The Guardian on the UK judges’ departure from Hong Kong’s CFA…
[Activist Chung Ching Kwong] told the Guardian the campaigners had been seeking to have the British judges removed from the court of final appeal as their presence was “no longer acting as a moderating force, as the government has claimed, but was giving a false sense of legitimacy to the Hong Kong government”.
Kwong said the non-permanent judges had no impact over political cases, and so there was no positive influence they could wield by remaining.
The foreign part-timers’ presence on the CFA is purely symbolic. Thread on the neutering of Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal…
The CFA can do very little when the legal system as a whole has deteriorated to the extent that it has
Overseas [judges] will only ever see a carefully curated subset of cases (and you can bet your bottom dollar none of them will be “sensitive” ones)
From Transit Jam, Hong Kong government continues its fight against two-wheeled transport.
From China Quarterly, a long paper on Hong Kong’s 2019 ‘Freedom Summer’. Heavy on the serious academic jargon/sociology-babble – but about the spontaneity and community spirit of the uprising.
RFA interview with Samuel Bickett.
In the Spectator – how Henry Kissinger was co-opted by China.
And on other matters…
Trump’s golf statement on March 28. And a golf magazine’s story on his sportsmanship…
…the caddies got so used to seeing him kick his ball back onto the fairway they came up with a nickname for him: “Pele.”
Great moments in statistics/cartography: the most popular topping/sauce to go on chips in the UK by county, no less…
Observations include a distinct ‘Gravy Belt’ extending further than stereotypically imagined, curving into Mid/West Wales … Cheese did best in remote rural areas such as the Scottish Highlands.
Mayonnaise? On chips? This is why we needed Brexit, we were fast losing our bulldog spirit. As Caesar said “aut mushy peas aut nihil”.
As a proud Lochaber man, I’m absolutely delighted that cheese as a topping for chips has finally received the recognition it deserves. It’s a real accolade and will surely enhance global recognition of our region as a place to visit. As they say in Fort William, “Authenticity is everything. And you can’t fake a heart attack”.
Really not sure what to make of that Kissinger essay. I feel like it really leaves the other side still in the dark. While I am willing to bet diplomacy has its perks, I don’t quite believe it writ so bold that Kissinger was being handled / managed by China. I mean, maybe to the point of having their diplomatic points raised and agreed upon, but subversively? I am not so sure.
It begs the question, “Maybe something also changed in China that made it seem like those early days of Zhou Enlai and Deng Zhaoping were a lot more halcyon and goodwilled?”
It is well-documented that over the past more than a decade, the new supreme leader has wanted to vanquish China of the imperial stain of the West, and, harboring suspicion and resentment towards the very forces of globalism that has pushed it into the light, so to speak, said leader has decided that China must turn more inwards.
To blame, in a sense, Kissinger for this turning in, and for the stance that China has taken seems a bit of bad cricket, no? I mean, Kissinger doesn’t wield that power, though he has been called upon to broker agreement. The decisions of China vis-a-vis the west seems to be one man’s supreme indigestion about the forces tearing away at China.
A little more about Traditional Chinese (and Japanese) Medicine. Here are the ingredients of some pills that I came across. I’m afraid I did not make a note of their name.
Oriental Bezoar
Bezoar, I have learnt, is a stone that forms in the alimentary organs of
goats and other ruminants; according to a dictionary, it was “formerly
believed to possess magical properties.” Perhaps Occidental Bezoar has
lost its power, but Oriental Bezoar still has it.
Agarwood
I think this is a kind of dried fungus, “formerly used in medicine.”
Snake Bile
Ursodesoxycholic Acid
Urs means “bear” and chol means “bile”. It is synthetic bear bile because
it is no longer legal to extract the natural product.
Ginseng
Camphor
Gold Foil
The pills come in the form of tiny balls – 200 in a little tube smaller than
a tube of lip-balm. The balls are gold-coloured – quite pretty.
The pills are made in Japan, a traditional Japanese medicine based on
a Chinese prescription. They are said to have a calming effect on
symptoms caused by nervousness, fever, and gastrointestinal disorders.
In babies, they are said to reduce peevishness and night crying. The
dose is 6 pills a day for babies, 60 for adults.
They are authorised for sale over the counter in HK, so at least they
do no harm.
________________________________________
@donkey: the Kissinger essay was a bit vague, I suggest checking out the recent episode of The Little Red Podcast where the author managed to be more cogent. The charge against Kissinger is not that he is to blame for China’s turn toward xenophobia, but that he trades on his reputation as an elder statesman to act as an extremely well-paid lobbyist for Beijing’s interests in the west. No-one should expect impartial advice about China from Kissinger.
@Roddy the Rodomontade “Authenticity is everything. And you can’t fake a heart attack”.
lol. Good one
“The dose is 6 pills a day for babies, 60 for adults.”
I want to try this just to see what comes out on the other end.
‘Henry Kissenger’ was gladhanded with Chinese Characteristics I’m sure. The prototypical gwailo getting the potemkin treatment at every shiny banquet, ceremonial handshake ribbon cutting and cross-table meeting in the land.
@donkey
I second Topher’s recommendation of the recent Little Red Podcast on Kissinger.
Very enlightening, and makes Kissinger come across as one of the chief architects behind America becoming beholden to a dictatorial CCP for since the 1970s.
“In babies, they are said to reduce peevishness and night crying. The
dose is 6 pills a day for babies, 60 for adults.”
Like Victorian Age medications, this was probably infused with micro doses of opium or other sedatives to get the little precious to shut the hell up and sleep through the night without waking up the household.