In fact, it was nothing more than a ruse designed to make front-page news even though the meeting didn't warrant such coverage. Political news junkies have been hoodwinked yet again.

As far as news value is concerned, the fact that Thaksin Shinawatra, the caretaker prime minister, asked Chat Thai leader Banharn Silapa-archa to join him for a private dinner at the famous "Song" restaurant was perhaps worth a paragraph or two on page five of a local newspaper. When that story made the front page in several newspapers the following day, I was convinced that the "dumbing down" of political news had finally come full circle.

Had it been a genuine meeting to map out a political roadmap towards national reconciliation, reporters wouldn't have been tipped in advance about the "eyes-only" dinner last Thursday evening. In fact, had it been a move of any real substance, Thaksin and Banharn needn't have left home at all. They could have discussed proposals to "bring all parties concerned together for compromise negotiations" on the phone. Or they could have met privately without any fanfare.

When the news about their sumptuous dinner was leaked, you could almost be certain it was nothing but a chance for Thaksin to have his photo taken with Banharn, to give the impression - false, of course - that he is seeking reconciliation with the rest of the country. Banharn obviously thought he could gain some political mileage from the leaked report about his meeting with Thaksin - after all, he could always issue a disclaimer to detach himself from any about-face on Thaksin's part, if things went wrong.

Banharn had, in fact, made sure he would not be placed in the embarrassing position of having to defend political mischief by the PM. The day before the dinner, the veteran politician told reporters: "I have warned the premier several times that he must be more careful with his words. I told him that he mustn't say or do anything that may be tantamount to political self-immolation."

Whatever rumours may be triggered from his latest chummy-chummy get together with Thaksin, regardless of whether they subsequently turn out to be true or false, it won't do Banharn any political harm. Or so he seems to reckon. He has already made the politically shrewd move of not commenting on speculation that one possible option an embattled Thaksin may be contemplating is offering Banharn the premiership in an interim government.

In Banharn's estimation, his bargaining power would be enhanced, not undermined, by such a scenario, however speculative it may turn out to be. It doesn't really matter whether this particular proposal was ever mentioned by Thaksin over that Bt2,000-per-bowl shark-fin soup, or not. What matters is that the two were seen talking behind closed doors and the press continues to carry reports quoting inside sources as saying that the political leaders "enjoyed" the Chinese cuisine.

Just as shark-fin soup is a badly over-rated, over-priced dish, the Thaksin-Banharn dinner has likewise been politically overblown. Thaksin has simply floated the "reconciliation" balloon to get himself out of a tight corner. Banharn, of course, isn't naive enough to fall into this trap. He went along knowing full well that it was part of the game that politicians play to keep themselves in a positive light.

When all is said and done, it's still a toss-up as to which of them is using the other in order to gain the most politically out of the ongoing chaos. Banharn, of course, knows that the only move that would enable the country to return to "normalcy", with trust and faith in the democratic system restored, is for Thaksin to take the significant step of removing himself out of the eye of the current storm. That would effectively neutralise his role as the centre of ongoing divisiveness in the country.

Unless Banharn made that clear over that bowl of shark-fin soup to Thaksin, the hoopla over their "private dinner" is nothing but an attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill.

Genuine reconciliation, no matter how many times Thaksin spins it around to suit his own interests, can't be achieved without real substance.

Suthichai Yoon