Switching on RTHK Radio 3 in the morning without knowing the exact time is a bit of a risk. The aim is to catch the 6.30 news in full, freeing me to get on with waking life by the time the 10-minute recitation of Italian soccer results starts at 6.50. Switch on too late, and I might miss something important or find myself plunged into the midst of a rant by legislator Emily Lau. Switch on too early, and my delicate dawn psyche is assaulted by the preceding show, which is presented by a DJ who sounds like he is on speed and shrieks about himself – frequently repeating every sentence – over pop tunes that are all in the same 2/4 time signature and tempo.
One day, I will take advantage of one of the many technological or horological solutions to this problem that I know exist. Meanwhile I just take my chances. This morning, the body clock is a bit late and I awake to hear former Security Secretary Regina Ip playfully assuring an interviewer she was not prepared to resume her old job, which we all recall she left under a cloud in 2003. However, the lady insists, she is in discussions with Chief Executive-elect CY Leung about a possible position in his administration.
She hints that this means a non-official seat in the Executive Council. Take a glance at the current unofficial members (scroll down past the ministers): Ron Arculli, Charles Lee, Lau Wong-fat, Anna Wu, one-meal-a-day fund manager V Nee Yeh, Marge Yang, and so on. They come in two flavours: shoe-shiners being given a pat on the head (the first three mentioned above), and tame, trustworthy ‘moderates’ willing to lend a dash of (relative) glamour, intellect or bohemianism to the line-up. Has a single one of them ever produced or even influenced a policy decision in their time ‘serving the community’ in this capacity under CE Donald Tsang? It’s unlikely.
Things might be a bit different under CY, and Regina is not one to meekly agree with whatever the boss says – as we can well imagine, say, Ron Arculli doing. And a seat in ExCo could be a springboard to greater things; how long before we’ll need a new Financial Secretary?
The names of two more ministers-in-waiting are doing the rounds. One is Ada Wong, Wanchai arts busybody of many years’ standing, who is tipped for Culture Secretary. She is the sort of establishment-but-independent sort who maybe wouldn’t quite have fitted into Sir Bow-Tie’s mutual admirers’ club of insiders. The other is ‘green architect’ Wong Kam-sing, possible Environment Secretary. He “lacks the necessary administrative experience,” which is a promising sign: he’s not a civil servant. Greenpeace, the money-crazed, anti-science, anti-capitalism theatrical group, also have misgivings. Even better. After the lackluster incumbent, anyone would be an improvement.
*****
Great moments in photo-editorship (a.k.a. ‘They thought no-one would notice’)… Today’s Standard carries this story about a rescue at sea off Lantau by a ‘government helicopter’…
A look at the picture shows that it is indeed a government helicopter: a US Coast Guard Eurocopter Dolphin HH-65, to be precise. My expert in such matters guesses the location to be the Gulf of Mexico, owing to the flashy marlin-fishing boats in the background. My money’s on Miami. Not Lantau, anyway.
A few weeks back, Regina said that she wouldn’t be willing to work under either Henry or CY, as taking anything other than the top job and leaving Savantas to its own devices would be an insult to her colleagues in that organisation. Michael “Male Grooming” Tien’s public expression of crestfallen bewilderment suggests she’s been shafting him for sometime now anyway, so prob no surprise for him and his chums at this stage that she’s only out for herself.
So having an architect in charge of the Environment pretty much fits in with CY’s campaign promises to pave over all of the green and fill in as much of the sea as possible to provide more biz opportunities to the next list of cronies under the rubric of building more homes.
But as anyone who reads the data at Also Sprach Analyst, HK’s housing problems aren’t caused by a supply/demand imbalance or even by US’ QE. And CY won’t touch the real cause of the housing problem, because the flow of cheap, freshly laundered cash from the mainland (via Caribbean ports of call) is the true third rail of HK’s economics.
Watching C.Y. picking his team is like watching kids pick a football team when all that’s left are those no one really wants owing to being ‘delicate’ or having a handkerchief perpetually pinned to their shirt. Time will tell I spose. Mind you, I find Regina’s deluded sense of self importance to be frankly annoying. Is anyone really surprised sthat she may be in it for ‘herself’? Civil Service Kung Ju Bang in action.
Perhaps the Standard is hinting at a new development in the South China Sea territorial claims – US territorial waters now extend to Lantau, hence the US coast guard chopper. Lantau inmates will not enjoy falling under the US DEA’s jurisdiction.
There’s something about Vag’s look (see above; open mouth, red lips; focused eyes) that makes me think that the photographer was soon to be on the end of a serious bit of gobbling. I reckon she swallows.
Thankfully one name not doing the rounds for an Exco seat (because the dumbckuf backed the wrong horse) is ‘King of LKF’ Allen Semen. For this we can all be greatful as we don’t have to listen to bile for the next 5 years.
However no Big Ron Arculli on Exco would seem a little drastic !
This isn’t lipstick. It’s Chanel Sang #5. That pretentious Bela and I have been having a bit of a party.
Vagina Ip is a weathervane who will flutter any which way to get a job.
Have you noticed that she dismisses any non-C.S. candidate as “lacking the necessary administrative experience” ?
Is is arrogance or plain stupidity ?
CY is not going to score points if he is going to include that ‘rhymes-with rich’.
“Hitler came to power by democratic election, and he killed seven million Jews. One-person, one-vote is no panacea.”
“… we cannot rule out the possibility that some citizens may join [the July 1 march] as a kind of activity because it’s a holiday… we should not think that many people taking to the street will necessarily mean they are against Article 23.”
You can’t put lipstick on a pig.
Sometimes the teams made up of all those that would not go with the bully- boys’ ” best pick of the bunch teams ” do make the best – and winning – teams
The real point is not the individual excellence of any one person, but rather whether they work as a TEAM
Dear old TCH was never a team leader, and Donald duck was even less of one. But I have the feeling CY is a natural team leader.
Only a gut feeling, but my gut rarely lies
Mary Hinge, thank you for reminding us of those poisonous little pieces of Hong Kong history.
My favourite Vagina Ip story is the one told by Hemlock himself following the electoral defeat to Anson Chan:
“Dame Conscience left the vote-counting early to have her hair done, leaving her opponent to take out her frustration by donning a pair of sharp stiletto heels and dispatching a selection of hamsters and small kittens her aides had brought along in the event of the worst.”
http://biglychee.com/Hemlock/pig/diary-08dec07.html
Broomhead’s 掃把頭 attempts at self-rehabilitation are pathetic. After her very well deserved tarring-and-feathering in 2003, it never ceases to amaze me that anyone would be willing to listen to anything she says, support any project she announces, or consider her for any post whatsoever.
Day after day throughout the spring of 2003 she insulted HK citizens’ intelligence and judgment (remember her claiming there was no need to discuss the details of Article 23 with ordinary citizens, as “they won’t understand it anyway”?) and alternatively mouthed bullshit (such as the Hitler remark) and blatant lies (I recall a roomful of friends laughing as she claimed that hundreds of citizens had written her in support of Article 23).
Rare indeed, such a daily public display of utter incompetence and cluelessness by a handpicked government official. Several people I knew who were previously utterly apolitical joined in the July 1 march purely because, as the mother of a friend said, “I can’t take any more of that woman!” (The Cantonese was a bit more colourful.)
She used up her lifetime supply of credibility in 2003. Can’t we all agree to just ignore her now?
Xiaoyao could not agree more. There was a scene when she was being driven away from Legco through a mass of protestors and arrogantly had her head down in a magazine and a smirk on her face. What a dreadful woman.