the radio Chubby Checker bursting forth with his 1960 hit 'The Twist'. It's not the greatest of songs but it sparked fond memories because it launched a dance craze which proved a social life-saver for me and many other shy teenagers.

• OPINION

  In defence of the Yank chimney-sweep

  Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 20/03/2022

  » A Londoner who lives in Bangkok has made a spirited defence of Dick Van Dyke's much-maligned cockney accent as a chimney-sweep in Mary Poppins, which was mentioned in last week's column.

• OPINION

  Final curtain call for grand old station

  Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 05/12/2021

  » There is some debate concerning the fate of Bangkok's 105-year-old Hua Lamphong railway station which is scheduled to close at the end of the month. Hopefully a happy compromise can be reached with the station being preserved as a museum and its immediate area a public park. The State Railway of Thailand should also be given leeway to make itself some money, even if it means yet another mall.

• OPINION

  Home alone … a case of bad timing

  Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 18/07/2021

  » The emotional events at Wembley Stadium last Sunday inevitably stirred personal memories of a similar happening with a different outcome 55 years previously in the summer of 1966.

• OPINION

  When steamrollers saved the day

  Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 06/12/2020

  » In recent street confrontations in Bangkok the police have regularly used buses as barricades against the protesters, hopefully letting any dozing passengers off first. People tend to fall asleep on buses and might get a bit of a fright waking up in the midst of a street showdown.

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