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An award-winning investigative journalist is brought in to cover a story aboard a luxury yacht as it sails from the UK to Norway. One night, she believes she has witnessed a murder — but there’s no record of the victim ever having been on the boat.

Spending three days cruising among elites and potential murderers, and with no one believing her, she continues to dig for answers, putting her own life in danger. Is she losing her mind, or is something truly sinister happening on board?

While Australian filmmaker Simon Stone brings a Hitchcock-style murder mystery to life on the open sea — with heavyweight performers like Keira Knightley and Guy Pearce on board — The Woman In Cabin 10 ultimately feels like another “eat the rich” whodunnit dressed in luxury and deception.

Knightley portrays Laura “Lo” Blacklock, a well-known crime journalist recovering from a recent trauma who accepts an assignment aboard the lavish superyacht Aurora Borealis. The ship belongs to tycoon Richard Bullmer (Guy Pearce) and his ailing wife Anne (Lisa Loven Kongsli), hosting a high-profile voyage for an elite circle of guests.

One night, Laura hears a splash and what sounds like a scream. From her balcony, she believes she sees someone from Cabin 10 being pushed overboard. When she alerts the crew and security, she’s stunned to learn that the cabin is empty — and that no one was ever checked into it.

To give you an idea, The Woman In Cabin 10 is essentially a modern-day riff on Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1938), built around the same concept of a vanished person no one else remembers. It also echoes Murder On The Orient Express (2017), Death On The Nile (2022) and Rear Window (1954), each using a contained setting where a supposed murder unfolds and the eyewitness’s credibility is questioned.

The premise itself remains timeless — a claustrophobic mystery surrounded by privilege and paranoia, and Stone makes good use of that setup in the film’s first half.

The movie begins with promise, taking its time to establish Laura’s fragile psyche and the opulent yet isolating world aboard the yacht.

Production design is stunning — sleek, metallic and sterile, with the Aurora Borealis itself becoming an additional character. The film’s primary theme, gaslighting, is effectively handled. It keeps the audience guessing about what Laura really saw and whether her trauma is clouding her perception.

I genuinely bought into Laura’s belief that she had witnessed something horrific. The script keeps multiple possibilities in play — was there truly a murder, or just a figment of a traumatised imagination? That uncertainty drives the intrigue for much of the runtime.

But character depth quickly becomes the film’s biggest weakness. Laura is the only character the script allows us to truly know, and even then, only superficially. Everyone else on board remains a cypher — rich, self-absorbed and conveniently suspicious. This helps to maintain mistrust among the guests, but it also renders them forgettable.

The supporting cast — including talented performers — barely register, popping in and out of scenes without meaningful development. At just 92 minutes, the film would have benefited immensely from at least 15 more minutes to let us observe these passengers, deepen the mystery and raise the emotional stakes.

Visually, The Woman In Cabin 10 is a pleasure to look at. The cinematography takes advantage of confined corridors and tight framing to heighten tension and claustrophobia. The gleaming interiors and reflective surfaces amplify the feeling that everyone is being watched.

Despite the film’s initially gripping setup, the final act sinks under its own predictability. What begins as a layered conspiracy dissolves into formulaic thriller territory, with revelations that feel rushed and disappointingly neat. The finale removes all sense of creativity and surprise, opting instead for a quick, safe resolution.

I really wanted to enjoy this more — the premise had potential for deeper misdirection and psychological unease — but every time the story seems ready to take a risk, it retreats to cliché. The tension deflates just when it should have reached its peak.

The performances, thankfully, remain solid throughout. Knightley delivers a commanding and emotionally grounded performance, carrying the film through moments that might otherwise collapse under their own implausibility. She gives Laura a believable mix of determination and fragility, and it’s her conviction that keeps the story afloat.

Pearce, though underused, provides a touch of gravitas, while the rest of the ensemble, unfortunately, is given little to do. It’s a waste of talent that could have turned the film’s yacht-bound setting into a bubbling pot of intrigue.

You’ve seen this type of ride before — a mystery built on familiar scaffolding, twists you can spot if you’ve been paying attention, and a few convenient scenes that exist purely to move the plot forward.

And yet, Knightley keeps you watching. Her presence alone almost redeems the film’s shortcomings, making you forget the clichés just long enough to see it through. When the ending arrives, it manages to leave a faint sense of satisfaction — not because it surprises, but because Knightley’s performance makes it feel earned. Without her, this would have been another forgettable Netflix thriller lost at sea.

Over the years, I’ve admired how Knightley has worked hard to break away from her early-2000s romantic comedy image, embracing darker and more mature material — from Boston Strangler (2023) to last year’s Black Doves. Unfortunately, those projects didn’t quite give her the standout showcase she deserves. The Woman In Cabin 10 continues that trend — she’s great, but the film surrounding her isn’t.

The twists and turns in The Woman In Cabin 10 arrive too quickly and with little buildup. The unravelling of the mystery feels mechanical rather than organic, and when the reveal comes, you can’t help but feeling somewhat unsatisfied. Implausibilities stack up, and emotional logic gives way to convenience. Still, for a weekend watch, it’s a serviceable 90 minutes ride. I give it an extra star just for Knightley.

The Woman In Cabin 10

Starring Keira Knightley, Guy Pearce, David Ajala, Art Malik

Directed by Simon Stone

Now streaming on Netflix

A self-proclaimed ‘sex creator’ on social media platform X has told police he resorted to deceiving a 15-year-old victim into filming pornographic material due to a decline in his clientele.

Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division police executed a Criminal Court warrant and arrested 22-year-old Supakit near his apartment in Bang Khen district, Bangkok, on Friday. He faces charges of human trafficking for illicit interests, producing child pornography for distribution, persuading a minor to engage in indecent behaviour and introducing obscene material into a computer system.

He was found with a mobile phone, which has been seized as evidence.

Authorities tracked Mr Supakit from his activity on X, formerly Twitter, where he had more than 13,200 followers, posting pornographic materials to attract customers for a subscription service costing 299 baht.

Further investigation revealed he had coerced a 15-year-old student into creating multiple illicit videos, some filmed in public places including department stores and footbridges. The videos were tailored to meet his clients’ demands. Mr Supakit admitted to earning around 50,000 baht monthly from the work.

During police questioning, Mr Supakit admitted he began producing adult content over two years ago after being branded a ‘sex creator’. He said that he turned to producing child pornography after noting a drop in his followers, believing he needed to find new ways to excite his clientele.

Authorities have gathered sufficient evidence and are pursuing legal action against him for his alleged crimes.

The Royal Thai Armed Forces have released details of a planned security fence along the border with Cambodia, following deadly armed clashes that have further strained relations between the two countries.

The blueprint was presented to Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn Krom Phra Srisavangavadhana by Army Chief Gen Pana Klaoplodthuk. He and other military leaders, including Chief of the Defence Forces Gen Ukris Boontanondha, were granted an audience on Thursday.

According to the plan, the fence will stand 3.5 metres high, with the lower section built from prestressed concrete and the upper part made of galvanised steel grating topped with barbed wire. The structure is designed to resist attempts to breach it, either by force, climbing, or tunnelling, according to information posted on the Hataitip Fund Facebook page.

While the post did not disclose the total construction cost, some media outlets – including the FM91 Traffic Police website – estimated the expense at around 7.36 million baht per kilometre for the fence alone, or up to 8.6 million baht if a dirt road for security patrols is added.

The overall funding source for the project has not been fully revealed, though the princess’s Hataitip Fund is expected to play a key role. ‘The Hataitip Fund will be a main mechanism to mobilise contributions from all Thais to accelerate safety and security along the border,’ the account stated.

The Thai-Cambodian land border stretches 798 kilometres. The initial phase of the project will cover 8.4 kilometres between border markers 52 and 59 in Pong Nam Ron district of Chanthaburi province, where demarcation has been completed.

The move followed the approval of the armed forces-backed project by the National Security Council on Oct 2.

Even in an era of intense political polarisation, there are still moments when a bipartisan consensus can emerge around important ethical issues. One such moment is happening now. Last April, the United States Food and Drug Administration released its “Roadmap to Reducing Animal Testing in Preclinical Safety Studies”. The FDA said that it was taking “a groundbreaking step” that would advance public health and limit wasteful expenditure by replacing animal testing with “more effective, human-relevant methods”.

Such a step would, of course, reduce the suffering of millions of nonhuman animals used for tests. Echoing what opponents of the use of animals in drug testing have long been saying, the FDA referred to a “growing scientific recognition that animals do not provide adequate models of human health and disease. The roadmap also noted that more than 90% of drugs that appear safe and effective in animals do not receive FDA approval for use in humans because they are not safe and effective in humans.

Two weeks after the FDA announcement, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world’s largest funder of biomedical research, added its support for the shift away from animals, announcing a new commitment: to give higher priority to “human-based research technologies” and to reduce the use of animals in the research that it funds. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said that integrating data science and technology would “fundamentally reimagine the way research is conducted”, and by doing so, speed up innovation and improve the outcomes obtained from healthcare.

In July, the FDA and NIH jointly hosted a high-level workshop on reducing animal testing, where papers on new research methods were presented. The event’s breaking news was the NIH’s announcement to stop issuing new grants for research that relies solely on animal testing.

Senior FDA officials reported that their interactions with hundreds of pharmaceutical and biotech CEOs during a nationwide listening tour had revealed that the industry is already using the new, human-centred approach “because it works and because it’s highly predictive”. The pharmaceutical and biotech companies were nevertheless still using animals for testing, that the FDA wanted animal data.

Industry representatives reported that they found this troubling, owing to ethical concerns about conducting costly experiments that caused animals to suffer while providing data useful only to satisfy a bureaucratic requirement for bringing their products to market. The FDA commissioner noted that the new methods could accelerate the provision of beneficial treatments to the public, reduce research and development costs, and eventually lower drug prices, while being “more humane and ethical for animals”.

This shift is cause for celebration, but it is tragic that it has taken so long. Fifty years ago, one of us wrote in Animal Liberation that alternatives to the use of animals “exist already and others would develop more rapidly, if the energy and resources now applied to experiment on animals were redirected into the search for alternatives”. That did not happen. Since the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the United States has required animal testing for predicting human outcomes for all drug, therapy, cosmetic, and food safety reviews and approvals.

For more than 80 years, industrial suppliers profited from breeding and selling billions of animals for research purposes. (The share price of the largest of these companies, Charles River Laboratories, fell 28% after the FDA announced its intention to reduce animal use.) Public funds were wasted on tests that caused immense harm to animals while failing to predict how humans would respond. Patients suffered and died because they were given drugs that worked on nonhuman animals, but not on them.

The first step towards changing the paradigm was taken in 2022, when overwhelming, bipartisan majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate approved the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, making it legal for the FDA to certify substances as safe based on testing without animals. Some of these methods have existed for a long time, while others are novel. In 2024, the NIH established a nearly $400 million (13 billion baht) innovation programme to develop, over the next 10 years, new methodologies that promise to transform the way we understand biological processes and disease states.

Charles River Laboratories, after seeing its stock price plummet, decided that it didn’t want to risk going the way of Kodak. The company announced its support for the FDA’s focus on alternatives and stated that it intended to be a leader in the transition.

Animal testing will not stop overnight. Nevertheless, we are hopeful that over the next 10 years, we will see a profound change in protecting human safety and developing cures for the diseases that afflict us, without inflicting suffering on animals.

The Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) has unveiled a strategic initiative to revitalise the southern border region by positioning Narathiwat as a destination for cultural and ecological tourism.

The plan seeks to attract Malaysian visitors with experiences that highlight the province’s unique identity, natural beauty and cultural richness, moving beyond traditional shopping-oriented travel.

Natthaphong Suwannarat, deputy secretary-general of the SBPAC, said the economic development strategy for the three southernmost provinces integrates cultural promotion and marketing to create new income sources for communities, small businesses and vulnerable groups.

“This is about creating marketing opportunities and stimulating the economy by giving local products exposure to consumers and tourists,” Mr Natthaphong said. “We want tourism to reflect the region’s culture, ecology and innovation.”

He added that the initiative encourages collaboration among producers, entrepreneurs and tourism operators to showcase local craftsmanship, food, and creative innovations — transforming community potential into long-term growth.

A major promotional event will take place in Sungai Kolok district, a key border town known for its accessibility and trade infrastructure. Activities will include cultural exhibitions, cooking demonstrations, video contests and prize draws aimed at engaging visitors of all ages.

“We expect Sungai Kolok, as a fully equipped border town, to attract Malaysian tourists to shop, travel and learn about product development in Thailand’s southern provinces,” Mr Natthaphong said.

The campaign will also spotlight Narathiwat’s rich diversity — from the pristine Hala-Bala Forest and picturesque beaches to local fishing villages, authentic southern cuisine and spiritual landmarks such as the Quran Museum in Yi-ngo district and Wat Phra Phuttha Ming Mongkol in Muang district.

The initiative reflects a shift from short-term economic events to sustainable, experience-based tourism that links culture, nature and community-driven enterprise, it says. “Beyond economic revival, it’s about building pride in local identity while preserving the environment,” Mr Natthaphong added. “We aim to make Narathiwat a model for sustainable border tourism.”

Apple’s iPhone Air sold out within minutes of its launch in China on Friday, underscoring the device’s popularity among Chinese consumers despite competition from Android devices.

The strong sales followed CEO Tim Cook’s visit this week to promote the product in the world’s largest smartphone market amid ongoing geopolitical tensions between China and the United States. As chairman of an advisory body at Tsinghua University’s management school, Cook also met Vice-Premier He Lifeng on Thursday.

Pre-sales for the iPhone Air, which supports only e-SIM and received regulatory approval to launch in China just recently, began at 9am local time (8am Thai time) on Friday – more than a month later than most of the world.

Minutes after bookings opened, the model was sold out at all bricks-and-mortar stores in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as in cities like Tianjin, according to Apple’s website. Online shipments were delayed by one to two weeks.

The robust demand reflects the positive reception of Apple’s newest and thinnest model in the Chinese market despite heightened competition from local brands such as Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi, which are striving to expand in the higher-end market in a challenging economy.

The Chinese smartphone market shrank 3% year on year in the third quarter, with Vivo capturing an 18% share to claim the top spot.

Huawei and Apple followed in second and third place with 16% and 15% shares, respectively, trailed by Xiaomi and Oppo.

Cook has emerged as one of the most prominent US business leaders actively engaging with Chinese consumers and government officials. On Thursday, he also met Commerce Minister Wang Wentao to discuss various topics, including bilateral economic and trade relations and Apple’s growth in China.

The CEO expressed Apple’s commitment to strengthening ties with China, contributing to the country’s “high-quality development” and fostering cooperation between the two nations, which he deemed essential for global economic progress, according to a statement from the Commerce Ministry.

Cook said on his personal Weibo account that Apple was collaborating with Beijing’s Anzhen Hospital, renowned for its cardiological research, to explore how Apple Watch users in China could use the device to monitor potential heart issues.

He also announced a donation to Tsinghua University to help “foster the next generation of environmental leaders”.

The Ministry of Public Health has acknowledged that the universal healthcare system is facing a deepening financial crisis, citing mounting losses under the National Health Security Fund.

Public health permanent secretary Dr Somrerk Jungsaman said the universal healthcare system, or Gold Card scheme, is facing financial instability, as public hospitals continue to shoulder losses from providing services under the scheme.

He revealed that while hospitals under the ministry remain solvent overall — thanks to cross-subsidisation from the Civil Servant Medical Benefit Scheme and the Social Security Fund — the Gold Card scheme alone has run at a deficit, with expenditure reaching 110% of revenue, or 18.47 billion baht in 2024.

Meanwhile, hospitals’ liquidity has dropped sharply from 100 billion baht during the Covid-19 period to only 20 billion baht at present.

He said the root cause is the imbalance between service costs and compensation rates. The actual cost per inpatient case has stood at 15,900-16,400 baht since 2021, while the National Health Security Office (NHSO) continues to reimburse only 8,350 baht per case.

“This gap is unsustainable,” he said, noting that rising costs for medication, medical supplies, and personnel have exacerbated the problem.

To address the shortfall, the ministry plans to negotiate with the NHSO to raise the base rate to 13,000 baht, with an initial target of 10,000 baht in the 2027 fiscal year.

In addition, the ministry aims to generate over 86 billion baht annually from non-budgetary sources, including 40 billion baht from tourist health insurance, 16 billion baht from voluntary top-up schemes, and revenue from premium clinics.

Dr Somrerk added that efficiency measures, such as improved cost management, will further strengthen hospital performance and retain skilled medical personnel.

This comes as Mongkutwattana Hospital suspended its “Gold Card” universal healthcare services amid a funding dispute and offered a discount programme for affected patients.

If Asean’s 58 years thus far have been about resilience and playing a central organising role in promoting regional security and stability, its next decade will determine whether the Southeast Asian bloc can adapt and remain relevant. After the crises in Myanmar and along the Thai-Cambodian border, Asean’s credibility has never been more in doubt. To regain its effectiveness as Southeast Asia’s one and only agency, Asean needs to move away from the ritualistic diplomacy of mundane meetings to far-reaching reforms that chart new ways of making things work.

One immediate change would be to reduce summit frequency. Asean leaders currently meet twice a year, but this has turned into an exercise in ceremony rather than substance. The bloc should revert to a single annual summit — allowing more time for preparation, coordination, and follow-up. Camaraderie among Asean leaders should be promoted but bilaterally and minilaterally based on personal chemistry and mutual interests. These personal relationships can then complement and reinforce the broader group at the summit level.

What Asean needs now is not more communiqués, but more implementation. Fewer meetings could mean more focus — and perhaps more progress. For instance, the Five-Point Consensus on Myanmar and the Thai-Cambodian ceasefire must be enforced, not just reaffirmed. Asean needs to ensure Myanmar’s looming sham elections in December-January do not supersede the 5PC, whereas the Thai-Cambodian border requires actual Asean-wide peacekeepers, not just observers.

Moreover, the Asean Secretary-General (ASG) wields potential authority but little autonomy. The current five-year, alphabet-based rotation system allows every member state a turn, but often at the cost of competence and continuity. A better model would appoint the most qualified candidate through a regional search process. The term should be shortened to two or three years, renewable once, with measurable performance benchmarks. Compensation should reflect both responsibility and accountability, akin to a corporate or central bank executive.

Performance-based incentives could ensure dynamism and discourage complacency. Asean’s past secretaries-general, such as Ong Keng Yong and Surin Pitsuwan, demonstrated what strong and smart leadership can achieve. The office needs to recapture that calibre. If the alphabet rotation cannot be scrapped, Asean might experiment with a one-year linkage between the ASG and the rotating chair country. This could synchronise national and regional agendas. The obvious risk would be a single member state’s dominance, but this would only be for one year.

Because of the limited duration, this modality could force member states to think beyond themselves because their longer-term interests require working with others rather than being pursued narrowly for just a year. However it is done, revitalising the Secretariat is a top priority. Without capable leadership, Asean’s machinery will continue to suffer from inertia and endless red tape.

Perhaps Asean’s most crippling habit is consensus-based paralysis. When every member state holds veto power, the bloc becomes hostage to its weakest link. Cambodia’s obstruction on the South China Sea issue in 2012 and Myanmar’s defiance since 2021 illustrate the perils of unanimity. The solution lies in flexibility. Asean should adopt a “variable geometry” model — or what might be called “Asean à la carte”. Not every initiative needs all ten members to approve. Intra-regional coalitions of the willing should be free to advance on trade, digital economy, or defence cooperation, while leaving the door open for others to join later.

The precedent is clear. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) includes all Asean members, but the more demanding Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) includes only four — Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. These early movers can lead the way for others like Indonesia and Thailand.

Similarly, the original Asean five founding members plus others ready to cooperate — Asean5+X — could regain traction and restore momentum. Without such flexibility, Asean risks being eclipsed by external minilaterals like the Quad, Aukus, or the emerging Squad of the Philippines, Australia, Japan, and the United States.

Structural reforms must go hand in hand with moral clarity. Asean cannot claim centrality while ignoring atrocities or conflicts within its own borders. Non-interference cannot be an excuse for inaction. If Asean cannot deal with the crisis induced by civil war in Myanmar, curb transnational crimes and scam centres, or prevent member states from waging war on each other, as is the case with Cambodia and Thailand, it forfeits its relevance.

To regain trust, Asean must be seen as a community of responsibility, not merely convenience. Enforcement mechanisms for peace and humanitarian commitments must be strengthened. Member states should be accountable to each other and to their people. Complacency is Asean’s greatest danger. Without change, it will be bypassed by powers and partnerships that move faster and act bolder. The addition of Timor-Leste as the new and 11th member to the grouping will likely heighten these risks and challenges.

Deep structural reform is not just optional or rhetorical, but it is existential. Reducing summit frequency, revitalising the Secretariat, adopting flexible cooperation, and enforcing agreements are the starting points. These are just some preliminary suggestions, but the key is to start thinking and adapting Asean in the direction of reform and progress. Any real transformation of Asean must be rooted in the collective mindset of its member states and societies.

Asean governments must stop viewing the organisation as a stage for national posturing and individual member states’ interests and start treating it as a shared project for regional stability and survival. For nearly sixty years, Asean has been a symbol of Southeast Asia’s agency and staying power, a forum that turned a war-torn region into one of peace and prosperity. Whether it remains so depends on its willingness to adapt quickly and boldly. Reform may be uncomfortable, but irrelevance is worse. The choice is clear. Asean must reinvent itself or end up in the dustbin of history.

We need to be asking, “Is there a better way?” or “What else is there?” and “How can we improve?” These three simple questions direct growth, innovation and ambition, which are the qualities required in personal, business and social life.

In schools and businesses, I observe a tendency to avoid effort, which leads to stagnation and holds society back. Technology is masking this limitation. Innovation cycles have become shorter due to the momentum from previous cycles. However, society is doing less with more.

At schools, students are not asking, “What else is there?” or even “Tell me more”. There is little curiosity to find out more. Electronic devices allow access to oceans of information, yet students prefer to sit on the shores of ignorance. That drive to dive in and explore is left lounging on a bed of lethargy. Teachers who push exploration are seen as old-fashioned, while students respond with, “If it is there, we can always dive in”. But it is only by swimming under the waves of information, over the troughs of ideas and diving deeper that the beauty of the learning experience is found. True education requires curiosity and asking questions.

A continuous, childlike inquiry, even among adults, is missing as parents farm out their parenting duties to devices. Learning begins at home and expands globally; hence, the games that kids play are crucial to what we want society to become. I sometimes give out activity books and colour pencils to kids at bus stations and on the trains, yet few parents ask why or want to know more. Curiosity, demonstrated by example, is more effective than conveyed by words.

Businesses, too, should be asking, “Is there a better way?” There is a charm to the traditional way of doing things; however, there are also more efficient and effective ways of conducting business. Surprisingly, many small business owners I have spoken with in Thailand are not interested in growing their business. Some are not even aware of how to grow their business. There is a sense of satiation with having something to do that brings in money, which leads to inertia. Hence, children often do not want to take over the family business, as it is perceived as limiting. This lack of drive presents opportunities. Alas, a facilitated oligarchy of sorts emerges with a few large conglomerates and many small shops.

Innovation is a slogan for how we can improve this product or process — a fundamental idea of taking one thing and making it better or extending its use. A utilitarian activity repackaged for the 21st century. Alas, with so many competing products and services, innovation is becoming seemingly unnecessary. A cycle of products exists to fix problems caused by other products — pills for problems caused by pills. Sometimes the answer is no, and that is okay once we are asking (and trying). Sweden has rolled back its digital education push after years of doing so.

Society can also benefit if the question, “How can we improve?” is asked more. Too often, policies, politicians and plans are repeated, renewed and rehashed instead of being challenged. Yes, that worked before, but as times and conditions change, perhaps improvements to what was implemented previously can occur. Societal dialogues need to be directed to improvement.

Complaints are easy, but suggested betterments with details are more difficult. Polarisation is reduced if the focus is on improvement, as the person doing the improvement becomes less important to the results.

There is a comfort in steadiness, habits and familiarity. Yet evolution, progress and growth require change. There is a desire for simplicity, but simplicity does not mean complacency.

Awareness and reflection are necessary to help answer these questions. Sadly, awareness is quickly going away. Ubiquitous earbuds and screen usage mean that people are often unaware of what is happening around them. Reflection then becomes near impossible.

People have become so comfortable that the push to improve is significantly diminishing. That human need for purpose seems further away; no wonder mental health issues are on the rise.

Society has satisfied its physical needs at the expense of its mental and spiritual needs. Balance is needed. The right simple questions direct us to become better versions of ourselves, do things differently and grow.

So, when one hears “This is how XYZ has always been done”, ask “What are the other ways tried/possible?”

The idea is to explore possibilities. The right kind of simple questions can direct positive changes required at many levels.

Dr Mariano Carrera is a lecturer at International College at King Mongkut’s University of Technology, North Bangkok.

The net interest income (NII) of listed banks is expected to decline significantly in the third quarter of this year, weighed down by the Bank of Thailand’s policy rate cuts totalling one percentage point over the past 12 months.

KGI Securities forecasts the combined NII of the seven SET-listed banks under its coverage will fall by 3% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) and 10% year-on-year (y-o-y) in the third quarter of 2025. The decline is primarily attributed to a narrower net interest margin (NIM), in line with the central bank’s policy rate reductions.

For the third quarter, KGI expects the combined NIM of the seven banks to decrease by 10 basis points (bps) q-o-q and 40 bps y-o-y.

The brokerage also anticipates the banking sector’s combined earnings will drop by 9% q-o-q and 6% y-o-y.

Given the central bank’s accommodative monetary policy, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has lowered the policy rate four times since October 2024, totalling 100 bps in reductions.

In 2025, the MPC made three consecutive cuts — 25 bps each in February, April and August. The MPC has since kept the rate unchanged, maintaining it at 1.5%.

KGI projects the banking sector’s combined net profit for the third quarter of 2025 will decline by 9% q-o-q and 6% y-o-y.

Pi Securities expects both NIM and NII for the banking sector to slow on a quarterly and yearly basis, citing the lagged effect of policy rate transmission.

The firm added Thailand’s fragile economy will continue to weigh on loan growth and banking profitability.

Pi Securities forecasts the sector’s combined net profit in third quarter at 59.6 billion baht, representing a modest increase of 0.5% q-o-q and 3.5% y-o-y.

In a related development, Fitch Ratings Thailand stated yesterday declining interest rates would help support borrowers’ repayment capacity amid the economic slowdown.

However, the ratings agency noted the sluggish economy could still weigh on asset quality and lead to increased impaired loans across the banking sector.

Fitch estimates the Thai banking industry’s impaired loan ratio will edge up from 3.4% in 2024 to 3.7% in 2025, then remain steady next year, mainly driven by small and medium-sized enterprises. Impaired loans in this segment rose from 7.2% last year to 7.9% in the first half of 2025.

Fitch also forecasts Thai GDP growth of 2.2% in 2025 and 1.9% in 2026, down from 2.5% in 2024.

However, sustained low unemployment and lower interest rates are expected to help support borrowers’ repayment ability.