Tag Archives: Why HK F***ed

I see plastic bags are in the news again!
Seems we might be using more than before the ban, or then again, maybe not, for sure many people are buying plastic bin liners, a hitherto unneeded purchase.

I’ve sailed in many parts of the world, including the Med,which is choked with plastic bags， bottles and general pollution，not to mention the strange sight of discarded flip flops which seem to be everywhere。 It’s an obscene sight many of you will never get to see，but if you ask me does banning plastic bags make any sense at all，I’d have to say an emphatic no。

Lets be clear; banning plastic bags is the equivalent of putting your finger in the dyke; while ignoring rising water levels that are pouring over your head。 A Plastic bag ban is a placebo designed to fool the wider community and convince them they are making a difference while it’s business as usual for government and our monolithic corporations, notably our supermarkets, transport sectors, fast food and construction lobby, tycoons with multiple jet airliners and a shallow conspicuous consumption that crossed the good taste barrier long ago.

Ban excess packaging, Styrofoam, lunchboxes, encourage goodbuilding practices, switch all commercial vehicles to LPG and ban the 350 000 private cars that inflict direct pollution into the air and lead an incompetent, purely reactive and clueless government to build more and more roads for a mode of transport that is communally divisive and will soon be obsolete.

Never mind the costs.

This might, if we’re lucky, engage the whole community in demanding and working for a better environment where pollution is not killing 7000 people every year, How many plastic bags are killing people?

The alternative? Take up the fiddle and watch, with thinly disguised glee, an egotistical form of life, that has no concept of it’s own insignificance， fade into extinction. The whole paradigm has to change, a few less plastic bags, whether re-used or not won’t stop the inexorable slide to disaster.

And I was guilty.

Ok, I’ll admit to a few minor brushes with the Polis over the years, what self respecting Scotsman could get to my advanced years without having a blemish or two, or in other words aforesaid minor brush with the law. I should also mention that some of my best mates in HK are coppers so I don’t subscribe to the “fascist bullyboy thug theories”, and in each case it’s been more a case of high jinks getting out of control, never violence or anything I would term serious. So what happened recently?

Every day I get the bus in Central outside the Hang Seng Bank Headquarters. And every day for months I’ve been subjected to a cacophony of strident Cantonese tones broadcast through a loudhailer – pre-recorded messages, repetitive, painful and incredibly irritating? Something to do with Lehman’s, you may have heard these people in various sites around Central banks. Suffice to say, this particular day, I was a tad annoyed and took it upon myself to silence the source of my discontent – there were two loudhailers in operation that day – unsynchronized – discordant – and fucking annoying! I picked the first one up; seeking the off button, the batteries fell out, result! I wandered over to the second one, picked it up, couldn’t find the off button, no batteries fell out, and it fell to the floor with some momentum – and broke. Result! I rejoined the bus queue, a few supportive smiles, lots of eyes cast downwards, while the two protestors screamed, shouted and proceeded to film me. In the end along come HK’s finest, to calm the situation down. I explained to the inspector in charge what had happened and that, yes I was the guilty party, and that I was willing to compensate the owner of the megaphone. I offered HK$1000, a more than reasonable sum, but the old bitch demanded HK$50,000, and insisted to the Inspector I was an agent provocateur sent by Hang Seng to disrupt her legitimate protest. Long Story short. Court, plead guilty, ask to be bound over. Verdict. Bound over (No criminal record) Compensation HK$150. 
I left with a wee smile, especially as the two protestors were also bound over.

Points to ponder. It is illegal in Hong Kong to use a megaphone in a public place, anyone can find this under “noise ordinance” on the HK government website. It is a known fact that all the protestors are surrogates for the real individuals who were investors, the surrogates were paid HK$200 a day. Lets leave aside the whole concept of caveat emptor in relation to a very small percentage of, mostly elderly individuals who were ripped off, for the rest, you were greedy and stupid and deserved everything you got – of course, being HK, you actually got your money back. Which brings me to the whole point of this rant. The arresting inspector told me, that they get complaints everyday but are not allowed to take action as the government does not want to be seen, supporting the banks against the grass roots – ergo – the government dictates to the police what is and what is not a crime. So next time you see a rather strange decision by the police to drop charges or let someone off with a warning – rest assured you are assured of government interference and if they interfere with the police, what are they doing with the courts?

If there was a soundtrack to this town, it would be Talking Heads: “We’re On A Road To Nowhere”

It’s a tune that just about covers every aspect of Hong Kong’s government by consensus approach, or shall we say government by committees of vested interests. This incompetent approach to government is evident all around us, but is perfectly  illustrated  by the “rail link to nowhere.”

It’s budgeted to cost 70 billion for 26 kilometers though of course all major infrastructure projects in this town go over budget…way over budget…

and it ends 45 minutes away from where you would actually like to be…

you’d think for all that money they could buy a fucking compass!