<p>The recent televised debates between three of the red shirt leaders and a government team led by the Prime Minister have been widely hailed as a step forward in Thai political debate.</p>

<p>The ongoing red shirt demonstrations have started using the words &lsquo;ammat&rsquo; and &lsquo;phrai&rsquo;, previously found in the history books or obscure sociological theorizing. Their re-emergence has caused a great deal of confusion among Thais, as can be seen by Prachatai&rsquo;s bulging inbox.</p>

<p>It is generally recognized that the Thai media upholds the strictest standards of responsible journalism and this has been well attested in the coverage of the red shirt rally that continues today.</p>

<p>Working on the well-tested principle that a good scorer always beats a good player, the Burmese military government has started drafting the laws governing the elections scheduled for later this year. In fact, they may have drafted the laws long ago and they are just getting round to letting information about them dribble out</p>

<p>The Thai military insist on using the discredited empty plastic box and laminated cardboard sold to them as the GT200 bomb and drugs detection device for nigh on a million a pop. Their argument is that they currently have no alternative equipment and so have to use the GT200 because it is &lsquo;better than nothing&rsquo;. Or at least until the government gives them additional budget to buy replacement devices, which, they warn, will be much more expensive.</p>

<p>There has been much speculation as to why the Thai military insist on using the GT200 pseudo-bomb-detector, when the Ministry of Science and Technology has run a test that proved it is ineffective. The device has since been disassembled to reveal that it is no more than an empty plastic box and a telescopic car aerial, and its &lsquo;pre-programmed cards&rsquo; are un-programmable bits of laminated paper.</p>

<p><strong>Tale Number One: Germany, just over 100 years ago.</strong></p> <p>Wilhelm von Osten, a mathematics teacher and amateur horse trainer, owned a horse called Hans. And he combined his two jobs by training his horse in mathematics. And very successfully.</p>

<p>One of the most dispiriting things that can happen to a satirist (apart from Not the Nation posting an idea before you can think of it) is when something turns up in real life that is as funny as anything you could devise.</p>

<p>The revelation that PM Abhisit Vejjajiva&rsquo;s father, Dr Atthasit Vejjajiva, has been contributing around 300,000 baht a month to bolster his son&rsquo;s security has raised a few eyebrows. (More recent reports have suggested that this is not entirely true.)</p>

<p>It&rsquo;s been a bad week for the scam artists.</p> <p>Sorawan Sirisuntarin, who markets under the name &lsquo;Pa Cheng&rsquo;, has been charged with violating the Pharmaceuticals Act. She had been peddling a panacea called Maha Bambad at 1000 baht a wee bottle and an eye lotion called Jiaranai Petch.</p>

<p>It was rather naughty if the Bangkok Post to list Thailand&rsquo;s initial offer of $20,000 in emergency relief to Haiti directly underneath the $50,000 that Cambodia was giving, both dwarfed by the $1 million from Indonesia. This was hitting the Foreign Ministry, who authorized the payment, right where it hurts &ndash; in their image.</p>

<p>So who says there is no press freedom in this country? Where else in the world could you find an op-ed article that as good as calls the government a lying law-breaker?</p>