Monday, April 13, 2009

Destroying the economy, one hotel booking at a time

I did say I’d stop writing about the political situation in Thailand, because it’s turned into a modern-day version of the Schleswig-Holstein Question, but the Graun asked nicely, so I came up with this.

5 comments:

garfer said...

Sounds like exactly the right time to take a holiday in Thailand.

Glasgow is much more dangerous when there's an Old Firm game on, and the sources of the mutual antagonism are equally incomprehensible.

Thai food also has the edge on Scotch pies.

Rog said...

Are the Red Team run by the bloke who did the Cooking Programmes on Thai TV? Or was that the Yellow Team?

The whole thing has turned into "ready steady cook".

Tim F said...

Garfer: It rather reminds me of the movie version of Titus Andronicus from a few years back, whether they rather brilliantly decked out the opposing factions in Roma and Lazio colours. Well, I laughed.

He was in charge of Team Red for a few months Rog, but the real boss is that funny square-headed bloke who took over Man City for a bit (after Liverpool told him to swivel). I was thinking more Cheggers Plays Pop than RSC, although the recent appearance of a third team has moved it more towards We Are the Champions. What Thailand needs is the gruff but kindly discipline of a Ron Pickering.

Dick Headley said...

Good article Tim. The Bangkok elite do indeed look down on rural people. But if Thaksin hadn't done such a sleazy job with the Shin Corp sale he'd get a lot more support. The Thai economy will certainly suffer because of the unrest.

I think underneath it all Thais are genuinely passionate about democracy. Foreign investors of course only care about stability.

Tim F said...

Thanks, Dick. I agree, most Thais are passionate about democracy - but some of them don't quite understand that the passion needs to persist even if your side loses.