Regarding the multitude of articles and comments concerning the luxury watch scandal involving Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon,
I was working in Hong Kong a few years ago when I took my old and battered Rolex to the Rolex Centre in Central to get a cost estimate on repair and restoration.
I knew when and where I'd bought it, but the original certificate with serial number had long been lost. However, the serial number is stamped on the casing, so, within half an hour, the centre had stripped the watch down and traced its history, including official servicing in Kuala Lumpur some 30 years ago.
The lady informed me that as it was a very old model, it would have to be sent to Geneva for a full estimate and that she would call me when she had the details. As I would be leaving Hong Kong soon, I explained that time was short, so she had her technician put the timepiece back together and said that my nearest centres to Thailand were Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and I could liaise through them when I had the opportunity.
So, I thanked her for her efficiency and left -- all within the hour and with no charges.
In light of my experience, I fail to see how tracking the provenance of the mysterious timepieces in question should take more than eight months and counting.
These watches will all be much more recent than mine and the original certificates are mostly likely still in existence, complete with dealers' stamps, so why the inordinate delay?
Another point that I haven't seen addressed in any reports is: Where physically are these items now?
The thick plottens, to use a common malapropism!
Bernie Hodges
Songkhla
Blots on the landscape
An Mcot story reported that in a few years, nearly 800,000 people will cross between the two sides of Bangkok separated by the Chao Phraya River, by public transit or private vehicles. The report says that new bridges have to be built in order to cope with the projected traffic.
The government should start considering tunnels. There are many other successful tunnels all over the world that go under rivers. Yes, building a tunnel may be more expensive than a bridge, but in the long run, there is no blot on the landscape. It presents fewer obstacles to river traffic, and causes less destruction in neighbourhoods leading up to and away from entrance and exit sites. It is definitely worth considering.
Think of how lovely Sukhumvit and Silom might have been, lined with trees, ample sunlight, more traffic lanes, should that monstrosity called the "Skytrain" have not been built, but a subway instead. However, this being Thailand, a quick solution will be made without forethought for the future, a band-aid patch, as is always the case.
Jack Gilead
Supreme statesman
I was saddened to hear of the death of Senator John McCain. He will be remembered as a man of principle, yet someone who would sit down with his political opponents and compromise if it was in the best interests of his country to do so.
He stood for president against Barack Obama and lost in a campaign free of the vicious personal attacks seen in that of Trump versus Clinton. It is testament to Senator McCain's statesmanship that President Obama then went on to seek his advice after election on several occasions. For both of these great men, the greater good of their country came first above personal ambitions.
Senator McCain also was prepared to speak out against his own Republican Party's members and policies if he felt it was in his country's interests. It fell to him to make the most damning criticism of President Trump after his recent conference with Russia's President Putin in Helsinki, describing it as "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory".
The USA mourns a statesman of supreme moral courage and integrity.
Andy Phillips
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