Showing 1 - 10 of 104
Games must be more sustainable
News, David Fickling, Published on 30/07/2024
» What's the biggest event at the Olympic Games?
When Bangkok bid for the Olympics
Roger Crutchley, Published on 28/07/2024
» It's been 100 years since the last Paris Olympics which was dramatically portrayed in the stirring 1981 film Chariots of Fire. I can still picture that opening scene with the British athletes running along the beach to the sounds of that Vangelis anthem. It's hard to believe that was made 43 years ago. If this year's Olympics are even half as exciting as the 1924 event it will be an achievement.
Nike shoes aren't performance-enhancing drugs
News, Adam Minter, Published on 24/10/2023
» World records in marathons have toppled like track hurdles in recent weeks. Tigst Assefa, the new women's record holder, beat the old one by more than two minutes. Kelvin Kiptum, the latest men's record holder, took 34 seconds off his predecessor's time. These are astonishing accomplishments. But not everybody is crediting the athletes. Instead, critics argue that Assefa and Kiptum couldn't have run at top speeds without a new generation of high-performance "super shoes". Some go so far as to equate the souped-up shoes to performance-enhancing drugs.
When drones were bores and bees
Roger Crutchley, Published on 30/07/2023
» When I was a child the word "drone" was used either as a reference to a lazy male bee or a monotonous dull sound, epitomised by people like teachers, preachers or prime ministers "droning on" in boring fashion.
It seemed a good idea at the time
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/11/2022
» The annual elephant festival in Surin attracted more than the usual attention last week after featuring an attempt to enter the hallowed Guinness Book of Records. Alas, the only record achieved was that hundreds of student "volunteers" roasted in the sun, exposed for hours to high temperatures reaching 39C.
Once upon a time there were no mobiles
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 21/08/2022
» The other day in a restaurant I watched some Thai youngsters who appeared much more interested in their smartphones than what they were eating. Their obvious phone skills made me quite envious but also just a little melancholy -- a reminder of how much things have changed since my early days, otherwise known as the Stone Age.
Thailand's kookiest competitions
Guru, Pornchai Sereemongkonpol, Published on 22/07/2022
» Every country has its own share of kooky competitions, and that's also true for Thailand. From the search for a Guanyin avatar to the Peta-would-surely-disapprove swimming competition, here are a few for your entertainment.
Geneva accord shows WTO has renewed clout
Oped, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Published on 05/07/2022
» As a beautiful dawn crept over Lake Geneva on June 17, a remarkable thing happened at the World Trade Organization's headquarters. After nearly six days of negotiations at the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference -- culminating in a marathon 48 hours of non-stop talks -- ministers and senior officials from the body's 164 member states adopted a historic package of agreements. The multilateral deals -- of a scale and scope that the WTO has not achieved since the mid-1990s -- will help people, businesses, and the planet.
Review blood donation criteria
Oped, Published on 18/03/2022
» The concerning case of Swiss expat Theo Zwahlen points to a need for Thailand to seriously reevaluate the logic behind its blood donation criteria.
An unforgettable taste of romance
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 13/02/2022
» In Thailand the silly season is never far away and things usually get even more daft around Valentine's Day, which happens to be tomorrow. However, the festival has taken bit of a hit in recent years courtesy of Covid. With kissing, canoodling, caressing, cuddling, snogging and hugging generally frowned upon by authorities the occasion has inevitably lost a lot of its romance.