Wastewater treatment should be a priority too

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EDITORIALWastewater treatment should be a priority too

26 May 2013 : Along with the understandable focus of the government and the public on flood control and drought relief measures, it's important not to neglect another water-related issue that urgently needs addressing: the treatment of wastewater.
PostbagDisgrace of guantanamo bay

26 May 2013 : Of all the illegal and unjust acts carried out in the name of the ''war on terror'', the use of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre stands out like a sore thumb. President Barack Obama promised to close it more than four years ago, but hasn't yet. Now he can release 86 prisoners who have been cleared for immediate release, but he hasn't.

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COMMENTARY
Asean fails to step into the Rohingya mess
06 May 2013 : The Rohingya problem in Myanmar could have been a blessing in disguise for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The issue reminds Asean backers that the three "legs" of its supporting pillar _ economic, social and security _ should be going in the same direction, even if at a different pace.
BREEZYMONDAY
Bringing up baby? Bring it on
06 May 2013 : Your kids are always going to be your babies, no matter how old they are. Bringing up children poses different problems at every stage of their lives, and no matter how many books on childcare and child psychology you read, you know you're never going to get it right.
EDITORIAL
Solar 'ready for take-off'
05 May 2013 : The departure on Friday of a solar-powered plane with no backup fuel from San Francisco's Moffet Field in the first leg of a cross-country US trip is a dramatic demonstration of how far solar energy has come. The HB-SIA Solar Impulse arrived in Phoenix, Arizona, early yesterday morning (US time) after a 19-hour flight. The plane is able to fly long after the sun goes down or in cloudy weather because the nearly 12,000 solar cells on its wings charge an array of lithium-ion batteries in gondolas that hang below the wings, and these power four electric motors. The craft is being piloted by Bertrand Piccard, the first person to circumnavigate the globe in a hot-air balloon in 1999 and a co-founder of the Clean Generation Initiative to encourage the adoption of sustainable energy technologies, and a pair of Swiss pilots. In the coming weeks the plane will make flights to Dallas, St Louis, Washington DC and finally New York City amidst a PR campaign to promote solar energy.
Postbag
Bravo, MRT, Shame on you, BTS
05 May 2013 : In yesterday's "PostBag", Barry Wood asks why the BTS is charging non-Thais over 60 more than Thais over 60, given that the MRT does not. I am also over 60, a resident of Thailand for 23 years, and would suggest a very straightforward answer: The BTS simply believes they can get away with such discrimination, exactly as national parks, museums, historic sites and many other attractions, not to mention tuk-tuks, taxis and some restaurants, also are extorting money from non-Thais with a flagrant double pricing strategy.
POSTSCRIPT
The house is gone, but memories linger
05 May 2013 : Last week curiosity got the better of me while in the vicinity of Samitivej Hospital, and I dropped by the little soi off Sukhumvit 49 where I lived for more than two decades until 2006.
COMMENTARY
Setting the stage for The Boss
05 May 2013 : From the Skype meetings to the speech in Mongolia, from the military cleared of all charges and the rally against the Constitution Court _ join the dots and we can see pressure being brought to bear.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Look beyond the troubled South in lifting security laws
04 May 2013 : Thailand's government recently passed up an opportunity for a new approach to the deep South, by declining to replace the Emergency Decree, which violates international standards on human rights, with the somewhat less heavy-handed Internal Security Act (ISA).
EDITORIAL
A needless blame game
04 May 2013 : If no one was smiling at the Commerce Ministry this week, blame the United States or, more specifically, Washington lobbyists for the pharmaceutical, software, movie and music industries. Despite progress made over the past year, the US annual review kept Thailand and nine other countries on the Special 301 Priority Watch List for intellectual property violations, a position this country has occupied since 2007.
POSTBAG
Postbag: Why don't Thais read?
04 May 2013 : As Unesco has designated Bangkok World Book Capital for 2013, Bangkok governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra hopes to encourage Thais to read more books, 10-15 a year against five books per annum according to 2003 figures. Despite all the efforts by previous governments to increase national readership, Thai people still read very few books compared to those in other Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan where people read around 40-60 titles a year.
MY TWO SATANGS
Adults online, kids on drugs, life on the edge
04 May 2013 : By modern standards I live an incredibly boring life. On any given day the most exciting thing that I do is probably change the route that I drive home from work; this is because I live life on the edge.