The Viking approach to homecoming

Published on January 21, 2008

She was unable to buy everything in the mall in one day, so she went back the next day and tried again.

The whole time there was a swarm of reporters buzzing around her saying, "What did you buy? What did you buy?"

They were, as usual, missing the point: It's not what you buy, it's the fact that you have spent. This was Khunying Pojaman's brave signal that Thai Rak Thai policy - spend, spend, spend - is alive and well, and please, with all due respect to His Majesty the King, let's put a cork in the silly talk about a sustainable economy.

(Everyone relax, that was sarcasm.)

(About Pojaman's spending.)

Thaksin's old and much-missed party did have a policy of promoting Otop items too - those ashtrays made from twigs and stuff. But Pojaman's buying beacon shone only on Versace and Gucci.

After Gaysorn, the Emporium was seized and looted, capped by high tea on the low floor at Salon de l'Oriental. The jewellers at the Peninsula quaked, then the waiters at the Erawan's coffee shop and Tour de France restaurant.

Cynical suggestions that Pojaman was out bingeing just to hang onto the limelight fell by the wayside as she evoked glorious memories of the Shinawatra spree in Singapore for New Year 2006 and the Great Hong Kong Raid that followed. Harrods in London is still restocking.

Pojaman is not, however, pillaging. As far as we know she actually pays for her purchases. Thus the Thai economy is surging. Let's keep things in perspective, people!

Shinawatra spending priorities

Thaksin (Mr Khunying Pojaman) Shinawatra doesn't make news - it comes to him. Sometimes it oozes out of the jelly doughnut he's eating and spills down his shirt.

At the moment he's trying to get out the stain left by the shock revelation that the trio of Thai football players recruited by his team, Manchester City, haven't been paid yet.

Suree Sukha, Teerasil Daengda and Kiatprawut Saiwaeo wanted to buy some food, but they don't have any money. This evidently came as a surprise to the football club's owner. He said he'd get right on it as soon as he finished his doughnut.

Unfortunately, our boys signed their contracts blind. Suree has a vague recollection of someone mentioning Bt300,000 a month in salary. If so, he's short Bt600,000.

Soopsip is resisting the temptation to spill Thaksin's coffee down his shirt too. After all, the chairman of the board at City has done a lot for the Football Association of Thailand by giving the national team a chance to practise in Manchester. And he flew a flock of journalists there to watch the training.

Maybe he was so busy welcoming everybody to his home turf that he forgot to authorise some paycheques. Promoting the club is his job now, right? And that's what he does - he was on ESPN the other day and then gave CNN World Sport a five-minute interview.

The CNN piece was a heartbreaker, by the way. Thaksin explained that it's only his passion for football that keeps his mind off  "the situation back home". To the Thai reporters who wanted to hear about Premier League strategy, he'd said, "I miss my home. I want to go home. I'm lonely."

Everyone was in tears, of course, and even Suree, who desperately wanted to ask the boss when he'd get paid, fell silent.

Foul play for fair skin

Rapiphon Vongtongkum pulled a double shift in the tham boon department recently.

The public-relations chief at Minor Corp planned to make merit by buying a whole bunch of footballs and classroom stationery for the underprivileged kids at Chao Thai Mai School in Phang Nga.

These she purchased over the course of two days among the shopping malls of Phuket.

The second charitable donation was an accident. Her beloved Gucci sunglasses went missing from her Phuket hotel room while she was in Phang Nga. Also vanished was an expensive tube of skin cream.

At least her colleagues were able to console her. "Don't worry," they said, "giving up your sun protection means you'll be born with fair skin in your next life!"

Enjoy more Soopsip on the Net. Visit NationMulti-media.com/weblog and search for Soopsip, where you'll find a steady diet of political and celebrity gossip.