Showing 1 - 10 of 98
Telling fortunes 'a nice little earner'
Roger Crutchley, Published on 26/05/2024
» A recent Thai news story concerned a man nabbed in an online fortune-telling scam. He would inform customers suffering from misfortune that their situation would dramatically improve if for a small fee he made a few prayers on his "direct line" to the deities in heaven.
From Fleet Street to the Big Chilli
Roger Crutchley, Published on 05/05/2024
» It came as a shock to learn that long-time friend and colleague Colin Hastings died on Monday in Bang Saray when he suffered heart failure and the car he was driving collided with a wall. He was 73. Here are a few personal memories of Colin, best known as publisher of Big Chilli magazine.
An uninvited guest for breakfast
Roger Crutchley, Published on 28/04/2024
» Last Monday morning breakfast was abruptly interrupted when my dog on his daily sniffing patrol came charging into the living room and began barking agitatedly at the sofa on which I was sitting. Although the hound regularly enjoys a healthy bark in the garden, he knows the house rules for indoors… strictly no yelping. So this blatant breach of barking etiquette had me a little concerned.
Tales of Nessie won't stop resurfacing
Roger Crutchley, Published on 21/04/2024
» Today happens to be the 90th anniversary of the famous photograph claiming to be that of the "Loch Ness Monster". It was on April 21, 1934, that the Daily Mail carried the iconic front page pix of what became known as the "surgeon's photograph" because it was taken by London doctor Robert Kenneth Wilson.
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".
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".
Sleeping on the job at 36,000 feet
Roger Crutchley, Published on 24/03/2024
» There was a rather bizarre story which emerged recently of an Indonesian domestic flight on which for half an hour both pilots were fast asleep at the same time.
There ain't no mountain high enough
Roger Crutchley, Published on 28/01/2024
» In the final weeks of 2023 the old chestnut of introducing a cable car system on Phu Kradeung (Bell Mountain) national park resurfaced. It came as no surprise when a Bangkok Post headline concluded on the very last day of the year that the project "faces uncertainty".
Some 2023 tales you may have missed
Roger Crutchley, Published on 31/12/2023
» It is customary at this time of the year for PostScript to look back at some of the major happenings of the last 12 months. But we will have a change this year because the news has been far too depressing. So instead we will examine some of the not-so-major happenings of 2023 that you might have missed amongst all the gloom and doom. They may not be particularly significant but are a lot more fun than the grim stuff we read every day.
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.