Happy families ... Philpott with wife Mairead, left, and mistress Lisa, right, escaping the cramped conditions in his tent, inset left, and the sponger's council house, inset right.

This is absolute madness.

First of all, how can a WIFE cohabit with a MISTRESS and look happy together?

Despite (ugly) appearance, the wife is 25, the mistress 22 and the husband 49. The three of them live on social benefits in a council house with 8 children, and both are prenant now.

This is complete madness! And that is not the end of the story! Read the rest here!!!

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has on 8th November 2006 appointed their new Director General - Dr Margaret Chan of Hong Kong.

Dr Chan was the former head of Department of Health in Hong Kong during the SARS epidemic in 2003. After SARS, she was recommended by a WHO member and made her way to work for the WHO.

March to July 2003 was the hardest time in my life as a HK citizen. We had to walk around in surgical masks at all times. You coughed in public and people around you would either run away or fearfully stare at you like you were Godzilla. Everyday I lived in fear. And everyday the news report began with figures of suspected cases, confirmed cases, and deaths. Our airport was dead because no one wanted to come here. Our people who were touring round Taiwan were locked up in their hotel rooms without water and electricity, with local barbarians protesting with a banner which said "We Don't Want SARS". Restaurants, cinemas, shops, etc were all empty. We were deserted. We were left here alone to die.

Back in November 2002 local news reported that people in the northern part of HK went crazy buying vinegar. Rumour had it that an unknown and deadly virus had hit our neighbouring Guangzhou and keeping a boiling pot of vinegar at home would kill germs. Dr Chan claimed that the whole fiasco was completely ludicrous. Not only was the method unscientific, more importantly she had not heard from Mainland officials about there being a new virus.

Relying on her words, people were more relaxed and were unaware of what was to happen.

As a result, nothing was done to prevent the "non-existent" disease, which turned out to be SARS, and claimed 299 lives in HK.

Dr Chan managed to keep quiet and hid away from the public eye in the early stage of the outbreak. Instead, her subordinate Dr E.K. Yeoh often appeared in various press conferences and got bashed by almost everyone. During this time, an insider told me that Dr Chan took very good care of herself. She would go to work at normal hours, while other doctors worked 'round the clock to find a cure. When she got to work at around 11am, she would call a government official of a high rank and tell people how she was under a lot of stress and she would cry like an eliminated model-wannabe on America's Next Top Model. Everyday she would call a different person and talked for over 2 hours.

And once a cure was found and everyone came under control, Dr Chan stepped out from the background and took all the praises!! Contrarily, Dr Yeoh was forced to resign because the general public had too much anger from what happened during SARS.

What impact will Dr Chan make as head of WHO?

Put it this way, before sovereignty of HK was handed back to the Chinese Government in 1997, the Chinese Government promised the people of HK and the British Government that everything will remain unchanged for at least 50 years. In the past 9 years I have witnessed with my own two eyes the huge change in every way. From Mandarin announcements in MTR to menus written in simplified Chinese, from mobile phones adopting the backward Mainlandish term "sau gay" instead of "sau tai", today HK is nothing more than just another city in China.

That said, we still exist as a separate entity in some ways, for instance our sportsmen complete internationally representing HKSAR rather than China. And we do pay international postage for letter to the mainland.

According to reports, Dr Chan represented China instead of HK in the nomination for the post, against representatives from Japan, Spain, France, etc.

This means Dr Chan will be the little marionette controlled by the Chinese Government.

Let's not forget the main reason why HK got infected by SARS and the deaths of  299 HK citizens - information barrier in China.The Chinese Government only publicise what they think fit, and the rest gets locked up forever and ever.

What I am saying is, if a new deadly disease was developed in China during her term of service... all we could do is pray.

I know I shouldn't really laugh at this but I find it rather amusing.

From : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,200-2416913,00.html

Judge clears driver because 'Chinese all look the same'
By David Lister, Scotland Correspondent
 
A JUDGE has provoked outrage among race relations groups by claiming that all Chinese people look the same.

Sheriff Margaret Gimblett cleared Hui Yu, 23, a student from Beijing, of a motoring offence after dismissing evidence from two police officers identifying him. 
 
She told Greenock Sheriff Court: “Without wanting to be derogatory in any way, sometimes it is said that all black people look the same at first glance, and the same can be said that all Chinese people can look the same to a native Scot.

“It’s only when you have time to look that you begin to see the differences.”

Mr Hui, a part-time supermarket worker who lives in Paisley, Renfrewshire, had been identified by the officers as the man they had stopped last December on a petrol station forecourt in Port Glasgow. They said that he had been driving a Rover 400, and had failed to produce his driving documents when he was asked for them. Mr Hui was subsequently charged with driving without insurance.

One of the officers, PC Michelle Meechan, told the court: “It’s my job to learn faces and I’m quite good at it.” However, Mr Hui denied the offence, claiming that he had been with his girlfriend, Meng Dong, 22, at her flat in Paisley when the offence was alleged to have taken place.

On finding Mr Hui not guilty, Sheriff Gimblett said: “This trial raises interesting issues because, when foreigners are in a country, they look different from the native inhabitants of that country and there can be a difficulty — even with experienced observers.”

She told Mr Hui: “In this case, I have no doubts that the police officers gave evidence that they thought was correct. However, I have great doubt about the reliability of that evidence and I have to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

A spokesman for the Commission for Racial Equality said yesterday: “The sheriff may have had her reasons for what she said, but these were not particularly helpful comments to make.”

Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish National Party’s justice spokesman, said that the sheriff’s remarks had been crass, insensitive and incorrect.

However, Mr Hui appeared to agree with Sheriff Gimblett. “It is true that people from one nationality or race can look the same to people from another nationality or race. It is the same for Chinese people — we find it quite hard at first to tell the difference between groups of Scots,” he said.

Sheriff Gimblett is no stranger to controversy. In 1999 she cleared three protesters who caused £80,000 damage to equipment during a demonstration at Faslane, the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarine base, claiming that their action was justified by a ruling under international law that nuclear weapons were illegal. She said afterwards: “I’m rather worried about my job after this. I certainly won’t be expecting a mention in the honours list.” The Government challenged the ruling, and in 2001 the Court of Criminal Appeal said that Sheriff Gimblett had been wrong.

 got me new shoes and flowers and I got him some TVB Cantonese tv series on vcd - his latest addiction!

It was a difficult 7th year, but we pulled through. Whatever hits us now will not destroy us.

I am not a girl who gives up on things easily. Some people think that I am in constant denial but they are wrong. I have a clear idea of where this is heading. Just bear with me...!

Dinner tonight will be at a restaurant we have never been to and we are quite excited hee hee!!

Will have to go to school for 8 consecutive days starting this Sunday!! Help!!

Martin Scorsese's THE DEPARTED is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong blockbuster INFERNAL AFFAIRS.

 and I saw THE DEPARTED (TD) last Saturday. We were not drawn by the story, since we already knew it from INFERNAL AFFAIRS (IA), but by its superstar cast.

2.5 hours later we walked out of the cinema, satisfied, but not as overwhelmed as we were after IA. I have the following views.

The Chinese name of IA, Mo Gaan Doe, actually refers to the worst, most fearful, ghastliest level of hell in Bhuddism. (I *think* there are 18 levels of hell. Please correct me if I am wrong.) In IA, this level of hell is experienced by Andy Lau, ie. Matt Damon's equivalent. He struggles between wanting to become a goody when really he is the baddy, or was he? IA gives more insight to character developments and viewers can really feel the contradiction in Lau's mind. Nothing is mentioned of Damon's struggles. You may argue that TD's writers did it on purpose. If so, why does Damon kill Nicholson? He would be better of with the latter being caught alive, no?

What is in the evelope which DiCaprio hands to the psychiatrist? 

Why did they pick such an old-looking actress?

Why does she suddenly fall for DiCaprio when she is obviously in love with Damon?

Towards the end of the film, why does the neighbour pull her pet dog away from Damon? Has she heard something negative about him?

In IA, Anthony Wong (ie. Martin Sheen's equivalent) is the only person who knows about Tony Leung (DiCaprio) being an undercover. Hence with Wong's death and Lau deleting Leung's records off the police database it seems that Leung never existed at all. In TD the same happened except that Mark Wahlberg also knows the secret. So why delete DiCaprio's records?

Anyway, TD is a good film. Go see it! You won't be disappointed.

<-- We will see this film tomorrow.

Maldives is so stunningly picturesque that I am lost for words.

I am absolutely exhausted at the moment. Will update with beautiful photos soon.

 
A short clip of Miss Chloe Lee screaming (not crying since I don't see any tears) at 2 days old. As of today she is now, um, a very tender 15 day-old baby.

Person talking in the background was her mum Maggie and she was saying, "It's ok it's ok!" Hm... I mean, will "keep screaming keep screaming" and "it's ok it's ok" be perceived differently by a 2-day old baby girl?

That said, I still find her incredibly adorable and can't wait to see her in person asap!!!

(Yes it is obvious that I have not met a lot of babies and I don't know how to communicate with them ha ha ha!!!)

Our holiday is only 1 day away!!! Wahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  called just now and said he just could not focus on his work!! Wahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is useless. I am concentrating really hard on my notes from last night... NOT!!! Wahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Will be back next Tuesday!! See ya!!

Sorry for not updating for so long, long by my standard!

Life has been hectic. Lectures on Trusts started last Thursday and went on for 2 more days. Had a break on Sunday, then 3 evenings this week, ie. Monday to Wednesday, and I will be off to Maldives on Thursday!!!

 is way more excited about the holiday than I am. It is not that I am not thrilled to be away from the, um, lurrrrrvely Bank but my mind is pre-occupied by school stuff and I just don't have any spare braincells to think of, say, what to pack into our suitcase. I'll leave that until Wednesday night!

 came round for lunch last Friday. Although our offices are not exactly far away from each other, he seldom drops by unless he benefits from his trips. This time he came over to pick up a supplementary credit card from the Bank, with me as the primary cardholder.  said it is only fair that I get to have a supplementary card from him and vice versa. He said this is totally symbolic and he won't spend a cent on the card. Okay whatever. I will hunt after him like a werewolf when he uses it! Ha ha!

We went to Lung King Heen, Chinese restaurant at the Four Seasons. I really enjoyed my lunch there last time I went with my aunt, and almost sat next to silly-gurly and her folks!!

 liked the food but did not find it amazing. Hm...

Lecture started at 2:30pm on Saturday but I had no where to go after work ends at 1pm so I went straight to school. The weather was absolutely wonderful so I walked around and took some photos. I love the second one so much that I have made it my wallpaper on my mobile phone!

On Sunday we had lunch with 's family at Golden Leaf. Which table setting do you like better? This one or the one above? I prefer the first one.

My Trusts lecturer Professor Kerridge. I think he is one of the best teachers that HKU has hired for our course. The one I had for Land Law was horrible. After 7 lectures I feel like I have learnt nothing. I should have kept the school fee and teach myself instead.

A funny quote from Prof Kerridge, "When I applied for university I wanted to go Oxford. When the headmaster heard of this and he said to me, "To go to Oxford one needs a special element - charm, and I am afraid you don't have it." and so I went to Cambridge!!"

Hee hee!!!

This is classroom P3 of Chong Yuet Ming Building at HKU. I hate this room. Something is seriously wrong with the (lack of) airconditioning and I almost fainted some weeks ago after sitting there for 2.5 hours. Unfortunately most of my lectures this year are taking place here! Eeek!!!

My stupid friend... didn't know she painted her nails red until I saw this photos! Ha ha! Don't get to see her much these days because of school and also the fact that she is too lazy to come out for lunch!!!

To stupid friend : I just realised that since YOU don't want to come out for lunch anymore, I won't be seeing you until after my holiday!! Are you going to miss me?

And a surprise gift from her! Hee hee! It has become my new keyring. Thank you!!!

My last one was also a gft from a friend whom I have lost contact with!

((( AYAKO HIRAO ))) Where are you???

Had dinner at Shui Hu Ju on Tuesday. This was a ashtray by the way. So elegant and pretty!! Shui Hu Ju serves the best spicy Sichuan food in Hong Kong. I don't eat spicy food but their non-spicy dishes were also smashing! My favourite is their crispy mutton. *slurp* We also had fried beef with lots and lots of onion slices!! *drool*

The best thing about this restaurant is : It is less than 5 minutes walk from home!!

Saw The Devil Wears Prada with  and his folks on Sunday. The film was brilliant!!! I bought the book years ago and haven't read it yet... (hint hint : Jessie!!!  ) OMG the clothes were soooo nice and everyone dressed soooo well that I felt ashamed to look at myself in the mirror!! I must work harder so I can afford to go haute couture muahahaha! Yeah in my dreams!

Everyone loves the film, including  and his dad.  shares a common love for chick flicks with silly-gurly. The Devil Wears Prada is a tad bit more mature for their tastes though. Their biggest love seems to lie with films about high-school puppy love. Hmmm...

I'm done with half of Land Law but I am rather confused still. Our teacher did a mediocre job so I guess I'll need to make my own notes from her notes. Will start Trusts on Thursday.  said Trusts is the most difficult subject... OMG!!

The best place in Central for chilled milk tea!!! I used to get my breakfast there all the time. I know it is shabby but I love it v. much!!!