<p>So how are we going to shut down the whole of Bangkok?</p> <p>It’s easy.&nbsp; Like Khun Suthep said, everyone will come out onto the streets and no one will be able to go anywhere, especially the Thaksin clique and corrupt politicians.</p> <p></p>

<ol> <li>Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, Rwanda and South Korea all became members of the UN Security Council on New Year’s Day.</li> <li>At his public inauguration, President Obama put his left hand on bibles once owned by President Lincoln and Martin Luther King.</li> <li>A cleaning woman was badly injured while cleaning an empty commuter train in the middle of the night in Sweden in January when she accidentally started it.<br /> </li></ol>

<p>With nothing better to do than wonder what to do with all the leftovers, find drawer space for yet more unwanted gifts and pale at the prospect of another year of all this, you will no doubt want the distraction of these 36 questions about what happened last year.&nbsp; Googling not allowed, asking the significant other for guidance not allowed, kicking the cat out of frustration not allowed.&nbsp; Answers next week.</p> <p></p>

<p>The judicial process in Thailand is especially tricky to figure out.</p> <p>Just this week the international media showed pictures of former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva climbing the many steps of the Criminal Court to be formally charged with murder.&nbsp; Commentators noted that even if prosecution of a PM for a crime of this severity is a first for Thailand, it is very much a selectively political case and few believe there is any serious chance of his future appearances being in leg irons.</p> <p></p>

<p>It is with great sadness that this column announces the death this week in Thailand of Khun Pracha Thipatai.&nbsp; Coming so soon after that of Nelson Mandela in South Africa, it is natural and informative to draw comparisons between the two lives.</p> <p></p>

<p>While critics and apologists alike sift through the pronunciamentos of Suthep Thaugsuban, founder, leader, ideologue and sole spokesperson of the Civil Movement for Democracy, in a desperate search for something that is both practical and constitutional, there is one demand of his that deserves study.</p>

<p>It seems they have belatedly recognized that their message wasn’t getting across to a foreign audience.&nbsp; Talk of overthrowing a democratically elected government in order to create a democratic form of government wasn’t exactly the clearest of messages.&nbsp; So the newly mis-named Civil Movement for Democracy has decided to use one of its great strengths – the superior education of its supporters.</p> <p></p>

<p>The Constitutional Court ruling that it is unconstitutional to amend the Constitution is proof of the sacrosanct nature of the document, so unutterably perfect that no change could possibly be an improvement.&nbsp; Perhaps it is time to go back and review how this flawless piece of work came about.</p> <p></p>

<p>The flames of anti-government protests have been further fanned with a ruling by the International Court of Alphabetical Justice (often called the World Letters Court) that the Thai letters ‘kho khuat’ and ‘kho khon’ are unnecessary, redundant, superfluous and supernumerary.&nbsp; While not going so far as to order the Thai authorities to abolish the letters, the verdict has enraged linguistic nationalists who blame the government for the situation.</p> <p></p>

<p>A police proposal to expunge longstanding traffic tickets has turned into a major controversy that threatens to overthrow the government.&nbsp; Some commentators have even gone as far as predicting a military coup.</p> <p></p>

<p>The Snowden files have revealed that the US National Security Agency has been secretly monitoring the phone conversations of 35 world leaders.&nbsp; So far only one has been identified – the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.&nbsp; Intense media speculation surrounds the identity of the remaining 34.</p> <p>While Germany has been incandescent over this incident, and most national leaders are hoping not to appear on any such list, in Thailand the reaction has been somewhat different.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The murder of Jakkrit Panichatikum highlights a number of features about Thai society that might puzzle foreigners.&nbsp; Let me explain these.</p> <p>The plan vanilla facts are that a champion sports sharpshooter was shot dead in what looks like a professional hit in the Bangkok suburbs while driving to the home of his estranged wife and family.&nbsp; A Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle approached his Porsche and the pillion passenger opened fire.&nbsp; He died on the way to hospital, and none of the bullets hit his passenger, a maid.&nbsp;</p> <p></p>