Service careers big winners for HK's young folk
Elsewhere on this page the Cartoon Channel's mammoth survey into the interests and revulsions of Asia's youth is examined in detail, but leafing through the findings of the SAR's youngsters we discovered some remarkable findings.
Hong Kong's youth appears to be rather more altruistic than anyone thought.
Asked what job or career they wanted, boys named - in order - policeman, doctor, teacher and fireman with 4 per cent opting for businessman.
Meanwhile, girls choose teachers, nurses and lawyers, with 3 per cent eyeing business, one point ahead of becoming a designer.
The Asia-wide ranking for both sexes was doctor, teacher and engineer.
The survey also asked respondents what they thought was 'the most important thing happening in their country at the moment'.
The Aussies said the debate on republicanism, Indonesians, Malaysians, Singaporeans, South Koreans and Thais said it was the economy. And Hong Kong youth? 'The Tiananmen Incident,' according to GenerAsians.
The great and good of Hong Kong's resident overseas media corps gathered at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Monday evening for the farewell party of Britain's Independent Television News correspondent Mark Austin.
Mr Austin is due to return to ITN's London headquarters after racking up two stints in the SAR, punctuated by a term in South Africa.
The champagne party was scheduled to take place on the Mandarin's rooftop, but seasonal rains drove the revellers downstairs into the hospitality of the Chinnery Bar.
Although journalists parties often have been known to degenerate, Soundbites' various sources reported that Mr Austin's festivities were disappointingly well-behaved, with no outbreaks of champagne-fuelled recriminations or fisticuffs.
Once again, you read it first in Soundbites. Last week this column revealed that former MGM Gold managing director Steve Smith was the favoured candidate to take over as the head of StarTV's music service, Channel V.
This week the news was confirmed and Mr Smith will be starting on August 1 just as boss Don Ateyo tidies his desk before going into retirement.
However, in our excitement, we also wrote that one of his former colleagues at MGM Gold, Pauline Goh, was relocating to Singapore for a job with the Disney Channel. Well, she is moving to Singapore, but her new employer is the National Geographic Channel, which is set to go to air on July 1.
