This week on the Podcast, we caught up with Korn Chatikavanij before the upcoming election. The Chart Pattana Kla Party Leader tells us about his past, reflects on his time in government and in the Democrat Party, and talks about the challenges facing the country

Prommin Lertsuridej is one of the Deputy Leaders of the Pheu Thai Party. He is a former Deputy Prime Minister in charge of economic affairs and former Minister of Energy in the Thaksin government.

He joins us to reflect on his time as a student leader and member of the Thai Communist Party in the 1970s and Pheu Thai's challenge in the upcoming election.

We are joined on the podcast by former Future Forward MP Panikka Wanich who was banned from politics for ten years because she dared to challenge the system.

In a wide-ranging conversation, we discuss problems faced in Thailand, talked about how bad the media situation, and found out why she loves eating raw meat.

We caught up with former journalist-turned-politician Voranai Vanijaka who joins us to talk about his reason for quitting journalism and his controversial decision to join the Chart Pattana Kla Party.

Joining the podcast to talk about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and what it means for the future of Europe is the German Ambassador to Thailand Georg Schmidt. Hope you enjoy!

Hi, joining me today on the podcast is Alina Chan, a Post Doctorate researcher at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Alina has made headlines over the past year for being one of the advocates of investigating all plausible explanations of Covid-19. Specifically, she has drawn the ire and fury of some scientists and the Chinese government for suggesting that the pandemic could be the result of a lab leak from a virology lab in Wuhan.

She talks today about the evidence that she and other scientists have found that suggests that the hypothesis might be true and why natural causes might not be as apparent an explanation as one may think.

Take a listen and judge for yourself.

For this podcast, I am joined by Professor Jade Donavanik who was an advisor to the previous Constitutional Drafting Committee. Jade joins us to talk about the challenges of drafting the constitution, the problems of the 1997 charter, and why Thailand's judiciary is not to blame.

We also touch upon the protests against the constitution and why the previous junta in 2006 was better than the Prayut led one in 2014. Can't miss this episode!

Myanmar saw a military coup overthrow a democratically elected government on February 1. The protests by the citizens of the country against the junta have been violent and condemned by the international community. Despite the widespread protests and being shun by nations globally, the junta seems determined to hang onto power. To help me make sense of it all, I am joined by Burmese journalist Thin Lei Win.

Music Credit: Scott Buckley - Chasing Daylight