Category Archives: Blog

Hong Kong is cutting the tax on high-end liquor in order to somehow boost tourism. And now it’s thinking about reducing the minimum age for admission to horse-races… Secretary for Culture, Sports, and Tourism Kevin Yeung on Monday told an … Continue reading →

A 40-minute Law and Disorder legal podcast in which British civil rights lawyer Helena Kennedy and others interview Lord Jonathan Sumption about his decision to leave Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal. As the person who sends me the link … Continue reading →

Boston Review links economic inequality with Hong Kong and Taiwan’s declining faith in Beijing. This downplays the historic, identity and cultural aspects – which makes a change, perhaps… In 2014, [older Hong Kong pan-democrats’] cautious approach was superseded by a … Continue reading →

The CE’s policy address reflects the usual paucity of ideas, or an inability to admit that old ones don’t work, or a dread of embracing new ones. Eliminating subdivided apartments by requiring them to have a window, a toilet and … Continue reading →

Officials investigate a sudden outbreak of death among monkeys at the little zoo section of the Botanical Gardens. Nine – the latest being a white-faced saki – have died in recent days. The Standard adds that ‘another De Brazza’s monkey … Continue reading →

Still recovering from: a) jet lag; b) surprise at how nice Yorkshire is (they could turn up the heating, but otherwise lovely places and people); and c) an aversion to clicking on Hong Kong news to see what’s going on.

Today would have been my mother’s 100th birthday (she died at 85).  Her parents were of minor landed-gentry stock, who were both educated in Germany (a thing in the late 19th Century) and who both converted to Catholicism – a … Continue reading →

The Stand News trial ends with sentences of 21 months for former senior editor Chung Pui-kuen and 10 months for former deputy Patrick Lam. Since both had been in jail for 10-11 months, Chung will serve only nine more months, … Continue reading →

The tired ritual known as the policy address probably hit rock bottom in Donald Tsang’s time. Like Carrie Lam in later years, he was a bureaucrat good at implementing policies but devoid of any ideas on crafting them. That said, … Continue reading →

Smear-slamming season opens, with the Hong Kong government expressing anger over Jimmy Lai’s supporters appealing to the UN about his health in prison, and Beijing hitting back after Michael Kovig talks about being tortured during his detention in China. National … Continue reading →