A great number of men over 30 would have to face the inevitable of ageing - the psychological effects of pattern hair loss.

To add insult to injury, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has branded his political enemy as Baldy. He, still blessed with a head full of hair at 72, openly admits to using a derogatory term as if he is insulting every man with receding hairline. Though this is not his intent.

Samak wants to insult just one "Ai Hua Therk" and resorts to leave out his name for dramatic effect. In Thai he has been very specific about whom he meant when insulting Ai Hua Therk. But English is not as colourful as Thai and the nuance has been lost in the translation. The man in question is partially bald but the word baldy is a closest proximation to degrade him in English.

On April 27, Samak lashed out at Ai Hua Therk for the first time in his Talking Samak Style. He linked his chief opponent to ASTV, a satellite television station. He said Ai Hua Therk was spearheading the campaign to discredit him for being an unroyalist to the monarchy.

He vowed to fight Ai Hua Therk to a bitter end in order to prove who between them is the most royalist.

Last Sunday ( May 11), he again blamed Ai Hua Therk for spreading the coup rumour. He said he sought and received the royal audience last week to deliver his periodic report on performance. "Ai Hua Therk spreaded a false and malicious allegation that I was being pressured to resign," he said in his weekly adderss.

He said Ai Hua Therk had gone overboard discredit him by warning the abbot of Wat Yannawa to end their longstanding ties. He said he has known the abbot since 1976. Evidently, the Samak-Ai Hua Therk tussle has now involved the senior monk.

To assist those of you to second guess Samak on the identity of Ai Hua Therk, I submit herewith the depiction of the man the prime minister found so annoying that it was unthinkable to utter the name.