Hong Kong’s top officials will have to be isolated from other people for a week before the arrival of a ‘very important’ – and apparently paranoid about Covid – Chinese leader for the 25th anniversary of the handover. Since they have been cut off from the community for years, it’s hard to see whether anyone will notice much difference.
I recall being present many years ago at preparations for a visit from Singapore’s demi-god Lee Kuan Yew. The great man’s aides demanded that every room he entered must have been smoke-free for 14 days – but he didn’t seem to have any hang-ups about actually shaking hands or anything. By contrast, it seems Carrie Lam, John Lee and hundreds of cops will have to undergo the full ‘big white’ disinfectant-spray treatment.
The incoming CE’s image of a merciless, tough, law-and-order-obsessed disciplinarian takes a slight blow, as he turns himself in and begs for exemption for a technical infringement of election advertising rules, in theory attracting a possible six-month prison sentence. Does the fact that you were running against yourself in a fake election count as mitigation? Even pan-democrats have been let off the hook for this, so presumably the court will be understanding.
An excellent opportunity to resurrect this…
Are those disinfectant sprayers the exact same as the smoke machines one would find in a cheesy ‘hostage’ nightclub (“pay RMB1,000 for that plate of watermelon slices you thought was complimentary or Knuckles here will rearrange your dentistry”) or low budget TV gala program usually emanating from a mid to low tier mainland city like Ganzhou (Jiangxi) or Shaoguan (Guangdong)??
I got sued in the High Court yesterday (check the list!).
Headlines from today’s HK Free Press:
“I am not ashamed,” says Mrs. Lam.
“Hong Kong is not becoming a police state,” says city’s top cop.
Do these overpaid simpletons not understand that the baldfaced assertion of a negative in this context not only is an unerring acknowledgement that the opposite of the assertion is true, but also that the speaker knows it?
It’s not too late for either of these superstars, and their fellow impaired senior colleagues, to keep their big mouths shut.