Through a Glass Darkly

Since Nov. 2010 I think I have detected the merest zephyr of change that has wafted across the Thai desk at the London Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). Certainly not enough of a breeze to ruffle the feathers of a certain 'Shelia' in the British Embassy in Bangkok. Nevertheless, when she visited me yesterday (Feb 3^rd 2011) to; amongst others, deliver a bollocking for continuing to exercise my right to blog; a new word has entered her lexicon: Transparency. Seemingly there's a plan afoot that embassy staff have to be a shade clearer in their attempts at cover ups.

As laudable as the Foreign Secretary's directive is, by the time it has been “filtered” past the Mandarins such as Haigh – the head of the Thai Desk it has been watered down.

Onto Dufall. The distortion has resumed its usual opaqueness in order to protect the guilty. Transparency has arse. How about a little more on the whys and wherefores of Quinten Quayle deserting the stinking shit, oops the sinking ship of Wireless Road? Nothing to do with Dufall's collusion with the Thai filth on extracting wodges of dosh from Stephen Ingram and Xi Lin in 2009 perchance?

Or maybe it was Dufall's refusal to notify the families Adam Lloyd and Vanessa Arscot of Police Sergeant Somchai Wisetsingh's application for Parole. Under Thai law the families of the victims can object to parole being granted.

Some of the blog readers will wonder whether this new era of transparency extends to Dufall's penchant for refusing to commit herself to the written statement. She is very quick to make a verbal statement, but will never confirm it on a signed document – including e-mail. Should Dufall be later taken to task over a glib assurance, she'll swear like a swagman that she never made the statement and without any paperwork we cant prove any of it.

I've many instances of this from personal experience, but I will cite an example of this from my legal advisor, Jake. Jake had sent me 2 mechanical torches a couple of years back. The parcels screw seized them. Jake was concerned as they had sentimental value. He phoned Dufall (an international call) to recover them. She assured him that they were perfectly safe and that all Farang property seized by the priosn was recoverable by the Embassy. As this was a verbal statement Jake, being a legal man, wanted something more concrete. He emailed her for a written statement. To this day a response is outstanding!!

Perhaps somone could email a copy of this blog to Haigh of the FCO? Ask him if this wind of change heralding FCO/Embassy transparency includes Dufall also? Don’t hold your breath waiting for a reply though.