January 2013

Flying Sporran’s Mid-Week Diary UNESCO TO PROBE FAKE AWARDS IN THAILAND  Picture-Thailand Professionals I took time off this week to attend a conference in Pattaya about combatting foreign crime. Mayor Ittiphol Khonpluem put up a very good show appearing genuinely interested in combatting crimes against foreigners (and presumably by foreigners too). There was an impressive […]

-“I’m NOT Going To Jail – Unless I Am Ordered” – (Pic-Drew Noyes and Wanrapa Boonsu) Drew Noyes – the controversial American behind the Pattaya Times, boss of Pappa (Law) Company, and a self confessed expert on Thai libel law, told a night court in Pattaya that he would not go to jail on a […]

-NO LET UP ON PUBLICITY AS PROVOCATIVE NEW VIDEO HITS YOUTUBE- The trial of Chumpon Khoanuang the tourist sector worker who allegedly beat and raped a Dutch model in Krabi last year is due to start in Krabi provincial Court on February 4th. But there has been no let up from Holland on the publicity […]

-While Burma is chasing the $ – Let’s not forget it is also still chasing its ethnic minorities. -Flying Sporran Weekend Diary- -While Myanmar is coming out of its shell there is very little sign of a let up in its army’s war with its ethnic minorities – the biggest of which are the Karen, […]

THE TATMADAW PUBLICLY RELEASED CHILD SOLDIERS – THEN RECRUITED MORE – CLAIM Despite moves towards political reform, children continue to be recruited and used as soldiers by armed forces and armed groups in Myanmar, a report published by Child Soldiers International said today.                       ‘Chance for Change – Ending the recruitment and use of child […]

– -A Pattaya Times Exclusive –  The paper where news runs all down your leg (I’ve got Drummond on the run says Drew Noyes) Thailand’s seemingly greatest English language newspaper the Pattaya Times which boasts a readership of 500,000 reading a print run of 5000 has broken with the news that Andrew Drummond, correspondent of […]

-HAS TOM ARMSTRONG GONE AWOL OR IS THERE SOMETHING MORE SINISTER – MAYBE YOU CAN HELP. This story has had a mention on the internet before but a family in England are worried sick about what could have happened to 22-year-old Tom Armstrong a young Briton who has gone missing here. Now Suffolk Police have […]

-HE WOULD HAVE GOT DEATH – BUT SOMCHAI WISETSINGH WAS AN ‘OUTSTANDING’ THAI POLICEMAN- AND NOW HE’S COUNTING THE DAYS. Police Sergeant Somchai Wisetsingh whose death sentence for the murders of backpackers Vanessa Arscott and Adam Lloyd in Kanchanaburi was commuted to 50 years nine years ago has had his sentence reduced by 32 years. […]

Emerald Palace Visited By Police – Sensation A controversial condominium project in Pattaya linked to a British company, which has taken billions of pounds for property projects, which have never been built, in the Caribbean and Thailand, was yesterday (Wednesday) visited by police and Pattaya Consumer Protection Officers. (Picture by CB) Emerald Palace on Pratamnak […]

-A Flying Sporran Panic Attack!- I guess there must be more than a few people like me in Thailand who have kids here but not the cash to pay the massive fees demanded by international schools – some even more expensive than Eton. This is one subject  which can bring me close to tears or […]