HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

Family Money

Snap Shot

Modern Medicine

Practical Thai Law

Heart to Heart with Hillary

Bits ‘n’ Bobs

Personal Directions

Social Commentary by Khai Khem

Women’s World

FAQ about wine

Family Money: Fears & Perceptions

By Leslie Wright,
Managing director of Westminster Portfolio Services (Thailand) Ltd.

For the past several months, investors have become increasingly alarmed at the continued slide of major equity markets. They see the value of their hard-earned money dwindling away, and anxiously wonder whether to cash in the remainder, or move into something that sounds like it might perform better, or hold on for the recovery which their portfolio manager has been predicting almost every month for the past two years.

We read about CEO’s of major corporations having taken huge salaries and bonuses from companies that just a few weeks later went into receivership. These CEOs have been able to walk away rich men, while their stockholders lost a fortune.

Then we hear about widespread accounting malpractices, even in giant corporations, and start to wonder if this is not a huge conspiracy to swindle us out of our money. It is little wonder that investors have lost confidence in equity markets.

Many have been anxiously awaiting the next terrorist attack that some TV pundits are "sure" will happen: they have a 50% chance of such predictions coming true.

As a result of all this, investors have been nervously looking for safe alternatives, or simply keeping their money in cash deposits.

But some unscrupulous financial advisers have been taking advantage of investors’ fears, suggesting they encash their existing investments - which on paper may have lost a considerable proportion of their original value in the past two years - and invest the proceeds into what sounds to the nervous investor like a much safer "guaranteed" bond or hedge fund. It may sound like a good idea - but in fact this move will incur another set of charges, and earn the salesman a handsome commission, which a cynic might suggest is his sole motivation in making such a suggestion.

The investor will have paid entry costs twice, and perhaps exit penalties as well; and his money may be more ‘locked in’ or able to access far fewer funds than before - perhaps only those from the vehicle provider rather than from an extensive ‘menu’ covering the whole investment spectrum. Indeed, our investor may end up with a vehicle that may be more expensive and less flexible than the one he was inappropriately persuaded to sell out of.

Change the horses, not the cart

In many cases, the real need is to switch funds, not vehicles. In effect, to swap lame or faltering horses for steadier ones, or with more stamina for the long haul, or better able to cross rough ground - rather than dump the whole cart and lose the deposit you’ve already paid.

Switching funds can be done easily, swiftly, and generally at little or no cost.

Some may not appreciate the wisdom of switching; thinking that doing so will also lock in the loss you’ve been warned about if you cash in the whole program.

Yes, if you encash the whole program, you will indeed lock in whatever loss that up to that point was only on paper: you have actually lost nothing until you cash the whole thing in.

That is the worst thing you could do at this juncture. It might have been a shrewd move to cash it up back in April 2000, just before the slide began - maybe. If you had a crystal ball that told you that the next 21/2 years would all be downhill for equity markets.

Now? After such heavy paper losses? Unless you desperately need the money, it’s downright daft to let fear rule logic, and cash in after only two or three years what was originally bought as a long-term investment - and lock in the loss.

It’s even dafter to take that money and put it into something else which incurs another set of charges unless you’re absolutely sure that the second vehicle will give you a better net return after charges than the first one would have over the same period. And no-one with an ounce of professional integrity will be able to tell you for sure that it will. It might, yes. If the markets do this, or don’t do that. But for sure? One-can only be absolutely sure in hindsight, and at this juncture most professional commentators are unwilling to commit themselves to one side of the fence or the other.

But switching funds within that vehicle is not the same at all as cashing up the whole investment.

Yes, funds that have failed to deliver expected performance or are unlikely to perform well in the coming period, are dumped. But the proceeds are immediately reinvested at little or no cost into other funds that are expected to perform better or with less anxiety-causing volatility going forward. Hence the justification for the switch.

The better collective-investment instruments provide a very wide range of ‘horses’ to choose from: at the safest end of the spectrum are staid & steady cash deposits. (Yes, the investment that has been causing you so much anxiety could perhaps have been temporarily switched into no-risk cash or money-market funds until the markets or your nerves settle down - without having to sell the whole ‘cart’ and suffer redemption penalties for so doing).

Then there are international bond funds - which are relatively low risk, and produced a positive return in the past year.

There is also a wide spectrum of ‘theme’ funds to choose from, and hedge funds, and specialist funds, which include property & traded endowment funds.

Then of course the whole range of global, regional and single-country equity funds for those who believe the bottom has already been reached and it’s time to reinvest to gain from the upswing.

Thus a finely turned portfolio can be constructed appropriate to your particular risk-aversion profile and projected market conditions.

But the selection should be done judiciously, and at this juncture, perhaps conservatively. The ‘horses’ can be switched again as soon as market conditions indicate another move is advisable.

But even this relatively simple level of portfolio management requires a degree of monitoring and professional experience and expertise which few individual investors - or even financial advisers - have the time or inclination to devote. If you’ll forgive the immodesty, providing this level of service is precisely what has built Westminster Portfolio Services’ reputation for providing a quality service to quality clients, and retained their loyalty since the firm was established here 5 years ago.

So if you’re worried about your investments or the markets, give me a call: I’ll be happy to give you a check-up and make some recommendations on a "best advice" basis, and at no cost.

Snap Shot: Break the rules getting close

by Harry Flashman

This week it is back to people photography - the kind of snaps that most people take, most of the time. There is really no secret in taking good portraits and Harry here has been over the "rules" many times. Try to ensure that your lighting is coming from above and slightly off to the side, use a long lens (around 135 mm is ideal) and look out for distracting backgrounds (see last week’s column on backgrounds). If you can, use a wide f stop (around f 4 is good) and get the subject to turn his or her head slightly, while you move around them, snapping away as the facial expression changes. You will get a good shot doing just that.

However, sometimes you can get a brilliant shot just by breaking the "rules". Take a look at this week’s photographs. Portraits with plenty of punch, plenty of personality and a sense of immediacy. Long lens? No! Lighting off to the side and from above? No! Attention to the background? No! Yet these are good portraits and all the rules have been broken. So what or who do you believe?

Well, the first thing is to look again at the photographs. These shots get their immediacy from the activity in the shot. One man is half way through a plate of pasta, with his fork raised and has obviously been interrupted during eating. The second man is filling his plate at Shenanigans buffet, and again has been stopped in the middle of what he was doing.

Now you could get these shots with the long lens, but by using one, you would stop the interaction between the subject and the photographer, being so far away while you take the shot. By using a wide angle lens, in this case a 24 mm, the subject was surprised by the photographer with the closeness. The subjects could not escape. They were caught by the photographer, like rabbits in front of the headlights of a car. It is not stretching your credulity to say that both have that startled look of, "Where did you just bob up from?"

Now the lighting. While the "ideal" is the light coming from above at 45 degrees and slightly from the side, both these shots were taken with a flash mounted to the camera. Nothing fancy in any way. To have tried to set up the "ideal" lighting would have meant that the subject became a knowing part of the photograph. Immediacy? Surprise? None!

The moral of all this is simple. If you want "dynamic action" portraits, break all the rules of classical portraiture. You are really now in the realms of photojournalism. This is the walk up close, "in-your-face" style of photography. You may, of course, get an earful of abuse from some subjects, but you have to be brave and brazen it all out. After all, look at the shot you may get.

Please note, however, that there is one rule that was not broken - and that was to make the subject the "hero" and the dominant part of the photograph. The subjects in these photographs fill the frame, and with the wide angle lens that did mean walking in close. Real close! Try getting in close this weekend. With the camera!

Modern Medicine: We may have a problem here! Where? In ear!

by Dr Iain Corness, Consultant

One of my favourite sayings has been, "The smallest thing you should put in your ear is your elbow." This is designed to stop people putting small things in their ears. I was reminded of this the other day while scratching around inside my ear canal with my car key! Having found some wax, I reverted to that well known medical implement, the unfolded paper clip! A classic example of "Do as I say, not do as I do."

There are of course, many good reasons for the elbow in the ear aphorism. I do not know just how many times I have examined a painful ear to find a lump of cotton wool or a cotton bud lurking at the bottom of the ear canal. Any foreign body left in the external ear canal is the ideal breeding ground for all sorts of strange bacteria and fungus that can present as the condition we call Otitis Externa (OE).

Otitis Externa refers to any infection of the external ear canal, that bit of your hearing apparatus from the outer surface of your eardrum and leading to the outside world at your ear.

There are many factors leading to the acute infective condition which include retained water in the ear (often behind wax), allergies, trauma to the ear canal (generally of the car ignition key type), general debris and foreign bodies and contamination from poorly filtered swimming pools or "unsafe" waters.

The symptoms are easy to recognise. There may be some initial itching, followed by frank pain and then a slight discharge. There will be tenderness on jaw movement and finally copious discharge, extreme pain and even a generalised fever.

The commonest form of OE is "Swimmers Ear" or "Tropical Ear". Water left in the outer ear creates a nourishing "soup" for bacteria and away it goes from there. Of course, any trauma to the canal just makes it worse. That car key I used to scratch inside my ear is a classic instrument of trauma, if ever I saw one! Once the bacteria get into the deeper layers of the skin lining the canal (through the breaks caused by the traumatic scratching) you then end up with a cellulitis. This is a painful swelling of the ear canal and you are left in no doubt of the diagnosis.

Prevention of this type of OE is very much simpler than the cure. The principle is to keep the ear canal as dry as can be, and the skin on the walls as intact as possible. If you are into water sports, swimming and the like, wear water impermeable ear plugs to start with and thoroughly dry the ear canal afterwards. This does not mean screwing up a lump of tissue and jamming it down the canal (or using a cotton bud on a stick!) but is simply carried out by instilling a couple of drops of methylated spirits into the external ear canal.

The treatment is usually antibiotic or anti-fungal drops (if a fungus is the culprit), plus some antibiotics by mouth if needed. This can work out to be a fairly expensive exercise. It is certainly cheaper to buy a bottle of methylated spirits and keep everything smaller than your elbow out of your ear!

Practical Thai Law: Gambling

by Premprecha Dibbayawan - MCL Miami University Chairman - International Swiss Siam Co., Ltd.

Thailand enacted the Gambling Act in 1935 (B.E. 2478). When we think about gambling we think of what people do in casinos. The recent issue is the question of whether casinos should be legalized in Thailand. It is said that almost 100 members of Thailand’s parliament support the legalization of casinos in Thailand. A Parliamentary sub-committee has been established and members of the committee already visited casinos in neighbor countries to study the pros and cons of domestic casinos.

Deputy Prime Minister General Chavalit Yongchaiyuth was quoted in the Bangkok Post as saying, "There is a trend that people want [gambling] to be put under control so money will not flow out [of the country]. Around our country there are a lot of casinos. That’s why there are demands for the opening of casinos here. The people’s opinions on the issue are needed."

However, after the attempt by politicians, there are moves from several religious groups asking to not legalize gambling, as appears in religious programs on television. They claim the approach can be a message to society that gambling is an acceptable activity, which would result in an increase in the negative effects that result from gambling - poverty, debt, idleness, irresponsibility, broken families and crime. We all know that actually the government already legalized gambling, that being the government’s lottery and horse racing. The impact from the government’s lottery is illegal individual betting on the last two or three digits of the first prize of the lottery. This is serious gambling which often causes assaults and killing among hosts and bettors when bettors win huge amounts that hosts are unable to pay. This kind of illegal betting is very popular and is practiced everywhere. It is known as Huay Turn or Huay Tai Din. The government is trying to distribute digit tickets to the public to abolish illegal individual betting, but whether that will work or not is still doubtful.

According to the Gambling Act, gambling is not what one will play in casinos or gambling dens. Gambling under the act are games which are prohibited or controlled by the act. Section 4 of the act provides that:

"It is prohibited to permit for or to play or to gamble in what is listed in Category A attached to this act or of other similar games or other dangerous plays which the minister has prohibited under the Ministerial Regulations. However, if the government considers that permission should be granted to any venue under whatever conditions for any of the games, permission can be made by a Royal Decree.

"Games listed under Category B attached to this act or any other similar games or other games the minister adds to the list under the Ministerial Regulations, which are to be played and acquiring benefit to the organizer, directly or indirectly, can be permitted by the minister or officer authorized to issue the permit if deemed appropriate or permission is granted under Ministerial Regulations which license is not required."

Gambling on the games mentioned in paragraph two above can be made only when permission is granted or permission is given under Ministerial Regulations which license is not required.

Under the Gambling Act, play shall also mean guess or prediction.

We can see under the provision above that gambling covers games or activities as listed at the end of the act and are not necessary to be gambling in their natures. There are 28 items in Category A which include turning wheels, games to do with dice, high-low and slot machines; these games are not permissible unless a Royal Decree is enacted to award a license. Category B also consists of 28 items which including running of animals, boxing, throwing rings, hooking, raffles, shooting, and billiard. All these games require permission.

The authorities to grant permission in provinces are the sheriffs (nai amphor) or the governor of the province for some kind of the game. The hours of the game must be specified as prescribed in the law, which in all categories must be not later than midnight. The duration of the permit must not exceed 7 days. The fees for permits depend on the duration or rounds of games. The permit will specify how far the game is allowed, i.e. whether money can be involved.

Permission also be required if, in your business trading, you promise to give a bonus or special price to customers. Under Clause 13 of the Ministerial Regulation, bridge is allowed without any permission if it’s played at home among friends without any loss or gain or other kinds of benefit. Billiards is also allowed if there is only one table having a wide area within a shut-in house or building and without any charge or gambling.

Violation of the gambling act is subject to imprisonment to a maximum of three years. Promising to give prizes or bonuses on business trading without permit is subject to a penalty of up to one year.

Gambling on football matches is being taken up by more and more people from all walks of life, often to their regret. Many bank officers are now in jail resulting from this kind of gambling, not from the charge of gambling but theft or embezzlement. The amount lost on many of them is in millions and at the end what they had to do is to embezzle the bank’s funds. Football gambling also goes to school, which witnesses say that after classes end at 3.30 p.m., many of the school’s students from grades 7, 8 and 9 flock to the computer game shop, waiting there for their parents to pick them up. Many elder students are seen carrying football magazines, chitchatting about the prospects for upcoming matches and the odds. "Mostly we place the bets with the guys at the game shop, but sometimes we just bet among friends. The bets vary, but do not go over Bt 3,000," said one high school student. A study by Assumption University estimated that $204 million was spent on gambling in the country during the World Cup.

Last May, the police department ruled that World Cup competitions on the 1900 telephone number are a form of gambling and as such are illegal. The competitions, available on "1900" phone numbers, allowed punters to call in and guess final game scores, which was considered illegal. Meanwhile, World Cup-related newspaper competitions - which are legal through permits - have proved massively popular, giving away prizes ranging from 10 million baht in cash to luxury cars and trips to the World Cup itself. All in all, gambling in Thailand is illegal and tourists are warned not to be involved in it. Simply playing cards with friends you may end up spending a night or two at the police station, going to court the next working day and being sent out of the country. Being at the site even, not playing, is presumed to be part of the game under the law. All kinds of raffles are also illegal but permission may be obtained when you have an event.

Heart to Heart with Hillary

Dear Hillary,

A friend wrote me from the US to ask if Thai women enjoy experimenting with sex. As I’ve experimented with far too few to have a valid opinion, I asked my Fan. She replied tersely in Thai and Isaan, punctuated with energetic gestures. My translation is not as succinct as what she said. Could you have it vetted by your sources for verisimilitude? To wit: "No, we enjoy the real thing. We expect a bit of fumbling around at first; but, if the aim is to please, then we expect a fellow to get it on the stick; and, once he gets it right, to practice, practice, practice!" She didn’t really say ‘get it on the stick’ - that was the gesture part; nor did she use the usual Thai word for ‘practice’, but the emphasis was hers!

UN American in Meuang Yote

Dear UAIMY,

How nice to hear from you again, my Petal. Such a self-effacing letter too! "Experimented with far too few to have a valid opinion." Aw shucks! Let me assure you that even if your experience was as good as the regular bar flies would claim for themselves around here, you still would not know. Quite simply, you are not a woman and you are not a Thai. However, everyone has their own ideas and limits and Thai women are no exception. It takes two to tango, and some time spent in doing what your Fan described as, "if the aim is to please", is necessary. Take the time to understand what your lady enjoys and you will be rewarded! By the way, have you been eating dictionaries lately? Verisimilitude! Whew! The simple word "truth" is a lot easier. Remember KISS.

Dear Hillary,

I bought a mobile phone last month and already I am having a problem with it. People can ring in, but I can’t ring out. I try to ring and get some weird and wonderful recorded message in Thai (at least I think it’s recorded because they won’t answer me) and I am now at my wits end and feel like throwing the phone at the wall, but only because it was so darn expensive I don’t do it. I can’t speak Thai, so I don’t know what’s going on. Can you help me, Hillary?

Bill

Dear Bill,

Or is that (Alexander Graham) "Bell" (I couldn’t read your writing too well) there are a few items you should have cottoned onto by now. The first is that this country is called Thailand and the language they speak is Thai, not "Phasa Angkrit" or any other "Phasa Farang". That being the case, the language for recorded messages will also be in Thai. With the number of foreigners in Pattaya from all the different countries, can you imagine how long the recorded message would be if the phone company tried to give the message in every language? However all you have to do, my Turtle Dove, is to give your phone to a Thai person and ask them what the message is all about. Simple! By the way, I think you will find you haven’t paid your phone bill!

Dear Hillary,

I have been a fan of yours for some time now and I wanted to buy you a box of chocolates but I couldn’t find where they are on sale. Where do you buy yours?

Chocolate Wondering

Dear Chocolate Wondering,

Well, wonder no more my Petal. First off, Hillary does not buy her own chocolates, Hillary’s chockies are bought for her by truly adoring fans, not ones like you who are only pretending. Secondly, chocolates are available in all the major supermarkets, but perhaps a little visit to your friendly eye glasses store is in order first.

Dear Hillary,

Being new to your fair city we don’t know which restaurants to try. Most of the couples we know are "home buddies" but my hubby and me like to go out once a week and live it up a little. We are looking for "nice" places with good food and not too expensive. We don’t really mind what kind of food it is as long as it is nice. You must have some places you could send us to. If you will, we will be very pleased. You could even join us for dinner and that would be really super.

Roslyn

Dear Restauranting Roslyn,

You are putting me on, aren’t you? How would Hillary know what sort of places you want to go to? Your "living it up a little" could be Hillary’s living it up a lot! Not that I would ever want this column to become a marketplace for commercial ventures, but the answer to your problem is 250 baht. For that money you can go and buy the Dining Out Guide to Pattaya and the Eastern Seaboard, which will tell you everything you want (or need) to know. You can get it at any of the major bookshops, or if they have sold out already, there are some copies available from the Pattaya Mail itself. Just look for the advert, Roslyn. If you can’t see that, then Hillary suggests you go and live it up a little with Chocolate Wondering and visit the eye glasses place together. You need each other.

Bits ‘n’ Bobs

Personal Directions: Communication is a crucial factor

by Christina Dodd, founder and managing director 
of Incorp Training Asssociates

Have you ever had the experience of catching up with someone you know and at the end of the brief encounter or short conversation heard them say to you, "let’s do lunch" or (my favourite) "call me!" And did you end up "doing lunch" or did you get a call from them? I’ll bet probably not.

Let’s look at the same situation but from a different perspective, where you have been the one to initiate similar remarks and promises. Well, did you end up having lunch with them or calling them? My guess is – probably not.

No matter how good our intentions are and no matter how well-founded they might be, unless we communicate and continue to communicate with each other, we will always fall short in the vital area of interpersonal skills which go towards building and developing positive relationships and positive lives.

Communicating … following–up … taking the time and effort to write or email, to pick up the telephone and call someone, all go towards making us who and what we are.

I always admire people who remember birthdays and anniversaries and then make the effort to send a card. It may seem a small endeavour to some, but to me it’s no small thing at all and it wins my heart every time. In communicating this way with just a few simple lines they show that they are thinking about you and care about you. Not many people can lay claim to such thoughtfulness these days. If you are an avid card sender, then you are rare indeed and to be congratulated.

In the business world we live in, day-in and day-out, and with all the pressures that go with it, communication really is a crucial factor.

I found myself recently in the offices of a rather prestigious company which employs a large number of very qualified young executives. After meeting them and discussing various issues about training, I discovered that most of the communication done between groups and individuals from the four or five internal departments was done by email! At first I was surprised and dismayed at how things could work. But they assured me they do. These young people were so switched on to emailing each other, that it was the perfect medium for them to use to talk to each other. They were very productive and all got along quite well. Morale was running high as they felt they had achieved something very special through this unique way of working. I felt like I was in another world.

Although it may seem a little obtuse and out of "the norm" for most of us, it still is communicating and it works extremely well for this particular company. It doesn’t replace the human element at all, but it has proven to be effective in this instance. In some ways this electronic means of communication has taken the young staff, and the company, from strength to strength.

Adapting to changes around us, as we have talked about in previous articles, is one human quality that can bring us closer and closer to achieving success and to attaining the things that we want out of life.

The subject of communication takes me back to my childhood days when, as a family, we would all sit at the dinner table at night to have our evening meal together. Do you have similar memories? We would talk about the day and my mother would ask my sister and I what we did at school and so on. My sister and I would listen to our parents’ versions of their daytime activities and all in all we seemed to spend a lot of quality time together talking and listening – communicating! After dinner when the washing-up was done, we would then sit on the porch and star gaze, talking for what seemed to be hours about the night sky.

Unfortunately, families don’t seem to communicate as much as they used to. Of course there are a lot of differences in the world I grew up in and the world of today. People in general are not communicating. It isn’t a difficult thing to do, though. It all comes down to wanting to do it and following through with it. Communication keeps relationships alive.

When we speak, when we listen, when we write, when we smile, laugh and cry, when we shake someone’s hand or give someone a hug – we are communicating. Our body language speaks volumes. The tone of our voice, the tone of our written communication sets the basis of our relationships. We can’t live in a world void of contact or communication. We all need and depend on each other in order to live a rewarding and meaningful, purpose-filled life.

The success and happiness of human beings totally depends on the relationships they develop with other human beings. It totally depends on communication with each other either on a personal level or a professional level.

In an office situation, just like in the home, the lines of communication must always be open. The moment we stop talking then we start to "discount" ourselves and others. Many of the problems we face right now in the world are because there is a serious lack of communication and there is not the will to do so either.

How many times have you heard someone say to you (normally after a crisis), "why didn’t you tell me", or "why didn’t you ask me". Sometimes we are afraid or too embarrassed to talk, unwilling because of the consequences perhaps, or not sure how to convey our message. More often than not, however, it ends up that if we had simply communicated right from the beginning then the crisis would most likely have been avoided.

When someone says, "my door is always open", then take them up on their offer. The invitation is there so use it. And use it not only when things are tough and you have a problem on your hands but when things are going well and life is good! Exchange pleasantries, take the chance to be yourself, relax, have some fun and most of all – communicate!

Last week I was touched by the scene of a young mother and her daughter sitting together in the shopping mall having an ice cream. The daughter was only about five years old but was rather intent on talking about what she was going to do for the rest of the day. Her mother listened, nodded and contributed to the conversation which went on for quite some time. After a little while I noticed that I wasn’t the only one watching this. A number of people seemed amazed and drawn to the loveliness of this scene. Communication at all levels is paramount to happiness in life.

"There are souls in this world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere, and of leaving it behind them everywhere they go."

Faber

Have a great week!

Christina can be contacted by email at christina.dodd @incorptraining.com or directly at Incorp Training Associates in Bangkok. Tel: (0) 2652 1867-8 Fax: (0) 2652 1870. Programs and services can be found at www.incorp training.com

Social Commentary by Khai Khem

Gender is no barrier to juvenile delinquency

The Minister of Interior’s new social order campaign directed at reclaiming traditional Thai values and clamping down on inappropriate behavior by the nation’s youth has come under criticism from some quarters. However, it is generally welcomed as more people understand that to neglect this issue further puts the community in jeopardy. Although there is a strong emphasis on what kind of image Pattaya projects to tourists, the motives for the crackdown on crime and anti-social acts performed by young Thais goes much deeper. The rising crime rate among Thai youngsters is alarming because it is a new phenomenon for the kingdom.

Thailand’s rapid modernization has brought many social changes. Most changes have been positive, have raised the standard of living and provided opportunities for future growth. The speed and complexity of social and economic change have also provoked upheaval in Thai culture. Authorities, educators and community leaders realize that continued neglect of rising juvenile delinquency in the city will compound the problem. Other nations around the world are not untouched by rebellious youth, and Thailand now knows it will be no exception.

Gender is no barrier to delinquency and crime committed by youth. Nowadays young girls are as likely to commit crimes as their male counterparts. Contemporary research on delinquency is challenging fundamental assumptions regarding female delinquency made by early theorists and researchers. As a result, correctional theory and research appears to be at a crossroad in terms of gender issues.

One important issue is the identification of risk factors for female youth. The apparent social bias of early female-delinquency theories suggests that exclusive reliance on personal and familial problems in the assessment of female risk may be inadequate. Yet, the relevance of male-based risk factors has not been fully evaluated. Research studies in many countries attempt to fill this gap through a systematic review of the same risk factors for male and female youths separately. The research and its findings are focused on youth criminality (delinquency) rather than on adult criminality.

Female delinquency has historically been perceived as relatively rare and less serious than male delinquency. Early research using police and court records showed that for each female delinquent, there were three to seven male delinquents. In terms of offence type, female youths were perceived as committing relatively minor offences, such as running away, truancy and sexual acting out, while male youths were perceived as committing a much wider and more serious range of offences. These perceptions have proved to be false. These traditional views have been challenged in the past 20 years.

To explain and predict delinquency we must now expanded our scope to consider personal factors (such as behavior, personality, and cognition), interpersonal factors (such as family and peers), and structural factors (such as school and church). Although the tendency to omit female youths continues, there has been an emerging interest in female involvement in delinquency.

Workers in this field need to seek out important risk factors for each gender. For example, does associating with criminal peers place male youths at risk for delinquency, and does this factor also place female youths at risk? Are specific risk factors more important for a particular gender? Are family problems more strongly related to female delinquency than to male delinquency, and are school difficulties more strongly associated with male delinquency than with female delinquency?

Studies conducted by various organizations around the world, including law enforcement, social behavioral scientists, psychologists and educators reveal some interesting observations. For female youths, the most important risk factors in descending order were antisocial peers or attitudes, temperament or misconduct problems, educational difficulties, poor parent-child relations, and minor personality variables. Personal distress, family structure or parental problems, and lower social class did not appear to be strongly related to delinquency. A similar pattern emerged for the male youths. That is, the first three risk factors were not strongly related to male delinquency, and the last five factors were important.

Are specific risk factors more important for a particular gender? It seems that the general risk factors cross gender. In other words, most factors that contribute to male delinquency are also important causes for female delinquency.

In practical terms, categories of risk for young girls were lack of attachment to convention and sexual. Lack of convention pertains to the individual’s lack of affiliation with pro-social people such as parents, teachers, or institutions such as school and religion. The young girl who psychologically detaches from these nurturing role models is just as apt to engage in unacceptable and anti-social behavior as her male counterpart.

The link between sexual activity and delinquency is harder to determine given current rates of sexual activity among teenagers. Sex-role orientation (masculinity or femininity) was also found to be unrelated to delinquency. There may be a minor association of delinquency with sex-role orientation when lack of feminine traits (communal traits, such as sharing and caring) are examined. However studies indicate this line of research should be abandoned for lack of correlation.

The jury is still out on a number of other categories which include factors such as victimization, illegitimate opportunity, lack of legitimate opportunity, lack of hobbies or involvement, accommodation problems, and self-esteem issues. Too few studies were obtained or various study characteristics made interpretation of the findings difficult. Victimization, for example, was only measured by one study, which asked students between the ages of 12 and 16 whether they personally were a victim of five types of crimes ranging from theft of unguarded possessions to attack and assault. The correlations, based on overall victimization, not on victimization specific to violence, yielded no gender difference.

Another category, accommodation problems (e.g., crowding, high-crime neighborhood), was assessed but results varied across sample and design, thus making interpretation difficult. It is generally accepted that these factors cross gender lines almost equally.

Women’s World:A mother’s worst nightmare Part 1

by Lesley Warmer

Do we ever appreciate what we have in life? I spent this August moaning and complaining because I felt my life was not as fulfilling as I would like it to be, but why? I have a lovely family, good job, nice home and live in a sunny tropical climate what more could you wish for? I even said to a friend, "Oh I don’t know what I want, I’ll let destiny decide for me."

September arrived and destiny taught me a lesson I shall never forget. It started with a phone call at 3 a.m. on the first Sunday of the month. It was my mother, I believe her words were "I’m sorry darling I have to tell you that Emma (the oldest of my four daughters) has been in a car accident, she’s on a life support machine in ICU". I found myself breathless, I could hear my mother rambling on giving words of comfort but I felt suspended in time. I just said, "I can’t talk now," and put the phone down. As I sat there trying to absorb this news from 6000 miles away, I thought it can’t be true - this happens to other people, it doesn’t happen to me.

From left: Amy, Katie, Emma and Lucy.

I sat in this strange dazed state until 8 a.m. when I was able to contact my brother, who was fortunately in Bangkok and able to arrange a flight ticket with Thai airways. It was not easy at such short notice and I ended up on stand by. They were fully informed of the life and death situation and my urgent need to get on a plane that day. I threw an assortment of items in a bag (I was later to wish I had taken more care with what I put in the bag) and left for Bangkok, where I sat with my brother until 9 p.m. when I could go to the airport. We paced the airport trying to get a seat on the plane for 5 hours explaining to the Thai airways staff how critical it was for me to get to my daughter’s bedside, but all to no avail. The usual indifferent Thai smile was all that we received.

I waited in the queue of people on standby until 12.30 a.m. I can’t even begin to explain what it’s like to hold your breath for so long, waiting to here your name called. They left me until last after giving 7 people seats in front of me. It was a journey I never want to repeat; the miles seemed endless as I desperately yearned to be by my daughter’s bedside, not knowing if she was dead or alive.

When I arrived at London Heathrow a friend was there to meet me. She told me that Emma had not regained consciousness and was on a life support machine. I still had another endless 4-hour journey before I reached the hospital.

Emma, my oldest daughter, has always been beautiful, attracting attention wherever she goes. She is an unflappable young lady who efficiently manages her business and family almost as an afterthought. As we sat in ICU someone laughed and said, "Emma could be reading her magazine and a bomb would go off next to her and she’d calmly look up and say, "Did you hear a noise?"

When I arrived at the hospital I went straight to ICU, I could tell by looking everyone’s face that it was not good. I braced myself and said that I wanted to go and see her by myself. As I walked what seemed miles towards the bed I found myself mesmerized by all the wires and tubes attaching my child to an assortment of high technology equipment as she lay in the bed like a beautiful broken doll.

(Continued next week...)

FAQ about wine

by Ranjith Chandrasiri

Learning about wine is as much about gaining experience as it is about gaining knowledge. It is about sensation, feeling, the occasion, the food as well as about memory. Wine appreciation is the experience of all these things.

For the appreciation of wine, there are some skills and knowledge to be mastered that provide you with a framework to which you can relate your existing and future experience of wine. More often than not, wine experts gain their expertise through informal study or experience gained as amateurs (lovers).

The journey through the world of wine is a fascinating experience. Sometimes you might stumble and sometimes the experience will be exquisite. As you explore new territories, you will come across things that you might (or might not) want to know about wine but are too afraid to ask. Often I receive questions on wine from my readers. Following are some of the frequently asked questions that I like to share with all the wine enthusiastic Pattaya Mail readers.

Q: Do the glasses one uses for sampling/drinking wine influence the drinking experience?

A: Absolutely, the glasses make a difference. They don’t have to be expensive, but the basic wine glass should be tulip-shaped; the wider bowl lets you swirl the wine without spilling and the narrower rim helps concentrate aromas.

To see what a difference a glass makes, try the same wine out of a tulip-shaped glass, a water glass and a plastic cup. See if the wine doesn’t taste markedly different from the three different glasses. Even the difference between various tulip-shaped glasses can be significant. If you are short on glasses at a tasting, make sure each individual taster has all the same glasses for the wines they’ll compare.

Q: How long will a dessert wine or Port stay fresh after the bottle is opened?

A: Sweet dessert wines generally hold up better than dry wines once opened. Two or three days shouldn’t affect the quality too much, even up to a week, depending on the wine.

Other dessert wines, like Sherry, Tawny Port or Madeira, maintain their integrity for a longer period of time because they have been exposed to oxygen during the winemaking process and the alcohol, which acts as a preservative, is higher. A week, maybe two, should be no problem once they are open. To help maintain freshness, opened wines should always be kept in the refrigerator.

Q: Why are single vineyard wines significant? Are they always better than blends from multiple vineyards?

A: Like the lead singer in a Broadway musical, a single-vineyard wine tends to have its own unique character and charm. When assessing character, "better" comes down to personal taste; the character might appeal to you, or it might not. Quality is a separate issue and, for the most part, only exceptional vineyards are used to produce single-vineyard wines. These wines usually reflect the quality of the vineyard, but may occasionally have an off vintage (or an off-night, to continue the analogy). On the other hand, wines blended from multiple vineyards are more like the musical’s chorus. The character may be less exciting, but if one of the singers is having an off night, the rest make up for it. Finally, when it comes to compensation, both single-vineyard wines and true stars are rare and both command higher prices than the chorus. That is a simplified explanation, but if I went any further I’d be talking about "terroir". That’s another topic.

Q: What are the sparkling crystals you sometimes find floating in wine?

A: Those are tartrate crystals, which are natural and not at all harmful. They sometimes form in wine in the bottle, particularly in wines that have had minimal manipulation in the winery.

Q: I have been amazed at the different tastes and nuances that I have been able to pick up in red wines. What causes a red wine to taste like tea, mint, or especially, chocolate?

A: Wine is an incredibly complex beverage which can contain scores of different volatile elements - the aldehydes, esters and miscellaneous compounds which make up the elements we interpret as flavours. Some of them share exactly the same molecular structure as elements present in other foods, such as cinnamon, vanilla, and butter, so you might say we are actually tasting "vanilla" in the wine. Other elements, either alone or in combination, simply resemble aromas that we associate with other objects, from gum drops to sweaty gym socks. The "chocolate" flavour probably results from a combination of these effects. What’s amazing to me is how often different tasters independently discover the same complex taste associations in a wine.

Q: Is there an easy way to remove wine labels for storage with my tasting notes?

A: One simple way is to soak the bottle in hot water with a dash of ammonia. Make sure the bottle is full of hot water also. Another method is to apply wide Scotch tape across the label, rub thoroughly with a solid, flat object, then pull the tape off & trim the edges. Some labels just will not come off, no matter what you do!

Q: What’s the difference between a double magnum and a jeroboam?

A: Although bottle sizes are standardized in many countries, there is some regional variation in the names associated with bottles of different capacities. In Bordeaux, a double magnum is traditionally considered to be 3 liters, while a Jeroboam is 4.5 liters. In Champagne and Burgundy, however, the Jeroboam is generally understood to be 3 liters, and the term "double magnum" is not often used.

Q: I keep reading about soft tannins, or pleasant tannins, or lots of tannin. My question is simple: What are tannins?

A: Tannins are substances that get into the wine from the grape skins and seeds. They can be bitter and can add rough texture to a wine - think of over-brewed tea, which has lots of tannin in it - but they benefit wine, too, by preserving it from early oxidation. Good winegrowers know how to manage the tannins in the vineyard and the winery to strike the right balance, so that a wine has a pleasant velvety, soft texture, instead of being too rough. As wine ages in the bottle, some but not all of the tannin will drop out of solution and form sediment.

Q: My question is, don’t you need to swallow the wine in order to judge the length and complexity of the finish?

A: As far as analytic tasting goes, swallowing is not essential. By breathing out through mouth and nose after spitting, virtually all of the flavours and aromas can be experienced and judged. And the gain in concentration makes up for whatever small loss there is. But as far as pleasure is concerned, swallowing is highly recommended!

Q: Why is Sauvignon Blanc usually so much cheaper than Chardonnay?

A: Prices for wines have as much to do with image and demand as they do with production costs. However, Sauvignon Blanc grapes cost less than Chardonnay grapes - partly because of higher yields - and the wines require less investment in new oak barrels. Also, Sauvignon Blancs are ready to drink after four to eight months; Chardonnays generally take one to two years before release. Time is money, too. But mostly, it’s the perception of SB as less aristocratic than Chardonnay.

Q: What exactly is claret?

A: "Claret" is a conventional term that traditionally refers to red wine from the Bordeaux region of France, but it has no official, legal definition and is often used as a generic term to refer to dry red wines. It derives from "clairet," the name for a certain type of light red wine that was exported from Bordeaux in the Middle Ages and became quite popular in England. The wine, because of its light colour, was known as "vinum clarum," "bin clar" or "clairet." It bore little resemblance to the wines that are characteristic of Bordeaux today - but the name endures.

Q: What is noble rot?

A: Noble rot - known in France as "pourriture noble" and in Germany as "Edelfaule" - is the common name for Botrytis cinerea, a beneficial mould that grows on ripe white wine grapes in the vineyard under specific climatic conditions. The mould attacks the grapes and dehydrates them, leaving them shrivelled and raisin-like, and concentrates the sugar content in the berries. The wines from these berries have a rich, complex, honeyed character and are often high in residual sugar. The botrytis mould contributes to the unique flavours of wines such as Sauternes from Bordeaux, Beerenauslese and Trockenbeerenauslese Riesling from Germany, and an array of late-harvest wines from other regions.

Ranjith Chandrasiri is the resident manager, Royal Cliff Grand, Royal Cliff Beach Resort, Pattaya. Email [email protected] or [email protected]