I saw that Tony Miller chappie scuttling into the Sun Hung Kai building today, beard-a-bristling and pate a-glow. Maybe my reader remembers him? If memory serves, he was the ex-government housing secretary who didn't resign over some housing scandal that took place on his watch (sinking pilings or similar?) but who let one of his underlings resign for him, and who now rakes it in with SHK. But I could be wrong. Perhaps the boys want to call in their chips.
Isn't delegation a wonderful thing?
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
The Boy From Altrincham
There seems to have been a bit of a kerfuffle about whom CY visited on the day after his election, and for how long. One of the people he visited was my old mate Geoff Ma, or Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma as he is styled these days.
I have no issue with CY meeting Geoff, even for the 60 minutes he gave him, but I do have a slight gripe with Geoff himself. Astute readers of the previous incarnation of this organ, if there ever were any, will recall that Geoff's last words to me, back in Blighty in the seventies, were "I'll give you a call". I should have been suspicious since he didn't have my number, but still, he has now had a third of a century to find it. Thirty ckufing years, Geoff!
And by the way, you haven't half piled on the weight, you porker.
I have no issue with CY meeting Geoff, even for the 60 minutes he gave him, but I do have a slight gripe with Geoff himself. Astute readers of the previous incarnation of this organ, if there ever were any, will recall that Geoff's last words to me, back in Blighty in the seventies, were "I'll give you a call". I should have been suspicious since he didn't have my number, but still, he has now had a third of a century to find it. Thirty ckufing years, Geoff!
And by the way, you haven't half piled on the weight, you porker.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
The Leung And Short Of It
The unofficial poll for the election of a CE for Hong Kong, organised by an academic, was illuminating in a couple of respects.
Firstly, even though it was unofficial, no one had the imagination to come up with anyone but the official candidates! Secondly, even though there was a non-pro-establishment candidate, he came last of the 3 candidates (and way behind the block of spoiled votes cast by retards in unconscious parody of the same Beijing stooges the poll was trying to present an alternative to).
And yesterday, the Univerity of Hong Kong's student union, which two weeks ago spent HK$400,000 on 8 newspaper adverts which were critical of eventual winner CY Leung, apologised and said they hadn't meant to say what they had for two weeks been happy for everyone to believe they had meant to say, now that the person they were criticising was in power.
Turning to CY himself ... setting aside my own direct experiences with him over more than 10 years (when I found him very open, pleasant and approachable), the devil (or whichever other invisible friend or enemy you prefer) is in the details. Mr. Leung attended Bristol Polytechnic and, unlike some cnuts around Hong Kong I could mention, has not retroactively relabelled this as the University of the West of England. None of these unsubstantiated masters degrees in bullshit subjects, either. And, it may seem a small thing, but he actually manages to open a car door for himself, something I have never seen Tiny or Henry do. Although perhaps Tiny just couldn't reach the handle.
Firstly, even though it was unofficial, no one had the imagination to come up with anyone but the official candidates! Secondly, even though there was a non-pro-establishment candidate, he came last of the 3 candidates (and way behind the block of spoiled votes cast by retards in unconscious parody of the same Beijing stooges the poll was trying to present an alternative to).
And yesterday, the Univerity of Hong Kong's student union, which two weeks ago spent HK$400,000 on 8 newspaper adverts which were critical of eventual winner CY Leung, apologised and said they hadn't meant to say what they had for two weeks been happy for everyone to believe they had meant to say, now that the person they were criticising was in power.
Turning to CY himself ... setting aside my own direct experiences with him over more than 10 years (when I found him very open, pleasant and approachable), the devil (or whichever other invisible friend or enemy you prefer) is in the details. Mr. Leung attended Bristol Polytechnic and, unlike some cnuts around Hong Kong I could mention, has not retroactively relabelled this as the University of the West of England. None of these unsubstantiated masters degrees in bullshit subjects, either. And, it may seem a small thing, but he actually manages to open a car door for himself, something I have never seen Tiny or Henry do. Although perhaps Tiny just couldn't reach the handle.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Going Dutch
Dubious advertising of the week comes from Philips, the once-great Dutch manufacturer of electrical stuff. Visitors to this organ's previous incarnation will remember that their shoddy goods got the dreaded fumie thumbs-down, but now they are preying on the average consumer's innumeracy to sell their tat.
Shopping for an electric toothbrush on Saturday, I found the Philips display in one of Mr. Li's fine emporia. Next to the tooth brushes themselves were a thing called a water pic and then an "AirFloss". In large type on the AirFloss's card the number "99%" leapt out. Jolly good, I thought, as a casual reader might, they must be claiming to remove 99% of everything between your teeeth. Not so.
In smaller print, it said that it would remove "99% more" plaque than normal brushing, which in old money means less than twice as much. Still not too bad, though, if those Sonic toothbrushes (not to be confused with the hedgehog of the same name), which one assumes that Philips intend to be used with their AirFloss, are so good. The Sonic gets rid of a lot and the AirFloss gets rid of twice as much again. Again, not so.
In even smaller print, it says that they are only comparing the results with a manual toothbrush which, since Philips have for years been saying how much better their electric toothbrushes are than the manual ones, must do ckuf-all.
To recap, using the AirFlow will get rid of less than two times ckuf-all plaque. Why didn't the Dutchies say so in the first place?
Shopping for an electric toothbrush on Saturday, I found the Philips display in one of Mr. Li's fine emporia. Next to the tooth brushes themselves were a thing called a water pic and then an "AirFloss". In large type on the AirFloss's card the number "99%" leapt out. Jolly good, I thought, as a casual reader might, they must be claiming to remove 99% of everything between your teeeth. Not so.
In smaller print, it said that it would remove "99% more" plaque than normal brushing, which in old money means less than twice as much. Still not too bad, though, if those Sonic toothbrushes (not to be confused with the hedgehog of the same name), which one assumes that Philips intend to be used with their AirFloss, are so good. The Sonic gets rid of a lot and the AirFloss gets rid of twice as much again. Again, not so.
In even smaller print, it says that they are only comparing the results with a manual toothbrush which, since Philips have for years been saying how much better their electric toothbrushes are than the manual ones, must do ckuf-all.
To recap, using the AirFlow will get rid of less than two times ckuf-all plaque. Why didn't the Dutchies say so in the first place?
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