<p>I trust you were as shocked as I was to read the outrageous ‘Gridlock makes losers of us all’ column by Atiya Achakulwisut in last Tuesday’s Bangkok Post.&nbsp; It being April 1, I momentarily suspected it was an April Fool spoof, but it seems I was sadly mistaken.&nbsp;</p> <p>In a single article she carelessly junked the Post’s carefully crafted paeans to the bravery, statesmanship and personal sacrifice of Suthep Thaugsuban. &nbsp;These puff pieces have for months laboured to overcome his legacy as a corrupt provincial wheeler-dealer with a lightning quick eye for the main chance.</p>

<p>Following the decision of the suddenly even-handed Election Commission to call for a re-run of the Bangkok governor’s election, political office holders around the country are looking over their shoulders and wondering if a similar fate will befall them.</p>

<p>Friends of Thai Democracy are becoming increasingly anxious as the search for its whereabouts or any trace of its remains now enters its third month.</p>

<p>As the good people of Crimea go to the polls, the leaders of the democratic west (as they like to think of themselves) reject the vote in advance and even threaten punishment for voting.</p>

<p>The rampant confusion over the putative secessionist movement calling for an independent state of Lanna in the north of Thailand is no more than you can expect in a country besotted with acronyms.</p>

<p>Well it’s a full house here at the Impact Arena for the live televised debate between Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Suthep Thaugsuban, head of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee.&nbsp; There’s a few minutes to go before that starts so I’ll turn to Khun Somchai here.&nbsp; Khun Somchai, explain to the viewers, what is the background to this debate?</p>

<p>On February 18, the world that watches the BBC saw a grenade thrown at police at Phan Fa bridge which a police officer unsuccessfully (but ‘heretically’, according to a PDRC tweet and I hope that’s just a blooper and he meant ‘heroically’) tried to kick away.</p> <p></p>

<p>Violence again has struck a PDRC protest site, though it appears that for the first time in many months of protest, no external attack was involved. </p>

<p>The big issue for the ‘we’re never going away no matter how many deadlines we miss’ PDRC protesters is clearly corruption.&nbsp; This to them is the number one problem facing the nation. &nbsp;It is also the number one failing of the Thaksin clan of cronies and clones, and the reason why the kingdom must be rid them.</p> <p>Now it may come as a horrible shock to anyone who has followed Thai politics for the last 20 years, but Thaksin has not been convicted on a criminal charge of corruption.&nbsp;</p>

<p>OMG.&nbsp; I have only just realized.&nbsp; The insurrection on the streets, the slowly sinking economy, the political polarization that allows no dialogue … it’s all my fault.</p> <p>At first I thought that Suthep and his fellow demagogues were just doing the normal rabble-rousing, picking on the Cambodians as the bogeyman du jour.&nbsp;</p>

<p>It’s been a deadly winter for British comedians.&nbsp; John Fortune died on New Year’s Eve, alas, and this week comes news of the death of Roger Lloyd-Pack.&nbsp; So nostalgia has us flipping through some of the best clips and lo and behold, there’s the clue to Thailand’s political problems.</p>

<p>In July 1945 a remarkable election took place in the United Kingdom.&nbsp; The war in Europe was just finished and the war against Japan was coming to an end.&nbsp; The national government, a mix of ministers from different parties, which had governed the country during most of the war, was no longer justified and it was time for politics as usual.&nbsp;</p>