Isn't it the stupidest thing for some of our heritage supporters to demand that the demolished Queen's Pier be reconstructed on its original site - in situ, as they like to call it? They insist there's a spatial relationship involving Queen's Pier, the City Hall and Edinburgh Square. Don't worry - we won't be adding 'in situ' and 'spatial' to our vocabulary. They're stupid words. But how stupid is it to reconstruct Queen's Pier exactly where it once stood when reclamation, a highway and shopping malls mean the pier will no longer be anywhere near the water? It was the height of arrogance for our bureaucrats to have ignored public opinion by killing off the pier, but now that the crime has been committed, doesn't it make more sense to resurrect it on the new waterfront where it can spring back to life instead of turning it into a landlocked tombstone? But no, we have nonsensical talk instead from self-styled heritage buffs who would rather you look out to a highway than to the harbour from Queen's Pier.

Uproar over Obama's church all one-sided

Does mud stick easily to US presidential candidate Barack Obama, or is the American public giving him an unfair shake because he is black and has a Muslim middle name? We ask because we want to know why Senator Obama should be blamed for the lunatic behaviour of a white Catholic priest who mocked Hillary Rodham Clinton in a guest sermon at Senator Obama's church. He wasn't even there, for God's sake, but the political heat forced him to cut ties with the church. How come we don't see the same flak being flung at John McCain and George W. Bush for their close associations with radical right-wing priests whose sermons preach far greater hate?

Let's see if big business can swallow defeat

Remember what big business said when it was fighting tooth and nail to exempt low-sales items that made health claims from the food-labelling law? It said it was fighting to protect consumers, not profits. It wanted consumers to have a wider choice of health foods. Well, big business did not get the exemption it wanted. Even low-sales food items must prove their health claims. We'll now hold big business to its word. Prove that you really care about consumers. Don't remove these items from shelves just because labelling them will lower profits. Leave them where they are and lower your profit margin. If you don't, we'll know you've been fibbing all along.

This is no day for political correctness

Let's go back to our favourite word before we end. Isn't it the stupidest thing for our new political appointees to wonder if it's politically correct to attend tonight's annual June 4 candle-light vigil now that they work for Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen? For heaven's sake, go if you want to. If you followed your heart and your conscience in past years to commemorate the Tiananmen crackdown victims, a new job shouldn't stop you this year unless you want to suck up to the boss. Play patriot games with your passports if you want to, but not with the memory of the dead.