KevinB

Smiley Dude - I've only lived here since 2006 and I still travel a lot but trust that the locals I get to speak with tell me the truth. Thaksin did so much for the poor in his first term in power that they have re-elected the Party which represents him - so he is rich - it doesn't bother them. What does bother the average Thai is that using legal means the powers in control forced a popular PM elected after a military coup to lose his job because he appeared on a cooking programme, then with a switch in allegiance in the Parliament managed to get rid of the next PM and establish a leadership not elected by the people of this country. Then using again legal means "stole" at least half of the man's fortune - equally many might even accept that much of the fortune was accumulated by not such legal means - but accumulated by his own ideas and efforts - in a similar way to most of the fortunes in Thailand. The bit that bugs them is that someone took it away by what they consider to be unfair means - they also see his conviction in the same way. Now for you and I this may mean very little but for them it means enough to vote for the party that represents him, in vast numbers - giving the Party basically un-rivalled access to Power. - Power to use the legal means available to correct what they see as unfair rulings and decision made by the previous Government and the leaders of the previous coup..And this is then the next part of Politics 101 - people often vote based on what they believe the Party they are voting for can do for them. If the party they elect fails to do what they believe in, they may, vote elsewhere next time. It is called Democracy.

I agree with previous posts she is the best looking PM I've ever seen and at 44 - if she looks after this country as well as she has looked after herself then Thailand is going to be a great place. A great place to live and if the Party gets there policy right then a place with much less poverty and suffering. Well down lady - GO FOR IT - you won it - you have the trust of the majority of people in this nation. CONGRATULATIONS

I think people critising the Red Shirt leaders comments miss the point. The Movement was instrumental in mobilising the rural vote that put the party into power. AND as such they had better be included in the cabinet otherwise there will be an instant disconnected between the new Government and the electorate. Think of Obama appointing no blacks to his cabinet or senior Government posts. Think of a Labour Goverment appointing no one from the Labour Movement. Think of the Lib-DEMs (who have sacrifiued some of theiir principles) accepting that they don't get key cabinet posts because of the support to Cameron. Some of you guys just have to get over the fact that the majority of the people in this country support the winners of this election and for the vast majority of the rural population in the North and North-East of this country (plus millions of low paid workers in agriculture, commerce and industry) the Red Shirts represent their thinkinbg and their resistance to the rich elite of this country. This is Politics 101.

Folk

I'm not a Thai plant specialist but I did do botany at university I think the thread has two different plants being discussed. Big fan like species (depicted in the first of the thread) normally start with the same basic structure at their earlliest stage of growth. They don't start out bushey and random like a Giant Elepahnt Ear (depited later) then morph into a fan structure. Well not normally. By the way the first plant must be really old to be that big.

Seri, on 2011-07-06 10:37:02, said:

Seri - I don't recall the Iraqis or the North Koreans ever having a free and fair election under their dictator and yes the Germans did vote for Hilter in the 30s - they suffered the consequences and I doubt they'll ever do it again. So whats your point?