Lo Down thought we could finally leave ex-security chief and now private citizen Regina 'Broomhead' Ip Lau Suk-yee alone but the latest government reshuffle has her fingerprints all over it.

Two of her former sidekicks have been appointed to top security and law enforcement positions this week. ICAC head Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong, who last replaced Ip as immigration director when she took over the Security Bureau in 1998, has been playing catch-up with his controversial ex-boss and now has finally caught up by taking over her job as security secretary.

Raymond Wong Hung-chiu, who headed the Customs and Excise Department during Ip's tenure as the top government security boss, will take over the anti-graft body from Lee. It's inconceivable that Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa didn't consult Ip about the two key appointments when she tendered her resignation, supposedly days before the July 1 mass rally against her favourite number, Article 23.