• OPINION

  Another year to remember, or maybe forget

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 28/12/2014

  » Well, we've just about scraped through another 12 months, although at times things did look a bit on the shaky side. At least all the whistle-blowing has abated. Here are a few reminders of events and characters that graced the year 2014, although some you may prefer to forget.

• OPINION

  There have probably been better years

  Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/12/2015

  » Well, we've just about scraped through 2015, although there have been a few dicey moments. Most of us will be happy to see the back of the Year of the Sheep, or was it the Goat? I never did quite work that out. It is customary at this time to look back on the past 12 months, although there are some events you might prefer to forget. If nothing else it serves as a reminder that Thailand will always be Truly Amazing.

• OPINION

  The day I realised Thailand was different

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/04/2016

  » I trust everyone has survived the Songkran Festival, suffering little more than a few damp clothes, and maybe stuck with a hint of a fixed grin. The festival brings special memories for me because when I first arrived in April 1969, it coincided with the start of Songkran, although I was unaware of it.

• OPINION

  Thailand through the looking glass

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 01/01/2017

  » Well, here we are on the first day of a brand new year. It is customary at this time for newspaper columnists and other bores to predict what's going to happen in the world in the coming 12 months. Let's just hope it's a bit more cheery than the past year, which has been quite awful.

• OPINION

  When paradise is just 10 minutes away

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 06/08/2017

  » Roughly once a week, I have the pleasure of asking a taxi driver to transport me to paradise, or to get the pronunciation right, "paradye". And within 10 minutes we have arrived.

• OPINION

  A look back at another 'amazing' year

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 31/12/2017

  » It is customary at this time of the year to take a not too serious look back on the past 12 months, although there are some events you may well prefer to forget. If nothing else it will serve as a reminder that Thailand will always be Truly Amazing.

• OPINION

  2018: The rescue that gripped the world

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 30/12/2018

  » It ended up as a truly inspiring feel-good story, but could so easily have been a heart-breaking tragedy. That was why the tale of the Wild Boars football team -- 12 young Thai boys and their coach trapped in a flooded cave system in Chiang Rai -- held the attention of the world for more than a fortnight.

• OPINION

  It could be fun, in a strange sort of way

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 10/01/2021

  » A number of readers -- well, three -- have asked why last week's column did not contain the usual predictions for the coming year. My feeling at the time was that with the dark cloud of Covid-19 hovering over us it seemed a bit inappropriate to carry the usual frivolous PostScript predictions. However, I have had a change of heart and considering we are only 10 days into the New Year it is not too late to make silly forecasts.

• OPINION

  When it twigged Thailand was different

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/04/2022

  » For the third year running we have experienced muted Songkran celebrations, and I for one won't complain if it remains that way for a while. Of course there have been a few naughty tourists who have broken the water-throwing protocols, but maybe the heat got to them.

• OPINION

  It is what it is … whatever it might be

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 29/05/2022

  » An expression which is increasingly heard these days on television and in political comment is the rather cryptic "it is what it is". Not exactly an illuminating observation, and it prompts the question, "But, what is it?" Apparently it means a certain situation that cannot be changed however much you want and carries an element of resignation.

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