Van Gaal worst trainer ever? Netherlands coach disagrees with Di Maria
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2022
Reuters
Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal went on the offensive on Thursday (December 8), defending his reputation as he sparred with reporters in another bellicose performance ahead of his country’s World Cup quarter-final against Argentina.
When one reporter pointed out that Angel di Maria, who played under Van Gaal at Manchester United and could feature for Argentina on Friday (December 9), had called him ‘the worst coach ever’, the Dutch manager was quick to respond.
“So he (Argentina striker Angel Di Maria, who played for him at Manchester United) called me the worst trainer?” van Gaal said.
To the surprise of a laughing striker Memphis Depay, seated next to him, van Gaal then said: “Here’s another one, next to me, Memphis Depay, who also played at Manchester. And now we’re going to kiss each other on the mouth.”
“No, we’re not going to do that. That’s how it goes in soccer.”
The Netherlands and Argentina last played against each other in the World Cup semi-final in 2014, which the Dutch famously lost in a penalty shootout with two misses. Both countries stressed they hoped that this time, the match would be decided without a shootout.
B-Floor Theatre’s new work questions who, or what, actually determines what’s good or bad in this country
As the audience walked into Bangkok Art and Culture Centre’s (BACC) 4th floor Studio for Dujdao “Dao” Vadhanapakorn’s new work “Paranoid – Schizoid”—the first work in B-Floor Theatre’s “Cloud State” as part of BACC’s 11th annual edition of Performative Art Project (PAP), we saw Dao and her B-Floor colleague and Teerawat “Ka-ge” Mulvilai walk around a circular stage filled with flour which, for Thai audiences or those who follow Thai politics, has political connotation.
Photo: Tanyathorn Khunapinya and Chatchada Piphatnangkool
Their voices were soft and she spoke through a wireless microphone and only he could hear her through his headphones.
Settling into our seats on one of the three audience stands set up around the performance area, my partner noted, “Ja (Jarunun Phantachat, B-Floor’s co-artistic director) looks comfortable lying there.” “Where is she?” I asked.
After my partner pointed to one area of the stage where Ja was almost totally covered by flour except for her head as if to remind me that it’s time to see my optometrist, I said, “Oh, I thought that’s a stage prop,” and asked “Where’s Golf (Ornanong Thaisriwong, another performer)?” as I was looking for her.
Dao then moved to stand behind a microphone stand where she asked, or ordered, Ka-ge, on the opposite side, to write down on the floor what he considered good and bad—for example, working hard for the former, and traffic jam for the latter.
Thanks to the live videocast projected onto two partition panels, we saw what he wrote. It’s noteworthy that these, like many parts of this performance, changed from one evening to another.
Later, Golf was carried in by Ka-ge and her all white costume and elegant postures made her look like an angel, if not a goddess. Her headdress was filled with so many black ping-pong balls that Ka-ge often sought the audience’s help to put back those that spilled over. My partner was given one but she might think of taking it home as a souvenir for our son.
Realizing our beagle wouldn’t enjoy it and wanting to get “experiential” with this work, I took it from her, walked to the stage and put it back into Golf’s headdress. On the way back to my seat, Ka-ge stopped me at every step and as I stood still he drew lines around my feet. After I was back in my seat, he wrote “OK”.
Subsequently, with Dao leading this game, or exercise, through microphones either publicly or privately through Ka-ge, the trio continued exploring, and questioning, the notions of the good and the bad in different ways, with spoken words and physical movements.
Both titles “Paranoid – Schizoid” and “Cloud State” are fitting and this work walks the talk indeed. Although it might not hit us hard as Ka-ge’s works, it made us think on after the curtain call. It’s been almost three years that we’ve all been affected by the global, plus many more years that we’ve been in the political turmoil and many political cases remain in the jurisdiction process.
Given the recent constitutional court’s decision on how to count the eight-year premiership, we don’t really know what else to expect. Just like when Ka-ge said “PM 2.5”, we cannot see, hear and think clearly as we cannot breathe heathy air. Just like that the audience couldn’t hear all Dao’s commands, we’re wondering what, or who, really determines what’s good or bad in this democratic country.
Notwithstanding the socially and politically relevant content and the treat of seeing four veteran B-Floor members sharing the stage, theatregoers who have followed Dujdao’s stage works for many years may feel that “Paranoid – Schizoid” is like old wine in a new bottle, with Dujdao’s all-too-familiar role of an onstage director/on-site psychiatrist. I suddenly thought of works by theatre masters like Peter Brook and Tadashi Suzuki. A major difference is that they started getting into their autopilot cruising mode when they’re in their 60s; Dujdao’s still in her 40s.
“Paranoid – Schizoid” runs daily until Sunday (December 11), 7pm. Next weekend (December 15 to 18), B-Floor’s “Cloud State” and BACC’s PAP#11 close with “It’s Just a Fiction (Not Mentioning Anything)”, a politically changed physical theatre work by newly graduated students from Thammasat University’s Faculty of Fine Arts. They noted, “Since our freshman year, we always wanted our senior project to be a devised physical theatre performance.”
Having taking classes with Crescent Moon Theatre’s Sineenadh Keitprapai, another Silpathorn Award laureate, as well as Ka-ge, their graduation project earlier this year was so well received that B-Floor invited them to join this Cloud State.
This is also the first student’s work to be part of PAP. Tickets for the former are Bt 750 and the latter Bt 600—buy both and save some bucks—available now at https://www.facebook.com/BFloor.Theatre.Group
This weekend and next (December 9-11 and 16-18), another Silpathorn Award laureate Pichet Klunchun invites us to “Take a Walk” with him at Thonburi Park.
This solo performance is described as “time management of the present in order to develop status and stability for the future”, promises to “relax your mind, put you in good shape, build muscles as well as strengthen bones, intestines, lungs and heart and is “recommended for all ages and genders.”
Tencent Cloud presents ‘Cloud-AI’ solutions at “Digital Night 2022”
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2022
At the gathering event by leading Thai digital associations on December 8, in Bangkok, Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of global technology company Tencent – reaffirms its vision to be a ‘Digital Enabler’, aiming to empower Thai organizations and businesses to accelerate digital transformation with its efficient, stable, and secure cloud-AI solutions.
Recently, Tencent Cloud participated in Digital Night 2022, organized by seven digital associations that play significant roles in the implementation of digital technology in Thailand.
The associations include the Association of Thai Software Industry (ATSI), Thai IoT Association, Thai Startup Association, Thai Programmer Association (TPA), Digital Technology Entrepreneur Trade Association (DTEA), Thai E-Commerce Association, and Metaverse Association of Thailand (Thai Metaverse).
At the event, Tencent Cloud set up a booth showcasing products and services that are able to meet a wide range of company needs, and was supported by a team of Tencent cloud and AI specialists to provide insight into the following cloud solutions:
Tencent Cloud EdgeOne: a platform that provides security protection and acceleration services for networks which can be tailored based on different business requirements.
Tencent Real-Time Communication: a product that allows developers to build solutions for audio calls, video calls, interactive live, and on-cloud recording which ensures stability, fast data transmission, and seamless communication.
Tencent Cloud solutions for Web3 & Metaverse: a suite of easy-to-use and secure tools and infrastructure that enables users to create and scale Web3 as a way of growing their businesses and acquiring new consumers. It also provides one-stop technical services that support enterprises to build their metaverse projects.
Tencent Cloud aims to escalate efficiency and agility for organizations in various industries with a secure network and high efficiency combined with expertise and an in-depth understanding of large-scale platforms. Leveraging on strong infrastructure, Tencent Cloud operates in 70 availability areas in 26 regions across the world and has 2 data centres in Thailand that ensure fast transmission, and stable and secure data transfer for all enterprises.
Kbank invests 6.5 billion baht to hold a total share of 67.5% of Bank Maspion
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2022
Kasikorn Vision Financial Company Pte. Ltd. (KVF) has completed the acquisition of additional shares of PT Bank Maspion Indonesia Tbk, with an investment value of USD 186.5 million (THB 6.528 billion), increasing Kbank’s total shareholding of Bank Maspion to 67.5%.
This investment is expected to generate new opportunities and help business entities access financial services while fortifying customers’ networks across Indonesia, thereby reiterating Kbank’s prominent leadership as a regional bank of AEC+3 in financial services offerings and technological capabilities.
Pattarapong Kanhasuwan, KVF‘s Chairman, has asserted that Kbank never ceased its zealous efforts to continue to expand and lead the financial panorama of Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia where the market has plenty of room for growth.
With such commitment, KVF, upon the approval of Bank Indonesia (BI), has successfully purchased additional shares of Maspion Bank to hold no less than 67.5 % of its total shareholding, with an investment value of USD 186.5 million (THB 6.528 billion). This accomplishment has subsequently led Kbank to become the controlling shareholder of Bank Maspion.
The acquisition of Bank Maspion, with an asset size of USD 888 million (THB 31.106 billion) including its 50 branches across Indonesia, has become Kbank’s first Merger and Acquisition deal within the group’s regional expansion strategy.
The success of the deal has taken place at the right time and the right moment not only in terms of the exponential growth in Indonesia’s loan demand, the recovering stage of the Indonesian economy during the post-covid pandemic, but also the promptness of the country to provide basic infrastructure thanks to increasing domestic investment, consumer spending, and exports.
Therefore, Kbank has profoundly pledged to be part of the steering mechanism that drives Indonesia’s economy by bringing to the table its unequivocal 77-year of experience, along with its cutting-edge technology and banking expertise of Kasikorn Business Technology Group (KBTG), a technological arm of Kbank, to solidify banking landscape of PT. Bank Maspion and drive it to become the largest bank in East Java, which, in turn, will meaningfully support Indonesia’s long-term economic growth.
In doing so, Bank Maspion has pursued multifaceted strategies in three different customer segments, including corporate/large businesses (Corporate), medium-sized businesses (Commercial) and retail customers (Retail).
Corporate/Large Corporate Segment PT. Bank Maspion has witnessed the growth potential of large local corporates (LLC) as an essential driving mechanism that deliberately gears Indonesia’s industrial sector. Essentially, the Bank aims to become a major funding source for such LLC customers by accelerating corporate lending offerings, in accordance with the industrial transformation and a unified domestic market.
Furthermore, PT. Bank Maspion supports foreign direct investment and economic development of Indonesia enabled by the National Development Plan. Not only will the plan help bring about a buoyant economy to the country, but it will particularly form an enabling investment environment that would lure capital and opportunities, particularly from Thai businesses (TDI) and foreign companies from AEC+3 countries.
Commercial Segment PT. Bank Maspion has placed an emphasis on providing lending support by promoting financial credits to serve the unmet needs of medium-sized businesses, thereby helping them unlock their potential and efficiently operate their businesses. Moreover, the Bank will leverage Kbank’s technological capabilities to bolster transactional banking services, which is strategic to levelling up the business playing fields of commercial customers while propelling them to grow into large-scale businesses in the future.
Retail Segment Finally, PT. Bank Maspion seeks to address the needs and provide accessibility for the larger pool of customers, the Indonesian people. In doing so, the Bank will employ mobile banking services, with developed functions and features, to additionally grasp a better understanding of customers’ behaviour. Thanks to the increasing usage of digital channels in Indonesia, PT. Bank Maspion believes that such a strategy will enhance the overall customer experience in all spectrums of financial services and eventually serve the evolving digital landscape of Indonesia.
In all, Pattarapong addressed that Kbank’s strengths in financial services and technological capabilities, together with Bank Maspion’s local banking expertise, are believed to bring about new prospects and enable businesses in Indonesia to access suitable financial services and efficiently grow their businesses. More importantly, Kbank will leverage its vast pool customer base in Thailand and in the region to create business networks in different aspects of the value chain and trade and investment spectrums—all of which are strategic to support business operations in Thailand, Indonesia, and other Southeast Asian countries going forward.
The acquisition of Indonesia’s Maspion Bank in 2022 is recent Kbank’s key strategy to advance its position as a regional bank of AEC+3 following the launching of its operations in Lao PDR in 2014, obtaining of an operating license in China in 2016, the opening of Phnom Penh branch in Cambodia in 2017, and the inaugural of the Ho Chi Minh City branch in Vietnam in 2021.
China’s economic growth will steadily pick up with the implementation of the 10 newly adopted measures on further optimizing the Covid-19 response, Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday, vowing to better coordinate the country’s epidemic response and socioeconomic development.
Centralized quarantine for Covid-19 patients has been made voluntary and the rule requiring a negative nucleic acid test result for domestic travel and entry to public venues has been scrapped, as the country takes “small, yet continuous steps” to adjust to the disease.
The isolation period for people infected with Covid-19 and their close contacts will be cut to five days starting Friday, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government announced Thursday.
Beijing and Riyadh agreed on Thursday to scale up Belt and Road cooperation, expand bilateral trade and investment and boost coordination on international and regional affairs during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Saudi Arabia.
A leading advisory think tank in Saudi Arabia signed on Dec 6 a memorandum of understanding to promote cross-regional cooperation in energy research between the country and China.
Japan sent two fighter jets to the Philippines for the first time as part of a bilateral air force exchange program, as the two US allies seek to reinforce military alliances amid regional tensions.
China’s hegemonic moves are described as “the greatest strategic challenge” Japan faces in a draft of the National Security Strategy (NSS), which is set to be revised in mid-December.
With the Young Persons’ Achievement Award, Dr Nguyen Huyen Duc has become the first Vietnamese scientist to receive the prize from the United Kingdom’s Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS).
India assumed the presidency of the Group of Twenty (G20) on December 1 for a one-year term with the theme of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” or “One earth, one family, one future”. The theme underlines the interconnectedness of the world that we are living in as the issues are global.
Four years ago, the Supreme Court struck down Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised adultery. At the time, the apex court had noted that few nations had laws penalising adultery, although many retained some form of a legal injunction against the practise as part of divorce laws. The court took note of the fact that several countries had removed adultery from the list of crimes. Among these are China, Japan, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, and most European countries. At that time, it was countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh in our neighbourhood and others such as Morocco and the United Arab Emirates that criminalised adultery.
Southeast Asia is adjusting to a new normal with the welcome return of travel and in-person gatherings, be it at work, with family and friends, while shopping, or for play. While it’s easy to slip back into old routines, some habits adopted during the pandemic—such as a heavier reliance on e-commerce—are here to stay.
Hong Kong and Singapore have long squared off to be the preeminent finance hub for Asia. That battleground is now shifting to the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space, with potentially trillions of dollars at stake.
The country’s agriculture and forestry industry continues to suffer as it had the largest employment drop in the third quarter of 2022, according to the latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Samsung on Thursday invited local startups to collaborate on technologies around the ‘Digital India’ stack, including unified payments interface (UPI), Digilocker, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) and Unified Health Interface (UHI), among others.
The South Korean government pledged to make pan-governmental efforts to lift some of the regulations on businesses as part of its drive to draw more foreign-invested companies, the Trade Ministry said Thursday.
Salaries in Southeast Asia Expected to Increase in 2023, Aon Survey Reveals
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2022
Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm, released insights from its 2022 Salary Increase and Turnover Study for Southeast Asia, revealing that salaries in the region are expected to increase slightly for 2023 compared to 2022.
The study was conducted in the third quarter of 2022, surveying the salary changes and turnover rates of more than 700 companies across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Median salary increase budgets are forecasted across industries at 6.8 % for Indonesia 5 .1 % for Malaysia, 6 % for the Philippines, Singapore at 4.7 %, 5.1 % for Thailand and 7.9 % for Vietnam.
While inflation plays a significant role in how salary changes look across the region, they are also driven by supply and demand in the talent market. High attrition rates across southeast Asia in 2022 are putting pressure on firms to use compensation measures to tackle hiring and retention challenges: 15.9 % in Indonesia, 14.9 % in Malaysia, 18 % in the Philippines,19.6 % in Singapore, 15.4 % in Thailand and 15.2 % for Vietnam.
Rahul Chawla, partner and head of Human Capital solutions for southeast Asia at Aon said, “While it is critical for businesses to define and adapt pay for different worker types and the nature of the work, organisations must stay agile as they rethink their pay principles. Businesses need to shape their strategies towards long-term drivers of pay and performance by making changes in a phased manner to optimise pay effectiveness. In addition, companies must define their 2023 salary increase approach in the context of the competitiveness of their current salary levels and employee value proposition. Companies that adopt a skill-based compensation programme will help ensure they can continue to build future skills for their organisation’s resilient workforce.”
The survey further revealed that salary increases in 2022 varied across industries across the region, with the retail industry having the highest increases (6.5 %), followed by technology and life sciences (6.1 %) and financial institutions (5.9 %). The ongoing technology and digital skills shortage across the region as a consequence of firms competing to accelerate the transformation and drive their digital initiatives resulted in higher year-on-year increases in salaries and total compensation for technology and data analytics roles compared to others. However, with the recent reports of a potential global economic slowdown, firms are taking a cautious approach and focusing on salary increases for selected employee groups or levels as they navigate a volatile and uncertain environment.
Alina Cheng, senior consultant, Human Capital Solutions for Southeast Asia at Aon said, “With the rise of fintech and digital banks in the region, roles in areas such as risk, compliance and talent acquisition are in demand. Firms are paying a premium to attract new talent at the junior and middle management levels for these roles. As a result, over the past two years, we have seen compensation structures shifting towards lesser variables and pay at risk and an increased focus on salaries. There is no one-size-fits-all approach for developing a salary increase strategy in a volatile environment. Employers must constantly analyse the market, study the available data and contextualise the unique circumstances of their industry and organisation to make better and more informed decisions.”
Across the world, plant species are disappearing fast
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2022
Mankind depends on plants for food, clothing, shelter, and medicine, but little is in fact known about the world’s more than 400,000 plant species.
Unlike animals, botanists can’t track a plant’s footprints through the forest or call them in with whistling songs. As a result, we’re often not even sure what the world is losing until it’s too late.
“I think the greatest threat immediately to the plants in the world is land use change, be that for agriculture or housing, it’s certainly an immediate threat where forests are cut down and pristine grasslands are ploughed,” Dr Carly Cowell, Conservation policy Lead at the Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) Kew, told Reuters.
With the world’s remaining jungles and boreal forests still being converted for activities such as livestock farming, palm oil plantations or urban development, at least 40% of the world’s remaining plant species are in trouble and the rate of plant extinctions are at least 500 times higher than the background rate of extinction, according to Kew’s 2020 State of the World’s Plants and Fungi report.
Scientists have now spent decades in sterile laboratories carefully cultivating the remaining individuals of vanishing species and saving seeds in enormous vaults. With an immense array of scientific tools at their disposal, it’s time to start planning for what comes next, scientists said.
As some botanists have even begun discussing outplanting species beyond their known native range as a “hedge against climate change,” Dr Colin Clubbe, a senior researcher at Kew is calling on scientists to look out from the labs to get planting in the wild.
“This is yellow fatu, the Abutilon pitcairnense, found only on the island of Pitcairn in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and this is a plant that was really on the edge of extinction,” Clubbe told Reuters in Kew’s Temperate House which he dubs ‘a cathedral to plants.’
“It was being surrounded and attacked by invasive species and a landslide took the whole population away and destroyed the last remaining plant,” he said.
But the efforts of a local conservation officer mean the plant is still growing, in Kew and the Caymans.
“40,000 seeds were sent back to the Millennium Seed Bank so it’s now safe in ex situ conservation in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank seeds, but also on (Cayman) island now it’s secure in the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park where they using it to promote it as a landscaping plant and getting people to grow that in their homes and to secure the future of this plant, that’s unique only to the Cayman Islands,” Clubbe said.
World leaders meeting in Montreal, Canada, to develop a global strategy for protecting and conserving nature, hope to persuade countries to set aside 30% of their land for protection in the next seven years – providing potential safe havens for plants.
US basketball star Griner freed in swap for Russian arms dealer Bout
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2022
US basketball star Brittney Griner has been released in a prisoner swap with Russia and is on her way back to the United States, President Joe Biden said on Thursday, ending what he called months of “hell.”
The Russian foreign ministry said it traded Griner for Russian citizen Viktor Bout, a former arms dealer. The swap took place at the Abu Dhabi airport in the United Arab Emirates, Russian news agencies said.
“She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held under intolerable circumstances,” Biden told reporters at the White House. “This is a day we’ve worked toward for a long time. We never stopped pushing for her release.”
Griner, 32, a star of the Women’s National Basketball Association‘s Phoenix Mercury, was arrested on Feb. 17. Talks to secure her release were complicated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 and the subsequent deep souring of ties between Washington and Moscow.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone with Griner from the Oval Office, along with Griner’s wife, Cherelle. The White House released a photo of the telephone call.
“These past few months have been hell for Brittney,” and for her wife, Biden said.
A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport when vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is banned in Russia, were found in her luggage.
She was sentenced on Aug. 4 to nine years in a penal colony on charges of possessing and smuggling drugs. She had pleaded guilty, but said she had made an “honest mistake” and had not meant to break the law.
Last month she was taken to a penal colony in the Russian region of Mordovia to serve her prison sentence.
Biden said the United States would continue to work to free Paul Whelan, a former Marine, who the president said Russia was treated differently.
“Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case differently than Brittney’s. And while we have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release, we are not giving up. We will never give up,” Biden said.
Biden thanked the United Arab Emirates for helping facilitate Griner’s return.
Bout, 55, was one of the world’s most wanted men before his arrest and was variously dubbed “the merchant of death” and “the sanctions buster” for his ability to get around arms embargoes.
For almost two decades, Bout became the world’s most notorious arms dealer, selling weaponry to rogue states, rebel groups and murderous warlords in Africa, Asia and South America. For experts on the Russian security services, Moscow’s lasting interest in Bout hint strongly at Russian intelligence ties.
Commentators split on Prince Harry and Meghan’s Netflix series
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2022
From sympathy to criticism, reaction to Prince Harry and his wife’s Meghan Netflix documentary series released on Thursday has been mixed.
The highly-anticipated series has been billed as the couple giving their story, talking about their relationship, royal life and media scrutiny. Netflix released the first three episodes on Thursday, with the rest following next week (December 15).
Nick Bullen, editor-in-chief of True Royalty TV, said he was not impressed.
“I think the new series of Harry and Megan is possibly the most self-serving piece of television I’ve seen in quite a while … I’m not sure I’d call it a documentary I think it’s really a reality show and it is literally me me me me the whole time,” Bullen told Reuters.
“This is (reality TV show) ‘The Kardashians’ on a regal level … I think what people will look at is this beautiful house that they live in, the private jets that they fly … cashmere clothes that they’re all wearing and think they’ve done this for money.”
Lester Holloway, editor of British Black newspaper The Voice – which Harry’s father King Charles recently guest-edited – said he was touched by the first three episodes.
“I was very moved by it obviously it’s a love story but it’s also talking about the story of their struggles as a new couple, the struggles and the challenges they faced together, their journey their romance and of course the battles with the media and the personal cost,” he said.
In the series, Harry said the British royal family had dismissed race-related hounding of Meghan by the press as a rite of passage as the couple delivered a fierce attack on the media.
He drew comparisons between how papers had treated Meghan and the intense media intrusion that his mother Princess Diana had suffered. Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997 as her limousine sped away from chasing paparazzi photographers.
Harry, who along with Meghan stepped down from royal duties two years ago and moved to California, said it was his duty to expose the “exploitation and bribery” of the media.
“The very fact that they had left for privacy is it’s just blown apart in this,” Bullen said.
“We’re taken really inside their life in a way that I find very surprising because they left seeking privacy and here
they’ve thrown the doors wide open on their lives.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex‘s disclosures included Meghan recalling her first death threat, Harry talking about wearing disguises to their dates, and previously unseen footage of their son Archie.
Harry said the couple had “sacrificed everything”, and that he was terrified of his wife being driven away by the media. Meghan’s father is white and her mother is African American.
“In those early days people really really wanted this to work, I mean just look at the wedding day it was one of the most joyous days in many years in the UK, so I think Harry and Meghan‘s take of the press were against us from the start is simply not correct but did it turn, yes,” Bullen said.
“But I think there is a view that at that point Harry and Meghan were beginning to turn – there were already signs that there were cracks in the relationship between the brothers, there were signs that they were sort of pushing back against the royal family and I think the royal family from what I am told, within the institution, within the press team, were doing everything they could to support them.”
In the documentary, Harry referred to “the pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution” (the royal family).
“It’s interesting that Harry did say … he was told that every new wife coming into the royal family experiences this, we know that that is not quite the case, that actually yes, there was an intrusion into the lives and backgrounds of everyone who has joined the royal family, married into the royal family but this has been on another scale,” Holloway said of Meghan’s experience.
“I think that race has very much to do with it, I think one of the good things about the Netflix documentary is it it actually tries to interweave on many different occasions, the history and the current lived experience.”
The initial episodes held no bombshells for the royal family.
“It was hyped up beforehand as being a full bloodied attack on the royals and certainly, the first three episodes weren’t that,” Holloway said.
“It was largely focused on the media and in many ways the media is a partial reflection on society, so in that sense, I think that this was not just about Meghan and Harry and the media, it was also about us as well. It’s about British society and hopefully, this will be an opportunity for some reflection.”
TAT’s ‘Travel Now, Free Now’ fair to offer spectacular deals next week
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 09, 2022
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is launching the “Travel Thailand: More Amazing Than Ever” promotion to bolster the domestic tourism industry after the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Visitors will get to explore more than 300 stalls set up by hotels, resorts, restaurants and tourist attractions, some offering discounts of up to 70%, TAT deputy governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool said on Thursday.
Some highlights are:
• One day trip to Ko He in Phuket, four islands in Krabi or Ko Lipe in Satun starting at 99 baht
• A night in a standard double room at The Chic Lipe, Satun for just 999 baht ++ from the original price of 2,500 baht ++
• A night at Keeree Warin Chiewlarn Resort, Surat Thani, for just 999 baht ++ from the original price of 4,000 baht ++
Every 5,000 baht spent at the fair can also earn visitors an 800-baht voucher (limited to 200 per day and one per person) that can be used at participating hotels, resorts and attractions.
There will also be a golden hour every day from 1pm to 2pm and 4pm to 5pm when people can buy a plane ticket, rent a car, book a room or buy a petrol voucher and get another for free (only at participating stalls).
The event also features concerts and stage performances.
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