House debate was like watching apes in a zoo

Take for example, the sickening and shallow mentality expressed by PPP member Chavarin Latthasaksiri, who repeatedly protested that Thaksin be referred to in full as Police Lieutenant Colonel Thaksin Shinawatra. He argued that the commissioned title was conferred by the King, and no one could decommission Thaksin in the House of Representatives. In addition, Pracha Prasopdee, a Samut Prakarn MP, constantly stood up and shouted protests.

The lower House looks like a zoo when we have such a bunch of buffoons like Pracha and Chavarin as members.

My conclusion can be summarised in a quotation from "The Open Society and Its Enemies" by Karl Popper: "Theorists of democracy should not ask 'who should rule', but rather, 'how can we so organise political institutions that bad or incompetent rulers can be prevented from doing much damage?'"

Chamnong Watanagase

Bangkok

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The burning question: do we have a senile PM?

Having watched PM Samak Sundaravej's speech in Parliament in answer to accusations of mismanagement levelled at him by opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, one wonders whether the 73-year-old veteran is fit and capable as our national leader.

It seems all the allegations never got answered. Samak's slanderous remarks against the opposition leader showed he is good only at nit-picking and fussing. He failed to answer the questions concerning his responsibilities.

One wonders whether we have a senile person looking after our country, and where our national ship is heading, if anywhere.

Chavalit Van

Chiang Mai

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Fat travellers have other transport options

Re: "Charge a fat fee for all types of transport", Letters, June 21.

S Tsow's letter taking the "overweight surcharge" to the next level was humorous and pointed out the absurdities of discrimination against this class of people. He does however correctly point out that there is validity to assigning true cost analysis for commercial airline travel.

 Why does the 20-kilo, five-year-old child's ticket cost the same as the 150-kilo adult sitting in the next seat? It's one way society gives tacit approval to people who cannot control their eating. It is time we demanded action. Now that we have to pay for every piece of luggage we check on to an aircraft, it is time to charge morbidly obese people who want to fly with normal people. 

Vastly overweight people should pay more than normal-sized passengers, and our ticket costs should be reduced accordingly. If fat people don't want to pay the fair costs to transport their extra flesh from point to point there are alternatives: trains have more room than aircraft; cruise ships never have to unload the mail before takeoff to accommodate the additional weight of fat passengers; lastly, they should consider teleconferencing. In this, the electronic age, with wide-angle lenses, they can be almost anywhere in seconds while still eating a large pizza.

Let's not be cruel, but we have to do something to free up our space and improve our quality of life. Take back our airline seats!

David Barkdull

Bangkok

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The luggage weighing scale is not for humans

Re: "Heavy fliers should pay a higher fuel surcharge", Letters, June 21.

Having to pay the fuel surcharge (Bt7,345) for his daughter of 24 kilograms, which is the same charge for another heavyweight passenger of 90kgs, the writer calls for justice and surcharges based on passengers' weights.

What a lovely thought for most Asians! However, is it practical, and would it not be insulting to have to step on the scales along with one's baggage? Aren't our lives regimented enough? In life, sometimes one simply has to accept a rule on average.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok