The King and I

"Oh you'll love it, it's so nice."

Anyone who's been to Bangkok has probably also seen the Great Palace with its temples. An impressive place. Not less interesting was the fact that foreign visitors pay quite a hefty price to get in, while all Thais have free entry. This probably has something to do with the Royal Family. Taxi drivers I've asked all are full of love and admiration for the commitment the King and his possee show for the people of Thailand.

Makes me think about the royal families we have left in Europe. It is claimed that they do an important representative work for their countries (whenever they manage to get their asses out of their comfortable homes) - but a problem that strikes me is that this can in no way be managed by the state that pays their salaries. Think about that: an employer that pays €5 million per year (like the Swedish state) and then has no say in either the amount of work or the tasks that gets performed for the money...

I'd like to propose a model for Sweden, who always want to be so damn modern: Set up an independent committee of individuals, chosen for lifetime by the parliament, that supervise the work done by the royal family with the purpose of maximizing the effect of their work for both Swedish companies and the Swedish people. This would mean setting the level for number of travel days each year, committing the different members of the royal family to different states - to tighten their relations and deepen the results - and defining measurable goals that are monitored and revised. Just like any sensible organization would do.

If Thailand is sensible is for me still left to be seen. But it's so nice.