'Taipan' chomps at the broadcasting bit
Prominent former talk-show host 'Taipan' Albert Cheng King-hon has said he will consider returning to the air when his 24-hour AM Cantonese-language channel starts broadcasting next year. But it seems he just cannot wait that long. Political Animal has learned he will host an ATV Home programme featuring interviews with new faces in Hong Kong politics. The series is scheduled for next month and his term in the Legislative Council ends in about a fortnight. Starring with Mr Cheng will be prominent newly elected legislators and, perhaps more interestingly, the eight undersecretaries at the centre of a storm of criticism when they were appointed.
A dive into democratic waters
The Civic Party took much stick from the League of Social Democrats during the election for taking part in 'small-circle' functional constituency polls instead of staying true to democratic principles and shunning them. Now party member Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung, who failed in his effort to cross the divide from the welfare functional seat to a directly elected seat in New Territories West, has hit back, and swum for the moral high ground at the same time.
In an article published in Chinese-language Ming Pao yesterday Mr Cheung said the party had taken the dive into the 'stinking river' of the trade-based seats because: 'If we must cross the river [to reach universal suffrage] we have no choice but to jump into it.'
Then, kicking some of the dirty water in the face of his critics, he observed: 'Those who refuse to do so to avoid getting dirty are indeed immoral'.
