<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>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>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>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>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>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>