I really shouldn't be surprised by the innovations that Hong Kong's world beating financial services industry come up with to stay ahead of the game. In terms of co-branding, this has to be the ultimate...

The ongoing saga of the ICAC newspaper raids has reached a farcial stage. The Court of Appeal handed down what can only be considered a perplexing judgement. The Court decided it had no jurisdtiction because the case should have been lodged in the Court of Final Appeal instead, as it was a civil matter nota criminal one. Normally that would have been the end of the judgement. But not this time. Instead they then went on to actual deliver what their judgement would have been:

...the judges added: "Had this court possessed the necessary jurisdiction, the appeal would have been allowed with costs.''

Speaking on behalf of the three, Justice Geoffrey Ma said: "I am satisfied that the ICAC acted entirely lawfully in seeking the search warrants in this case. The freedom of the press in the present case must be seen against the fact that serious crimes may well have been committed.''

ICAC now has the option of appealing to the Court of Final Appeal and no dobut they will, being emboldened by the pat on the back by the Court of Appeal. That means even more HK taxpayer money wasted. Before they did they need to ask their legal team some serious questions. The first one should be why the hell they launched the first appeal in the wrong court. I'd be interested in the answer.

Two Chinese engineers were kidnapped in Pakistan on the weekend and are being held hostage. The terrorists have now strapped explosives to the bodies of their hostages and are threatening to kill at least one unless they get safe passage to their leader, although they've already "spared" them once. The terrorists are now in talks to free their victims and are demanding the release of 6 of their fellow Taleban/Al-Qaeda operatives. It begs the question of why in the hell would Al-Qaeda want to goad China into becoming more active on the war on terror?

But even better is this:

Pakistan officials said the kidnappers were taking orders from [Abdullah] Mehsud, a former inmate of the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, who now heads tribesmen fighting alongside al Qaeda fighters in South Waziristan...

Abdullah, who is in his 20s, was among 26 inmates freed from Guantanamo Bay in March after the Pentagon said they were no longer a threat to the United States and had no intelligence value.

Note to Pacific Coffee in Cheung Kong Centre: "Nothing will come of nothing" is by William Shakespeare. It's bad enough to have trite blackboard slogans to deal with each morning, let alone incorrect ones.

Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature, posted on Monday and Thursday, providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Please send me an email if you would like to be notified of new editions. Previous editions can be found here.

Hong Kong, China and Taiwan

Korea and Japan

SE and Other Asia

Miscellany

John Howard's thumping win on the weekend was always the most likely result. Labor's inept final week and especially its unnecessary deal with the Greens which cost it two seats in Tasmania, not to mention Mark Latham's limited time at the helm, all cost them. What is interesting is the solid position Howard now finds himself in, with control of the Senate to boot. For the first time in living memory an Australian leader actually as a solid mandate to push through with reforms without having them diluted by fringe parties in the Senate (goodbye, Democrats). When Democrat leader Andrew Bartlett calls this "a disaster for democracy", what he actually means is it is a disaster for his now impotent party. What it actually means is a party elected by the majority of the country can actually implement its program without a tiny minority forcing changes. Not since the 1970s has an Australian leader had such control over Parliament. That could be both a blessing and a curse, but now Howard has no excuses to avoid fulfilling the rest of his agenda.

Some are already saying that the war on terror didn't have much to do with the result, although some disagreed. The reality is the war on terror was an issue, but by no means a major one. This was partly because Australia was blessedly devoid of any terror in the lead up to the war, with the notable exception of the Jakarta bombings. This is a blessing that seems to have been missed in the aftermath of the election, and it helped keep the war on terror far from most voters' minds. What did influence people? Well perhaps that Australia has now had an unprecedented 15 year uninterrupted economic boom with no signs of it ending; that this Government has delivered a solid fiscal position by repaying debt and not dipping into deficit; that interest rates have been low and memories of the "recession we had to have" and its 18% mortgage rates still scare the bejeesus out of this nation of mortgage and credit-card holders; Howard's party had a solid track record and had done nothing particularly wrong on the domestic front since assuming power; that Howard still has policies and reforms to implement; and even that Australia's winning ways continue in more ways than one. Against one of Australia's most formidable politicians Labor fielded a leader whom did not have enough time to shake of his past reputation and mould himself into a potential Prime Minister nor to acquaint people with his policies. They compounded their errors by downplaying legitimate criticisms and policies and instead pandering. And therein lies the lesson of those in America: the incumbent holds far more advantages than is often given credit for, and the issues that influence the voter in the booth may differ greatly from those that dominate the headlines and amongst the politicos. In other words this result tells you that as things stand Bush has a far stronger chance of being re-elected should the polls appear to be even on polling day.

So what is the rest of the blogosphere saying about all of this?

* For an excellent and detailed look at the results, go to the excellent Poll Bludger and just keep scrolling.
* Tim Blair has rediscovered his love for his country. He links to two decent pieces of media punditry.
* The Currency Lad has a comprehensive look at the issues and where the election was won and lost.
* Ken Parish wonders if Howard and his team can exercise wisdom and restraint in victory. Which begs the question whether Latham and co. would have managed the same? As I said above, Howard has a complete mandate for the first time in 25 years; why should he "restrain" himself? The voters have just given him a solid mandate to implement his policies. He doesn't need to hold back.
* Tony has found another winner on the night.
* Tim Dunlop cops it sweet and also notes that despite his expectations, the undecideds tended to break for the incumbent.
* There's already a plan for Labor's next campaign.
* John Quiggin's post-mortem begins with this gem: First, I have to concede immediately that the betting markets got this one right. Unlike polls and pundits, including me, they consistently predicted the return of the government. People who put their money up tend to put their emotions aside and concentrate more on the likely result. He then puts Howard's victory down to luck, conceding Howard's luck has lasted longer than most. The old adage says "you make your own luck", but for some on the left admitting that Howard is a good politician who beat them fair and square is going to prove impossible. And that's why the Liberals will start favourites the next time as well - because Labor has not yet had the necessary reckoning in facing up to its failures.
* Mike points out in the comments to Vodkapundit this gem from Steven den Beste: They didn't let us down. Let's hope we don't let them down.
* John Ray maintains Labor lost because they remain too far to the left of Australia's mainstream. The Gnu Hunter also lists the reasons why Labor blew it.
* There's a new superhero in town.
* How can Labor get it so wrong, so often? asks the cabbie that knows.
* Slatts has a collection of letters celebrating the win in the pages of the press.
* The Swanker echoes what is no doubt true for many Labor supporters: For my own part, I am disappointed that Labor had such a poor showing, but in all honesty I have not done too badly under a Howard Government. In other words it's the Claytons win: the win you have when you're not having a win.
* Yobbo's got a Death Pool tip.
* Arthur had a long and interesting look at the result, including his view from "on the ground".
* The Raw Prawn also rounds-up the results.
* Kev Gillett's happy and the Professor is channeling rock 'n roll.
* Whacking Day has more reactions from the politicians and some who aren't taking the news well.
* The Silent Running crew are not rubbing it in...too much. Tom Paine prepares for the left's bloodletting.
* On the international front: Wretchard reflects on the lessons Labor can learn and why a "common man" like Howard (or Bush) resonates with voters; Joe Katzman sees Australia remaining a steadfast US ally; Glenn on the spin that might have been; B5 rubbishes the notion the election was about Iraq, but hopes it's the start of a roll as does Powerline and Roger L Simon.

Finally, lest we forget, another important election happened this weekend as well.

The entire family had the pleasure of taking in the Gaelic Football Sevens yesterday afternoon in Aberdeen. As could only be expected when several hundred Irishmen and women gather in a celebration of their national sport, the Guinness flowed and the "to be sure's" where thick and fast. The Korean team proved victorous in the mens, despite being widely despised for their victory at all costs mentality. However I am pleased to report the Hong Kong women's team did the Big Lychee proud.

The day included a male stripper, whom in time honoured tradition managed to wear himself out by running the length of the field twice. Not to be outdone young PB, now in the second week of her toilet training, decided after the final game that the half-way line was a perfect place to practice her number ones. Thus disrobed she proceeded to spend a merry hour with her sister JC chasing her Daddy all over the park, running after the ball and showing extremely good form to boot (pun intended). Just trying to balance out the sexism in streakers.

In a much heralded speech, Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian used his National Day speech to call for peace talks with China (the full speech is here). These National Day celebrations where a break with the past. Chen proposed moving forward based on the 1992 Hong Kong consensus, which says both sides accept there is only "one China" but differ in their understanding of what that means. He pushed for a code of conduct to control the arms race and prevent future conflict over Taiwan. At the same time, however, he re-iterated support for Taiwan's massive arms purchase from the US. Naturally the opposition KMT were accusing Chen of gimmickery and trying to attract voters in year-end legislative elections in Taiwan.

China's natural reaction has been to reject the speech, saying it was "more symbolic than substantial". The official response has been that there is nothing new in Chen's speech and that he is still determined to push forward on Taiwan's independence. Interestingly though, the China Daily quotes a Chinese expert on Taiwan, Li Jiaquan:

"His call for bilateral talks suggested even the Taiwanese leader himself has come to realize the significance of improving cross-Straits ties to the stability and economic development of Taiwan...But he has apparently failed to find a correct way of breaking the stalemate in cross-Straits ties by sticking to his pro-independence stance."

Here's a quick lesson in realpolitik for you: President Jacques Chirac spends time finding broad consensus with his Chinese counterparts on many issues, including lifting the EU arms embargo. Not co-incidentally China Air orders a massive 26 Airbus airplanes, Airbus at the same time announced its intention to increase its purchasing in China, and Alstom of France announces contracts worth 1 billion Euros for trains to China.

That's a good investment, at the small cost of ignoring China's appalling human rights record. Liberty, equality, fraternity stops at the border.

After a sabbatical (and just in time for Shabbat) I've resurrected the weekly linkefst to various interesting links from the wider blogosphere, as promised. Enjoy your weekend...

* Where's Bill? As Paul says, it's like a ghost town in there.

* There was great excitement at the success of SpaceshipOne's winning of the ANSARI X-prize and Richard Branson is already setting up Virgin Galactic (which reminds me of Pan Am in 2001: A Space Odyssey and how quickly that proved to be an anachronism, but I digress). But no-one seems to have focussed on the main game: when will the budget space airlines start? Will the hub and spoke model prove as bad for space as it has for Earth-bound airlines? Will the International Space Station become the Denver airport of the skies? And why wasn't anyone watching Area 51?

* And hands off Paul's goose, Arnie.

* Rusty ain't buying any more Prince albums.

* Say what you like about Google, those wascly wabbits have won gweat sense of humour that you can take where-ever you may go.

* The Commissar constructs the Shrill-o-Meter.

* Don't forget to catch up on the latest in Asian blogging.

* Meet Angus, a man with a great sex-life and a great woman-friend (she isn't a girl).

* Some things are so good they are worth linking to twice: Michele's take on the current state of blogging, not some new kind of journalism. If there's one thing bloggers like talking about, it's themselves and their medium. Michele is one who's taking stock is worth the pixels it's written with.

* You don't even need to know Pete to help compose his biography. Just read what other people have written already in the comments and join in the fun.

* When Andrew Sullivan fisks Wretchard, he doesn't get mad, he just fisks back.

* Some men never learn.

* The damn SIMS game is getting in the way of my regular reading.

* Kim Jong Il is about to star in a blockbuster American movie. And there's a sequel coming from the famous JibJab "Our Land" team. Like most sequels, it's likely to follow the path of the first but not quite hit the same highs. I hope I'm wrong.

* John Zogby is coming to Hong Kong in a couple of weeks and I have the pleasure of attending a talk of his. It will be interesting to hear from this prominent pollster, who has a great record and is currently out on a limb compared to most polls on the US election.

* Canada pays too high a price for a cheap sub.

* Darfur is rightly getting a lot of attention, but RP wants to know why Uganda is being overlooked?

* For once "show me your tits" is encouraged in the world's oldest charity technique: money for boobies.

There are more than 100,000 weddings in Shanghai every year. That means 100,000 neurotic brides, panickying mothers, over-paid planners and ambivalent grooms. One of the chief sources of anxiety is the dreaded "something going wrong", which could be anything from the wrong photo being displayed to a massive bout of food poisoning. Thankfully China's enterprising insurers are here to help: wedding accident insruance is here:

The insurance, which caters to the city's booming wedding market, covers mishaps such as food poisoning. The bride and groomcan get compensation of up to 180,000 yuan (21,770 US dollars) while guests can be compensated up to 20,000 yuan (2420 dollars) and have 5,000 yuan (605 dollars) of their medical costs covered.

According to China Ping'an, the newly married couple pays 29 yuan (3.5 dollars) for themselves and individual guests pay 1.5 yuan (18 cents) to have their wedding insured.

President Bush rings President Hu Jintao to chew the fat over the yuan, Taiwan and North Korea. I've always wondered about these phone calls - I imagine they are stiffly formal affairs, completely pre-arranged where both read a script on a conference call with 200 people listening in. Completely useless, in other words. But the timing cannot be co-incidental. This week President Chirac of France is in Asia, partly to push the EU to lift its arms embargo on China. Again it isn't a co-incidence that France has Europe's biggest arms industry. The Americans are firmly against lifting the arms embargo, fearing (correctly) it will upset the strategic balance between Taiwan and China and hurt efforts to improve human rights. The flow-on is if the EU lifts its arms embargo, the USA could withhold defense co-operation with the Europeans. While that could well suit the French, the more Atlantist members of the EU, such as the UK and Poland, will no doubt veto the lifting of the arms embargo.

So the end result is France looks good in the eyes of China while it knows that even if it loses in attempting to overturn the embargo, it wins in other favourable concessions from China. Say what you like about Chirac, he's a canny politician and diplomat.

Kuwait, which only a little over a decade ago was invaded itself, is now planning to stake a claim in China. There's a flip-side to all the foreign investment pouring into China. Sometimes it means more competition for local companies from well funded and international experts. And the Kuwaitis are playing a smart game. They are promising to invest huge amounts to create new refining capacity in China, something the coutnry desperately needs to continue supply its rapidly growing energy needs. But the Kuwaitis will only invest if they can also open up retail outlets in direct competition with China's own PetroChina and Sinopec. China will have to weigh up the benefits of securing another large investment in its energy sector with exposing its partially state owned oil retailers.

It's a no-brainer: China is constantly trying to diversify and secure its oil supply. The Chinese oil retailing industry is about to get a massive shake-up thanks to those invading Kuwaitis.

While most of China is on holidays this week, China has just announced that the third week of October will be a "national anti-pain week". That will be a relief for both prisoners and torturers right across China - they all get a week off too.

Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature, posted on Monday and Thursday, providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Please send me an email if you would like to be notified of new editions. Previous editions can be found here.

Hong Kong, China and Taiwan

Korea and Japan

SE and Other Asia

Miscellany

Wang Xiangwei at the SCMP is on a roll. Today's article represents a major shift in China's Asian diplomacy as it steps up pressure on Taiwan:

Beijing is planning steps to overcome diplomatic differences with Japan, South Korea, Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries in return for their support for increased pressure on Taiwan.
The move signals a significant shift in foreign-policy priorities, with the so-called Taiwan issue now one of the most important factors, according to mainland diplomatic sources...

Beijing (is) ready to make the necessary concessions and overtures to set aside its differences...the Taiwan issue had become one of the most important facing President Hu Jintao. The mainland leadership believed Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian was leading the island towards independence and therefore they should seek more international support from neighbours that would suffer should a war break out across the Taiwan Strait, the sources said.

As part of the effort to improve relations, the leadership is also ready to take measures to curb strong expressions of anti-Japanese sentiment by nationalist elements. Zhao Qizheng , the minister in charge of the State Council's Information Office, told Japanese journalists last week that Beijing had decided to ban anti-Japanese articles from mainstream media. The sources said the Information Office had also shut down several anti-Japanese websites, including one calling for a boycott of Japanese-made goods.

They said Premier Wen Jiabao's current visit to Vietnam would see both countries set aside their differences over the Spratly Islands and focus on boosting trade links.

Beijing is also taking steps to defuse the row with South Korea over Koguryo, the ancient kingdom straddling the Korean Peninsula and northeast China. The Koreans claim Koguryo was a precursor of the Korean nation, but mainland scholars recently asserted that it was a local government under central Chinese rule.

At times the CCP can be stunning in its hypocracy. The lead item at Xinhua's website, the official mouthpiece of the CCP, is titled Government for the interest of the people and proceeds to details various efforts taken by the Government to help workers claim unpaid wages, improve peasants' health, deal with AIDS, help the unemployed and the move from "Serve the People" to "Exercising Government Power in the Interest of the People".

At the same time the SCMP reports that all media editors have been told not to report on economist Mao Yushi or his Unirule Institue of Economics. The Propaganda Ministry has blacklisted the professor and banned a book he has written, as well as banning some conferences his Institute has tried to organise. Why? Because he reports on cases of farmland acquisition by local cadres, a common source of local protest and corruption. Even better the news blackout also covers websites specialising in exposing corruption and irregularities by local officials. They are not allowed to follow up on land-seizure cases they have been covering.

"Exercising Government Power in the Interest of the People" indeed.

China is passionate about soccer but its top league is currently undergoing massive convulsions all due to that typical Chinese problem: corruption. Major club Beijing Hyundai is quitting the league in protest at a series of events in a major dispute with the Chinese Football Association (CFA). On the weekend Beijing Hyundai was playing in a match when at a crucial point a penalty was awarded against them. In protest they went on strike - they literally left the field and did not return. The referee announced the match abondoned and declared a 3-0 win for Shenyang Ginde (the score was 1-1 at the time of the walkout).

The problem was the Beijing club felt that it was again victim to corrupt referees ("black whistles"), officials and players. The club alleges that matches are ficed and that referees and players bet on games. The CFA has been ridiculed for not maintaining a grip on its Super League and seems powerless to control the current situation. Even worse, three Beijing Hyundai players are in the Chinese national team now playing a World Cup qualifier against Kuwait. Under the rules, players must belong to a CFA club to play for the national team, so these three may be forced to withdraw from the squad.

Normally in case like this when a coach and team have a hissy fit after a refereeing decision they don't like I have no sympathy for them at all. The rules are the rules and that shuold be the end of the matter. But in this case the team is alleging there are massive levels of corruption right through the ranks of football in China and it is sadly believable. The reality likely lies somewhere in the middle between Beijing Hyundai's allegations and the inevitable CFA defence. Over 1 billion yuan has been invested in the Super League in the past decade and the coach of Beijing Hyundai is saying that much of it has been wasted. He's likely right.

The cancer of corruption reaches deeply in China: it even touches such holy grails as football.

While the antics of the Long Haired Lout dominated the headlines, there was something far more interesting going on yesterday at the first day of the new LegCo in Hong Kong. During the election of chairs of various committees, pro-democracy lawmaker Emily Lau won chair of the key Finance Committee in a surprise victory. How did this come about when the democrats are supposedly a minority? Because suddenly the Breakfast Group, a loose alliance of 6 legislators, have realised they now hold the balance of power. While Mr. Huff and Puff will have his fans, the main game has certainly changed and will pass him and his slogans by. Even pro-Beijing business business is getting in on the act: the SCMP reports the HK Chamber of Commerce wants an explicit timetable to full democracy and wants the Government to acknowledge that 2012 is the target date for universal suffrage.

Could it be that despite Beijing's best efforts Hong Kong could actually have a LegCo with a majority of democrats after all?

Cable TV is reporting that DBS, the bank that robbed itself, is going to offer a minimum of HK$100,000 compensation for each box holder. Now I think about it, I had a safety deposit box there. Yep, that's right. It had lots of old and hard to value jewellery in it, and mounds of cash to boot. This is better than the lottery...

In even better news, Long Hair Leung lost his stupid attempt to use his own oath of office in being sworn into LegCo. Justice Hartmann of the High Court was to the point, according to the SCMP:

"(Mr Leung) has not been able to demonstrate an arguable case ... the intended oath, no matter how laudable, will be unlawful and will have no effect."

I've been reading the round-up of reaction to the Vice Presidential debate at The Moderate Voice (via Dean) and Allah's, both impressive efforts. Knowing how much work goes into link-fests, it is even more impressive and a great way to quickly summarise the general reaction (which in this case appears to be mixed) to the debate. But it has lead me to formalise something I've been thinking about for a while, which I now dub the Law of Linkage:

The value of any one link in a post is inversely proportional to the total number of links in that post.

When it comes to link-fests there's a second law as well:

The likelihood of any one link being clicked in a post decreases with each additional link that precedes it.

These are issues I've been conscious of in constructing the regular Asia by Blog series. It comes down to weighing up being comprehensive to being practical. Going forward I am going to restrict the number of links in each edition in order to make each link more "valuable", albeit not at the expense of providing appropriate coverage. Thoughts welcomed.

There's another sign that property is hot again in HK: this is my second entry on the topic in two days (the first was on the new bubble). Jake van der Kamp in the SCMP notes an interesting discrepency opening up in Hong Kong's property market. Prices of larger flats (those over 1700 sq feet) have seen outsized gains compared to smaller ones. The chart is in the extended entry for your perusal. In 1990 the prices of all flats moved approximately in tandem. Since then and particularly in the past year or so the gap between the bigger and smaller flats has grown - they still move up and down together, but the spread between them grows ever larger. Larger flats are now 3 times the per square foot price of the smallest ones, a massive gap. As van der Kamp points out, these are average figures. He dismisses the value of premium flats because of this, however especially in a rising market, the top end of the premium market is going to drag the average of that class higher still. Nevertheless his main point remains valid.

More interestingly is his question as to why this should be so. The second chart shows that Hong Kong has become a much wealthier place in the past 20 years; real per capita GDP has doubled in that time to US$24,000 per person. At the same time the average usable size of new private flats has actually declined slightly. Today the average size of new flats sold in HK is 370 sq feet of usable area. People with US$24,000 each of economic value do not want to live in flats no bigger than a closet.

Who is to blame? I would have thought it was the property developers whom insist on building such tiny places. But apparently not. It is the planning regulators that decide the size of units in each approved development. So civil servants, many of whom no doubt live in substantially larger units than this 370 sq foot average, determine that Hong Kongers must continue to live in tiny flats. Because that's how things have always been done. Perhaps if these civil servants were made to actually live in the apartments they approve, things would be different. In the interim the market has found its own solution: the price of bigger flats is going up faster than those of smaller ones. With the long lead times on new property developments, the planners need to start approving larger flats fast, or they'll have a middle-class riot on there hands when the price of bigger places becomes completely out of reach.

China's rapid economic growth is putting a squeeze on resources, including water. At the same time as it grows wealthier there has been an explosion of car ownsership. So naturally combnie the two and you get the very best of Chinese ingenuity: the 300mL car wash. If they could only figure how to make the cars run on 300mL of petrol, everyone would be happy. Well, except some Middle East despots.

There's plenty of interesting Korea news at the moment and it can't wait for the next Asia by Blog.

Marmot comprehensively covers reports that China would send up to 400,000 troops to support North Korea in a war, including the US plan that called for almost 700,000 American troops within 90 days in the event of a conflict. I'm tipping that now wouldn't be such a good time then. Interestingly America has agreed to delay its troop withdrawal by 3 years, to give Seoul more time to prepare. Perhaps because the latest reports are that Seoul would fall to North Korea within 15 days without US troops. Ironically at the same time there is a report on a secret South Korean plan for dealing with the collapse of North Korea, including accomodating 200,000 defectors. While I'm writing this I'm watching the end of the US Vice Presidential debate. Asia, home to one third of the Axis of Evil, has not been mentioned.

Movies get re-made all the time, with adaptions to their new audiences. Personally I'd like to see Green Card redone with Chinese characteristics. Casting suggestions welcomed.

China has made a great deal of noise about clamping down on corruption amongst the ranks. One of the steps was to publish the report of the State Audit Office, which exposed upward of 4 billion yuan of embezzled funds and caused 600 cadres to lose their jobs. Now China News Weekly reports only 12 of 41 central government units and 5 of 21 provincial ones have done anything about it. In other words, a few have been punished and now it's business as usual. Another example of lip service. Until China publicly and systematically goes about uprooting corruption, all the public pronouncements aren't worth the paper they're written on.

China has been desperately trying to engineer a "soft landing" for its economy after growth approached unsustainable levels in the past year or so. At first they used market based mechanisms to achieve this, for example by increasing bank reserve requirements (which should have restricted lending). This didn't work. So they moved onto more direct tools, for example the Government started restricting lending to particular sectors by diktat.

Hong Kong's papers are all covering the biggest story to hit the town since a rogue crocodile: the demolition of 83 safe deposit boxes at a branch of DBS Bank in Mei Foo. The SCMP attempted to reach the contractor renovating the branch, end(ing) with an office staff member refusing to accept calls and hanging up the phone. Now the problems really start. By their nature the contents of those boxes is private. So how will DBS go about compensating the aggrieved box holders? Does it simply take their claims at face value? It's one hell of a mess.

I imagine HK's Inland Revenue Department will be helping the aggrieved box holders with their claims.

Also check out Phil and Chris.

UPDATE: Hemlock (Wed, Oct 6 entry) sees even more sinister undertones:

For decades, Singapore’s proprietor Lee Kwan-yew has plundered his subjects’ wealth by diverting their savings into a provident fund that invests in state-owned losers – sunset industries and cosseted corporations, like Deposit Box Scrapper itself. Could it be that the Lion City is now ransacking the Big Lychee’s private hoards in a desperate attempt to maintain its despotic regime, with its elaborate and costly security apparatus of public speaking permits, chewing gum detection devices and rattan canes? No other explanation makes sense. How despicable.

Michele eloquently and accurately pops the latest blogging bubble. Her premise is simple: that the very moment blogging is getting wide exposure, blogging is also reaching a low point. While I agree with her sentiments I can see a silver lining in the current clouds.

At least some blogs are mutating into quasi-journalists, hunting for scoops and trying to break news as a direct result of the success of the Rathergate (what a horrid name; it's such a cliché to add "-gate" to any controversy. Surely the blogosphere could have come up with some better?) and the large spike in traffic that resulted. The emergence of advertising on blogs and the rush of such exposure has turned some blogs into "scoop junkies".. This inevitably leads to pressure to break the next big story. But just like Big Media, news isn't like that. There are occasional big stories separate by the more humdrum and mundane. Sometimes several big stories break at once, but then there are periods of relative "quiet".

Some bloggers whom have hit upon the idea they may be journalists may be right. As is so common, whereas initially the blogging medium was composed mostly of generalists, we are now seeing the rapid specialisation by some blogs. This narrowed focus creates blog experts in particular fields and allows readers to jump immediately to certain nodal blogs for information on particular subjects. This is, I think, what Michele is lamenting. But specialists are following their interests and their traffic. The rewards (either financial, in readership or otherwise) are there for those that follow their focus. Yet there is still room for generalist blogs, although their popularity may suffer. Every day there are more blogs, there is more to read and yet God dictates there are only 24 hours in each day. You could compare the changes in the blogosphere to the general pattern of evolution - a combination of survival of the fittest and the best adapted. Generalists retain their niche and specialists find theirs, all coming together in a "blogosystem".

However at times the output of the blogosystem as a whole can disappoint readers, particularly long time ones. Blogs change over time as the interests of the author(s); some blogs that are now branching into journalism are a case in point. Along the way they will lose some readers and gain others. It is part of the constant process of change in the evolving life of each blog within the blogosystem. Just as the blogosystem as a whole evolves, so do the blogs within it. I share Michele's disappointment that some previously favourite sites have changed for ways I consider less interesting. But thankfully there are plenty of others out there to take up the slack. Another analogy is a marketplace. Stores change their wares to capture new or different customers or enhance their profits. Some older customers don't like the changes and have to find new stores to replace them. It's a pain in the backside, especially after finding a set that you like and can rely on. But eventually you find others to take their place. The stores (blogs) follow their self-interest and the shoppers (readers) follow theirs, and Adam Smith's Invisible Hand creates something greater. It's laissez-faire capitalism in action.

Longer time readers will note that the weekly "Enemablog" feature, where I summarised some of my favourite links of the week from around the blogosphere. It was for a simple reason: each week there was less and less I thought interesting or worthy enough to link to. I understand the intensity of the coverage of the US election; the importance of breaking the Rather story; and the other top stories floating around at the moment. They bore me to tears. The constant incestual linking between certain blogs is danger of becoming a constant cycle of mutual admiration to the exclusion of anything interesting. There seems to be so many more important things in the world worth talking about: Darfur, Iraq, events all over Asia. But if my previously favourite blogs choose to focus on things that no longer interest me, then that is fine. I'll simply move on to those that do. Like Michele. Or Joe. Or Dean. Or Helen. Or any one of the other blogs on my blogrolls. Time and content permitting, I'll bring that weekly feature back once I start seeing links again worth hanging on to.

We bloggers and blog readers have a choice. Thank God for the blogosystem's diversity.

Suddenly property in Hong Kong is hot again. The number of transactions jumped by 26% in September from the previous month, and the value of transactions jumped by 34% from August. Year on year the jump in value is a massive 75%. Suddenly all the usual suspects, from real estate agents to property developers, are signalling the boom times are here again. The SCMP reports on a record price for a Mid Levels apartment of more than US$3,500 per square foot. Factors driving this include improved economic outlook, new development launches and the 95 per cent mortgage introduced by the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation in July and of course speculation. Indeed analysts generally believe that in the mass housing market prices will rise by 10 to 30 per cent next year.

There's one problem. Rents are not rising anywhere near as fast, if at all. What does that matter? Well just like a share reflects the present value of all future dividends so a property price should represent the present value of its rental income (either real or implied). If these rents are unchanged, and that is what the economic data is saying, then rising property prices indicate one of two things. Either investors are prepared to accept a lower return on their investment - this could be possible, but unlikely; or a this is a typical case of excess liquidity spilling over into asset price inflation.

You would have thought Hong Kong learnt the lessons of the 1997 Asia crisis and the subsequent property bust that caused years of economic malaise and deflation. But when a city's financial system is built on speculation, you can only keep animal spirits repressed for so long. In other words, here we go again.

This morning I went to the Australian Consulate here in Hong Kong and voted. The whole process took less than 5 minutes; there were no hoardes of desperate politico types shoving wads of waste paper ("how to vote" leaflets) into my hands and exorting me to vote for Labor/Liberal/Democrats/Greens/No GST/Fishing/Lower Beer Excise/Family First (all real parties); no waiting in lines and all during work time.

Hong Kong is missing a massive tourism opportunity.

Manchester United is being taken over by an American. What hasn't been reported is Malcolm Glazer's plans for the future of the club. I have it on good authority he plans to suggest a few changes to increase the appeal of English Premier League and soccer in general.

Firstly Man U will be renamed the Manchester Cowboys. There will now be an offensive and defensive teams, with numerous breaks so they can all run on and off the field at random times. Body armour will become compulsary for all players. In what will no doubt be a popular innovation, the Manchester Cowgirls will form a new cheer squad with the finest lasses the Mersey Irwell (see below) has to offer. Cigars will be handed out for free at all games but due to no-smoking rules they must only be chomped, not smoked.

But most excitingly will be a new method of starting the game. In fact we have a photo of a helpful demonstration of this innovation:

Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature, posted on Monday and Thursday, providing links to Asian blogs and their views on the news in this fascinating region. Please send me an email if you would like to be notified of new editions. Previous editions can be found here.

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