WHAT an odd place that Joe Bananas is. I'm not accusing the Wan Chai bar of having an apartheid policy, because they do let people of various colours in.
But there seems to be some sort of insensitive quota system at work there, judging by occasional reports I receive of curious incidents.
Recently, three young men approached the door. The doorman eyed them up and announced that one could come in, because he was European, but the other two could not, because they were Indian.
The doorman was wrong on all counts. The man he identified as European was an Asian-born Eurasian, who just happened to look all European in that light. The two young people he identified as Indian were in fact Hong Kong born and bred, although they happened to have dark skin, because their parents had been Indians.
The young men appealed to the doorman's sense of fair play, urging him not to judge them purely on their skin tones. The doorman, who, incidentally, was black, said he was just following orders from the management. I wonder if it would be simpler if the club just handed to doormen the Pantone colour books one finds in art departments? 'From 9pm, we'll take people of colour 1345c, 1355c, 155c or 156c, but no more of colour 160c or over.' The doorman told the two 'Indians' that they would be allowed in if each was accompanied by a white woman. How interesting. I know Joe Bananas has in the past offered smart T-shirts to punters who turn up under-dressed. If I turn up at the door tonight, maybe they will offer me a spare gweipor? TONY Bennett on RTHK Radio Three at 7.15pm on Sunday night: 'Tonight I'm going to be singing the finest American songs from the United States.' IN the summer last year, Charlotte Woolley moved into the house in Severn Road, the Peak, formerly occupied by Mr Justice Macdougall, former vice-president of the Court of Appeal. She said: 'I therefore felt it somewhat demeaning to receive in the Christmas mail a festive magazine from the Mandarin Oriental hotel addressed to him simply as, 'Just Neil MacDougall'.' WOULD people in Hong Kong clogging up e-mail systems with chain letters complaining about French nuclear testing kindly stop. Chain letters are a type of computer virus and are potentially dangerous. The Sydney Morning Herald held a competition last week and one of the questions was to name the 'seven-year-old cancer victim' who has been trying for years to stop a chain letter urging people to send him cards. Yes, Craig Shergold lives.
INCIDENTALLY, the distributor of Kickers shoes in Hong Kong has just started an expensive advertising campaign emphasising that the shoes are French. Brilliant.