ONE of my junior colleagues was bemoaning the difficulty of getting straight answers out of people at Hong Kong press conferences these days. 'They've all had media training from public relations consultants, and they dodge all the sensitive questions,' he lamented.
This is a tough problem, but it is not insurmountable, this wizened old hack advised him.
You see, it doesn't matter what an interviewee says. It's how they say it that is revealing. Are they defensive, open, aggressive, scared, happy, sad, or all of the above? Is the answer sharp or stupid? Do they cross their fingers behind their backs when replying? The simplest way to demonstrate this principle is to ask the same question to a large number of the people who regularly appear in the pages of this newspaper.
Now why exactly did that chicken cross the road? Albert Chan Wai-yip: Because it had a Canadian passport but forgot until it was too late, because we are all human, including chickens.
Yaqub Khan: Because of racist evil sinners colonial scum.
Tung Chee-hwa: I am perfectly willing to answer that question, but let me answer it in this way. We should all be proud to be Chinese. Especially those of us who are Chinese, but to an equal extent, those lesser persons who are not.