Fair warning as far as I am concerned

I find no reason at all to object to the making and publication of the following film. I do, however, have a major problem with the actions and views of the Muslim people shown and described within it. I’ll write more on this later, but in the meantime here is the film.

Hate speech or fair warning?

There’s a big storm brewing over the film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders which apparently describes Islam as “the enemy of freedom”. The site where he was proposing to host the film has been closed down by the American administrators (Network Solutions Inc) after complaints of “hate speech” were received. This raises some very fundamental questions about tolerance, free speech and “hate”.

Hidden (beside) Jem: Oysters Bar & Grill near LKF

Mrs smog is a big fan of oysters; our home-from-home (the FCC) frequently dishes them up for her, but we are always looking for new places to try them. Tonight, with Mrs smog en route to the Airport Express, we dropped in at Oysters Bar & Grill in Wo On Lane, just off Lan Kwai Fong (or strictly, just off D’Aguilar Street) and next door to Jem bar, managed by the delectable Ila (is that how you spell it? Guys who hang out there or at The Priory will know who I mean).

Why do so many HK advertisements lie so blatantly?

[Edit 19 March: see comments for details of clarification from the HK AF organisers, which shows that in this case it was bad wording rather than bad intent.]

I’ve just received this by email from the organisers of the Hong Kong Arts Festival. In it they claim “ALL performances achieved over 90% attendance”. This is a blatant lie. As I wrote previously we only went to one performance at this year’s festival, and I can say categorically that the attendance at Orpheus X on Sunday 24 February was at best about 60% when the show started, and probably 5-10% lower by the time it ended.

Racist hypocrisy from Fumier

Since I’m not going to sign up to something that I don’t need for any other purpose, I am unable to comment on Fumier’s blog, so I’ll do it here.

In a recent post regarding The Flying Pan he comments on the “racist subtext of the cafe’s name” and then describes its staff as “Flippers” (and he isn’t talking about how they cook a burger). Just a touch of hypocrisy there don’t you think?

Calming words from Professor Yuen, disappointing ones from Mr Chow

It seems after all that some lessons are being learned from the SARS experience. Professor Yuen Kwok-yung’s expert panel has found that there is no evidence that the current flu outbreak is any more virulent than normal, and seem to be quite open about their findings.

On the other hand the Health Secretary, York Chow Yat-ngok, (a politician primarily, not a scientist) continues to demonstrate that the concept of leadership is completely alien to him.

A nice little earner for UK expats

Here’s a nice solid little investment opportunity for expats from the UK, courtesy of the UK Government: National Savings Guaranteed Equity Bonds.

Government by fear and incompetents yet again

So here we go again – a couple of kids die and the city goes into panic mode. Whatever happened to having leaders who could analyse a situation rationally, act appropriately and communicate what they are doing and why to the people?

Yet more Tamiflu hype from the HK medical establishment

The Standard today has a huge headline across the front page saying: “TAMIFLU ALERT” and reports that overdosing of the drug reduces effectiveness against bird flu.

It has been clear for some time that the Hong Kong medical establishment has either been completely blinded by the weight of Roche’s marketing of Tamiflu, or, perhaps, that they have some other incentive firstly to place huge orders for a Tamiflu stockpile and secondly to keep it in the public eye so that people go and waste their money on it every time some little kid has a runny nose.

Amongst the reasons I will never live in the UK again…

Here you can read a rather distressing tale from the UK. Three men out of control on alcohol murdered a mentally-impaired man. Today they were sentenced to “life” with minimums of 12-15 years imposed. This is bad enough, but what was the reaction of the victim’s family? Yes, they hit the alcohol to celebrate the sentences. The irony was obviously completely lost on them.