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  • Walter's Blog.
  • Home
  • Introduction
  • About Walter
    • 1980 Joining Up - Grafton Street >
      • Arrival and First Impressions
      • First Week
      • Training
      • Passing Out
    • Yaumati Cowboy >
      • Getting on the Streets
      • Tempo of the City
      • Jumpers, pill poppers and the indoor BBQ
      • Into a Minefield.
    • Why Tango in Paris, when you can Foxtrot in Kowloon? >
      • Baptism By Fire
      • Kai Tak with Mrs Thatcher.
      • Home; The Boy Returns
  • 1984 - 1986
    • PTU Instructor & Getting Hitched
    • Having a go: SDU
    • Starting a Chernobyl family
    • EOD - Don't touch anything
    • Semen Stains and the rules
  • 1987 to 1992 - Should I Stay or Go?
    • Blue Lights, Sirens & Grenades
    • Drugs, Broken Kids & A Plane Crash
    • 600 Happy Meals Please!
    • Hong Kong's Best Insurance
    • Riding the Iron Horse
  • Crime in Hong Kong
    • Falling Crime Rates - Why?
    • Triads
  • History of Hong Kong Policing
    • History 1841 to 1941
    • History 1945 to 1967
    • Anatomy of the 50 cent Riot - 1966
    • The Fall of a Commissioner.
    • History 1967 to 1980
    • Three Wise Men from the West
    • The Blue Berets.
    • The African Korps and other tribes.
    • Getting About - Transport.
    • A Pub in every station
    • Bullshit Bingo & Meetings
    • Godber - The one who nearly got away.
    • Uncle Ho
  • Top 20 Films
    • 2001 - A Space Odyssey.
    • The Godfather.
    • Blade Runner
    • Kes
    • Star Wars
    • Aliens
    • Ferris Bueller's Day Off
    • The Life of Brian
    • Dr Strangelove.
    • Infernal Affairs
    • Bridge on the River Kwai.
    • This Is Spinal Tap.
    • Chung King Express
    • An Officer and a Gentleman
    • PTU
    • Contact
    • Saving Private Ryan
    • Family Guy Star Wars
    • Zulu
    • Hard Day's Night
  • The Long Read
    • How The Walls Come Down
    • War in Ukraine - the narrative and other stuff.
    • The Hidden Leader
    • The Big Game
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Walter's Blog

"But how can you live and have no story to tell?" Fyodor Dostoevsky
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Reflections on recent events, plus the occasional fact free rant unfiltered by rational argument. 

"If you want to read a blog to get a sense of what is going on in Hong Kong these days or a blog that would tell you wh at life was like living in colonial Hong Kong, this blog, WALTER'S BLOG, fits the bill."  Hong Kong Blog Review

27/9/2022 0 Comments

A New Hope

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"The relaxation of the Covid travel rules produced a wave of euphoria. A rush to book trips overseas crashed the Cathay Pacific website."
Last week a wind of urgency started to blow away the Covid fog smothering our city. Officials scrambled to tell us they are moving toward ending the draconian and somewhat pointless travel restrictions that blighted our lives. About time.

They could no longer ignore the mounting evidence of damage to our economy, international standing and way of life. After all, the financial secretary reckons our deficit may be a massive HK$100b.

Meanwhile, the true toll on mental health may take years to appear. I fear that children born over the past three years experienced life through face masks with disrupted social interactions. Has this harmed their cognitive development? Time will tell. Older kids are also victims, with their schooling interrupted.

I wonder if the medical practitioners — the so-called experts — who drove our policies see the big picture. Their public utterances suggest some come driven by a desire to stop all risks without comprehending the unforeseen consequences. Hence we still await a complete road map that will remove all restrictions.

One wag suggested, "The upside of the ongoing masking rules is that it spares our leaders from the knowledge that everybody is laughing at them."

Events unfolded pretty fast last week. In a bizarre set of circumstances, the on/off, then on again, Hong Kong marathon, plus a rare public spat between two leading doctors, drew back the curtain. In a testy debate between top medical professionals, claims emerged that 'someone is holding back Hong Kong.'

This development prompted prominent figures like Henry Tang to encourage the administration to be bold and get on with the job. Likewise, community leaders across the whole spectrum called for changes.

A delighted Singapore is a primary beneficiary on the financial services and banking front. As Hong Kong drove human and financial capital away, the Lion City gained ground.

But let's give credit. The Hong Kong government did well in the early stages of Covid, setting the pace for others to follow. But circumstances have changed.

Our vaccination rate is amongst the highest. Our few deaths are confined to the old, mostly with co-morbidities, while Covid symptoms when they hit are generally mild. And calls to get the vaccination aren't working for the few hold-outs. Beyond compulsory measures, which won't happen, officials should relent. Unfortunately for them, the law of diminishing returns kicked in.

On the sports front, event after event is either cancelling or postponing. Outspoken organisers are not being quiet about officials prevaricating, with an over-cautious attitude. A steady drip of stories has made known the frustrations.

Witness the saga of the Hong Kong marathon. The international Dragon Boat contest is leaving Hong Kong, while the international rugby 7's will have few overseas attendees. Trailwalker, a long-distance charity event held out in the open, crossing our wonderful rural areas, isn't happening. Reports suggest officials are dithering with impossible pre-conditions to approval.

Meanwhile, more is coming to light about the scale of cheating to avoid getting vaccinated. The arrest of doctors and patients continues. One wonders what drove medical professionals to engage in such activity. Does greed drive them? One doctor allegedly issued fake exemption certificates charging HK$3000 a time. It's said he cleared around HK$14 million in weeks.

Seeking to defend the profession, senior doctors appeared on radio chat shows asserting the majority of doctors are ethical. That may be so, yet these incidents are unsettling. I'm intrigued to note many of the involved small clinics, located in the poorer housing estates, only take cash payments. When asked to explain this practice in a somewhat cashless society, a senior doctor had no reasonable explanation.

Others hinted at dodgy accounting practices. No doubt, the police will review all aspects of these clinics.

The relaxation of the Covid travel rules produced a wave of euphoria. A rush to book trips overseas crashed the Cathay Pacific website. And yet, what must be recognised is the severe damage done to our position as a business centre.

While Hong Kong's fundamental advantages remain unchanged, our story must be told globally. Fortunately, such initiatives as proposed by former senior official Bret Free seek to leverage our strengths.

He's championing better coordination between officials and the events sector to help drive the recovery of Hong Kong. With such ideas and dedicated application, Hong Kong has new hope.
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    Walter De Havilland was one of the last of the colonial coppers. He served 35 years in the Royal Hong Kong Police and Hong Kong Police Force. He's long retired. 

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