<p>Beware!&nbsp; The ASEAN Economic Community, or AEC, will be upon us in 2015.&nbsp; And if Thailand doesn’t hurry up and get ready, it will lose out, and will be overwhelmed by those economic powerhouses who do these things so much better and more efficiently than Thailand, like, er, Lao. &nbsp;Or Myanmar.</p>

<p>The BBC’s presentation of the recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) caused something of a flap.&nbsp; The report finds a 97% expert consensus on the idea that global climate change is occurring, that it is largely caused by human activity, and if that activity does not change rapidly in quantity and direction, the outcome will be catastrophic.&nbsp;</p> <p></p>

<p>The views on the commercial sex trade attributed to Pol Col Napanwut Liamsanguan have provoked the predictable condemnation from all those misguided social activists, academics and other assorted lunatics who insist on basing their opinions on a rational analysis of the data rather than the Police Colonel’s unsubstantiated prejudice.</p> <p></p>

<p>‘The European Union has requested full protection on its investments in Thailand in exchange for extending favours to Thai businesses under the proposed Thai-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA).’ (Bangkok Post, 21 September 2013)</p> <p>Something doesn’t add up here.</p> <p></p>

<p>The recent spike in lèse majesté cases seems likely to continue, the majority being brought by private individuals with a variety of motives.&nbsp; An accusation brought by TV talk show host Pontipa Supatnukul has, for example, triggered a chain reaction of similar accusations.</p> <p></p>

<p>Police arriving one year late at an early-morning traffic accident on Sukhumwit Road found an unusual scene.</p> <p>A car appeared to have slammed at high speed into a police motorcycle, killing the Police Sergeant Major riding it, and dragging his body for a city block.&nbsp; A trail of leaking oil led to a house on nearby Thong Lo where police found a Ferrari FF with signs of having recently being involved in a serious accident.</p> <p></p>

<p><span style="font-size: 12px;">The Cabinet has passed a resolution on a code of conduct for public service vehicles.&nbsp; And I am sure we all agree that such a thing is overdue, what with trains derailing by the day and minivans crashing at high speed, all the way down to more everyday problems such as having to jump from buses in the fast lane and negotiate 2 lanes of Bangkok traffic to find the safety of the pavement.&nbsp;</span></p> <p></p>

<p>One day after the British Parliament humbled Prime Minister David Cameron with a rejection of his plans to join military action against Syria, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office issued a travel advisory.&nbsp; It warns UK citizens in Thailand and elsewhere to ‘be vigilant and avoid any protests or demonstrations’ because of ‘an increased risk of anti-western sentiment linked to the possibility of military action in Syria’.</p> <p>Acting on a tipoff, Prachatai arranged a clandestine meeting with a representative of the Bangkok Embassy about why this warning was issued.&nbsp; The representative gave the interview under conditions of anonymity and an umbrella amidst the rain-swept construction site on the Embassy grounds.</p> <p></p>

<p>The Courts of Justice are facing the quandary of a new legal tactic by defence lawyers.&nbsp; Known informally as the ‘Democrat Defence’, this strategy, it is feared, may lead to an unacceptably large proportion of not guilty verdicts in criminal cases.</p> <p>In the ‘Democrat Defence’, criminal cases are presented in a way that absolves the direct perpetrator of any responsibility for his or her actions.&nbsp; This is instead placed on some other party, often the victim.&nbsp;</p> <p></p>

<p>The long-delayed report of the National Human Rights Commission into the violence in April and May 2010 has finally been released. Ho-hum.</p> <p>While some commentators believe that the release was timed to distract public opinion from other matters like the Amnesty Bill, this seems a feeble argument. First, because of leaked drafts, its content was very much as expected.</p> <p></p>

<p>I recently had the opportunity to view a training film on gender relations in Thailand.&nbsp; Produced by a government agency, it adopted the format of a domestic drama, with acting and dialogue as dire as any Thai soap.</p> <p></p>

<p>The so-called Worst Interview Ever, though recently yanked from YouTube, can still be found with a bit of googling.&nbsp; In it, Fox News Religion Correspondent Lauren Green attempts to interview Reza Aslan about his book, <em>Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth</em> (now a best-seller largely thanks to her ineptness as an interviewer).&nbsp;</p>