A 40-minute Law and Disorder legal podcast in which British civil rights lawyer Helena Kennedy and others interview Lord Jonathan Sumption about his decision to leave Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal. As the person who sends me the link puts it: ‘…he’s a sharp but uptight old fart who was smart enough to realize that alliance with the “new improved “ HK judiciary was unsustainable…’
In the finest tradition of top judges, he sounds out of his depth on political and social context (and uses the word ‘riots’ loosely). He also describes judges going along with the NatSec laws as victims. But he is willing to make points that others can’t or won’t. Probably too obscure for a Hong Kong government response.
YouTube is full of videos by ‘influencers’ parroting the wonders of the city as a destination. It’s likely most or some are subsidized by tourism-promotion bodies. This one – Rediscovering the Charm of Causeway Bay by a (Swedish?) guy who likes the Yee Wo Street circular walkway – may not be. Or maybe they chuck free hotel rooms at anyone.
You know the Bowrington Road market area, with all its quirky shops and occasional noteworthy ‘grotitecture’? He stays a quarter-mile to the east, shows you his hotel room, introduces the nearby 7-Eleven and Pret A Manger, and strolls from Hysan Mall to Sogo via the dangerously edgy Jardine’s Bazaar on what seems a very quiet morning. Nice shot of a McDonalds towards the end. If this is irony, it’s brilliant. It has had 1,732 views since Apr 13, 2024.
The Diplomat on Beijing’s disapproval of rock music…
“That’s just crazy. Crazier than you can imagine,”said Yang Haisong, one of China’s most revered indie rockers. He was reacting to recent news about a university textbook degrading the internet, pop music, and his chosen genre of rock n’ roll as supposed dangerous Western traps that could spark a “color revolution” among the youth of China.
Yang is the front-man for Nanjing post-punk band P.K. 14. They’re good! Try this, and this.
Secretary for Culture and Cool Stuff Kevin Yeung recently got a ‘slap in the face’ from the Chief Executive for failing to deliver some sort of arts industry blueprint. The civil servants tasked with turning Hong Kong into a creative/cultural/soft-power hub-zone might learn something from Bangtan Remixed: A Critical BTS Reader. Asian Review of Books says…
The editors of this, the first academic book on BTS, contextualize the group in terms of Korea’s deliberate policy of exporting popular culture to leverage soft power. While this is to be expected in a book of this kind, the introduction also takes in the Japanese idol system that Korea borrowed so much from. The editors also portray BTS as relative outsiders in their industry: their label Big Hit was small fry at the time of the group’s debut, and BTS are much more willing, they argue, to engage with fans in casual livestreams where they tone down the pop star posturing and appear unguarded
…the romantic idea of the heroic rock star as author is a particular, culturally-determined Western-centric concept that BTS fans and academics are actively opposed to. In BTS fandom, meanings are generated by the fans, who pour out their fantasies and aspirations, which are then reinterpreted by the band in their future output.
…BTS fans have at times come together to protest diverse causes such as neoliberal labor laws in Indonesia and domestic abuse in Turkey.
Here’s a BTS YouTube video, starting with the singer drinking a glass of milk in his bedroom – though note the poster of Aladdin Sane-era David Bowie on the wall. The vid has 1.8 billion views.
“The vid has 1.8 billion views.”
Secretary Yeung’s KPI is set.
Hapless Kev is being sidelined
https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1775254-20241019.htm
“A new working group on developing tourist hotspots will uncover must-see destinations across Hong Kong and will ease the workload of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, Chief Executive John Lee said on Saturday.
In his third Policy Address, Lee said the working group, led by Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk, will strengthen cross departmental co-ordination and leverage community efforts in identifying and developing tourist hotspots.
Speaking on an RTHK radio programme, the CE said officials hope to unearth hidden gems beyond Victoria Harbour.”
This is followed by the kind of weird “”For example, the Champs-Élysées in France… it has many unique features, and everyone goes there.”
Umm, Nathan Road anyone???
That this working group is announced on THE SAME WEEK as the deadline for comments on the URA’s plan to trash one of our perennial domestic and tourist destinations, the Flower Market, underlines the bipolar policy mindset of the administration, promote on one hand while undermining on the other. This is in line with pledges to gradually eliminate brownfield operations in NT while actually tweaking the government’s own regulations to facilitate the conversion of significant tracts of agriculture land to……….new brownfield.
The MKK plan includes redeveloping not only the shopping area, but also eliminating the large openair sports stadium, the always fully booked sports complex, open air ping pong tables, a children’s playground, elderly exercise station, lots of shady cool outdoor seating, space for domestic helpers to set up tents, meandering walks through groves of mature trees.
Indications that pledges to promote sports among the community are to be confined to the provision of facilities for elite sports.
That the at grade facilities would be reprovisioned indoors a decade on and on a podium in a wall effect development that would eliminate the village atmosphere of the Flower Market bring no consolation to a district with one of the highest deficits in the provision of Open Space in the territory. The URA plan is its usual lots of paving, a few spindly trees and little shade. Check out the facility on the difficult to access Lee Tung Street podium.
I note the URA is drumming up the usual two line representations in support, probably submitted by employees of the consultants who will benefit from the redevelopment. For anyone interested in commenting, click onto Plans Currently Inviting Representations. Deadline Weds 23/10
https://www.tpb.gov.hk/en/plan_making/draft_plan.html
That the URA that was established to tackle the issue of decaying buildings is now funding its grandiose plans by abusing its practically unlimited powers to undermine popular attractions and deprive the community of already limited recreational facilities for years and replace genuine Open Space with facilities on podiums should be a matter of prime concern.
That even C.Y. Leung finds the plan unpalatable underlines the issues.
The CB video guy isn’t a government shill but, boy, that vid could have done with some editing. Plus what about all the Indonesian shops and restaurants around Sugar street? A missed opportunity to give a more rounded view. And BTW the BEST FX location in Hong Kong is on Sugar Street: PFCE Ltd.
Re Lord Sumption
A slight reassessment:
He’s an uptight, autistically narrow-minded old fart who can cheerlead tyranny in the courts for the right price and then justify his prostitution to himself by compartmentalising law and ignoring justice.
He was smart enough to realise that being a useful idiot in exchange for lots of cash was going to be unsustainable… but he’s so lacking in moral fibre that he stayed firmly on the CCP gravy train as their legal cheerleader for as long as he possibly could before he felt he was probably now flushing his reputation down the toilet — well over five years after it all went to shit.
He declares his “colleagues” in Hong Kong are people of “immense integrity” who have to do whatever Beijing tells them because otherwise they might not get as much money or lose their pension. This state of affairs makes them victims to be pitied as they implement gross injustice and human rights abuses on the rest of the populace.
TL;DR: Whores will have their trinkets.
“uses the word ‘riots’ loosely”… Indeed. For Sumption, even the July 1, 2003, protest was a ‘riot’. A sharp legal mind indeed.
Thank you as always, Ms. Melville. One of the city’s best watchdog reporters.
You have to be deranged to record 240 vlogs when they average 1000 views
PerOla’s video was the online equivalent of a Tim Hamlett column: halfway you happily doze off without realizing it.
@Government Con Sumption with vouchers fully agree with you!
The tawdry efforts of Hapless Kev (or another sodding special committee) to “create tourism products” – tell tourists what to do, or worse, actually build stuff to point them at – contrast with the good old days: stepping out of Kai Tak airport straight into that indescribable buzz of (cliché alert) East meets West – the street food and hawkers, the neon signs, quirky local shops, the tingle of expectation that every day was going to be an adventure.
The specific attractions were organic creations of Hongkongers, either as a function of the place or to impress and offer value as they lightened said tourists’ wallets. Not a government official in sight.
I was mulling what those attractions were, which ones are left, and how they compare with back then:
Victoria Harbour (9/10) a bit smaller, but still a wow view. Fewer water craft
Star Ferry (8/10) same old chill feel, but diminished at Central end.
The Peak / tram (7/10) same views, amazing incline, but .. shopping centre
Kai Tak airport (-) RIP
Temple Street market (and others) (5/10) a shadow of its former self
the trams (10/10) little diffferent, hooray
Stanley market (5/10) a shadow of
the Walled City (-) Who actually went there?
Chung King Mansions (7/10) still quite cool, but it ain’t Wong Kar Wai’s
an outer island (8/10) mostly not so different, and the little ones are ace
a trip to Macau (4/10) meh
Lockhart Road / TST bars (4/10) meh
.. any more?