HOW amusing that so much energy and expense has gone into making the SAR passport forgery-proof. If you can't go anywhere with it, who would want a fake one? If you do see a headline saying 'SAR passport in forgery scam', it will probably be over a news item along the lines of: 'A gang of forgers was caught last night using SAR passport paper stock to make counterfeit Andrex toilet paper.' Mind you, if Britain does the honourable thing and leads the way in allowing visa-free entry to SAR passport holders, then the documents will be worth having - and will need extra security devices, to prevent 1.2 billion people with shonky Shenzhen versions turning up at Heathrow.
Talking of international access, the Democrats and trade unionist Lee Cheuk-yan have this week been making fools of themselves by pretending that 5,000 imported workers will cause a major crisis in the Hong Kong employment scene.
How ridiculous. There were about 5,000 imported workers in the Whitty Street tram I was on yesterday morning. It is a drop in the ocean.
I noticed the Democrats made a point of exempting domestic helpers from their attacks on imported labour, despite the fact that getting rid of 130,000 Filipinas would provide more than enough openings for all the 100,000-odd unemployed.
They clearly realised it would be a weak argument to claim that their constituents were outraged at being robbed of the opportunity to work 16 hours a day for $9 an hour before retiring for the night in a dog basket in the kitchenette.
PAUL Claughan came up with this slogan as a sort of thought for the day: 'Help preserve the marine life of Hong Kong - pickle a dolphin.' It's probably the only way to keep them in the territory.
A METRE-LONG snake wound its way into a dai pai dong in Pui O, Lantau at the weekend, I heard yesterday.