• OPINION

  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".

• OPINION

  Good chance of being caught on the hop

  Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 22/01/2023

  » To mark this weekend's Chinese New Year celebrations for Year of the Rabbit it seems appropriate to dedicate today's column to our cuddly cottontail friends, otherwise known as bunnies. Let's hope not too many of them end up in a pie or stew. As a precaution, just be careful when you order "today's special".

• OPINION

  Seducing shoppers with special offers

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/02/2022

  » In many Bangkok retail establishments there are frequent special offers with variations on the "buy one, get one free!" theme. It is known in the trade as BOGO or BOGOF which actually sounds a bit rude. The immediate reaction to this sort of offer, especially when the word "free!" appears with an accompanying exclamation mark, tends to be "what's the catch?"

• OPINION

  Cold War getting too hot for comfort

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 20/02/2022

  » Having been brought up in the 1950s and 60s during what was known as the Cold War, I find it a bit sad that after all the ensuing decades nothing seems to have changed. Russia and the West are at it again, still calling one another names. But as long as it remains name-calling we'll take that.

• OPINION

  Where roosters crow before daybreak

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 09/01/2022

  » For the past three weeks I have been waking up to the sound of roosters, many of which sneakily start warming up their vocal chords well before dawn. With this evidence you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that I have been in the Northeast of Thailand, or Isan. It has become a regular destination at the New Year and with the exception of the early morning calls from the chickens, it is always a pleasurable experience.

• OPINION

  Back in the cinema again with 007

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/10/2021

  » Just got back from watching No Time to Die, Daniel Craig's fifth and final appearance as James Bond and the 25th film in the franchise. It was quite a decent send-off for Craig and entertaining enough to sit back and enjoy my first visit to a cinema in a couple of years.

• OPINION

  Always look on the bright side of life

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 05/01/2020

  » We have just scraped through the Year of the Porkers and are hurtling into the Year of the Rat, which admittedly doesn't sound too promising.

• OPINION

  'Flying comma' suffers a bumpy landing

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 15/12/2019

  » Although it didn't make the headlines, there was a small item of news last week that will sadden those who treasure the English language. It looks like the poor old apostrophe is coming to a full stop. Finally admitting defeat, the chairman of Britain's Apostrophe Protection Society dedicated to preserving the much-abused punctuation mark, threw in the towel and announced it was all over, stating "the ignorance and laziness in modern times have won".

• OPINION

  A ray of hope for Bangkok's foot soldiers

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 17/11/2019

  » It was recently reported that the authorities plan to make life safer for Bangkok's pedestrians by introducing traffic light buttons at 14 zebra crossings. Fair enough. But the worrying thing is that it was presented as some kind of major breakthrough, a ''eureka moment'' for pedestrian safety. Cities around the world have been using this system since the 1960s. Still, it's a start.

• OPINION

  More a sorry scrawl than a signature

  News, Roger Crutchley, Published on 15/09/2019

  » Visiting the bank the other day I had to sign a bunch of documents that no doubt would be carefully filed away to collect dust in a basement, never to be seen again. By the time I had finished I was uncomfortably aware that no two signatures of mine are exactly the same, even when written in close succession.

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