I AM BACK

Hello Blog,

Long time no see....

Are you like me? Stop doing something for a while and it's a bugger getting into the swing of things again.

Well, I am back and, hopefully, a tad inspired.

My baby girl got married, so that is definitely something to rave about.

I got to spend time with my son and daughter AT THE SAME TIME, which is the first time in a long time since I have had that pleasure. *Sigh* but they have gone back to their lives in Dubai and Perth, respectively, so have to count sleeps till I see one of them again.

Bangkok is not the place I want to be right now. While many rave about the country's first woman prime minister (and perhaps that is a good thing for the status of women in this country), I wonder ... is there any Bangkok-based foreign news journalist with the guts to ask the hard questions? to get to the real issues at stake and to give an unbiased account of them?

For Thai reporters with a smidge of ethics, life is even harder. Yes, yes, there are many who openly support the government for its policies or lack of them. But if you even dare to ask the hard questions, beware. I feel for the Channel 7 woman reporter who dared to ask a question of the PM for which she could get no answer. The fallout left her positively quaking. Implied threats from the brazen red shirts, the call for the station to sack the woman etc etc for what? For doing her job.

I had better stop before I reach a point when I cannot.

I love Thailand. I pray that the road taken now does no irreparable harm to it.