High Hypocrisy

"Watching events in the UK this week, there are echoes of Hong Kong’s recent history."

At the drop of a hat, British politicians and commentators cannot resist criticising Hong Kong. Any perceived breach of their lofty ideals can spark a wave of outrage over rights and freedoms. However, it's unfortunate they don't apply the same standards at home. 

In the latest display of British high-hypocrisy, five armed counter-terrorism officers removed a middle-aged comedian and playwright from a plane upon arrival at Heathrow, London. 

This gallant response by specialist officers was mounted because the culprit allegedly posted hurtful words on X. With the UK terrorist threat at "substantial," deploying these officers was considered appropriate.

Had any terrorist chosen this moment to launch an attack, they would have had a clear shot. However, one must prioritise correctly: evidently, rushing to arrest Graham Linehan was more urgent. After all, the wounded feelings of some cross-dressing complainant must take precedence over the threat to life.

Linehan, an Irish citizen, posted the offending tweets while living in the US four months before his arrest in the UK. This transnational reach of laws is something that irked Hong Kong's critics when the National Security Law took effect. You can't have it both ways.

Linehan's situation would be amusing if it were isolated, but it occurs within a long history of similar cases. So, while the police claim to be stretched thin fighting knife crime, they always appear able to muster groups of officers to raid someone's home at 5 am over an ill-advised social media post.

Other notable recent cases include parents complaining about a school, which led to a police raid, holding them in cells for 11 hours and seizing their computers. Then there is the fireman who grumbled about his boss: the police raid his home, and bail conditions are imposed that prevent him from telling anyone. 

Perhaps the most notable case is that of Lucy Connolly, 42, a distressed mother, who was sentenced to 36 months in prison for a tweet she deleted within three hours after recognising her overreaction to the murder of three girls. Connolly had recently lost a child, and her reaction to the slaughter of young children in the Southport massacre is understandable. 

After Axel Rudakubana murdered three schoolgirls in Southport, Connolly posted, "Set fire to all the fucking hotels full of the bastards for all I care." Clearly an inappropriate tweet, prompted by an incorrect belief that Rudakubana was an asylum seeker. The police allowed this misrepresentation to spread by not providing details of his background. 

The list continues as British police are arresting around 30 people a day for things they say on the internet. 

Meanwhile, detection rates for serious crimes, such as burglaries, have plummeted. One in 10 officers is 'health impaired' and unable to perform proper policing. Confined to a desk, they can only direct others to easier targets. 

Or is it the decades-long indoctrination by minority interest groups that influences police policy through the Police College? Certainly, these groups shape the tone of British policing, embedding their agendas into the culture, while senior managers bow and scrape at the woke altar. 

For sure, here in Hong Kong, we have specific red lines that should not be crossed due to their sensitivity. And yet, I enjoy greater freedom of speech here than in the UK. 

If I wish, I can openly challenge arguments about gender while using words and terminology that might offend. And if I do offend some sensitive soul, I'm not going to get the 5 am knock, have my computer seized, or be hauled off to the police station. 

Watching events in the UK this week, there are echoes of Hong Kong’s recent history. Reform Party leader Nigel Farage is speaking before Congress in Washington. He is calling for the US to impose Magnitsky-style sanctions on the UK due to the Online Safety Bill, which he believes is stifling free speech.

In response, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer accused Farage of "having flown to America to badmouth and talk down our country", adding: "He has gone there to lobby the Americans to impose sanctions on this country that will harm working people.” Others have gone so far as to accuse Farage of sedition and treason. 

Will the parallels be recognised when the judgment in the Jimmy Lai case is announced later this year? Because there is no doubt that Hong Kong will face another surge of intense hypocrisy led by the usual anti-Chinese circle.

This particular clique appears consumed with a Jesuit's passions and a modern white man's burden. It’s as if the specter of empire has never left them. For people with such noble values, you would think their outrage over that horror show of child abuse within their domain would ignite their passion. But no. 

Then again, it requires a specific degree of religious zeal to reach such heights of self-deception and delusion. Even Yeshua would recognise their true nature: "He who never sinned cast the first stone"

Nevertheless, our judiciary appears to function transparently and seems to be fair, based on my observations. Just this week, suspects were acquitted in a trial related to an attempted bombing in 2019, during the height of the troubles. If the government has fixed the system, as critics claim, wouldn't these suspects have remained in custody?

To a remarkable degree, such fact-based arguments do not influence the zealots. Truth is an anathema to them.