“CNN and other Western media have misunderstood China. They only see China’s ‘calm’ but they seem to forget how China has firmly adhered to the path of ‘dynamic zero-case’ policy.”
Blog
Events
Why Penny’s Bay remains key to the big prize
I get the Hong Kong government’s position. We’re just going to have to take it on (and in) the nose. While that means further frustration for Hong Kong residents and the tourism industry, it’s all about the size of the prize. And no-one can doubt which is bigger.
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Events
They may both be Greek but Omicron is not Armageddon
Omicron is a variant of concern to the WHO, to governments, to all of us. But it is not Armageddon. Nor was Delta nor Mu nor will be any of the variants that inevitably emerge while much of the world remains shamefully unvaccinated.
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Travel
Flying with butterfly wings towards better times
Qatar Duty Free and Hainan have been the two shining lights of our channel during this prolonged period of deep gloom. Both are set to glow even brighter in 2022.
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Lifestyle
Irish swarms, Aussie blitzes, and Plague Island own goals
Photos of a maskless (and clueless) Boris Johnson in a hospital ward just add to a widespread external perception that the UK is what the New York Times famously dubbed ‘Plague Island’.
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People
Making 50:50 calls on equality and rugby, and watching flashing lights up ahead ‘round the bend
“This community was founded at the peak of the pandemic when everyone felt isolated. Women were leaving the workforce at four times the rate of men at that period.”
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Quirky
From A (Angostura) to Z (Zacapa): Toeing the line in a new kind of Rum Diary
The crack had appeared in the all-important distal phalange, one of 14 phalanges (a posh word for bone, as in ‘I’ve got a phalange to pick with you’ or ‘My favourite red wine is Côte de Phalange’).
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Lifestyle
Avoiding the maelstrom while learning to live with COVID
As I write, two members of my team are suffering from COVID, caught in the maelstrom of the pandemic as it rages once again through the UK, where some 9.3 million people have suffered from the disease and almost 142,000 people have died.
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Events
From here to Quinternity
There have been numerous calls for Trinity to be renamed Quaternity, with the fourth player being the airline. So would Fraser’s Quaternity become a Quinternity? I’m afraid not. No matter how many google pages I scoured Quinternity did not make a single entrance.
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People
How Ramesh Cidambi found himself in a literary frame of mind
You can almost picture the scene at Ramesh’s table as William Shakespeare opines “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” and Oscar Wilde retorts, “The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast”
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Events
Stepping onto a bridge to normal in Cannes
One can imagine those first encounters in Morrison’s as delegates struggle to make themselves heard. “Sorry Barry, I can’t hear you. You’re on mute!” “Are you ok Dermot, you seem to be shaking?” – “Yes, no worries, I’m just buffering.”
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Events
Time to climb off the torture rack
I feel like I have been through the mental equivalent of being laid out and then stretched on a medieval torture rack for a week.
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Events
Almost time to set sail for Moodie Island
Moodie Island has an area of just 90 square miles and, best of all, it is uninhabited. Well, I’m about to change all that. And with no-one else living there, I won’t even have to quarantine.