Showing 1 - 10 of 21
‘Mai pen rai’ paradox: from kindness to toxic silence
Juranan Soranet, Published on 07/01/2026
» "Mai pen rai" (It’s okay/never mind) is perhaps the most classic Thai phrase, symbolising kindness, compromise and a go-with-the-flow attitude. It is the hallmark of Thai charm. However, in a modern world driven by consumer rights and accountability, the harmless phrase is becoming a double-edged sword. We are witnessing the rise of "Toxic kreng jai" — an excessive form of considerateness where we suppress our own rights just to avoid being labelled "demanding".
On top of the world in Kathmandu
Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/09/2025
» I was sorry to read about the unrest in Kathmandu this week. As a kid in the UK during the 1950s I used to daydream about far away places with strange-sounding names. One of those places was Kathmandu.
Great debates… and some not so great
Roger Crutchley, Published on 30/03/2025
» No-confidence debates similar to that which took place in the Thai parliament earlier in the week have become something of a tradition in the kingdom, but I can’t recall any such motion ever being successful. Still, at least it gives the MPs an opportunity to share their words of wisdom with us hoi polloi.
Centre-left parties must regain relevance in Germany
Oped, Bartosz M Rydlinski, Published on 01/03/2025
» Germany's Social Democrats are one of the West's oldest political parties, with a legacy of advocating parliamentary democracy, opposing Nazism, and leading the modernisation of postwar Germany. In addition to many notable labour, economic, and human-rights reforms the party has implemented over the years, ex-SPD leader and West German chancellor Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik in the 1970s laid the groundwork for Germany's reunification in 1990.
CDU won the German polls, but can it rule?
Oped, John J. Metzler, Published on 26/02/2025
» Another major country has flipped politically to the conservative column. After three years of a drifting centre-left coalition government, voters elected a conservative (small c) Christian Democratic Union CDU government in Germany's parliamentary elections. Yet what was expected to be a massive win for the likely new Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, became a bit disappointing when his party gained 28.5% of the vote.
Tak Bai injustice
Oped, Postbag, Published on 22/10/2024
» Re: "iCon to face more charges", (BP, Oct 21) & "Expiry of Tak Bai charges 'linked to surge in unrest'", (BP, Oct 21).
'Olympic truce' for French political chaos?
Oped, John J Metzler, Published on 02/08/2024
» France is facing continuing political chaos in the wake of President Emmanuel Macron's vain and failed gambit in calling for unnecessary Legislative elections to counterbalance the expected but riveting results of the rightist surge in June's European Parliamentary voting.
Market disconnect
Oped, Postbag, Published on 22/05/2024
» Re: "Thailand has escaped recession: economic body", (Business, May 21).