Author of The King Never Smiles, Paul Handley, was interviewed on Australian ABC radio last night. He was interviewed by the Late Night Live’s Phillip Adams. Despite Adams’ usual annoying distractions the interview is worth a listen with some interesting comments about Thaksin, the coup and the royal succession. You can listen to it online here (the interview with Handley starts about half way through the recording). The Late Night Live promo reads:

There is one topic in Thailand that is off limits: the King and his family. A journalist interested in doing a story about the monarchy will be given a range of excuses from “the palace has nothing more to say other than what has been put in the official press statements”, ot that the “subject is too susceptible and intricate for palace outsiders to handle”. Or simply that it “is too risky”.So, it is a major task to write a book about the King. It is even more difficult to investigate just how deeply intertwined the institution is in Thai politics and to what extent the monarchy gave its approval to the 18 coups that took place over the last few decades – including the overthrow of the elected Prime Minister in September this year.Paul Handley is a freelance journalist who has worked as a foreign correspondent in Asia for more than twenty years, thirteen of which were in Thailand. Thai authorities have banned his new book on the Thai king and blocked local access to websites advertising the book.