Showing 1 - 10 of 104
Hedgehoppers in search of good news
Roger Crutchley, Published on 01/02/2026
» Being the very first day of February it would have been nice if there was some good news worth celebrating, but unfortunately nothing immediately springs to mind. Cheerful news is an increasingly rare commodity these days. It all seems to be gloom and doom and hardly portends a joyful 2026. It can get a bit wearying grappling with news reports featuring contradictions, cover-ups and cock-ups, often accompanied by half-truths, prevarications and porky pies. But this is the world we now live in.
The time I really put my foot in it
Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 19/10/2025
» A half-hearted spring-cleaning session at home during the week came to a welcome halt when I unearthed a couple of my father's wartime RAF books under a pile of disintegrating paperbacks. The Air Ministry books, published more than 80 years ago, always serve as a reminder of when as a kid I made a faux pas of embarrassing proportions.
Windsor Castle back in the limelight
Roger Crutchley, Published on 21/09/2025
» Windsor Castle has been in the news this week for reasons that require no explanation. Suffice to say the Brits are still quite good at putting on a show with plenty of horses, hats and bagpipes.
A magician from the trenches of war
Roger Crutchley, Published on 07/09/2025
» Last month PostScript mentioned the strange phenomenon of how the 1950s British ventriloquist Peter Brough and his schoolboy dummy Archie Andrews had a successful radio show called Educating Archie. Although Brough's ventriloquist skills was a visual art and seemed wasted on radio it didn't appear to bother listeners.
In Isan it's all just a matter of taste
Roger Crutchley, Published on 24/08/2025
» There has been too much depressing news lately so let's lighten things up a bit. There was an article in the Post a few weeks ago concerning a shop in Khon Khaen that is serving ice cream heavily topped with grilled chicken. I haven't tried it and to be frank have no intention of doing so, but by all accounts it is going down very well amongst people in Isan.
Strange choices of pets in Thailand
Roger Crutchley, Published on 03/08/2025
» There was a report in last Monday's Post that lions are becoming popular pets in Thailand. It is believed there are about 500 captive lions mainly in Thailand's zoos, breeding farms and petting cafes, but more disturbingly, some in private homes. It doesn't need spelling out why this is not a good idea.
Cheating in exams now a sophisticated art
Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/07/2025
» It was Oscar Wilde who once observed: "Exams sir, are pure humbug. If a man is a gentleman he knows quite enough, and if he is not a gentleman, whatever he knows is bad for him.''
It's a bit on the warm side in the UK
Roger Crutchley, Published on 06/07/2025
» It seems a trifle strange to be sitting in Bangkok and reading about a heatwave in London, but at times last week it's been hotter in Britain than Thailand, while the rest of Europe has also been sizzling. You know something is wrong when at Wimbledon the umbrellas have been going up not for the rain but to protect spectators from the sun.
A 10-day journey across snowy Iran
Roger Crutchley, Published on 22/06/2025
» Watching events unfold in the Middle East last week sparked memories of the brief time I spent in Iran a long time ago in more peaceful times. In February 1969 I travelled across the northern part of the nation during an overland trip from London to New Delhi. The country was still run by the Shah who was overthrown 10 years later in the Iranian Revolution.
The 1970 visa run into a war zone
Roger Crutchley, Published on 15/06/2025
» The Thai/Cambodian border has been in the news lately and let's hope everything is sorted out quickly and amicably. It sparked memories of the first time I crossed into Cambodia from Thailand back in October 1970. Now that's a long time ago.