Word: thailand
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...blue-chip brand abroad. But some of its rivals are doing just that. In the past decade, Harrow and Dulwich, two public (that is, fee-paying) schools in the London area with big reputations, have opened five franchises overseas between them - primary and secondary schools in China and Thailand that share their names and advertise a British-style education. Harrow now receives "six figures" per annum and Dulwich a "sizable amount" from their franchises abroad, say school officials. They are frank about wanting the money: with their operating costs increasing and the fees they charge parents rising faster than household...
...much of Asia, royalty is still a fact of life, a constant and living presence. In Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej is just such a presence. Last week, Thais marked, with genuine joy, the 60th anniversary of the King's coronation-five days of dazzling celebrations attended by crowned heads from 25 nations...
...voluntarily dethrone himself to encourage democracy in his country. In nearby Nepal, King Gyanendra moved in the opposite direction, claiming absolute power for himself and reinstating his parliament only after his people rose up to protest his rule by fiat. Similar, though far more peaceful, demonstrations took place in Thailand, against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The country appeared headed toward political chaos until King Bhumibol stepped in this spring and urged the contending parties to settle their differences...
...Thailand's King possesses the moral authority to do this because he sits above politics, as if belonging to a different realm. He knows that his role as King is to be a symbol, not a personality, precisely because (unlike a politician) he does not have to hustle and promote himself to win the people's favor. King Bhumibol happens to be hugely admired across Thailand, acclaimed as a musician, painter, patent-holding inventor and, most of all, philanthropist, who constantly goes around his kingdom offering development projects to help his people. But what he really seems to have mastered...
...monarch to be perfect; it's his job to keep his imperfections to himself. Thailand's 78-year-old King, the longest-ruling royal in the world, has done this with particular success. As we watched the old-fashioned titles and costumes assemble in Bangkok last week, it was possible to speak, unlike Richard II, of the life-not death-of kings and kingship...