OPINION

New exam stance

Re: "CUPT comes under fire over entrance exam stance", (BP, Jan 22).

The Council of University Presidents wants those who are ill with Covid-19 on entrance exam day to skip this year's test and take it next year -- twiddling their thumbs for an entire year.

Rather, they should be allowed to take the test if they wish. By the March exam date, almost all cases should be of Omicron, which usually doesn't require hospitalisation.

Just separate those ill, seat them two metres apart, and require masking while indoors.

Besides, short of giving ATKs to all candidates on test day, CUPT won't know who's infected and who's not.

Almost all Omicron cases have no high temperature to catch -- and everybody will take an aspirin as a precaution against being sick anyway.

Re: "Demographic doomsday" (Business, Jan 17).

There's more than a touch of irony evident in this article about the impending demographic cliff that Thailand is approaching.

On one hand, employers are lamenting a lack of workers and some factories have even closed due to the so-called "labour shortage".

In the next breath, however, several economists are expressing concern over what they perceive to be "soaring unemployment", currently at a rate of 4.58%.

The reality, of course, is that many Thais are unwilling to do the work that migrant labourers have readily accepted in the past.

Barring a greatly relaxed system easing labour mobility into Thailand, the country will need to find ways to entice more Thais to accept these jobs if some sectors of the economy are to survive.

To do that, however, requires employers to pay decent wages, provide safe and comfortable working conditions and extend favourable benefits to employees.

Even then, it is questionable whether many Thais can be convinced to accept employment in jobs that they have come to believe are beneath them.

Re: "Crocodile Rock", (PostBag, Jan 23) and "Govt backs croc flesh to beat soaring meat prices", (BP, Jan 19).

Alligator meat is used in dishes such as gumbo and is a common ingredient of Louisiana Creole cuisine in the USA. We know well that.

Chinese, Nile, and saltwater crocodiles are farmed for meat and leather.

People visit New Orleans just to taste some of these exotic dishes.

If CP in Thailand starts selling crocodile meat, it will decrease the prices of other meat products, such as pork, beef, and chicken.

It will also help those poor Thai showmen who put their heads inside the mouth of a live crocodile in entertainment shows across Thailand. They might to tempted to do less of that in future.

No need to clap; serve alligator meat now, not later.

Re: "Of hamsters and men", (PostBag, Jan 22) and "Fury over Hong Kong's cull of hamsters and small pets", (Online, Jan 19).

The good news for Mr Bahrt is that many Hong Kong citizens do not agree with their government's culling of hamsters to stop the spread of Covid-19, and are secretly saving them underground.

This is one instance where I would have to agree with the above writer that it is taking things too far when a government advocates the mass culling of a small mammal to stop the spread of a virus.