Lai See | If StanChart doesn't want us, why keep inviting us?

We are beginning to feel that in a previous life we must have done something bad to Standard Chartered Bank. Why otherwise would they have devised the mild but persistent form of torment it annually inflicts on Lai See.

For the past two years we have been invited to its Earth Resources Conference, We dutifully reply that we would be delighted to attend. A few days before the conference the organisers send a reminder. But when we show up on the big day we are taken aside and told in apologetic tones that it is a closed conference and that no press are allowed. This year we received another invitation. Assuming the bank had changed its policy and decided to allow the press in, we registered, giving name, address and employer. The registration was accepted and we got the usual reminder. So far, so good.

Yesterday morning we arrived at the conference venue, the registration was checked and in we went. Having had breakfast and chatted to a few familiar faces, we set off for the first event, only to feel a tap on the shoulder. "We're awfully sorry, there seems to have been a mistake. This is a closed event," came that familiar refrain. What happened to "My word is my bond"?

A considerable amount has been written about leaker Edward Snowden recently, mostly surrounding the rights and wrongs of surveillance. We tuned into the weekend edition of the BBC World Service's "From the Fifth Floor" for additional enlightenment, only to be sadly disappointed. We heard the Chinese reporter saying: "He [Snowden] may have to hide himself in the expat community, because if you hide in the expat community, then there's plenty of foreigners around. So for Chinese like us, we may not be able to recognise him."