Thailand's politicians are known for never looking for faults in themselves, but in others, and wherever possible in foreigners. So far we have assumed that this is a Thai gene defect. Obviously this is not the case. It is probably a hitherto unexplored but extremly dangerous virus, which the WHO should definitely investigate more closely. As you may recall, the Pope visited Thailand from November 20th to November 23rd, 2019, to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the establishment of the Apostolic Vicariate of Siam in 1669. He must have caught the dangerous virus, because only shortly after this visit, on February 28th, 2020, the Pope together with IBM and Microsoft developed a paper that deals with AI (artificial intelligence). In it he demands that the ethical development of algorithms should avoid the use of personal data. He fears that AI will be used to promote the interests of the rich and powerful rather than those of the poor and weak, and that it will lead to even greater differences between the lives of the elite and the lives of ordinary people. It seems to have escaped the Pope's notice that before the present modern data gathering by computers, it was precisely the Catholic Church that, by gathering information through confession, had acquired a power over its faithful that is not to be underestimated, and that this almost diabolical power was reinforced by the effect of inoculating a guilty conscience in the faithful.

On February 12th, 2020, Udom Thipdecho, director of the Chonburi Provincial Irrigation Department, as well as some Officials from the Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) told the Pattaya Business & Tourism Association that they have reduced the water pressure as much as 20 percent in some areas, but nevertheless the entire region still has running water. In reality many Hotels, Resorts, Condominiums ,Housing estates and Nightclubs now have to buy their water from private water suppliers. The water delivered by tank trucks is not tested by any authority or institute and in many cases is anything but clean. It often contains sand and other dirt particles, sometimes it even smells of chemicals. Therefore, extreme caution is required when tap water is delivered by private water suppliers.

In recent weeks Pattaya City Hall has had squares and streets repainted with horrible smelly colours. As our photo shows, it's all just street art and occupational therapy for City Hall's good friends.