Anyone living in Hong Kong will be aware that the elections for the Legislative Council take place tomorrow (Sunday). I don’t have a vote this time, so I have four more years to make up my mind who to support in the next elections. In truth, I’m not sure I’ll have much more of a…

Many things puzzle me about Hong Kong politics, but one of the more confusing is the voting system used in the Legco elections. I believe it is the same system that is now used in the UK for the European Elections (introduced five years ago, after I had fled the country). It is clearly fairer…

So the health secretary Yeoh Eng-kiong has finally resigned. Simon seems to be happy about it, whereas Fumier is less impressed, writing (to paraphrase slightly) that “The mob marches; a head rolls, the baying crowd has been appeased” and that perhaps Dr Yeoh was correct that SARS was less of a crisis than many seemed…

Now we have yet another report on the SARS crisis, and this one attributes blame to certain individuals (which the previous two did not), specifically Yeoh Eng-kiong, Lam Ping-yan, Leong Che-hung, Ho Shiu-wei and Chan Fung fu-chun. They have offered their apologies, but so far no-one has resigned. Many, including Simon, think that’s not good…

I see we are back to the traditional argument between the organizers and the police about how many people joined yesterday’s march. The police say 200,000, the organizers more than half a million. Clearly there were fewer than last year, so on the face of it the higher numbers sounds unlikely, but I have always…

Funniest sight of the week – elderly stout gentleman being lowered slowly into a Chinese submarine by two minders. Possibly not a good idea.

Phil and others have commented on this news story, but I have ignored it so far. A reader has asked for my comments, so here goes. Being lazy, I will quote from his email. Xiao Weiyun, one of the Chinese legal experts who was involved in drafting the Basic Law for Hong Kong has said…

A wonderful non-story in the SCMP today: Tung rated most amiable city leader Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa has been rated the most amiable city leader in the country, a survey has found. In the study, carried out by the China Institute of City Competitiveness, Mr Tung made the list of the nation’s best-known leaders along…

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.…