Had a phone call yesterday from the Registration and Electoral Office. They’re very concerned that the polling card they sent me before the District Council election was returned. Could it be that I had moved house? Yes, indeed it could. And yes, I was grief-stricken not to receive all those candidates’ leaflets. Nice girl – I didn’t have the heart to say there was no-one to vote for anymore.
A few mid-week links for the gentry…
Professor Wang Guiguo, an expert in something, will give evidence for the prosecution in the Jimmy Lai trial. He will…
…“identify the sanctions, blockade or hostile activities imposed or being considered by the [US]” on mainland China and Hong Kong, as well as explain the “impact” and “consequence” of such measures in his reports…
As the defence counsel ask: how is this relevant?
The Hang Seng Index closes at below 16,000. The last time it was this low was in late 2022. If you had bought then, you could have made a 35%+ profit in the following months. But that was when the remaining zero-Covid restrictions were driving everyone up the wall. You might think there can’t be that much downside left now. But then, the trend now shows four years of decline.
Also from HKFP – the strange case of ultra-low fixed-penalty parking tickets, which have been set at HK$320 since 1994, while the fine for littering is now HK$3,000.
If you’re wondering why anyone should care about diplomatic recognition by Nauru: an interesting article at a Carnegie-funded geopolitics site on China’s need for ‘strategic space’ in the South Pacific.
Remember Hong Kong DJ Rick O’Shea? Commercial Radio (I think)? Deep down there in the barrel of English-language broadcasting? Whatever happened to him? It’s sadder than you can imagine. Xinhua have resurrected him, to join one gorgeous pouting ‘Sylvia’ in extolling the virtues of socialism with Chinese characteristics. ‘I feel confident in the Party’, he – or the scriptwriter – concludes. (Video is one year old, and has only 1,100 views. A tragic waste of talent.)
Rick O’Shea bore an uncanny resemblance to Chuck E. Cheese. Both left Hong Kong around the same time. Co-incidence? I don’t THINK so.
“Remember Hong Kong DJ Rick O’Shea? Commercial Radio (I think)?”
Rick I believe had done the rounds of all sound b’cast outlets in town by the last time I recall seeing him… must’ve been at least 20 years ago now. He was memorable enough to not remember which was first, but seemed a nice enough of a guy.
But now it seems he’s another poster boy for what happens if one stays in the Glorious Motherland for too long.
I see what you mean about the lovely Sylvia.
Time for some Herp.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvQMyVoefNI&ab_channel=HerbAlpert-Topic
Apparently, if everyone behaves we’ll all be given one, or a male equivalent, during the Lunar New Year celebrations.
Is Rick in Ronny’s video?
…“identify the sanctions, blockade or hostile activities imposed or being considered by the [US]” on mainland China and Hong Kong, as well as explain the “impact” and “consequence” of such measures in his reports…
Didn’t Jimmy appeal for sanctions BEFORE the enactment of NSL making this retroactive?
If so then why didn’t defence state that rather than dismiss it as irrelevant?
Rick O’Shea looks like an exact mix of Billy Mack in Love Actually and Roger Melle of Viz. Probably just as well behaved which may explain why he is having to do CCP videos.
What do you get if you cross Liberace with Stalin’s purge trials? Answer: a Rick O’Shea NCPCC video.
I think I mistake in my last comment: it should have been the NPCCPC, …, NSPCC,…CCPCNC, CNNPC, .. oh forget it.
Those who are old enough will remember the original Rick O’Shea in a 1966 episode of Thunderbirds titled “Ricochet” (get it?). Rick was a DJ broadcasting from KLA – a pirate TV station that was loosely based on Radio Caroline – in a spaceship (that’s how we all thought satellite broadcasting worked in those days) from which he needed to be rescued by Thunderbird 3, Alan giving Rick a black eye in the process.
Those in the know will remember Rick’s jingle “Rick…(sound effect of bullet ricocheting)…O’Shea”. Storyline and background here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricochet_(Thunderbirds)
Our Rick arrived in Hong Kong from Taiwan to become self-proclaimed king of the night time airwaves, a lone American voice in those colonial days. He decamped to Beijing and Joy FM shortly before the 1997 bendover. 25+ years of brainwashing have turned him into the zombie you see before you.
He was known as a keeper and breeder of piranha fish. Something of an exacting science as balancing the numbers in a tank at any given time is critical to avoiding a herd event where they all eat each other – or something like that.
It was one of his better chat up lines – “let me show you my piranhas”. One wonders if the lovely Sylvia has had the pleasure?
Well it seems at least our beloved Financial Secretary Paul Chan and his ilk are enjoying themselves at Davos:
https://www.20min.ch/story/horizontales-gewerbe-world-escort-forum-davos-wird-am-wef-zur-sex-plattform-103020426
@Hemlock — have been wondering a while but will we ever see Lee Ka-chiu’s ugly mug on your masthead or is it just to awful for readers to bear on a daily basis?
Ah Rick O’Shea,the halcyon days of Anders Nelson,Allan James Jewell,that twat Andrew Bull and Dick Kaufman.
I remember Rick O’Shea on one of his Commercial Radio (?) shows telling us how much he liked Hong Kong street food. “I really like that kind of food,” he would say in that jazzy cheese voice. So, one wonders if all that MSG has gone to his head, resulting in hair loss, a sagging face and a shrunk mind that is now forcing him to prostitute his ass to make CCP promos that nobody watches. Sad.
Oh, International Rescue ! As a kid I would collect all the Thunderbird “birds” that you had to put together by yourself. I had four out of five and the cool thing was that each had a little motor that made it mobile, powered by a battery.
Talking about DJs from 100 years ago: whatever happened to Steve James?
@Joe Blow – Steve James. Still extant. Every afternoon 2-5, RTHK R3
http://programme.rthk.hk/channel/broadcaster/dj.php?id=103&lang=eng
@Academic – choked on my G&T reading those names.
Rick – CCP zombie
Anders – croons in Mandarin these days, and is a Knight in the Philippines
Allan – still working for Semen at LKF group?
Andrew – lives in Shanghai. His wife is still more famous than he ever was – better looking too!
Dick – dead
Is Steve James going to be the new Uncle Ray?
@Psycho Wong
Nope, late-night Pete King is
My one encounter with Rick O’Shea was decades back; definitely last century and then some. He was hitting on my lovely Chinese Canadian girlfriend of the time, who was decidedly not interested. Sorry Rick. His real name is something like Heimie Haberdasherystein; and yes, he’s a member of the tribe that’s well known for their shining integrity. I’m shocked and surprised that he would stoop so low. Guess the guy’s gotta make some shekels somehow.
@Radio Ray: “…Going to be the new Uncle Ray”. I meant, is he going to be the DJ who will go on and on and on forever, until he reaches 100 years of age, whether anyone wants to listen to his vapid DJ fluff or not. The guy must be like 70 or so, by now. And who listens to RTHK radio anyway? And is RTHK still the elephant graveyard of washed up anglo journos/ DJs? And whatever happened to Oliver Tan, Keith Kwan, Mike D’Souza and Jacky Stafford or John Culkin?