OPINION

Screen to lead

Re: "PP submits push to limit Senate's role", (BP, Nov 15).

Many of Trump's favourites for high-profile posts have little or no experience relevant to the duties sought. This situation is similar to ours, where clan loyalty is often all that counts. Thus, we should learn from the US how to screen cabinet candidates before they can take office.

There, would-be cabinet members and other high-level candidates must face public Senate hearings to prove their qualifications relevant to the office they aspire to. Then, they must win a majority Senate vote of approval before taking office.

Since our PM candidates may never have faced voters before leading our country, they, as well as other cabinet aspirants, should go through the Senate hearing and confirmation process.

Let's ensure only the most qualified serve our nation.

Hippocracy

Re: "Moo Deng releases song in 4 languages", (BP, Nov 14) & "The hippo, the pumpkin and the haggis", (PostScript, Nov 10).

The capitalisation of this pygmy hippo via inane TV coverage ("and the Gang"), puerile songs ("lyrics" featured on your front page), krathongs, and bogus religious souvenirs, does not, I think, improve Thailand's intellectual image globally.

But it is a money-maker, and that's what matters.

Similar to the exploitation of the worrying "Luk Thep" phenomenon a few years ago that mercifully seems to have become history.

Blasting the Fed

Re: "Fed-led gold rush", (PostBag, Nov 17).

Tarquin Chufflebottom's concern about Elon Musk eliminating the US Fed is justified. Since the 44 Allied nations met at Bretton Woods on July 1, 1944, the world has learnt the rules for international financial cooperation, starting with the establishment of the World Bank.

Now, two individuals who may appear to have the world in their hands are bombastically proposing to eliminate the Fed, which was established in 1913 after a series of financial panics in 1907. The two confidently use their wands to blast the Fed to the ground like in a fairy tale. Interestingly, a week ago, Fed chair Powell said he wouldn't resign if President-elect Trump asked him to leave.

Based on the records of Trump One, most respectable correspondents have already opined that under Trump Two, it is more important to see what he will do than what he has said.

The meat we eat

Re: "Man admits killing, eating dog", (BP, Nov 16).

If the tradition-respecting man in Chiang Rai killed his own property, the dog in question, painlessly, how is it any worse than killing a pig or a cow or a buffalo to eat? The "public reaction" appears hypocritical unless the public is vegetarian. Are they?

What different abilities do dogs have to cows, pigs, and the other animals our species regularly kill to eat that could justify the law treating their consumption differently?

CONTACT: