Cabbies to blame too
Re: "DLT warns against taxi airport blockades", (BP, May 22).
When I arrived in Bangkok 25 years ago, it was easy to hop in to any taxi.
They stopped immediately, and turned on their meter without question to take passengers near or far.
In recent years, this is no longer the case. In nearly every instance, drivers stop, roll down their window then refuse to take (both Thai and/or other) customers to their destination.
I often see a handful of taxis stop then drive away empty for one reason or another. Most refuse to turn on their meters so they can charge an artificially high fixed fare.
While I agree metered fares may be too low, taxi drivers have become their own worst enemies.
Therefore, it's no surprise people choose a ride-hailing app with a known fixed price rather than continue with frustrating attempts to hail a metered taxi.
Jerry Feldman
Food being poisoned
Re: "Unsafe heavy-metal levels in three northernmost rivers", (BP, May 21).
The subtitle of this article, "Pollution comes from outside Thailand" is quite misleading.
It suggests two things -- Thailand does not pollute its waterways, and heavy metals in the food and water supply are due to foreigners, in this case gold mines in Myanmar's Shan State where the river starts.
The Pollution Control people, the deputy permanent secretary of Health and the Department of Disease Control all weighed in on the matter, but who is responsible for cleaning up this nationwide problem?
Of note is the fact the food supply is not checked regularly, particularly rice and vegetables.
Yes, residues of pesticides, glyphosate, herbicides, and chemical fertilisers can be remediated somewhat by washing, but a vast array of poisonous pollutants, nano-plastics and heavy metals are now incorporated into food.
Water can be filtered to address many of these problems but once contained in food, little can be done.
Michael Setter
Hatred spreads
Re: "Students can try Oz," (BP, May 25th, 2025).
I read Dennis Fitzgerald's good-hearted comments pertaining to President Trump's attempted and impending removal of foreign students at Harvard University.
I'd like to point out that, in times of prolonged economic hardship, people inevitably turn on each other and I recently had a similar hateful experience to that of many stunned foreign students at Harvard University.
I was having a pleasant online chat with an American about life in Thailand and I mentioned that the cost of my food & groceries is a fraction of what I would pay in America. ...big mistake.
Abruptly, he flew into a tirade and said I should surrender my citizenship (because I can afford groceries here and many Americans, including him, now struggle to afford groceries due to inflation and a dead economy.)
That hurt a bit, but the cold reality is people might help each other early on in a down economy, but eventually they turn on each other and someone must be to blame.
Given my recent conversation, I would say hatred cuts both ways and I'm not crying over these foreign students' hurt feelings.
Jason A Jellison
