Showing 71 - 80 of 103
A lesson from Oscars democracy
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/01/2015
» The United States is a model of modern democracy. Just look at the Oscars. After the tearful speeches and crumpled handkerchiefs, the pizzas, the history-making selfie, the crisp tuxes and plunging necklines, the self-congratulatory parties, the Slave who defies gravity, the umpteenth heartbreak of Leonardo DiCaprio and the star-making moment of Lupita Nyong’o — after the drum roll, it’s worth looking back to see how the model of modern democracy decides its "best" movies. Of course, by voting.
It could all be pretty amazing again
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 04/01/2015
» I trust everyone has survived the festive season in suitably salubrious fashion and is feeling as bloated and immobile as Crutch.
When in doubt, gag the dissenters
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 27/09/2014
» Banning is the oldest trick in the authoritarian playbook, dating back to the pre-Medici, pre-Bolshevik, pre-YouTube era. It's placebo, and yet the illusion of efficiency still works like drugs among jittery leaders and strongmen who fear papers, images, testaments and sometimes truth.
Pistorius verdict exposes problem of gun violence
News, Published on 16/09/2014
» The process of rehabilitation has already begun. The Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been cleared of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, who died behind the locked door of a toilet at his home in South Africa last year. He was convicted of culpable homicide and a separate firearms charge, but he is out on bail amid speculation that he could even get a suspended sentence when he appears in court next month.
The right order
Published on 24/08/2014
» Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa have thrown down the gauntlet at the feet of the West. Last month these five emerging economies launched a New Development Bank - nicknamed the "Brics Bank" - that combines features of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Meanwhile, China has proposed an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that could compete with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
A new age of worship
Life, Published on 23/04/2014
» In his recent Bangkok concert, Thirty Seconds To Mars frontman, Oscar-winning actor and all-around woman-melter Jared Leto said it was “interesting” and “inspiring” to see “democracy at work” in the city’s Lumpini Park. He was, of course, referring to the camp-in protesters backing Suthep Thaugsuban’s plan to oust caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and install an unelected “people’s council”, which would choose the country’s leaders.
Victims never at fault in sex crimes
News, Published on 02/03/2014
» When the Academy Awards are announced tomorrow morning Thai time, the spectacle will be tainted with the spectre of one of Hollywood’s most enduring controversies. With Woody Allen nominated for another Oscar, 22-year-old allegations he sexually assaulted his de facto stepdaughter Dylan Farrow, then aged seven, will no doubt be discussed at length again.
Never forget, death is not an illusion
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 01/03/2014
» In our season of mass delusion, what is real? Life and death are real, but particularly death. Death by suicide or by murder, but particularly murder. Deaths of adults and of children, but particularly of children, at Ratchaprasong and in Trat, as well as in Narathiwat, where three siblings, the eldest 11, were killed on Feb 3, and which of course we’ve almost forgotten about because even in death there’s a hierarchy of public attention and allotment of air time. There was also the 14-year-old boy Kunakorn Srisuwan, shot dead by a military bullet (as the Criminal Court ruled) near Soi Mor Leng in the red-shirt riots of May 2010. That’s one death we've definitely forgotten. The only story that orphan boy ever had in his life is about his death.
It must be cold when hell freezes over
News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 12/01/2014
» The Arctic-like conditions in much of the US this past week put into perspective somewhat the ''cold spell'' Thailand experienced over the festive season. When it gets cold in the US, it really gets cold.
A protest or a party?
News, Published on 09/11/2013
» A penny for your thoughts: Is it not time to move forward and forget the past?