Would you believe that’s a headline from The Independent? Andrew Spooner wrote an article that was published on January 13. His opening gambit:

At least 17 Britons have been murdered in Thailand since 2003 – including Toby Charnaud, brutally slain by his Thai wife. Now, his family want to know why our Government is so reluctant to warn that the 'Land of Smiles' is one of the most dangerous places on earth for its British residents.

Madness. Africa? South America? Brixton? In 2005, Toby Charnaud was unfortunate enough to be killed and cut up into pieces, thanks to his ex-wife. Most of you probably remember that case.

Yet what also emerges from the death of Charnaud and many others is the fact that Thailand, despite its popularity with the British, is among the most dangerous places in the world for UK visitors – a fact that the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) has been reluctant to publicise.

So here is Andrew Spooner — the reporter, not the family of the deceased — asserting that Thailand is one of the most dangerous places on earth for UK visitors. To his credit, he does have figures to back him up, but that doesn’t negate that fact that he is deliberately misleading his readers.

On average, about 50 civilian UK nationals are murdered around the world each year (excluding terrorist attacks). This means that almost 10 per cent of all murders of Britons abroad are committed in Thailand – a chilling figure, given that Thailand comprises only 0.6 per cent of all foreign travel from UK shores.

He is painting a black picture of Thailand because of five murders. The article goes into great depth regarding the life of Charnaud, but the whole thing seems realty rather pointless.

What are people’s thoughts? Is there any need for an article like this? Is it scaremongering or does it need to said?

Read the full thing here.

I’m off to Bangkok tomorrow so might be a little light on blog posts. Happy Friday.

This is the sort of story that you read and think, “It could only happen in Thailand.” Details are sketchy at the moment because the only testimonial that has been taken is that of a 25-year-old bar girl, although we aren’t allowed to say that in print.

What supposedly happened, according to what Phuket police say the bar girl told them, is this:

A married farang man was out on his boat about 500 meters offshore from Kata. He was accompanied by the aforementioned bar girl while his family were at a resort. At about 10 pm, an unknown farang diver swam up to the boat in full diving gear. He was invited aboard the boat and spent about an hour drinking beer with the couple.

At some point, the diver said goodbye and then pulled a gun from his bag, ordering the bar girl to tie up the farang yachtsman. Somehow, the girl and her companion launched an attack at the diver. The farang man hit the diver with a large boating hook – once on his left wrist and once on his left eye.

The diver then shot the farang in his shoulder before jumping overboard and eventually dying of blood loss. The farang who was shot is now in hospital.

The girl called for help and was rescued by Marine Police. I’m not a fan of conspiracy theories, but this story is just so bizarre that there must be more to it.

The farang who was shot was identified as New Zealander Pierre-Alain Oberson by Thai police. He was later confirmed as a Swiss national. Go figure.

The English-language press hasn’t seemed too fussed about the whole ordeal, whereas the Thai press has been all over it, with pictures of the dead frogman featuring prominently.

Just who the heck was this mysterious, bearded diver? The police in Phuket were so intrigued by his gun that they were quoted as saying that the diver may have been a weapons expert. This promoted them to ask Interpol if the diver matched the description of any international terrorists!

You couldn’t make this stuff up.

I might be mistaken, but I thought that it was already illegal in Thailand to smoke in air-conditioned places. Perhaps someone should tell the Ministry of Public Health that, because it looks like they have banned smoking in entertainment venues for a second time.

The ban is set to roll into effect on February 17 and has about as much chance of being universally enforced as I do of representing Great Britain in freestyle diving at the 2008 Olympics.

Smoking will even be banned at JJ Market, as well as all pubs and clubs. Dr Hatai Chitanond of the ministry's Health Promotion Institute said, “We believe there will be some resistance from operators of nightclubs and pubs because they may fear the ban will reduce their customers. I'm willing to talk to them more about the ban if they rally.” (Bangkok Post)

Good luck with that one then.

There is something desperately sad about great actors getting old. Last night, I watched an interview with Gene Wilder on Parkinson. I love Gene Wilder, but it was heartbreaking to see how slowly he moved and how old he looked. His mind is still as sharp as ever, but his body’s deterioration is demonstrative of the fact that time waits for no man.

Jack Nicholson is another example. I remember him from great roles in Batman, The Shining and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (my favorite book, by the way). He is 70 years old now.

Anthony Hopkins is also 70 years old. It’s difficult to come to terms with the aging of great actors because you remember them so fondly when they were in their prime and you hope that those great moments will last forever.

Even Harrison Ford is 65 years old. I have no idea how the new Indiana Jones movie is going to turn out.

My favorite actor, Harvey Keitel, is 68 years old. I don’t think he has been in a decent movie since Clockers – and there don’t look to be many exciting performances on the horizon.

At least Al Pacino, 67, still had some of his spark in Ocean’s Thirteen. There are some people who you wish just wouldn’t get older.

It’s difficult to comment on the death of John Leo del Pinto, the Canadian tourist who was shot by a Thai policeman in Pai, according to reports. First, this from The Nation:

A Canadian tourist was shot dead and his wife wounded early yesterday morning near a pub in Mae Hong Son province after a scuffle with a policeman.

Pol Sgt-Major Uthai Dechawiwat claimed shots were fired accidentally after the foreign couple tried to snatch his pistol from him.

He said he had used the gun to threaten them when he was down on the ground after the couple beat him up.

Quoting witnesses, case investigator Pol Lt-Colonel Sombat Panya said the couple had been drinking in a local pub called Ting Tong. They became involved in a drunken brawl after Del Pinto, who recently arrived in Thailand, found out that Reisig had become pregnant with a Thai man known as Fuen.

The Bangkok Post had this substandard report from DPA:

A Canadian tourist was shot and killed and his wife wounded while tussling with a Thai policeman, local media reported Monday.

John Leo Del Pinto, 25, was drinking in the Ting Tong pub in Mae Hong Son, a northern province on the Burmese border, when he discovered that his Canadian wife Carly Reisig, 24, was pregnant by another man.

Witnesses claim the pair quarreled furiously early Sunday inside and later outside the pub before they were approached by police Sargent Uthai Dechawiwat who asked them to calm down, reports said.

The officer claimed the couple turned to attack him, beating him to the ground, when he requested they relax. He used his service pistol to threaten them only for Del Pinto to attempt to snatch it.

Then this came from The Nation:

Speaking from her bed in hospital in Chiang Mai, Reisig, from Chilliwack, British Columbia, rejected a police statement that suggested Sgt-Major Uthai Dechawiwat, 37, had intervened to break up a fight and his gun had discharged in a struggle.

"My face was painted with face paint, for fun, but I don't know why he hit me. We had never met him before, never seen him before. We were unarmed and walking down the road after a good night out.

"He was dressed in plain clothes, a white T-shirt. Leo shouted at him, 'You can't hit her!' and pushed him away from us. Then the man went to his motorbike and got his gun, and Leo tried to get it away from him.

"They had a struggle for the gun, then the man got control of the gun and stepped back and shot Leo directly in the face.

"I have never been married, I am not pregnant. Leo was my ex-boyfriend from Canada. He had arrived in Pai a few days before to see me."

The whole story is a mess. If there is any justice that can be done here, it will likely become buried beneath conflicting stories and spontaneous media reports. There is no clear motive for the Canadian couple to have beaten up the Thai policeman, but likewise, there’s no clear motive for him to have shot them both.

As I said, it’s difficult to comment on this one.

Discuss.