Showing 81 - 90 of 190
Lose the poetry
Life, Published on 15/06/2015
» The statistical argument invariably put forward by the gun lobby is that far more people die from mistaken medical treatment than from accidental shootings. To be sure, the proficiency of doctors often leaves much to be desired.
Painful memories
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 08/06/2015
» We have all been in embarrassing situations, usually of our own making, and can't forget it. Fewer have been humiliated. Fewer still shamed. For those who have been, it was surely a truly traumatic experience.
To protect and serve?
Life, Published on 25/05/2015
» Civilisation came about when people put away their clubs, picked up their hoes and left protection and order to those paid to enforce it. Marshals and sheriffs tamed the Wild West by jailing or killing lawbreakers. Robert Peel showed how urban police forces ought to be organised and properly run.
Police racism
Life, Published on 20/04/2015
» Racism is as old as recorded history, quite possibly older. My god is better than your god. My colour is better than your colour. Difference resulting in sanguinary wars without solution. The sensible live and let live is rejected out of hand by believers on all sides. Either the true path or death.
The dark side does good
Life, Published on 01/05/2015
» May 4 is "Star Wars Day", a play on the film franchise's famous slogan, "May the Force be with you".
Crime and culture
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 04/01/2016
» As a New Yorker, my friends and neighbours sent me off to Asia, via Japan, to do my duty in the Korean "Police action". The continent got into my blood and I resolved to head back after receiving my honourable discharge from the military, which I did as a backpacker six years later.
The Cult: You're either in or out
Life, Kaona Pongpipat, Published on 30/10/2014
» The girls at Monte Cristo School are overly demure and respectful. The school's shrine has a spot for a picture of the country's leader to which students bow with deepest loyalty and gratitude when passing by. They're musically adept, but only with Thai tunes. (Western songs like those of The Beatles are strictly forbidden).
Opening doors
Life, Published on 23/11/2015
» Rasmi Hanvajanavong is an adviser to the seemingly small and unsound business group Thai Indie Bookstore Lovers Club, a network of small independent bookshops. She also works at the government's Office for SME Promotion, making passionate and idealistic shop owners cut costs by sharing orders to get more discounts and help others find customers.
Pales in comparison to the original
Life, Kanin Srimaneekulroj, Published on 04/09/2015
» The original The Transporter series will always have a place in my heart as one of the most entertaining action flicks of all time. Jason Statham's portrayal of the mysterious Frank Martin appealed to me with his deadpan humour and silent, threatening stares, not to mention his borderline mythic skills with the wheel.
In search of the next hit
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 26/06/2015
» A string of box-office failures, an absence of hits, an onslaught of Hollywood blockbusters, an economic slump, the vacillating, unpredictable taste of audiences — all of this has plunged the Thai film industry into a gloom in the first half of 2015. Home-grown cinema can barely compete with the American juggernauts, but the past six months have been particularly wounding. Usually, Thai films take around 25% of the ticket sales, with Hollywood gobbling up the rest (the total box office value was around 4.5 billion in last year). This year, so far, local movies took a paltry 10%, according to industry analysts.