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How do I relax? I don’t. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s life has no room for hobbies, only work

  • Confessed workaholic Lam says she is too busy to take a break – or even spend time talking to her husband
  • ‘I devote every minute of my time to work. There is so much work to do in Hong Kong’

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Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks to the Post at the Government House in Central on Sunday. Photo: Sam Tsang

What does Hong Kong’s leader do to de-stress after a hard day’s work? Read books or watch movies?

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The answer is, nothing. It looks like Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor does not take a break.

“I do nothing except work,” she tells the Post. “I don’t even spend time talking to my husband these days. That is [the life of] a workaholic.”

So no hobbies? No pleasant pastime activities and entertainment? Is she pretty much “Carrie Lam the machine”?

“Yes, because I devote every minute of my time to work. There is so much work to do in Hong Kong.”

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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says she gets around sanctions by collecting her salary in cash

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says she gets around sanctions by collecting her salary in cash

Lam’s predecessors were known for their own ways to unwind – Tung Chee-hwa was into Tai Chi, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen liked to feed his goldfish and carp, and Leung Chun-ying enjoyed a bit of gardening – but she seems to share Gordon Gecko’s “lunch is for wimps” attitude in the 1987 movie Wall Street. If she had time to watch movies in the old days.

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