OPINION

Indoor farm hope fades

Re: "The future of farming is moving indoors", (Asia Focus, Nov 20).

The first paragraph makes me wonder if this is an answer to the likely food shortage by 2050 due to the exponential population explosion.

If it could address that maybe we have a start. Only the problems of human waste, education and employment etc to solve in the next 30 years. The second paragraph gave me more hope as it called indoor farming "one solution" to the problem.

Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed by the last paragraph, as according to the report it is not an economically viable proposition and will produce only high-cost food in small quantities. It seems that "The future of farming" isn't indoors after all.

I am so sick and tired of Monica Lewinsky being portrayed as the victim in the affair she had with Bill Clinton (Opinion, Nov 20). She is known to have had an affair with at least one other married man. If feminists believe women should be respected as being mature adults then shouldn't they act like mature adults and take responsibility for their behaviour, instead of profiting from it as Ms Lewinsky has?

Regarding the accusation by Juanita Broaddrick that Mr Clinton raped her, there is no evidence that she went to a doctor after the "attack". She also didn't file a police report and there is zero evidence (no witnesses or hotel records) that she or Mr Clinton were at the hotel where the crime allegedly took place. What the hell ever happened to "innocent until proven guilty"?

Re: "Seat-stripping gambit draws fans, haters", (BP, Nov 21).

Now that the operators of the MRT Blue Line have removed seats from its trains, it has proven the often held opinion that the mass-transit operators have a single objective: to cram more passengers into their trains to increase their profits.

We are already treated like sardines without much thought for comfort. Surely the better solution would have been to decrease the headway between trains? The definition of this is the measurement of the distance or time between trains in a transit system. This way everyone is a winner.

Robin Grant in his Nov 18 letter, "Exceptional expat", is correct regarding farmers being forced to buy all their seeds from agribusiness giants. It's one of the most shameful policies announced by this government.

However, I have been told that many villages who relied formerly on growing corn have no choice but to buy the genetically modified type, the one that does not produce seeds. This business tactic by the agribusiness giants does not date from this government, and I suspect banning farmers from trading seeds is a result of the lobbying by the agribusiness giants to the apologist for the TPP, deputy premier Somkid Jatusripitak, former Thai Rak Thai and Pheu Thai minister of finance and commerce.

The TPP shunned by PM Prayut Chan-o-cha would have effectively forced all farmers into buying GM seeds. I sincerely hope the law will not be passed, but if it it, it will be difficult to enforce.

As for my comfort, nobody deserves a medal for telling the truth. I live a quiet life away from the rat race and would be perfectly happy to live the rest of my life in a nunnery if my savings were to run out.

Re: "UK coroner: Phangan death investigation 'medieval'", (Online, Nov 18).

The same could be said for those the police carried out into the infamous Koh Tao murders involving two young Myanmar men. These botched investigations by international standards will not go away, but haunt Thailand until there is some modicum of professionalism involved. But we all know everyone here involved in an investigation is a "professional". All the forensic and investigative police units should be handled by Thailand's only professional, Porntip Rojanasunan.

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