Sex and the British Media

30 April 2006

A wise friend of mine has often told me that I should have entered politics. My personal life would never stand the intense press scrutiny. The British newspapers survive off scandal and are like starved bloodhounds in their pursuit.

This has not been a great week for the icons of the British establishment.

John "Stud" Prescott, the deputy Prime Minister has had his affair emblazened all over the Mirror and the News of the World. The Portugese national football team manager, Scolari, has turned down the England job for fear of the press; he must have many hidden secrets. He is quoted as saying: "I don't want anything more to do with this England matter because in the space of two days my life was invaded, my privacy was disrupted. This is not part of my life and it never will. I am not the coach and will not be coach." Meanwhile the embarrassed FA will need to turn to their second choice, Steve McLaren, has had his won affair revealed in the media last week.

And then there is the ultimate Mr. Clean, Gary Lineker, who is apparently to split from his wife. And the BBC are dumping their Grandstand sports program.

The News of the World is suitably explicit about Mr. Prescott, saying that "TWO-SHAGS John Prescott is under new pressure after lurid claims in his mistress's sex diaries that they had FOUR shags a night. Tracey Temple sensationally claims she gave the Deputy Prime Minister sex in his office as he was going though his government papers." He is 67 and not insubstantial; Ms. Temple is 43, and according to the NotW likes to wear red trousers all the time; though how that is relevant is unclear!

Mr. Prescott hardly exudes the charm of a Bill Clinton.

Not a great week for the Labour Party as Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, was forced to admit to losing track of 1,003 foreign prisoners who should have been deported - some of whom then committed new offences.

The old adage, you can run but you cannot hide, looks all too relevant for the Labour Party. The knives are out.

Seven magnificent marathoners

27 April 2006

I make no apologies in lifting this article directly from The UK's 4 million selling daily tabloid - The Daily Mirror. It is not often that you get to see your baby brother in the national press...and what an achievement....

LEFT TO RIGHT: Standing, Tim Scott, Nina and Robert Bradburn, Duncan Ross and David Bennett. Seated are Renee Clarke and Sue Dakin

MY FAMILY SAID GOODBYE
THREE years ago Tim Scott was fighting for his life. Tim, 45, an account director, lives in Abingdon, Oxon, with wife Caren and their three children. He says:

'I WAS stressed, overweight I and never exercised and in I November 2002 I started getting stomach pains. They became so strong I could barely stand and I was taken to A&E. I had gallstones, which were removed, but they had caused pancreatitis which could have killed me. If I did recover they said I could be brain damaged. Caren and the kids came to say goodbye. I spent the next seven months in hospital, drifting in and out of consciousness.

In April 2003 I was watching the London Marathon on TV in my ward and knew I wanted to take part. By the time I was discharged in July I'd lost over four stone but even though I was weak I slowly started running. This will be my second marathon."'

Tim is running for Leonard Cheshire, a charity which supports disabled people (www.lc-uk.org/events).

YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD TO DO IT
RENEE Clarke, 79, has run at least one marathon a year since her husband, James, died in 1988. She was the London Marathon's oldest woman competitor last year. A retired accounts officer from Epsom, Surrey, she says:

'I WAS devastated when James died from stomach cancer in 1988 at just 60. I'd started running three years before, when I was 58, and after his death, I found it a comfort. It was a way of shutting out my grief and I made many supportive friends when I joined a local running club.

This will be my 22nd marathon - and my 15th London and I've never felt fitter. Five hours is my fastest time. This year my daughter Michelle, 51, will be running with me. I've always believed in keeping active. I only retired last year and I still cycle everywhere. You're never too old to follow your dreams. And I'm sure James is up there, keeping an eye on me.'

Renee is running for thebeaconservice.org.uk which provides community cancer and palliative care services

DAUGHTER NEEDED PART OF MY LIVER
ROB and Nina Bradburn, of North London, were shattered when their baby daughter Olivia, now 13 months, developed liver disease. Rob, 36, who works in investment, gave Olivia a quarter of his own liver. He says:

'WHEN Olivia was I born last March she I was jaundiced and didn't put on weight.

Eight weeks later, she was diagnosed with biliary atresia -a rare disease for which there's no cure. She had to be fed through a tube and had difficulty breathing. I was terrified that we would lose her and the only hope as a liver transplant.

Our consultant suggested that, as parents, Nina and I might be compatible. Luckily, we were.

We agreed that, as Nina was primary carer, I'd donate 25 percent of my liver.

I was reassured that it would regenerate and would be back to normal size within a few months.

Last October I went into surgery in the morning, followed by Olivia in the afternoon. Nina spread herself between the two of us. In November Olivia had a bad reaction and had to be treated with steroids, but she recovered and is now a normal happy little girl.

Nina and I started training last Christmas.

We wanted to give something back, to give other poorly children a chance, too.'

Rob and Nina are running for the Children's Liver Disease Foundation (www.childliverdisease.org)

BRAIN TUMOUR WON'T STOP ME
DUNCAN Ross was told he had a brain tumour last year. The 44-year-old construction boss is married to Jane, 41. They live with kids Amanda, 19, Ben, 16 and Tim, 11, in Guildford, Surrey. He says:

'A COUPLE of years ago I started finding it difficult to hear out of my left ear. My doctor referred me to hospital for an MRI scan. The results came back last September. I have a tumour behind my ear. It's benign but if I don't have it removed the pressure on my brain could kill me.

I was devastated. I thought I was going to die. Jane and the kids were worried sick. But I was determined not to let it affect us. I've run two marathons and didn't see why I shouldn't train for a third.

I'm having the op later this year. It will take around eight hours and surgeons will have to drill through my skull. It's not something I'm looking forward to, but the whole experience has taught me to live life to the full and love those around you. Life is too short I not to.'

Duncan is running for the Brain and Spine Foundation (www.brainandspine.org.uk)

STROKE LEFT ME NEAR TO DEATH
WHILE on holiday celebrating his 40th birthday David Bennett had a stroke. The chef is married to accounts assistant Debra, 37, and they live in Basingstoke, s, with son Jack, 14. He says:

'ON HE first night of I our trip to Sorrento in Italy last October I was dropping off to sleep when my head started whirring.

Then everything went black and I stopped breathing. Apparently my face was grey and contorted - Debra thought I was dead.

I was taken to hospital and when I came round a searing pain shot through me. My head felt as if it was about to explode.

After tests I was told I'd had a brain haemorrhage. They said my odds of survival were 50/50 and operated for 10.5 hours. I flew home two weeks later still feeling weak.

I need another angiogram next month to examine my brain. It could cause another stroke but it's a risk I have to take.

Training for the marathon keeps me going - especially as I'm doing it for the Brain and Spine Foundation which has been so supportive.'

David is running for the Brain and Spine Foundation (www.brainandspine.org.uk)

IT'S A MIRACLE I'M STILL ALIVE
SUE Dakin, 41, nearly died from a brain haemorrhage. Divorced, she works for Outreach adoption society and is mum to Craig, 31, Claire, 29, and Steve, 26. She says:

'I USED to smoke 20 a day and did nothing more energetic than the odd aerobics class. Then in October 2003 I went to the kitchen to get something for a headache and suddenly I collapsed and fell sideways on to the floor. Then everything went black. I slipped in and out of consciousness and could barely move. It took me three hours to drag myself to my mobile phone to get help.

At the hospital the doctors told me I'd suffered a stroke and four aneurysms in my brain - any one of which could have killed me.

It took seven days for my condition to stabilise, and I remember very little about that time. I asked a friend to come in to help me with my will - I'd rather have died than end up a vegetable if my surgery went wrong.

I had the aneurysms treated with a special coil. With each operation they gave me a 20 per cent chance of survival so it's nothing short of a miracle that I survived. After I was discharged from hospital a month later I gave up smoking and took up running.

Now, with my son Steve for support, I feel ready to enter the marathon for the first time.

I still get tired and have problems with my memory. But I'm determined to make the most of my health.'

Sue is running for the Brain and Spine Foundation (www.brainandspine.org.uk)

Courts asked to solve Thailand's political chaos

26 April 2006

In his most decisive intervention in modern Thai politics Thailand's influential king asked the country's top courts to resolve an impending political crisis over elections that have failed to fill a new Parliament, saying Tuesday he would not intervene to appoint an interim government.

He also criticized the recent elections, in which the ruling party ran unopposed in many constituencies because of an opposition boycott, as undemocratic.

"We have to find a way to solve the problem," King Bhumibol Adulyadej said in a rare public address. "Having an election with only one candidate running is impossible. This is not a democracy."

Speaking to the country's senior judges on nationwide television, the 78-year-old king asked the courts to step in.

"If you don't help to make democracy move forward, it will be the country's downfall," he said, telling the judges they should resign if no solution can be found.

Wisely King Bhumibol, the world's longest reigning monarch, said it was "against the law" for him to appoint an interim prime minister as some parties have urged him to do. This very public statement should end calls for him to appoint a new Prime Minister and makes clear his wish to see the democratic processes work.

Due to the boycott and deep dissatisfaction toward Thaksin in the country's insurgency-wracked south, 13 parliamentary seats remain vacant after two rounds of voting. The constitution requires unopposed candidates to get the support of at least 20 percent of eligible voters to receive a seat. The law says Parliament should convene within 30 days of an election to form a new government, a deadline that falls next Tuesday and which clearly will not be met. The law states that Parliament cannot convene unless all 500 seats of the lower house are filled.

It is unclear what action the courts will take. The country's three senior judges are meeting this week to try to set a course. One course could be to nullify the April 2nd elections and start again.

Zacarias Moussaoui would be a poor choice of martyr

25 April 2006

A US jury has started deliberating whether Zacarias Moussaoui, the self-proclaimed al-Qaeda member and 9/11 conspirator, should be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison.

The long-awaited decision will cap a bizarre five year legal case. It has already been determined that the 37-year-old French citizen is eligible for the death penalty after he pleaded guilty last year to conspiring with al-Qaeda. Moussaoui is the only person convicted in the US on charges relating to 9/11. But he was not flying any of the planes on that day.

Moussaoui says he wants to die. There is little doubt that to execute him would give his name the martyrdom that he seeks. There was a monumental crime committed on 9/11; and this has been an historic trial. But frankly the confused and attention seeking Moussaoui is not worthy of the attention.

The prosecutors have portrayed Moussaoui as a mass murderer even though he was sitting in a jail cell in Minnesota on 9-11. They have compared Moussaoui to Osama bin Laden himself and claimed that both were "loving every minute" of the carnage on 9-11.

Then the prosecutors continue to debate whether it mattered if Moussaoui was supposed to be part of the 9-11 wave of hijackers or a second wave? The federal government wants the death penalty. Many of those who lost family and friends in the 9/11 attacks see his execution as some form of necessary retribution. Moussaoui may have been involved as a bit player in the plot but he did not carry out the act. He may have only had a role in a future attack; so how could he be executed for the events of 9/11. He may have had a supporting role but it is clear that he was not a leading player. And he clearly is not in the same league as bin Laden. Five years on, the US still has no idea where the al-Qaeda leader may be. 

In their summing up for the jury the prosecutors delivered the closing argument they would make against Osama bin Laden or the true culprits of 9-11. "The defendant is evil and he represents everything evil from that day," Novak said about Moussaoui who let's face it was such a failure as a terrorist that he got himself arrested before he ever had a chance to get near a real cockpit, much less any of the actual hijackers.

In the meantime Moussaoui himself has continually undermined his defense.

Whatever one's views are on the death penalty the solution here is to throw him in jail and forget about him. That is the last thing he wants but is entirely what is right. Killing Moussaoui will bring neither credit or peace to the USA. 
 

 

Ashes Series schedule announced

23 April 2006

It is time to start planning the 206/7 vacations down under as Engalnd seek to defebd the Ashes.

1st Test, Brisbane Thur 23-Mon 27 Nov 2006

2nd Test, Adelaide Fri 1-Tue 5 Dec

3rd Test, Perth Thurs 14-Mon 18 Dec

4th Test, Melbourne Tues 26-Sat Dec 30

5th Test, Sydney Tues 2-Sat 6 Jan 2007

Twenty20 international

Australia Sydney Jan 9

VB Series

Australia v England Melbourne Fri Jan 12
Australia v New Zealand Hobart Sun Jan 14
England v New Zealand Hobart Tue 16 Jan
Australia v England Brisbane Fri 19 Jan
Australia v New Zealand Sydney Sun 21 Jan
England v New Zealand Adelaide Tue 23 Jan
Australia v England Adelaide Fri 26 Jan
Australia v New Zealand Perth Sun Jan 28
England v New Zealand Perth Tue 30 Jan
Australia v England Sydney Fri 2 Feb
Australia v New Zealand Melbourne Sun 4 Feb
England v New Zealand Brisbane Tue 6 Feb

First final, Melbourne Fri 9 Feb
Second final, Sydney Sun 11 Feb
Third final (if required) Brisbane Tue 13 Feb

Other matches

Prime Minister's XI Canberra Fri Nov 10 2006
New South Wales Sydney Sun 12-Tue 14 Nov
South Australia Adelaide Fri 17-Sun 19 Nov
Western Australia Perth Sat 9-Sun 10 Dec

Celebrating St. George

21 April 2006

In their typically understated way the English will largely forget to even acknowledge the passing of St. George's Day on Sunday 23 April. Some nation's take holidays on their patron saint's day; others use it for an excuse to party (the Irish !).

The origin of the legend of St George is that a township was being terrorised by a fiery dragon, and in the hope of placating it, the local people decided to sacrifice a beautiful maiden. When St. George learned of their plan, he rushed to save her. He slayed the dragon and gave the young woman a red rose - the national flower of England. St. George's heroics became the symbol of the enduring battle of good against evil.

It is believed that St. George's adoption as the English patron saint occurred when a church in Doncaster was dedicated to him in 1061. Crusaders led by Richard the Lionheart also probably returned with accounts of the respect paid to him in the Middle East - the red cross depicted on the English Flag may well have come from the same source. The flag was worn as uniform (or as a target !!!) to identify the crusaders in battle.

At the Council of Oxford in 1222, St. George's Day was declared a public holiday. Edward III instituted the Order of St. George and encouraged the battle cry "St. George for England!" St. George's Day continued to increase in popularity and the 23rd April quickly became an occasion for feasting in monasteries across England.

Knighthoods of the Order of the Garter are bestowed on 23rd April. A red rose is associated with this day, although the saint's colour is in fact blue (after the shade of the original garter) and it is traditional to wear something blue.

The St. George's Cross is a bravery medal, which is awarded to people who show exceptional courage. Malta made history by being the first country ever to be honoured in this way.

There is a small campaign to make St. George's day a national english holiday. I am not a great one for nationalistic flag waving. But I do think this is a good weekend to celebrate the eccentricities of being English, to celebrate and commemorate our freedoms, and to give grateful thanks for a colourful past and a remarkable history.

The world Cup cometh

20 April 2006

We are now just 7 weeks away from the start of the 2006 World Cup. It is far from clear why we have to go to Germany for this championship. They were the 1974 host. Yes it should be in Europe; and since 1974 it has been held in Spain, Italy and France. But Germany again?

In 2002 the tournament was held for the first time in Asia (Japan and Korea) and was great success. Perhaps the change in geography meant that for once the dominance of the usual football powers was at last challenged. The Koreans, the Turkish and the Americans all had memorable tournaments.

The Europeans are likely to be stronger close to home. Mind you if Hitler had had his way there would only have been one European team ! Now the Europeans dominate qualification with 14 out of the 32 places.

So once again some predictions.

                              Round
                               of 16                1/4F                1/2F                    Final                    Champion

Group A winners:     Germany        Germany              Netherlands         Netherlands        Netherlands
Group B r/u:            Sweden

Group C winners:     Netherlands    Netherlands
Group D r/u:            Mexico

Group E winners:     Italy                Italy                    France
Group F r/u:            Croatia

Group G winners:     France            France
Group H r/u:           Ukraine

Group B winners:      England          England                Argentina            Argentina
Group A r/u:            Poland

Group C r/u:            Argentina       Argentina
Group D winners:     Portugal

Group F winners:     Brazil               Brazil                   Spain
Group E r/u:           Czech Republic

Group G r/u:           Switzerland      Spain
Group H winners:     Spain

What does it all mean. The Africans, Middle East and Asian nations will all be heading home early. Tunisia, Saudi and Trinidad would not be in this tournament if it was the 32 best football nations in the world but they do at least make it a real World cup. The Australians will be all brawn and no guile. Japan and Korea will not match the success of 2002. It would be fun to see Togo, Angola and Ghana do well; but there lack of experience will show.  The Europeans should dominate. The surprise might be at the bottom of this table with Brazil's rather suspect defence allowing Spain into the semi finals where they will implode against the Argentinians.

I know what I will be watching from 9 June.

Differing democracies.....

17 April 2006

In Thailand the Democratic Party refused to participate in the April 2 snap election in the knowledge that the ruling party of Prime Minister Thaksin would win handsomely.

In Singapore the opposition parties still battle on despite fearful odds to try to break down the barriers of one party rule.

Sure Singapore has an election; but it is and has been a one horse race since independence in 1965. The ruling PAP has 82 of 84 seats in Parliament and has never lost more than four seats.

Why is this. Simplistically the PAP has the financial resources, it has control of all means of communication; it has used the legal system to its advantage as bankrupts may not stand for election and it makes the election rules. It also, and lets be honest here, works as a government. The opposition is more of a charade than a reality.

Case in point: Chee Soon Juan, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) is being investigated by police for speaking without a licence after talking to residents on Sunday about other party members who are likely candidates. Anyone fined 2,000 Singapore dollars (1,234 US) or jailed for one year is barred from running in an election for five years.

Plainclothes police officers advised Chee and a colleague to stop their activities because they did not have a license to speak in public. Police said they were investigating the incident for a possible breach under the Public Entertainments and Meetings Act. Chee was also warned Saturday and on four other occasions since November, police said.

The election is likely to take place in the first two weeks of May, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong seeking a huge mandate for his own rule. Lee, the 54-year-old son of founding father Lee Kuan Yew, became premier in August 2004.

What is clear from Thailand and now Singapore is that the notion of multiparty democracy as an ideal one-size-fits-all form of government is invalid.

Singapore is as politically stable as the Vatican City. It is wealthy, clean and green. Yes people are allowed to vote (sort of), but the opposition is feeble. And who needs opposition if there is a strong will to ensure clean governance. What Singapore shows better than anyone in Asia is that multiparty democracy peopled by semi-corrupt politicians and well-heeled special-interest lobbies does not always produce anything like good government, see Thailand for a prime example.

Give Singapore due praise; in forty years it has become a wealthy, integrated society, it has developed squeaky-clean social, commercial and political environment, it has enabled most families to own rather than rent their homes and it offers first-rate (albeit rather unquestioning) public education.

The question that cannot be answered is how much personal freedom will you give up for economic gain. The Thais removed Thaksin through street protests and threats; not through the ballot box. Such protests would be impossible in Singapore. Yet in Thailand I want to applaud the fact that the demonstrations could happen and that they were peaceful.

The nine true survivors

17 April 2006

Forget the Survivor television series, There are now only nine survivors of the greatest adventure of all. Walking on the moon. Twelve men walked on the moon between July 1969 and December 1972. I was just 12 years old in 1969. And I was spell bound. I kept scrap books of al the space missions and could not be pulled away from the TV sets.

Now as these true survivors age there are the only nine men who have seem earth rise and set; who have looked at earth from another world.

I have just finished reading Andrew Smith's book, Moondust. This is not a book about how they got there. It is not a technical book. It is more of a spiritual journey. Smith seeks out and interviews the nine Moonwalkers to find out how their lives, and ours, were changed by this adventure. He meets their families, the support teams and command module crews. These men are no all past 70 years old. Man will walk on the moon again; I suspect the Chinese will be there before 2012. But no exploration of the moon can ever match the greatness, recklessness and bravery of those Apollo flights. And they will never again be set against the same historical perspective of he cold war and Vietnam. We will go back to the moon. We probably have to use the moon as a base for exploration of the planets and beyond. But future funding will be from private sources looking to space for profit.

Apollo 11 was a massive risk. Walter Cronkite, the newscaster, asked how a nation "that seems to have difficulty building a reliable washing machine dares to build a spacecraft to land on the Moon?" But at some stage we had to go there. For the same reasons as the pioneers had to cross America; for the same reasons that Columbus set sail; for the same reasons that Admunsen and Scott went to the Antarctic. Because it is there and because our collective imagination has been captured.

The moon determines our day; it turns our tides; it influences our mating habits; its cycle matches the female body cycle. It is the subject of myths and legends. It is made of cheese. There is a large rabbit on the moon. The moon is part of poetry and song. It was there before any of us; and will be there long after us. Unlike other worlds we have just one.

Apollo took us all there; in television, in news pictures, in radio; this was a giant leap for mankind. But getting there was a dream until President Kennedy demanded that it be made a reality.  It really was not about scientific exploration; the search for life or an explanation of our being. We sort of knew all that and it did not need a man on the moon to give us the answers.

But there was a popular culture to play to and a statement to be made by the Americans of yes, we can do this, and we will let you all see that we can do it. The space race was about winning the cold war but it was much more than that; Smith write that "JFK wanted something to capture the global imagination, and to excite his own people, and he found it". The practical results of Apollo were and are irrelevant because it was never about practicality. Smith concludes that  "for all of Apollo's technological wonder, it was as primitive as song. It meant nothing. And everything....Was Apollo worth all the effort and expense? If it had been about the Moon, the answer would be no, but it wasn't, it was about the Earth. The answer is yes". We went to the moon to take stock of ourselves and our planet and to look back on the Earth. 

The book is not an easy read; it jumps around in time; the large cast of characters means that you sometimes have to go back and reread pages to find the context. It will not tell you how it happened. It will not show you the pictures. Yet as a record of what Apollo meant then and means now to all who lived through those days it stirs many memories and much introspection.

Totally confused in Bangkok

14 April 2006

I am completely confused by events in Bangkok and Thailand and it is hard to know where to start. So I have avoided writing these notes over the last few days as I really have no idea what is happening or going to happen.

I go away for two weeks to Canada and England. While I am away the ruling party gets a massive election win which seems to justify Thaksin's decision to go to the polls, yet within two days of his win the Prime Minister has resigned. Then within a week he appears to have done no more than take a sabbatical.

Meanwhile despite all the confusion the Thai baht has appreciated to 38 to the US dollar, the strongest level in seven years.

A money dealer at Bank of Ayudhya Plc said the baht had strengthened in the same direction with other currencies in the region since there was a shift of investment into the stock markets and an expectation that interest rates of the countries in the region would increase further.

The dealer projected the baht would continue to appreciate to 38 to the dollar in the near future and perhaps to 37 to the dollar by this year. There are strong sugegstions of manipulation. Like the massive ramping of Shin Corporation stocks before the sale. Now the vendors (including the Prime Minster) have cashed up in Thai Baht the Baht suddenly rises. Interesting !

On April 4, Thaksin announced he will step down as prime minister despite his party's victory in the previous weekend's election, which was boycotted by the main opposition parties. Meanwhile Thaksin chose his top deputy and justice minister, Chidchai Vanasathidya, to replace him until a new prime minister is named.

But it is very likely that Thaksin has only stepped aside, not down. He may be retreating to the political sidelines, but he is not out of the game. And the current truce is at best only temporary. The CEO has elevated himself into an executive chairmanship without portfolio. The Thaksin regime remains intact. Thaksin is still in charge. His party dominates Parliament and the opposition have no representation.

In boycotting the snap poll the opposition parties have triggered a constitutional mess that now threatens the very democracy they said they were fighting to preserve.

And, by stepping aside, the man who held Thailand's largest-ever majority only a year ago has put the onus on the opposition, led by the Democrats, and the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), an ad hoc anti-Thaksin street campaign, to sort it out.

The Democrats are demanding reform of the 1997 constitution -- the country's 16th in 74 years of on-off democracy -- before they lift their poll boycott, which left parliament with empty seats and therefore unable to convene. But the Democrats have no elected voice to effect such reforms. They argue Thaksin systematically gutted all the neutral bodies that are meant to act as checks and balances on the government. That may all be true.

But the Democrats and PADare the people who brought Thailand to a halt and have torn up democracy. People won't forget that.

In the meantime foreigners looking in will bide their time before making significant investment into Thailand.

What about the new airport - the one that opened last year ??

14 April 2006

It probably is not new news but the new Bangkok Airport is probably another 7 months behind schedule.

Deputy Transport Minister Chainant Charoensiri said this week that the controversial airport would not be ready before 2007. It will take at least seven months to give the finishing touches to the airport, said Gen Chainant.

It is impossible for the Suvarnabhumi airport to be opened commercially in June as planned, because it will take seven months to test systems and to complete unfinished work such as furnishing about 200 shops in the passenger terminals and equipping airline operations and offices.

In addition, the specialised heavy-duty canvas used to cover the roof apparently needs repairing and he advised that it would take about seven months.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) will inspect Suvarnabhumi Airport before the commercial opening, Gen Chainant said. It is too soon to talk about the commercial opening now.

Sounds like 2007 at best. This makes the September 2005 "opening" flights look very strange indeed.

In the meantime there is still no clear indication of the future of Don Muang airport.

RAS - the essence of India?

14 April 2006

This restaurant is on Clarke Quay in Singapore: not quite what I thought my initial might mean.

The future of inflight

9 April 2006

This is a first - my first ever web site update from 37,000 feet.

I am on SQ317 - still 5 hours out of Singapore. This plane has a wireless internet connection - Connexion by Boeing. It works, it is fast - it is also quite expensive. But this is the way of the future.

On board lap top communication. We still need electrical power in every seat to make this really "fly." It is also rather pricey. But it is better than any other form of inflight entertainment !

I can for instance tell you that Man U beat Arsenal. But with Chelsea also winning with ease the 7 point Chelsea lead is looking quite comfortable. Watford could only draw 1-1 with Luton in the midday Sunday kick off at Vicarage Road. That game was kicking off just as our jumbo jet was launching into the sky from Heathrow.

I hate Heathrow. That rant is for another day.

Mickelson leads going into the last round of the Masters - they are basically playing most of the 3rd round as well as the final round today. Woods is only 2 behind - his fitness and length may be enough. Nice to see Fred Couples high on the leaderboard. 

Voting Day in Bangkok

2 April 2006

There is an election in Thailand today - but Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party is standing unopposed in many constituencies as the three main opposition parties declined to take part in this election.

The TRT is the only party that is contesting all 500 constituencies. Where their is no opposition candidate the candidate needs to get 20% of the eligible vote to be elected.

This has led to accusations that the TRT has been funding candidates of smaller parties to stand for election so that the 20% threshold rule does not apply.

The election commission says that there are 265 constituencies where only a TRT candidate is standing for election. Bizarre.

This is one election that is likely to create more new problems that is solves.

UPDATE

Early results showed a strong protest vote in Sunday's election.

Nearly 70 percent of the 399 seats at stake were uncontested and many will be left empty, according to election rules as the TRT candidates could not get 20% of the eligible vote.

In Bangkok with half the votes counted by early Monday "no votes" were in the majority.

Early returns in the countryside show solid support for Thaksin.