tim's experiment

There are times when a columnist has the chance to put in words what many people are thinking, and earn the gratitude of all those who were hoping that someone, somewhere would say in public what they were thinking in private. Having in the past been occasionally quite critical of Alex Lo’s efforts I would like to record my profound gratitude that someone, whose pulpit is much bigger than mine, has told the Hong Kong SAR Government that its stance on the question of what should be done next about the Manila bus tragedy was erroneous to begin with and in the light of recent events in the Philippines now appears obscene. The politicians at every level who have chosen to dip their bread in this old pool of innocent blood should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. The kindest thing you can say about Hong Kong’s stand on the matter is that with so much else going on there is a faint hope that nobody outside the SAR will notice it.

I notice that since Mr Lo’s first words on the subject he has been joined in the good fight by several people who usually write for the newspapers and a few who don’t. A surprising level of unanimity has emerged, marred only by the crazy cow who writes for the Standard, who thinks the situation calls for “balance”. Apparently, however, as of yesterday morning, the people who make these messes on our behalf have not even considered that this might be an appropriate time to drop the deadline idea. I hope they realise what they are playing with here. We do not think much of the leaders chosen by the Liaoison Office on our behalf. We think far too many of them are conformist mediocrites and a few suffer from toxic levels of either ambition or greed. As they stagger from crisis to crisis we try not to get too impatient. They are a sorry bunch. But we do not hold them in contempt. Yet.