Author: Robert Carroll
-
HK Observer | A pan-quagmire
State leader Zhang Dejiang’s visit here is about Hong Kong’s finance and acumen to revive the Silk Road and reaching out to the community – both ... -
HK Observer | Panama plague. Who’s losing?
The Panama papers, a la Wikileaks and Snowden bombshells, are not only embarrassing the powerful the world over but highlight the injustice and the rot that ... -
Art Basel and Art Central | Bringing big money to art and big art to the people
Art fairs’ raison d’etre may be to sell art but that’s far from the whole story. New York gallery owner Ethan Coen offers an explanation: “We ... -
HK Observer | Appeasement – ‘quelle surprise’
Unexpectedly it seems that a lighter touch by Beijing towards Hong Kong has arrived even despite calls for independence! The great taboo subject raised here and ... -
Exclusive Interview | Steve Vickers : Gaming should ‘not grow faster than the national growth rate of GDP’
In an interview with Macau Daily Times, Steve Vickers, the high profile CEO of Steve Vickers and Associates, a political and corporate risk consultancy, addressed the ... -
HK Observer | China needs to woo youth
Alienated people can become reckless, but addressing their grievances may win them over. Cue pro-Hong Kong localists and their results in the recent LegCo bi-election and ... -
HK Observer | Roots of riot
The number of riots in Hong Kong over the last 50 years could be counted on one hand. A thorough examination of the causes of the ... -
HK Observer | Forget transparency; silence is golden
The Legislative Council Finance committee looks set to approve the additional funding needed for the world’s most expensive high-speed rail without waiting for the council’s public ... -
HK Observer | F-words for bookseller’s story: fake and framed
Let’s use an f-word: “fake.” And another? How about “framed.” Fake is how the edited, inconsistent confession of publisher Gui Minhai appears to his daughter and ... -
HK Observer | Fairy tales about missing booksellers
It’d be hard to find anyone in Hong Kong who honestly believes that the five missing booksellers were not blackmailed, kidnapped or perhaps ‘honey trapped’; set ... -
HK Observer | The bin bombers blew it
Well done LegCo bin bombers. Just what those who want to restrict our freedoms need. Now it’s we told you so; Hong Kong is not ready ... -
HK Observer | King Arthur, the roundtable and white elephants
The appointment of a new deputy head of the University of Hong Kong has reappeared in the news again, with more leaks from the University Council ... -
HK Observer | Hello! Lifestyles of the rich and famous
Hong Kong and Asia’s richest man Li Ka-shing has finally been officially described accurately in China: a profit-only motivated man, and no patriot. The final straw ... -
Hong Kong Legends 4, EPL All Stars 5 Santos’ Davids go down fighting to English Goaliaths
It was always going to be a battle akin to that of David and Goliath, as Leslie Santos’ Hong Kong team met a host of ... -
HK Observer | Stalemate
The politicization of the appointment of a new University of Hong Kong chancellor has been unfortunate. More unfortunate has been the rejection of a previously highly ... -
HK Observer | Vive la difference
This month we have had a deluge of reactions and counter-reactions about Beijing’s liaison office director Zhang Xiaoming’s remarks about separation of powers; that Hong Kong ... -
HK Observer | Glass half full
The controversial messages on Saturday from Beijing’s liaison office director, Zhang Xiaoming, citing the central government’s view on ‘one country two systems’ was on the one ... -
HK Observer | Begone trams and TST promenade! What next? Eiffel Tower?
The old assertion “great minds think alike” – which triggers the riposte: “fools never differ” – comes to mind with recent ideas to ‘improve’ local iconic ... -
Hk Observer | Taxis rule. HK’s uber-free market to be Uber-free?
On the one hand, we have a high-tech startup officially encouraged and supported by the government body that has been set up to boost investment in ... -
HK Observer | Change involves work
Diversifying the economy is an issue which has long been pursued by local economists and Beijing alike. While traditional pillars of the economy such as trading ... -
HK Observer | None of their business?
With many students turning away from the city’s two big annual marches this year — the June 4 vigil to mark the anniversary of Beijing’s Tiananmen ... -
HK Observer | Embers from the fire
The long road to the Basic Law’s objective of universal suffrage has just got a lot longer. Now that the Legislative Council (LegCo) has voted down ... -
HK Observer | June 4 realities
The annual June 4 marches are held here with several purposes in mind: to commemorate the deaths which occurred during the Tiananmen Square crackdown; to call ... -
HK Observer | Stalemate
The present stalemate over political reform has been long coming. Tiananmen Square in 1989 was probably the most important turning point. Others were the failure in ... -
Film master classes by Greenaway and Makhmalbaf
I doubt whether or not the famously controversial, in-your-face Peter Greenaway would have a very long conversation with idealist and humanist filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The common ... -
HK Observer | TV, HKU and political reform
Several key elements of Hong Kong’s makeup are under threat according to recent news developments. Most importantly unless we get a deal for political reform governance ... -
Macau-born Isabella Leong triumphs in HK film festival premiere
It’s been a long-awaited and welcome return to the movie theatre for both veteran actress, screenwriter, and director Sylvia Chang and lead actress, Macau-raised Isabella Leong ... -
Art Basel and the rise and rise of Hong Kong, Asia’s USD multi-billion art hub
There are cities and there are cities – Hong Kong is in the category of top Alpha city, along with the likes of London and New ... -
HK OBSERVER: From the ivory tower
Considering he’s one of the highest paid officials in the world, you would think he could spell his job title correctly. Who? Our gaffe-prone financial (sic)secretary ... -
HK Observer | Capital and due diligence
While much of Hong Kong’s freedom is being chipped away at, it’s heartening to see the stout application of the rule of law in several high-profile ... -
HK Observer: Occupy Fallout
Following the Occupy fallout, Hong Kong has recently been declared as a core security interest for China by a senior PLA official. We can surely expect ... -
HK Observer: Reality Checks
How will Hong Kong continue to be governed, given the great social impasses revealed during the Occupy Movement? On the one hand, there are those seeking ... -
HK Observer | Credibility at stake again
According to the government’s report, recently submitted to Beijing, which focused on the Occupy Central movement, it is the common aspiration of those in Hong Kong ... -
Hk Observer: The Joint Declaration thirty years on
The Joint Declaration, the Sino-British treaty for post-1997 Hong Kong, signed thirty years ago, tomorrow, was intended as a guarantee to maintain the prosperity and freedoms ... -
HK Observer: Moving on
Occupy Central may not have fulfilled its intended goals but it has occupied the minds and hearts of Hong Kong’s youth. It has also created a ...
