Despair as Anthem-Gate endures

Still recovering from the weekend’s gluttony/money-squandering/guilt trip – a HK$2,500-a-head sushi dinner. The most pleasurable part of the experience was the company of eight foodie veterans of the 2019 marches who had the tiny Uehara restaurant to themselves. Other highlights included: oyster tempura, a range of sake, and a highly respectable lady ecstatically describing the creaminess of sperm in her mouth (that’s fish sperm). But there’s only so much exquisiteness you can cram into handmade morsels of seafood, and I have had equally good sushi for half the price elsewhere (namely Sushi Masa). Would I do it again? Probably.

More rugby anthem woes – with the mislabeling of the correct tune as Glory to Hong Kong on TV broadcasts at two games in Dubai. The Chief Secretary is sorely vexed (’ridiculous and unbelievable’). So is the Culture and Sports Secretary (‘unacceptable and unbelievable’.) (More on ‘no-nonsense’ letters to sports authorities here.) And – as predicted – the HK Sports and Olympics body will release guidelines on the correct hand signals for athletes to make if they find themselves listening to the wrong anthem…

SF&OC will be responsible for keeping review on whether the guidelines were conducted accordingly, [Hon Sec Ronny Wong] added.

“If the Hong Kong team did not follow the guidelines, they could be suspended from the tournament, ” said Pui Kwan Kay, chairman of the Hong Kong Football Association.

“We will also consider boycotting the tournament if the organisers are responsible and conduct the offences repeatedly or deliberately,” he added.

Hong Kong team athletes should stop the “misconduct” of the match on the spot, Pui noted, claiming it is reasonable for athletes to quit the game.

The SCMP reports that, as Chinese officials want to ensure good relations with Seoul right now, pro-Beijing camp might mute their horror and outrage over the South Korean incident.

Some leftovers from the weekend…

Concerning a non-rugby anthem-related case – a woman convicted of insulting the official tune  in 2021 – a HKFP op-ed says…

[The magistrate] went on to show a worrying tendency to imitate one of the worst features of recent political cases: a mysterious compulsion to dismiss at length and in detail anything offered by way of mitigation.

As chief economist with Nomura in the late 1990s, Bill Overholt did some amazing analysis of Hong Kong’s property mess. He’s still around. In comments at a recent seminar, he explains why Xi Jinping will not enjoy his third term and China faces major problems…

…we Americans tend to exaggerate the present and future prowess of anyone seen as a rival. We did it with the Soviets and we did it with the Japanese. We’re doing it again.

A London School of Economics academic on the total absence of women in the latest CCP Politburo.

And the Economist (probably paywalled) describes China’s Covid strategy as ‘steampunk’. A quick video clip showing the ‘zero Covid’ policy in action.

To make me feel better about that sushi bill: major banks, a Canadian pension fund and others absurdly invested millions in FTX – the crypto magic-beans exchange run by the hairy kid in shorts. Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek issues a statement trying to rationalize its decision to join in the idiocy.