An expatriate’s view of Occupy Central and what Hong Kong wants

Equal access: an audio recording of this blog post can be found here. I know I’m not alone among expats watching the Occupy Central movements in Hong Kong. More than the handover in 1997, it’s been making very compelling live television, because this isn’t about politicians and royalty, but about everyday Hong Kong people.   […]

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When referring to your Australian office might not be a smart thing to do

There are some companies that do not realize that we live in a global community.    And there are at least two who have done themselves a disservice by referring our account or enquiries to their Australian representative.    We left Rackspace in 2013 although, for most of the 11½ years we were with them, […]

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Open the shop and strip away the jargon

I’ve been reading this Grauniad interview with Rory Stewart, MP, referred by Jordan McCluskey. I’m told that Stewart, and Labour’s Frank Field are the two worth listening to these days in British politics. On Stewart, someone who can speak with a Scots accent and has lived in Hong Kong must be a good bloke.   […]

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Thoughts from a thoroughly modern machine

After I got back from India, my desktop computer went into meltdown. This was Nigel Dunn’s old machine, which I took over after he went to Australia, and it gave me excellent service for over two years.    I wasn’t prepared to go and buy a brand-new machine, but having made the plunge, I’m glad […]

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Surely something all Chinese can agree on

It’s 2011, which, by my calculations, is the centenary of China kicking out the corrupt Ching dynasty.    It’s the one event that both Republicans and Communists can agree on as being positive. It’s why Dr Sun Yat-sen is such a uniting figure for all Chinese, as the father of the nation.    I can’t […]

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It pays to read the terms and conditions

Hopefully we can get an answer on this from Doubleclick. I fed the following in to its publisher form tonight: Hello there: we currently deal with Gorilla Nation Media, an ad network that calls Doubleclick code … While we can control the ads that we get via GNM—as we can equally do with Burst Media—we […]

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The small things spoil the flight

We might get critical over the upcoming uniforms, but the service on Air New Zealand that I experienced was very good. The staff was brilliant (deserving of whatever award was given to them), and the personal screens remain a lifesaver for in-air boredom. (I was surprised that Lufthansa, an airline I used to enjoy flying, […]

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The “other” Tsang Tsou Choi biography

I can’t find much by way of biography for artist Tsang Tsou Choi (曾灶財), the self-titled ‘King of Kowloon’ (九龍皇帝), but the following gives a good summary about how most feel about him:    Since his death, some of his work has been destroyed by the Hong Kong authorities, though others have been preserved. (Initially, […]

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A reminder to the British Government: Hong Kong Chinese have died for you

Remember the issue I had last year with getting a new Permanent Identity Card for Hong Kong and finding that the British Government—which I have accused of apartheid over the situation surrounding British Overseas Nationals—would not do its job via the Foreign & Commonwealth Office?    No, it hasn’t been solved, but I thought it […]

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I remember 1973 more clearly than Sam Tyler

I read a blog post tonight on my friend Jen’s Tumblr, about a memory that goes back to when she was about three or so. But she wondered if it was accurate.    I believe it was, because for me, by age three I had over two years’ worth of memories. I have met two […]

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