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<p>Fresh from their resounding victory in the National Reform Council over the calculation of mobile phone fees, the guardians of consumer rights are turning their sights onto other blatantly unfair pricing strategies by large corporations.&nbsp; Such practices threaten national economic stability, exacerbate income inequality and imperil civilization as the Bangkok middle class knows it.</p>

<p>Coast guards have been struggling to take control of an abandoned cargo ship heading for the Thai coast on automatic pilot.&nbsp; The ship is thought to be carrying hundreds, if not thousands, of unregistered human rights violations. &nbsp;International maritime authorities believe that the ship and its desperate cargo have been left to their fate by unscrupulous National Human Rights Commissioners.</p>

<p>The stalled mediation attempt by the National Human Rights Commission is the latest in a series of failures to settle a long-standing dispute between the Supreme Council of Motorcycle Taxis and a group of women who want to offer motorcycle taxi services, with neither side willing to budge from their well-entrenched positions.</p>

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<p>The curtain is drawn. The year 2014 is coming to a close. In the past twelve months, Thailand has experienced some excitements as well as tragedies. This article revisits the year’s calendar and picks the ten most memorable events that have characterized 2014.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7529/15844421252_50ee099ab1_z.jpg" /></p>

<p>Weeks of rumour and speculation were partly confirmed this week with an announcement by the Foundation for Community Educational Media, the organization which produces Prachatai, which acknowledges the resignation of Harrison George from his position as columnist. &nbsp;All titles and honours attached to this position have also been withdrawn, such as ‘Advisor on Satire’, ‘Sarcastic Sod’ and ‘Perpetrator of Impenetrable Muddled Prose’ (the much sought-after PIMP decoration.)</p>

<div>I am not your trained animal.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>I decided to write a record. With a perhaps unavoidable vulnerability, I write because I want to tell the outside world that each of us has a collar, although the lengths of our leashes vary. We become aware of the collars once we walk off the path mandated by those who force us to wear them.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Freedom … when we have lost it, then we feel its presence. </div>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-b0a6c912-3369-0f93-5f84-da7effd65fc0" style="font-size: 12px;">On the date of 10 December 2014, let us be happy on the commemoration of auspicious Universal Human Rights Day and Constitution Day of Thailand. Shan’t I be happy, I ask myself. I should, but my feeling is so strong that despite these great occasions and the promise of Prayuth Chan O-cha, Prime Minister and Chief of National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to bring us happiness</span><span style="font-size: 12px;">, I am not happy.</span></p>

<p>I am a responsible consumer.&nbsp; When I get to the checkout, I flourish my cloth shopping bags.</p> <p>And the first time out in a new shop you can expect to be met with bemusement.&nbsp; Many will try to ignore the existence of the bags and start loading your purchases into the regular plastic.&nbsp; So you ask them not to do that and draw their attention to the cloth bags.&nbsp; One 7-Eleven employee immediately saw the light and pulled out another plastic bag into which he stuffed my cloth bags.&nbsp; At no extra charge, I hasten to add.</p>

<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7566/15323682163_feba3da05d_z.jpg" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="color:#ff8c00;">The South China Sea disputes which involve China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, Veitnam and Brunei.</span></em></p>

<p>Prime Minister and junta chief Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha returned from an official visit to Vietnam in his normal relaxed mood and engaged in his regular jovial banter with the media. &nbsp;They had been hearing from ministers and such that the elections won’t be happening next year as expected and wanted to hear the truth from the head honcho himself.</p> <p>‘What do you want from me?’ the General expostulated. &nbsp;‘I have just returned from meetings, exhausted and sleepless. Why don’t you ask whether I am tired instead of going on about the election and constitution?’</p>