Category Archives: Blog

Sage of Baltimore and scourge of (among other things) chiropractors HK Mencken defined Puritanism as ‘the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy’. Hong Kong’s youth concern groups are similarly stricken. Yesterday, they were wetting themselves about kids’ gay … Continue reading →

It’s bad enough that Hong Kong must be subsumed into a Leninist dictatorship. On top of that, the city is being dragged down to the depths of pathetic-ness. Movie-makers are convicted for possessing prop banknotes. The guy who heads the … Continue reading →

Is it just me, or has the ‘Belt and Road’ hype been dying down lately? One skeptic asks where the infrastructure-related trade flows are. Perhaps one problem, aside from the debt-trap/resources-grabs vibes, is that applying the label to anything anywhere overloads … Continue reading →

My handwriting is better than this. Really. I like to think I would take the trouble to put it in Hangul, and phrase it more delicately. Stop looking at me like that. And on to the latest instalment of our series, … Continue reading →

Hong Kong’s Legislative Council passes the Express Rail Link co-location plan. The whole episode seems to be about setting precedents. First, it allows Mainland law enforcement to operate within the city – supposedly prohibited by the Basic Law. In this … Continue reading →

The Mongkok Riot was the most outrageous and frightening, civilization-threatening, decency-defying, wanton outbreak of violence in Hong Kong for half a century – but not important enough to warrant a commission of inquiry, oh no. Even the South China Morning … Continue reading →

Former Chief Executive CY Leung blames insufficiently dictatorial government for Hong Kong’s housing crisis – specifically, an insufficiently dictatorial government in which he played a role. Not for the first time, CY’s desperate eagerness to support the Chinese Communist Party’s … Continue reading →

This countdown to the Kim-Trump meeting is reminiscent of long-ago hyped-up boxing clashes – the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’, the ‘Thrilla in Manila’, and now (fingers crossed) the ‘Mega-bore in Singapore’. On the subject of fights, Hong Kong Chief Executive … Continue reading →

Just returned from Japan. Now methodically reading through all last week’s Hong Kong newspapers to see what I missed. I see the South China Morning Post’s top letter today is from dimwitted pro-Beijing legislator Holden Chow cheering the Greater Bay … Continue reading →

…an extra special helping of links ahead of my forthcoming inspection tour next week of a cooling, calm, soothing corner of Japan. In Hong Kong, the designation of a polluted pile of swampy mud (of vague Shenzhen-linked ownership) as a … Continue reading →