Showing 1 - 10 of 13
The toothpaste which created TV history
Roger Crutchley, Published on 28/09/2025
» Last week marked the 70th anniversary of television advertisements in Britain. For years the BBC had been the only TV network in Britain and no ads were allowed. But in the mid-1950s along came Independent Television (ITV) which was launched to create competition, the big difference being that it was permitted to finance itself by showing advertisements.
Asean should back a new Myanmar
Oped, Laetitia van den Assum and Kobsak Chutikul, Published on 24/01/2024
» On Jan 28-29, Asean's foreign ministers will meet in historic Luang Prabang, until 1975 the capital of Laos, their host country. It will be their first meeting since Laos took over Asean's rotating chairmanship from Indonesia at the beginning of the year.
Pink card graft appals
Oped, Editorial, Published on 22/06/2023
» A bribe scandal involving the issuance of identity cards for ineligible Myanmar migrants in Tak's Mae Sot district shows how deeply rooted corruption is in this country and the failure of the Prayut Chan-o-cha government to clean up the state service over the past nine years.
How tyrants use tech to spy on us all
News, Parmy Olson, Published on 08/02/2023
» Parmy Olson: You're the co-authors of a new book, Pegasus: How a Spy In Your Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy, which tells the story of Pegasus, a powerful spyware developed by the Israeli cybersecurity firm NSO Group. In recent years, a range of governments around the world purchased this technology, allowing them to gain remote-control access to people's mobile phones without their knowledge. In 2020, a secret source leaked a list to your team of investigative journalists in Paris that contained 50,000 phone numbers that NSO Group's clients wanted to spy on. Among the names on the list were French president Emmanuel Macron, the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi and a raft of journalists, including your own colleagues.
Asean and the Myanmar morass
Oped, Phil Robertson, Published on 01/02/2023
» Two years ago, on Feb 1, the day that Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy were set to sit in a new parliament, the Myanmar military shocked the world by staging a deeply unpopular coup.
SE Asia dabbles with change
News, Editorial, Published on 28/08/2022
» It may only be the end of August, but this year has seen some major announcements in Southeast Asia that signal a major shift is taking place in the deeply-conservative region. But do the changes affect reality on a deeper level, or merely cement the status quo?
What's wrong with the Philippines?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 13/05/2022
» 'Bongbong" Marcos didn't just win the presidential election in the Philippines this week. He won it by a two-to-one landslide, despite the fact that he is the extremely entitled son of a former president who stole at least US$10 billion and a mother who spent the loot partly on the world's most extensive collection of designer shoes (3,000 pairs).
Myanmar poses Asean quandary
News, Editorial, Published on 13/02/2022
» In the year following the coup in Myanmar which unseated Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner and then State Counsellor (a position equivalent to prime minister), the country's military has continued to pursue a policy of violence against detractors, leaving the world aghast. It has also left Asean in a quandary over how to handle the situation in a manner befitting its aspirations for growth, future prosperity and influence on the world stage.
A costly delay
Oped, Postbag, Published on 20/02/2021
» It is becoming increasingly clear that there will be no tourists arriving in numbers before the majority of Thai people are vaccinated. A country that depends on close to 20% of its GDP on travel and tourism should by now be right up there with Israel in terms of inoculations or at least at par with the UK to be able to open up this coming summer.
The final stage of Myanmar's path to democracy
News, Larry Jagan, Published on 16/08/2019
» Last week was the anniversary of Myanmar's mass pro-democracy demonstrations in August 1988, which brought the country to a standstill after its military leaders brutally reacted, resulting in heavy loss of life, and a coup. But 31 years on, the country's long struggle for democracy is far from over, as the country enters, perhaps, the final stage of transition.