Fragile, too. We have the leaders we deserve, but not the leaders we could aspire to - as they always seem to be part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

For the past five years we have been ruled by public servants with private interests. You have to wonder if they ever bothered to ask themselves whether their exalted positions were for something less than indefatigable service to the community.

After all, 25 prime ministers and 33 governments since 1933 doesn't reflect a trend. It reveals an addiction. The contradictions are never resolved. They are simply used as the next excuse for change. History matters. It's always on the move. But never repeats itself exactly. Democracy may have arrived but it certainly hasn't settled.

And it's not from a lack of culture that corruption arises. It's from a lack of humanism. Life here is still very, very cheap. In that sense, Thaksin did not come along by chance - he was merely caught with his morals down. He's still flitting around the region like a well-off moth. He is ubiquity. A brand. He's so overexposed he makes Paris Hilton look like a recluse.

***

The list of accusations against the former government is now longer than the constitution the junta ripped up. By the time all the lawyers look up from their stacks of files to even begin proceedings, we should have written a new one. There is little doubt the upcoming trials will be suffused with politicians' vanities and wreathed in the whiff of pettiness about loss of face and "position" in society. They will get their excuses in early and react to any accusation like a surprised mum in a detergent commercial.

As is usual in such cases, the fog of obfuscation will rise to leave a mist of confusion. What's the betting they will be moved aside rather than held to account? For the sake of national reconciliation.

But if the courts do get the chance to function as intended, a number of Thai Rak Thai politicians - ex and otherwise - could be looking nervously over their shoulders. Or will they? Prison won't faze them. How many corrupt politicians have been busted and jailed in the past 20 years? If memory serves, one. Heavy fines? Take it out of petty cash.

Perhaps a different approach is needed. How about entertainment? Maybe we could request all those involved in corruption to admit to it quick smart or be "invited" to jump into a fat vat of Uncle Vladimir Putin's (Kremlin Fresh) Radioactive Polonium 210, broadcast live on "The Bastards Got Me" show. Less dramatic perhaps, but no less fun, we could accuse them of doing disgraceful things they haven't even done, just for the sheer pleasure of hearing them deny it.

***

When the Office of the Attorney-General deputy spokesman Poramet Intharachumnum recently suggested that police should handle the re-examination of the alleged extrajudicial killings because they had, well, more information, I found my head slowly dropping down onto the keyboard.

Consider this. In the past three years 584 people have died in police custody, of which 348 cases were dismissed. Where is the indignation?

***

In 2005, according to the US State Department, fewer than half as many people were killed by Muslim terrorists throughout the world than were murdered in one country alone - Colombia. At his peak, drug baron Pablo Escobar was earning a cool US$500,000 (Bt18.27 million) a day, while his goons blew away 10 humans every 24 hours.

***

Meanwhile, in Soviet Britain, Tony Blair's government has created a staggering 3,000 new offences since coming to power. Today, the English can do what they like. So long as they do what they are told. The problem is the general collapse of trust. Almost every human relationship that was sensibly regulated by trust is now governed by law - with cripplingly expensive consequences.

Such a contrast to laid back, liberated Thailand where you have to go in search of rules in order to break them.

***

It hasn't been a great fortnight for two of the world's most famous icons. First up, Paul McCartney's "Ecce Cor Meum" classical album was met with underwhelming enthusiasm by the music critics. Comments ranged from "vacuous tosh" to "maudlin sentimentality" and "a feeble cod-classical meditation whose flailing vapidity of the music is matched only by the toe-curling triteness of the words", according to the Times in London. Ouch!

Meanwhile, The Guardian reports that the ranks of Bono's detractors are growing. There was the petty trial about getting his Stetson hat back from a dippy ex-employee who thought he'd "given" it to her. Then, during a gig in Ireland, Bono suddenly stopped singing, hushed his band, and waited for the audience to fall silent. Stepping into a spotlight, he began to rhythmically clap his hands. "Every time I clap my hands," he intoned, "a child dies in Africa."

Whereupon a voice from the audience yelled: "Well stop f***ing clapping then."

***

"Marry me, Paul, I have my own money." - Grafitto outside Abbey Road Studios.

***

"Having heard that Welsh Dragon sausages have been banned because they might mislead customers into thinking that they contain real Welsh Dragons I wonder how much planetary debris there is in a Mars Bar. We can only speculate as to the content of spotted dick." - John Murray in a letter to the London Daily Telegraph.

***

An early Christmas parable:

Bloomingdale's department store in New York City. A week before Christmas. The up-market store is packed with well-to-do shoppers. Gradually, people notice that everyone is staring up at something on the second level. They are staring at something extraordinary. A stunningly beautiful, elegantly tall Ethiopian woman. To add to this vision, she is wearing a full-length real fur coat. People can't take their eyes off her. Then, suddenly, a man jumps out from behind a potted plant a few feet in front of her. He's an animal activist. Bearded, scruffy, fierce. Insects hover around his hair as though it were a mother ship. He stands, chin out, legs apart, blocking her way. She stops, and the whole shop stops to watch. The man spits on the ground near her feet, points an accusing finger at her and screams: "Do you know how many animals died just to make that coat??!!"

Without blinking, she stares coolly at him, and replies: "Honey, do you how many animals I had to sleep with just to get it?"

 Compiled by Roger Beaumont