Jake's View | Time for the Hong Kong Club to end its embarrassment of riches

A newspaper columnist has a way of making enemies. One or two members of the Hong Kong Club have told me over time that they would relish my trying to join as it would give them great joy to fling blackballs in my direction.

Today I shall make the prospect even more joyful for them.

I have in my hands a copy of the club's 2012 accounts, which make it clear that it is time for the club to take some new directions or risk incurring the disdain of the larger Hong Kong community.

But first, some general observations, made not only as a know-it-all journalist who has no business prying into the affairs of a club of which he is not a member, but also in wearing my other hat as treasurer of the Foreign Correspondents' Club for the past five years.

We run a tighter ship at the FCC. That much is immediately obvious. Without citing exact numbers and fully accepting that one reading of one year's accounts does not give a complete picture, I recommend to the Hong Kong Club's directors that they reconsider their management agreement with the Peninsula group the next time it comes up for review.

Ditto renovation costs. My eyebrows rose. I think you people would do well to invite a few more contractors to bid for the next job.