Category Archives: Hemlock

Update from Hemlock

Last week’s teenage heartthrob and hipsters’ hero Edward Snowden turns up in the 7-Eleven opposite Perpetual Opulence Mansions this morning, clutching his trademark Rubik’s Cube in a desperate attempt to be recognized. Even the South China Morning Post, which shot … Continue reading

Posted in Hemlock | 11 Comments

The curate’s egg

Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung’s maiden policy address, with the focus on housing. Democratic Party leader Emily Lau’s immediate reaction yesterday was to do her apoplectic freak-out act, but by this morning she had calmed down enough to grudgingly … Continue reading

Posted in Hemlock | 23 Comments

Update from Hemlock

On the first day of Christmas, Ms Fang the hunter-killer secretary gave to me a chunky stollen. Not in a pear tree, but a cellophane wrapper with a label indicating that the traditional Austrian festive cake was made in Hong … Continue reading

Posted in Hemlock | 8 Comments

Update from Hemlock

The mood on the Mid-Levels Escalator this morning is one of unbounded optimism, after Chief Executive CY Leung pledges at a Foreign Correspondents Club talk to deliver cheaper housing, bigger homes and clean air – the latter within a year. … Continue reading

Posted in Hemlock | 12 Comments

Update from Hemlock

The mood on the Mid-Levels Escalator this morning is part- puzzlement, part-fear. Puzzlement because of the fuss over a tiny stretch of shoreline in lonely, faraway Tai Po. Don’t environmentalists and sudden admirers of the plucky little seahorse realize how much … Continue reading

Posted in Hemlock | 11 Comments

Update from Hemlock

Morning in the resplendent entrance lobby of Perpetual Opulence Mansions, and a Nepalese security guard drags the lifeless body of a Jehovah’s Witness across the shiny Italian marble floor, out of the door and in the direction of the Municipal … Continue reading

Posted in Hemlock | 13 Comments

Update from Hemlock

The riveting news this morning consists of a very long list of people you’ve never heard of winning sports you’ve never heard of. Where did these multitudinous variants of contrived physical activities come from? Are they being produced in the … Continue reading

Posted in Hemlock | 14 Comments

Update from Hemlock

The mood on the Mid-Levels Escalator this morning is one of unmitigated grief, with children, women and even grown men with gravelly voices and hairy chests sobbing quietly to themselves, if not wailing out loud and beating their breasts in … Continue reading

Posted in Hemlock | 21 Comments

Update from Hemlock

The mood on the Mid-Levels Escalator this morning is one of bitter disappointment, as Hong Kong’s hard-working taxpayers flick through their free newspapers and learn that yet another government minister, Health Secretary Ko Wing-man, has been discovered with an illegal … Continue reading

Posted in Hemlock | 15 Comments

Update from Hemlock

The filial piety tour of the United States has to come to an abrupt end as I realize that the whole nation is about to be flooded with mawkish, groveling coverage and celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s 99th birthday. With … Continue reading

Posted in Hemlock | 4 Comments