It appears as if some of the larger retailers in Thailand are actually taking positive steps in the battle to rid the country of the excessive number of plastic bags. In Phuket at least, Central Festival, Tesco, Big C, Robinson and a bunch of hotels will on July 9 sign an MOU to offer discounts to shoppers who use their own bags. At the moment, I think the discount is something like 20%. (Gazette)
This is the sort of initiative that casts these larger retailers in a positive light. Goodness knows they need it with all the negativitiy surrounding the expansion in Thailand of large busineses, such as Tesco and Big C. Such a move has the potential to make a big difference.
Last week, the Thai Chamber of Commerce made the strange statement that “small retailers will completely disappear in the near future if the government does not accelerate the implementation of the country’s first-ever retail business law to create a level playing field for small and large players”. (Nation)
Apparently, large retailers are now outnumbering their smaller counterparts by a ratio of 70:30. This all sounds like scaremongering, but the number of large retailers has been increasing recently.
A fact sheet released by the Chamber of Commerce said that Thai consumers will suffer in the long run, which is nonsense — and certainly not a fact. Wholesalers will suffer because their prices are being undercut. Consumers will actually benefit.
This is perhaps demonstrative of xenophobic attitudes in Thailand, but there is no way that a retail business law that adversely affects retail giants such as Tesco and Big C will ever be implemented. On that note, the Chamber of Commerce would have us believe we are all doomed.
Outsourcing work to other countries is nothing new – heck, even I hire people to do odd jobs for me – but when it comes to journalism, you don’t expect a newspaper’s reporters to be working from another country. It isn’t just call centers that are hiring staff in India.
The Los Angeles Times recently hired a $12,000-a-year reporter who lives in Mumbai. Another, who lives in Bangalore, was also hired.
Then there’s the Pasadena website (“All Pasadena, All the Time”) that took on a staffer member from India.
Is this the future of the media, given the enormous pressure that newspapers and magazines are under with sales tumbling and cutbacks being made across the board? At first I thought the whole idea was mad. How can someone write about a place in which they don’t live? Then I remembered that many journalists at some point write about places they haven’t been.
Andrew also wrote about this topic, saying, “Why can’t Thailand grab a share of this business too? The Kingdom has some talented journalists and designers, and costs are low.”
While such a move would be a serious boon for journalism in Thailand, I have reservations about whether those fluent in English would be tempted by this kind of work when there is more money to be made elsewhere. Andrew points out that there are very few media companies who could handle such work, but the way I see it, it doesn’t take entire media companies to make this possible.
If a US company hires someone in Thailand for this kind of work, paying that person about 30,000 baht a month, then surely that person doesn’t need an entire team behind them.
Do you think Thai people would go for this of work?
I think this video pretty much sums up the downside of social media. Twitter, while being a great tool for keeping abreast of what’s going on in the world, often descends into farce when people use it mindlessly. Most of us are guilty of self-indulgence with social media from time to time, but there are some who take it to new levels.
The video kind of reminds of Facebook, which seems to have become nothing more than a vanity project for people to post up pictures of themselves. I don’t understand how people can have so many pictures of themselves that they want other people to see. But then, I am the eternal cynic to the point where the majority of the blogs I read are written by people whose writing I dislike. Go figure. I guess we’re all Twitter whores in our way.
In articles published on 23 and 26 May 2008, we gave the impression that Mr Gest had contracted a sexually transmitted infection and alleged that he had Liza Minnelli’s dog killed without her knowledge.
This was wrong. David Gest has never had a sexually transmitted infection and did not have Ms Minnelli’s dog killed.
We apologise to Mr Gest for any embarrassment caused.
Yesterday evening, more than 40 killer whales reportedly beached themselves on the small island Koh Racha, off the south coast of Phuket. One of them died apparently. Villagers informed the authorities at about 6 pm last night. (KomChadLuek)
I’ve never heard of such an event occurring around Phuket. Hopefully there will be some pictures online soon. Anyone care to hazard a guess why such a thing might happen?
Addendum: Apparently there were only 11 of them and they were “False Killer Whales”. (Gazette)
