- News
Defamation case against BBC’s Jonathan Head has been dropped
The Phuket lawyer, Pratuan Thanarak, who brought defamation charges against BBC broadcaster Jonathan Head, has dropped his criminal defamation suit. Head investigated foreigners being scammed of their retirement homes in Phuket in a 2015 BBC report. Jonathan faced up to five years in jail over the charges. His report detailed how two foreign retirees had their properties ‘stolen’ from them by…
- Thailand News
The new, non-flammable, Samsung Galaxy Note 8
It’s impossible to appraise the sleek new Samsung Galaxy Note 8 without recalling it’s fiery predecessor, the Note 7. It got somewhat of a reputation for with catching fire or even exploding, being banned on aeroplanes and eventually just about everywhere else. It was a costly and embarrassing gaff for the South Korean electronics giant. The Galaxy Note 8 phablet…
- Travel
Animal shows in Phuket. ‘Not in my back yard’!
OPINION by Tim Newton Three years ago the issue came into sharp focus in Phuket when a Ukraine company established ‘Nemo’, the first dolphinarium in Phuket, right next door to the Chalong Zoo. The dolphinarium drew a lot of kick-back from locals who took the NIMBY approach – Not In My Back Yard. They were applying their western values about the…
- Thailand News
Para-sailing ‘beat up’ in UK press
OPINION A story from metro.co.uk shows a ‘terrified toddler’ being ‘forced’ to take a parasailing flight on Patong Beach. The headlines blasts ‘Father forces terrified toddler to go paragliding with him in Thailand’. In the ‘Beat Up of The Day’, the Metro article has somehow turned a bad parenting story into a Patong Beach and Parasail Operator-bashing session. It might certainly…
- News
Dissent in Paradise
EDITORIAL The recent silent protest at the country’s most prestigious university in Bangkok, THAT photo of a student in a chokehold from a lecturer and the subsequent publicity, has wider implications than just a sore neck and a university in PR panic. There’s been a lot of media blow-back on the venerated Chulalongkorn University after it was revealed a…
- News
Former Abbot Phra Dhammajayo fled to Europe?
Former Abbot Phra Dhammajayo may have fled the country. The DSI (Department of Special Investigations) says they have evidence that he may have bolted to Europe with the help of some of his followers. The Government raided the sprawling ‘space-age’ Dhammakaya Temple headquarters, just north of Bangkok, back in February but came out empty-handed. Authorities have vowed to bring the…
- Property
Smart solar roofs. Is this the start of free electricity?
There’s always plenty of sun here in Phuket, even in the wet season and particularly in the dry season. For owners of villas and condominiums the changes in weather signal a sharp escalation of electric bills which continue to be one of the leading costs of living in paradise. One new innovation that has caught my eye is the new…
- Opinion
Letter to Thai Immigration
Congratulations to the Thai Immigration Department for its forward thinking on helping to attract additional tourists by waving visa fees for some countries and halving the visa-on-arrival cost for others. A stroke of genius. I’m not sure how you will inform the citizens of these countries of your cunning plan to lure back the tourists in the wake of the…
- Thailand News
Boom Boom on the Border
On one side of the Thai/Malaysian border is Sungai Golok, on the Malaysian side it’s the town of Rantau Panjang. The two towns are separated by the Golok River and decades of furious fighting between Muslim separatists who want to reclaim some of the southern areas in Thailand under the Malaysian flag. The Thai Buddhists on the other side are…
