Ian Perkin, chief economist of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, was on the panel at a Chamber event yesterday - 'Keeping Hong Kong Competitive: 2003 and Beyond'. Moderator Eden Woon, the Chamber's chief executive, asked panelists to describe Hong Kong's most memorable event. Mr Perkin immediately said: 'James Tien [the Chamber's Legco representative]', then more seriously recounted the 48-hour party held during the 1997 handover of sovereignty at the Regent Hotel. 'That was definitely my most memorable event,' Mr Perkin recalled. 'The first 24 hours had an English theme, and the second 24 hours was Chinese. But I can only remember the first 24 hours.' Mr Perkin, whose first job in Hong Kong was business editor of this paper, tells us he is moving back to Australia at the end of the month, specifically to Buderim, a town on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. 'I will be thinking about the future,' he told us when we asked about his immediate plans. 'I think I will spend quite a long while thinking about the future.' Partners in vice: Lai See is fascinated by the government's logic in legalising soccer gambling. The exclusive franchise goes to the Hong Kong Jockey Club - notorious for its repeated failure to select our winning Mark Six numbers. Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping says legalisation is appropriate because soccer gambling is already rampant. If the government did not act, the activity which people obviously liked would continue to grow out of control. Lai See can think of some other activities which fit this description. Perhaps the Hong Kong Jockey Club would like the exclusive franchise to extend its line of business into the netherworlds of Mongkok or Wan Chai where there are undoubtedly plenty of opportunities waiting. Scandalised: Reader Laurence Cook, president (Asia) and chief executive (Hong Kong) for public relations company Gavin Anderson, has sent us an e-mail appeal from Britain which has him wondering: 'Are things that bad in the UK now?' The message, from one Brunce Anthony, bill and exchange director at a big bank, offers him 15 per cent of US$30 million for acting as next of kin of a foreign customer, Stanley Heard. Apparently Mr Heard was former United States president Bill Clinton's personal doctor who unfortunately died with his family in a light plane crash. No next of kin have yet come forward to claim the deposit, and Mr Brunce needs a foreigner to play the part. 'Unfortunately, he has no family member here in the UK or America who are aware of the existence of the money as he was a contract physician to the chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland.' Yes, Mr Cook, things must be bad in Britain if bank officials are turning to e-mail scams to make a dollar! Bubble bath: Here is important news from Germany courtesy of Reuters. Klosterbrauerei, which is German for 'monastic brewery' has developed a special beer for bathing in. The brewery, based in a small town near Leipzig in eastern Germany, says the beer has amazing restorative powers. A beer bath lets healthy yeast and malt soak through the skin, it says. 'Your skin will feel softer everywhere,' company spokesman Dirk Vock told Reuters. A beer bath was also good for people with skin problems, Mr Vock said. Klosterbrauerei recommends three litres of the dark, malty beer per bath. And don't worry about smelling like a Klosterbrauerei when you are finished, all that remains is a delicate aroma of malt. The monastic brewery also sells special drinking beer which promises to give drinkers a feeling of immediate euphoria. In Klosterbrauerei's own words: 'Ein dunkles Bier, sffig und vollmundig, besonders fein malzaromatisch. Das Bier, welches nach uraltem berliefertem Klosterrezept gebraut wird.' See? Graphic: whee28gbz
