OPINION

A touch of irony

Re: "Prayut hails Thai health system at UN", (BP, Sept 25).

I find it highly ironic that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha went to the UN to boast about a healthcare system that was started by the person who is probably number one on his "sabotaging the nation" list. And as I recall, Gen Prayut used to do a fair amount of moaning and groaning about how much this healthcare system was costing, preferring, to spend our money on armoured personnel carriers and submarines, no doubt.

But since we don't have any programme to combat global warming to speak of, I guess he had no choice.

Thailand in denial?

A quick glance at your headlines. I see no mention of the climate change summit. Thailand seems not to be bothered. As usual, they will be too late. Add this to the baht strength and the tourists will not come.

Writing on the wall

It seems that Thailand has not learnt it's lesson from the last two economic downturns. The baht was always the basic cause. By instigating a strong baht the country went into recession causing massive unemployment, real estate failures, losses in the tourism market and a downturn in the export market.

Thai banks, because of the baht, should be prepared for people and industries who will not be able to repay their debts. The writing is on the wall.

TM30 for Thais too

Might I suggest a solution to the grave problem interfering with the police investigation into the unhappy death of alcohol product presenter Lunlabelle?

Since they are so extraordinarily useful in preventing and helping to solve such crimes where foreigners are concerned, it is obvious that the TM30 procedures must be extended to native Thai citizens, who surely deserve the same level of protection afforded to alien visitors.

If Lunlabelle, to use the topical example, had been duly having her TM30s filled in by her various landlords, landladies, landlads, and other overnight renters as might apply, the jurisdictional problems could be resolved by granting the case to the police station in the area covered by the latest TM30. Could anything be simpler?

The subsequent elimination of terrorism and other crimes by the natives would be a collateral benefit to be enjoyed by the grateful Thai nation.

Nib of the matter

Regarding Mr Gilead's Sept 21 letter "Sign of our times" on writing and Parker 51s, I have more than a score of Parker 51s. Got my first 51 in 1947 as a graduation present with my name engraved on the barrel. Of the 20 plus 51s, I always get gold nibs with various tip widths because I also used them for calligraphy. For personal letters I always used turquoise ink.

Not only is penmanship poor nowadays, but English grammar is atrocious. I have been in Thailand for 31 years and I have seen the poor quality of many of the "English" teachers who have passed the TEFL requirements for the Thai Ministry certificate.

I am now legally blind and cannot read the newspapers without the help of an 8x magnifier to see each letter of a word, although the letters are fuzzy. I do have someone reading to me sometimes.