Ordinary Gweilo

The so-called “Cargate affair” has apparently come to an end, with the decision not to prosecute Anthony Leug because “a reasonable prospect of securing a conviction in this case simply [does] not exist”. Most people seem to have accepted this decision as reasonable, though Martin Lee is making a bit of a fuss about it. As Phil says,

Anthony Leung may be a fool and he may be an old man with a young nubile wife but if the legal opinion is that there is not enough evidence of criminal intent to prosecute him then we should save the taxpayers money.

He’s not that old, is he? Anyway, what I’d like to complain about is the use of the name “Cargate”. It’s lazy journalist’s trick to stick “gate” on the end of any noun or verb to create a snappy name. Most of the so-called scandals that are treated in this way are actually very minor (as here), and people will end up thinking that “Watergate” was some minor problem related to water. Come on, guys, be a bit more original!