The Hong Kong government is caught in an embarrassing situation. On the one hand, it must maintain the fiction that there is a ‘shortage of land’ to justify current high housing prices and long-term multi-billion mega-projects to reclaim artificial islands. On the other hand, there is spare and underused space all around in the form of land zoned as agricultural or industrial, supposedly military sites, Disney/cruise tourist facilities, luxury developments for Mainland money-launderers, and much else.
If the ‘shortage of land’ is real, it follows that the city cannot devote a huge area to a golf course at Fanling. But the government’s buddies value their exclusive recreational club above the needs of the overall population or economy. So officials will falsify the site’s potential for affordable housing. Will the pro-dems be able to get their act together and make a suitably awkward issue out of it?
On the subject of officials pushing BS, here’s a response to the Hong Kong’s government’s ever-child-like thrill at receiving the World’s Freest Economy prize every year. And to mark the freezing weather hitting the city, here’s an analysis (for those following this sort of thing) of how China presents its Arctic ambitions. Not least – a Chinese Communist theoretician’s view of the Western Concept of Journalism, as opposed to that derived from Victorian-era London based German, Karl M.
Light relief from the land of vintage album covers courtesy of (no infantile snickering, please) The Beavers…
So – a 1964-style combo in matching outfits clearly modeled on the Beatles, with McCartney-style Hofner bass and mop-top hairstyles. The group is Japanese, and this seems to be from 1967, which suggests Japan was woefully behind the times in those days. But maybe they were cooler than we might think, as it says here (in an apparently neo-Marxist forum, so who knows) that they were banned from TV for their freakiness. Click on the pic to judge for yourself (quite with-it garage stuff, under the circumstances).
Off-piste, however:
In an anodyne piece in the SCMP yesterday, Regina Ip came to this conclusion:
“In reply to questions from legislators on January 31, Chief Executive Carrie Lam disclaimed responsibility for the electoral decisions, but admitted that she was ultimately responsible for everything that goes on in the SAR. Ultimately, she would have to answer these questions, or risk pleasing neither the central government nor the people of Hong Kong.”
While stating the outright bloomin’ obvious about the position the (sharply prodded, no doubt) Carrie has got herself in to, it does fairly restate the crux of the current unworkability of the governance of Hong Kong.
Is it possible to sympathise with our CE? As a devout Catholic, and if she ever reads the blather of Ms Ip, she would have read that last line as “or risk pleasing neither the central government nor the people of Hong Kong. Or God”.
It’s crazy to plough up the golf courses for residential housing. The skyscrapers can be built anywhere.
The golf courses are a community asset. The only real crime is that public access is unduly restricted.
The Old Course should be converted to public use, managed by the club. The remaining two courses should be sold to the club as agricultural land.
That’ll save the courses, give the public access, grant the club security of tenure and put an end to the argy-bargy. That’s sensible, so we know it’ll never happen.
Once the golf courses are gone, they’re gone forever.
The very thought of which warms the cockles of a certain blogger’s heart.
I’m not a golf player but I agree with Stanley. In fact I don’t even mind if the golf course remains private as I appreciate the green space it provides and there are occasionally tournaments and events that the public can attend if they wish. I feel there are plenty of other options for housing if the govt cared to look into them. Also, given that 150 mainlanders can enter and settle in HK per day, how many of those new flats will actually be provided for locals?
Remember that moment in late October, at the end of a long hot summer, when you think by yourself ‘I wouldn’t mind if it gets a bit cooler now’ ? Next time that moment comes, give yourself a good, solid slap in the face.