Showing 1 - 10 of 64
Slow horses playing a strange game
Roger Crutchley, Published on 02/03/2025
» Last week's account in PostScript of the painfully slow horse I bet on at the Epsom Derby back in the Dark Ages prompted a reader to enquire if I had seen the British television series Slow Horses. I'm pleased to say I have and for those who are unfamiliar with the production I should point out that it has nothing do with the equine world but is an absorbing British spy thriller laced with dark humour.
Welcome to the really silly season
Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 24/12/2023
» It's Christmas Eve and we are well into the Jinger Ben season in Thailand (Jingle Bells to the uninitiated). But in these dodgy times one suspects there might not be too much jingling going on. Nonetheless, considering all the gloomy news of late, a couple of weeks of being a bit daft offers a welcome break. So we might as well make the most of the Jinger Ben jollity, like a lady teller at my bank who was sporting some rather cute rabbit ears.
A medley of moonlight, stars and pines
Roger Crutchley, Published on 24/09/2023
» The answer to a crossword clue I recently tackled was "Vermont" which immediately triggered memories of the beautiful 1950's song Moonlight in Vermont. When I first heard the tune as a kid it created such an alluring image of moon rays amid sycamore trees I dug out the atlas to find out where Vermont was actually located. It even looked nice on the map, tucked up in the right-hand corner of the US.
Abe Shinzo, it seems we hardly knew you
News, Koichi Hamada, Published on 10/07/2023
» A year has passed since former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo was assassinated by a gunman during a campaign rally in Nara on July 8, 2022. Much like the assassination of US President John F Kennedy in Dallas in 1963, Abe's murder marked a watershed moment in Japan's history.
Uighurs' plight a lesson for govt
News, Editorial, Published on 09/04/2023
» The case of 63 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church who were arrested for overstaying visas in Pattaya last week brings back memories of the notorious repatriation of another group of Uighur refugees back to China in 2014.
Humanising policy towards refugees
Oped, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Published on 02/03/2023
» The recent death of a Uighur man -- who had sought refuge in Thailand and was subsequently detained for nearly a decade, was a sad reflection of the unbalanced response towards persons who seek refuge, or "refugees", in this country. Various groups currently seek protection from persecution, armed conflicts and key human rights violations in their country of origin, and they deserve to be treated decently and humanely.
Time to solve Uighur saga
Oped, Editorial, Published on 24/02/2023
» The death of Aziz Abdullah, a Uighur detainee at Bangkok's Immigration Detention Centre, is the epitome of the government's mishandling of those escaping China's southwestern Xinjiang region as well as the Muslim minority group's long-forgotten plight on Thai soil.
Follow-up needed
Oped, Postbag, Published on 24/02/2023
» Re: "Authorities confirm death of Uighur asylum seeker", (BP, Feb 22) and "Govt confirms deportation of 109 Uighurs to China", (BP, July 9, 2015).
Beijing has grave dearth of activists
Oped, Yi Fuxian, Published on 16/12/2022
» Protesters recently took to the streets of China's cities in a rare show of political dissent. While the demonstrations are focused largely on the authorities' zero-Covid policy, they have sparked speculation that a pro-democracy movement -- and even a Taiwan-style political transition -- could come next. But this is unlikely, not least because decades of strict family-planning policies have left China with too few young people to join the fight.
Why is China's Uighur population shrinking?
Oped, Yi Fuxian, Published on 22/07/2022
» After becoming the Communist Party of China's (CPC's) chief of Xinjiang province in 2016, Chen Quanguo oversaw a security crackdown that led to a sharp drop in births. Some observers accused China's leadership of committing genocide against the province's mostly Muslim Uighur population through forced sterilisation and abortion. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi dismissed the allegations as "fake news", arguing that Xinjiang's Uighur population had grown steadily to 12.7 million in 2018, an increase of 25% from 2010 -- and higher than the 14% increase in the province's total population.