In his letter to media, Mr Wong wrote he had learnt a precious lesson in life and that from now on he would be blunt, but careful, with words.

But we wonder if he learnt enough in his part-time executive MBA class at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he is reported to have reflected hard on his future business direction.

Did his EMBA professors warn him against trusting someone who vows to sit back-to-back with him so that they would be inseparable? As Mr Wong's denouement bears out, that made back-stabbing a lot easier.

Did his professors teach Mr Wong, an energetic entrepreneur, how to handle himself as a chief executive of a Chinese family-run business?

Typically that would entail less publicity - at least in the first two weeks - let alone putting his lecture sessions with the hapless ATV staff on YouTube.

Did his professors tell him that male executives interested in entertainment business must learn to keep their cool when meeting young ladies in bikinis because men tend to lose their control over words when they are near these nubile creatures? Mr Wong confessed to such a momentary lapse of his faculties when he reportedly asked a Miss Asia winner if her breasts were fake.

Did his professors remind the arrogant executive to be nice to media? Did anybody tell him: 'Don't fire newsman - particularly the experienced ones'? In our line of business, that can backfire.

It was a pity that Mr Wong failed in his graduation project. Actually it was a lose-lose situation for everybody, including himself, to begin with.

But on the bright side, he will be the face of this very dramatic year on every year-ender in town.

Macquarie mostly on target

And whoever thought 2008 would end up being this dramatic anyway?

As it turns out, Macquarie Research did - it was at least 60 per cent right in predicting events that would have seemed unlikely at the beginning of the year.

In its five predictions on Asia a year ago, the Australian brokerage was right on the strength of the US dollar, in saying oil prices would dip below US$50 (partly right), China's equity markets would underperform (partly right), and technology stocks would outperform others.

But Macquarie was horribly wrong in predicting that Thailand would be the best-performing market (in fact it was the fourth worst behind Indonesia, Hong Kong and the mainland, thanks to having three prime ministers in one year!)

Based on this track record, perhaps we should take its five apparently improbable predictions for next year a little more seriously.

These are: 1) Asian equities will fall steadily all year; 2) China will grow 8 per cent or more next year; 3) banks will perform well; 4) India will outperform China; and 5) the US will be the strongest economy in the Group of Seven next year.

Watch this space next December.

Christmas tunes hold the key

We can hardly hear the fat cats singing this year in financial districts like Central. One reason could be that some of them have moved to the other side of Victoria Harbour.

For the first time, the Morgan Stanley Directors Choir is singing for Christmas at 5:30pm today at its new headquarters, International Commerce Centre.

For the sixth year, the singing group will hold its annual performance for Operation Santa Claus. This year, it has engaged 60 senior bankers singing Christmas carols, one more than last year. (The new song is Deck the Halls, not the homegrown Recession is coming to town - if anyone is wondering.)

Usually, the choir's songs spread the joy reflecting its members' mood in mid-December - right after they have received their bonuses. Let's find out what it's like this year.