It was interesting to note the new Thai cabinet includes eight women which is a record for the Kingdom. This seems to be part of a trend as the recently formed British government features 11 female cabinet members.
I was pleased to see one of the Thai ladies, Ms Jiraporn Sindhuprai, studied in my home town at the University of Reading where she earned an MA in international business. I hope she had enough free time while she was in sunny Berkshire to support Reading football team because they've always needed every bit of help they can get.
When it comes to women in politics I always thought my former maid known to readers as Ms Yasothon -- now sadly passed away -- would have made a fine PM. Judging from the way she sorted me out she would have quickly whipped the country into shape.
There would have been no transparency problems either because she had no assets apart from an old som tam cart rusting in the garden. There were no secret Swiss bank accounts either. In fact there were no bank accounts at all -- you can't get more transparent than that.
Ms Yasothon also had a clearly defined manifesto -- if there's enough barbecued chicken, sticky rice and som tam to go round everyone will be happy. Quite simple really.
As Margaret Thatcher once observed: "In politics if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman".
Doorstep encounter
For readers unfamiliar with Ms Yasothon I first met het her in 1973 while I was living on Sukhumvit Soi 8 with other journalists. Our previous maid had discovered looking after a house of scruffy hacks was too much to handle and had understandably fled back to her farm.
Word got around that we needed a maid and one morning three nervous young ladies clad in sarongs appeared at our door. It was Ms Yasothon and her sisters. They looked like they had just stepped out of the paddy field, which in fact they had. When I asked what her name was she jumped backwards in fright. It turned out to be the first time she had been spoken to by a farang and my dishevelled state in the morning was enough to scare anyone.
Little did we know that she would be the maid for the next three decades.
Lady Plods
With the growing presence of women in the government it might be an appropriate time to introduce more females into the police force. The ladies seem to have an air of efficiency, calmness and diplomacy that their male counterparts are sometimes lacking. Their smiles are usually a bit more agreeable too.
Thai policewomen have had to put up with a lot over the years. A decade ago they were ordered by their prudish bosses not to look attractive. Short skirts were banned and only basic make-up permitted. "It's inappropriate," sniffed their male superiors. Frankly it is difficult to think of anything more "inappropriate" than telling a Thai woman not to look attractive.
Yes, Guv
One lady cop who didn't stand any nonsense from her male colleagues was detective superintendent Jane Tennison played by Helen Mirren in the excellent British TV series Prime Suspect.
In one scene Tennison explains to a male subordinate, "I like to be called Governor, or Boss, I don't like Ma'am -- I am not the queen!" To which he dutifully replies, "Yes, Ma'am.''
Antisocial media
There are some rumblings in Australia following a government proposal to ban children from using social media platforms. The reasoning given by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is quite simple: "I want to see kids off their devices and onto the footy fields, swimming pools and tennis courts. We want them to have real experiences with real people."
These feelings will strike a chord with older people who experienced life before the dreaded cellphone was introduced. However it might be better if implemented and enforced by parents rather than government. But this is rather wishful thinking as some parents are equally hooked on social media.
My own childhood was back in the Stone Age when the nearest we got to anything like social media was housewives gossiping over the garden wall. There was no smartphones, internet or videos and kids had to make their own entertainment. There wasn't even any daytime TV in the UK which was probably just as well. For me in the summer it was simply a matter of going round to a nearby small park every evening to play football until it got dark. I even met real people.
Precious past-times
Winter months were a little trickier. Mum would suggest that I read a book, complete a jigsaw or update the stamp album, none of which particularly appealed to me. Practicing on the piano was another option but when I started thrashing around on the keyboard it invariably ended up with apologies to the neighbours for having made such an awful racket.
Eventually mum would say "well, you can always help me with the housework'' which was enough to send me scurrying out the door. So I often ended up in the back garden playing football against myself, imagining it was the FA Cup Final. The best thing about that was that I always won.
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