Other idiocies to end the week…
A district council member has been arrested for wasteful use of the police (who should surely arrest themselves for the same thing).
A guy gets 21 months for throwing eggs at the police HQ last year. (Didn’t everyone? I remember one day when you could barely see the recruitment posters on Queensway for all the yolk dripping off them.)
Suspecting that developing young people’s critical-thinking skills is not such a good idea after all, the CCP puppet government decides to ‘reform’ Liberal Studies…
…all the teaching materials will be vetted by the government, and the existing curriculum will be slashed in half “to reduce the pressure on students”. There will be more emphasis on the country’s development, the constitution, the Basic Law and the rule of law.
It’s being replaced with National Education. Education Secretary Kevin Yeung (you know – the one who sent his own children to school in Australia) says the rectified course will need a new name. Patriotic Studies? Socialist Civilization? Obedience Training? Kowtowing for Kiddies? Let’s Learn Leninist Loyalty?
(This is just the beginning. Reuters reports that education is in for as thorough a going-over as the courts, complete with vigilante Pinyin-named parents informing on subversive teachers. More good news for emmigration consultants.)
And the government will organize a mass oath-taking for all civil servants (seems the pen-pushers will sign a declaration rather than assemble in a stadium and recite the pledge together). Those who refuse will have their names written down in the National Security Office’s Big Black Book of Enemies.
Some links for the weekend…
HKFP has an interview with Clifford Stott – the crowd psychology expert who quit the official body investigating the Hong Kong Police tactics in 2019.
Jerome Cohen on ways the CCP might tame Hong Kong’s courts…
At this early point since promulgation of the NSL on June 30, most Hong Kong criminal trials involving anti-Beijing protests … do not fall under the NSL but under pre-existing Hong Kong law, and the Party has not been happy with some of the results.
Among potential measures: ‘thought reform’ instruction for existing judges; ‘sentencing committees’ and bodies to correct insufficiently harsh decisions; exclusion of politically untrustworthy judges.
On a related note, possible reasons why Joshua Wong et al pled guilty.
An HKFP op-ed on how Beijing’s edict disqualifying lawmakers sets a precedent for the sidelining of Hong Kong’s legal system.
An SCMP one rips apart the government’s Lantau Dream Tomorrow Vision Scheme Plan to spend a trillion HK dollars on something we already have lying underused all over the New Territories.
In China Story – November 17 as a case study in the suppression of Hong Kong.
A 15-year-old (it says) proof-reads a Hong Kong government Mainland-style press statement.
The government auditor, going for low-hanging fruit, slams the Tourism Board for wasting money on some garbage or other.
If you’re looking for a stocking-filler for Christmas, here’s Nury Vittachi’s latest book…
‘Revolution consultants’ from the United States and Europe showed local protesters how to maximize civil disruption while keeping the media on-side.
So some sort of fantasy-action novel, I guess – perhaps starring Tom Clancy’s hero Jack Ryan parachuting into Mongkok to train the natives to overthrow the CCP.
On a different literary level, Tammy Lai Ming Ho’s prose poetry reflecting on Hong Kong’s freedom movement and its repression.
A thread of ‘stupid [actually horrifying and disturbing] shit’ that happens in Hong Kong international schools.
The Hong Kong political compass – worth it just for the illustrations.
In international affairs…
The UK reacts to the CCP’s ‘wolf warrior’ obnoxiousness – a bit, at least.
Atlantic on Beijing’s missed opportunity to increase its influence in the world.
Nine Dash Line asks whether Central and Eastern European countries are going off China.
RFA report on China’s jailing of a tycoon/philanthropist for 20 years on charges of ‘incitement to subvert state power’.
And from a couple of weeks ago, a great TechBuzz China background to the Ant IPO fiasco, including China’s problems with online loan-sharks and pyramid schemes…
…it was as if, instead of here in the US where Google has moved to ban payday loan ads, Google decided to sell payday loans themselves.
Overheard some secondary level acne-limned students on the MTR the other day. They seemed to have been if the international school ilk. They had just seen a tiny white poster on a subway wall that said “save the 12” Not a one of them could comprehend who the 12 are. Lord save us.
I’d like to bet that within 36 months of landing in Britain, Stuart Lau and his family will be back at Chek Lap Kok with their tails between their legs ready to give HK one more chance. The UK’s useless politicians, dysfunctional society, excessive tax, busted economy and crap weather are pretty much guaranteed to grind the poor buggers into the ground. Stuart – if you read this blog, don’t sell off all of your property here. If you do, you could seriously regret it.
@Hemlock
I’m a pretty robust individual and have seen my share of disturbing sights over the years. Hope you won’t consider me a “snowflake” but I think some kind of warning is in order about the Nury Vittachi link. Scrolling down to reveal that image has really put me in a dark place.
I’m an idiot. Please ignore my previous comment.
The Twittersphere has seen threads of commenters trying to work out Nury’s maths about deposits of around half-a-million a bank account for some lad to use, as well as many more bungs going here and there. Time more forensic work is done on Vindictivichi’s spurious claims. An utter charlatan.
Arsehole #4
I’ll take that bet. How much are you putting up, windbag?
Oh, and Hemmers, why do you dignify little Nury’s book with the term “stocking filler”?
“Bin filler” would be nearer the mark, surely.
Nury took quite some offence to one review of his book that suggested that it may eventually have some worth with a possible new run on loo-roll and subsequent shortage occurring. I hope he is a regular reader of this blog 🙂
A good laugh for the weekend – it seems not even Bank of China will open a bank account for Carrie!
https://hongkongfp.com/2020/11/27/i-have-piles-of-cash-at-home-i-dont-have-a-bank-account-says-hong-kongs-carrie-lam-after-us-sanctions/
27 Nov: Carrie Lam to HKIBC on the inconvenience brought by US sanctions: //I have piles of cash at home – the government is paying me cash for my salary.
Ready for a quick getaway? Money laundering? Not to mention a disregard for the governments own APIs re need for prudence on location of assets when using social media.
When the Chief Clerk states that she has “piles of cash at home”, none of us should doubt her word.
What interests me, however, is where, exactly, “at home” is.
If she refers to Government House, then I suppose she has bags of room to store those ever growing piles of ten dollar notes while also being reasonably confident that no stealthy, patriotic Peterman from Yuen Long (clad, of course, in a striped jersey and an eye-mask, and carrying a bag marked “Swag”) would have a realistic chance of getting his or her mitts on the lolly.
If, however, “at home” describes some bog standard civil service apartment, albeit one at the top end of the scale, she would, in my view, be very well advised to upgrade her security features.
I only say this because I care.
If there were any doubts that our Covid eradication policy is selective:
https://www.scmp.com/sport/racing/article/3111573/jockey-club-forks-out-millions-private-jets-overseas-stars-ahead-hong
Jockey Club forks out millions on private jets for overseas stars ahead of Hong Kong International Races
The six riders flying in for the International Jockeys’ Championship will be split across two private planes, one departing London and the other Paris. Both flights to arrive on December 7 for international day on Dec 13.
The Jockey Club will also charter flights for most trainers and stable staff coming to Hong Kong, although commercial travel was not completely avoidable.
So Hong Kong residents returning home have to spend 14 days in hotel quarantine, bars and other venues are closed down, regulations are being enacted to subject certain sectors to compulsory testing and many restrictions are in place BUT the Jockey Club is exempt from all these measures. Lets not even go into the green issues.
Vapid Tammy Tam put this into context ‘Horse racing is an iconic symbol of HK that illustrates the city’s can-do-spirit, that’s why it is important to keep the sport going even in these difficult times.’
Ummm and we thought it was all about gambling and cruelty to animals.
Vittachi predictably panders to those who only wish to valiadte their own prejudices. One has to wonder how much money the CCP spent on United Front Works Department activities in other countries during the HK protest period, but that cannot be correct because China doesn’t interfere in the internal affairs of other countries……..