I’m currently contributing a short, light-hearted political column to Hong Kong Time Out Magazine. Below is the uncut, original version of my latest piece…
Mind the Gap
Our city can boast many superlatives – most expensive housing rental market, largest collection of skyscrapers and highest per-capita orange consumption to name a few. One achievement to be more embarrassed about though, is the fact that the city of superlatives has the widest income gap of any other rich nation.
While Gini coefficients are by no means a perfect way of gauging equality, the UN measurement has shown a steadily broadening gap between rich and poor since the 90s. Financial crisis or not, Forbes magazine says HK’s richest are 65 per cent wealthier than last year, just as the poor have inevitably gotten poorer with 1.33 now living below the city’s poverty line.
Older residents who lived through the sixties know that folks can only be pushed so far before civil unrest emerges. The failure of ‘trickle down’ economics has not gone unnoticed by young people either. Even graduates are finding themselves stuck in their $18.94/hr jobs at KFC. They know they will not see the same job security as their parents, plus they’ve a billion or so mainlanders to compete against. Throw in a sense of powerlessness with a government offering little in terms of social welfare, and you have what the media dubs the ‘post-80s’ movement.
I’m currently contributing a short, light-hearted political column to Hong Kong Time Out Magazine. Below is the uncut, original version of my latest piece…
Making Waves
When it comes to international climate policy, HK is in the convenient position of being able to hide behind China’s developing country status and exemption from Kyoto Protocol cuts. Yet the most recent data suggests we produce a monstrous 29 tonnes per capita – more than the US or China and second only to Luxembourg. And as embarrassing as it is to lose to such a relentlessly bland country, this is not something HK should be getting competitive about.
One diamond is the rough is a certain Lucien Gambarota from a company called Motorwave. Lucien moved to HK from France in 1987 and has been tinkering with renewable energy technology for decades. Experimenting with wave, solar and wind power around the territory, Motorwave has even invented electricity-generating exercise bikes. Their own factory is going carbon-free and they’re hoping to make some small islands energy sustainable. Recently, Gambarota has been working with construction companies on the Kai Tak re-development, Hennessy Centre and at HKU to integrate thousands of his wind turbines into their building plans.
I’m currently contributing a short, light-hearted political column to Hong Kong Time Out Magazine. Below is the uncut, original version of my latest piece…
Gweilo Gripes
“Why do you care?” I must’ve been asked it hundreds of times at various protests over the last few years, and in particular during last month’s Rail Link rallies. Much to my embarrassment, fellow activists seem bewildered, impressed and even flattered that some gweilo is rocking up to a local demo – and it’s often a Kodak moment. My response is that we aliens are also tax-payers and stakeholders in HK society. Our voice deserves to be heard, especially after living here for a few years – ex-pats needn’t feel they have to leave their political conscience at home. However, not all causes I choose are so positively received.
I received fewer compliments last year when campaigning on the more contentious issue of Tibetan self-determination. One local suggested it was as provocative as them donning a Bin Laden t-shirt in New York. Although a flawed comparison, I was making a point because I felt it was right, not because it was popular – and an issue doesn’t have to affect someone directly for them to show solidarity. Thankfully, most locals graciously supported my entitlement to expression despite their disagreement with the subject.
I’m currently contributing a short, light-hearted political column to Hong Kong Time Out Magazine. Below is the uncut, original version of my latest piece…
Hunt for a scapegoat
Mao Zedong’s adage ‘to kill the chicken to scare the monkey’ sums up nicely the plight of HK super activist Christina Chan, whose bail expires later this month. Chan, however, is no chicken – the HKU student rose to (in)famy as the face of the local Tibetan justice movement and ‘Post-80s’ generation dissenters. Her politics, which would be considered mild and mainstream in many other territories, have earned ‘feisty’ Christina notoriety amongst the pro-establishment camp.
Shortly after leading pro-democracy activists to the China Liaison Office on January 1st, she was arrested outside RTHK HQ by undercover triad police for supposedly assaulting an officer – her home was raided and her tattoos photographed. There was no need for the high drama; the police had her address and phone number, but it was time to send a clear message.
I’m currently contributing a short, light-hearted political column to Hong Kong Time Out Magazine. Below is the uncut, original version of my latest piece…
Digital Distractions
If your response to today’s news was “when is this coming out for Playstation 3?”, then it’s probably a sign that the industry is in trouble. When Next Media’s CGI animation of what may have happened to Tiger Woods went global, it prompted much journalistic head-scratching and ethical beard-stroking over what it all means and how we’re all doomed. Many rightly believe the online videos to be a lowest-common-denominator attempt for the traditional press to make money in a time of poor sales, free alternatives and crisis point ad revenues.
HK tabloids already push standards of integrity and decency with their ‘infotainment’ thirst for gore regardless of victim’s families. Too often, violent, invasive photos grace the front of newspapers resembling a horror movie. However, what is most worrying is that these new virtual re-enactments present us with a potential version of the news. Local serial entrepreneur billionaire Jimmy Lai is behind the ‘Action News’ trend, employing 160 software engineers in Taiwan to motion capture 20 faux-news sequences a day.
I’m currently contributing a short, light-hearted political column to Hong Kong Time Out Magazine. Below is the uncut, original version of my latest piece…
Toxic Town – Green Gone Wrong
My five-year-old Nokia is already an archaic laughing stock amongst my colleagues and in a few years, it’ll no doubt become a prehistoric curiosity. Friends of the Earth revealed that young Hong Kongers change their phone every 600 days, with 65% admitting they upgraded annually. The reasons include rapid technology change, low initial cost, planned manufacturer obsolescence and good old peer pressure. However, my self-righteous custom of differentiating between what I ‘want’ and what I ‘need’ (a trait my friends often mistake for ‘being tight’) means that I’ll probably only replace mine when it packs in beyond repair. And being a well-meaning tree-hugger of sorts, I’ll probably try and get it recycled.
The culture of disposable gadgetry extends to Japan, the US and EU, where e-waste recycling is built into law. Private companies fill containers with, often toxic, old electronics which are then shipped thousands of miles to Hong Kong where legal loopholes mean they are sent onto the infamous Guangdong town of Guiyu, just over the border. Precious metals and other valuable elements are then retrieved from the products, whilst mercury, lead and other harmful substances are also processed, often by children and without protection.
I’m currently contributing a short, light-hearted political column to Hong Kong Time Out Magazine. Below is the uncut, original version of my latest piece…
Pet Abandonment
For two years I lived in the heart of the pet district on the cusp of affluent Ho Man Tin. Here I saw how, for many locals and expats alike, pets have unfortunately become semi-disposable fashion accessories and status symbols (big dog = big flat = big money!) Whether it’s the latest trend in exotic reptiles or dressed up designer puppies in pimped up prams, the pet market is booming in a city hardly suited to domestic animals.
It’s left to the government to destroy around 10,000 dogs and 4,000 stray and unwanted cats annually- all are put down within 3 days whilst stretched animal charities receive no state support. HK Dog Rescue particularly suffered during the recession, and what with the Pokfulam kennels landowner evicting the charity in February, it appears 200 more dogs may be destroyed unless homes are found or the government steps in (Read more or donate at hongkongdogrescue.com).
I’m currently contributing a short, light-hearted political column to Hong Kong Time Out Magazine. Below is the uncut, original version of my latest piece…
Taxing Times
Einstein claimed that the hardest thing to understand in the world is tax, yet even our most air-headed pseudo-model would grasp HK’s straightforward tax system. We’ve no sales, estate or currency tax, capital gains or VAT, and individuals pay 2%, 8% and 12% income tax progressively. Only the filthiest of the filthy rich (just 1.7%) pay the highest band of 17%. HK’s rates are relatively super low – it may just feel a lot because our demands arrive in one annual beating, such is the simplicity of our tax law. In fact, the entire ordinance stretches to just 200 pages and has barely changed in 60 years.
Pleasingly, the richest 8% (100,000 Peak-dwelling posh types – CEOs, lawyers, magazine editors etc…) contribute 57% of the total tax yield. Meanwhile, 60% of HK workers pay sod all – just as well since we’ve Asia’s widest poverty gap and no minimum wage. However, the tax burden distribution is shifting very slowly towards the less well-off with tax on the rich falling and talk of introducing a VAT – effectively an indiscriminate, indirect tax on the poor. Already public spending is around 10% lower than many similar countries at just 20% of GDP.
I’m currently contributing a short, light-hearted political column to Hong Kong Time Out Magazine. Below is the uncut, original version of my latest piece…
Electric Avenue
What with our splendid public transport system and the high costs of parking, fuel, maintenance, licensing, insurance, registration and tolls, you’d think opting to drive would be the reserve of planet-loathing egomaniacs. And you’d not be wrong, as only 5.3% of Hong Kongers own a vehicle in this, a city built around the automobile.
The outdated Capital Works Reserve Fund ensures there is always cash set aside for never-ending road building projects, yet environmental ruin awaits unless we stand up to the private car owning elite. Praise was heaped upon the city when it finally embraced the electric car this month but unfortunately, this flawed scheme will not lead us to any transport revolution.
Firstly, electric cars will still receive their charge from our dirty coal power stations for decades to come, so they are not CO2 free, especially when manufacturing carbon costs are added. Also, the impractical 5-7 hours recharge time will put a strain on the grid and the driver’s patience. Betterplace.com has a solution whereby drivers do not own batteries but instead exchange dead ones at filling stations. Stations maintain battery banks connected to renewable sources and will have vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology installed to recycle unused power.
I’m currently contributing a short, light-hearted political column to Hong Kong Time Out Magazine. Below is the uncut, original version of my latest piece…
Stopping the traffic
Since the 1922 seamen strike, Hong Kongers have long expressed their grievances and achieved results through protest. Our lack of a voice at the ballot box means over 3,800 public rallies and protest meetings are held annually in the territory. This can make it difficult to catch the attention of the guilty parties being targeted, let alone the fickle mass media.
With such competition, it pays to be imaginative or risk slipping under the radar ignored as yet another ‘McProtest’. The creative approach took on global proportions last month as locals joined the 360.org day of grassroots action ahead of December’s climate change meeting in Copenhagen. At 3:50pm on October 24th, hundreds of concerned flashmobbers descended on Central. Worried that Saturday shoppers already resembled a crazed flashmob, organisers secretly ensured that that activists halted traffic by suddenly flooding a crossing, before heading to Bauhinia Square to video-link with fellow campaigners around the world.
