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IT IS often said that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac, but rarely has that sentiment been so openly expressed in Hong Kong as by legislator Christine Loh Kung-wai recently.
She was among several notables interviewed by Britain's Sunday Times newspaper for a profile of the Governor, Chris Patten.
''You could never remember what previous governors said. With Patten you can. He has said lots of clever things which have amused and encouraged us. He has added some sex to the job,'' Miss Loh informed the newspaper's magazine.
Clearly she has intimate relationships on the brain these days - perhaps because of her blossoming friendship with Metro Plus political reporter Francis Moriarty over the past year.
Last Sunday afternoon the pair were spotted ambling down Wong Nai Chung Road from Causeway Bay, gazing fondly into each other's eyes.
Reports of their association have already been printed in one Chinese newspaper with Miss Loh's fellow legislative councillors gleefully translating the item into English for her since she does not read Chinese. GUITARIST Carlos Santana's fascination with the late martial arts superstar Bruce Lee has an eerie history.
During his concert at the Coliseum last week, Santana dedicated his song Somewhere In Heaven to Lee.
Wallowing in nostalgia, Intercontinental Films managing director Rigo Jesu recalled how he was working for Capital Artists when it brought out Santana for two concerts at the Lee Theatre in July 1973. The concerts were held despite the fact that a typhoon signal number nine was flying at the time.
Santana stayed on in the territory for a few days, celebrating his 26th birthday here on July 20 - the day Bruce Lee died. Incidentally, concert promoter Anders Nelsson was another who attended the first of Santana's Lee Theatre concerts 21 years ago, although he panned the gig in a newspaper review the following day. THE chic French boutique chain Rochas opened its first outlet in Hong Kong last week, which is also the first shop it has opened in Asia.
Yet for those who assumed the move was just the first step in a long association for Rochas with Hong Kong, the choice of location - the Hilton Hotel - would come as a surprise.
Since Li Ka-shing purchased the hotel's management contract from Hilton International earlier this year, most observers believe the venerable - in Hong Kong terms at least - building will be a pile of rubble by this time next year.
Rochas remains unfazed by it all, reasoning that if things go well it will be able to find another Central site easily enough.
And while the rent was negotiated before Li struck his deal, the company was wily enough to obtain a hefty discount after the news broke.
LAST week's item reporting that La Bodega had been sold to the management of Wyndham Street Thai prompted some spirited reactions. It turned out that it hadn't been sold - but certainly not for want of trying.
First to get in touch was an angry Gerry McElney, a director of La Bodega who wrote there was ''no truth in the article written and it could well be damaging to our business as well as our colleagues at the Wyndham Street Thai''.
A call followed shortly afterwards from ''an informed source'' who said Wyndham Street Thai and the 1997 Group had both vied to buy La Bodega.
The Wyndham Street Thai's offer was apparently more attractive and the 1997 Group dropped out. Yet for reasons unknown the deal never went through.
McElney's fax, breathlessly written without a single comma, hints at the topsy-turvy negotiations.
''For your information like most businessmen we are willing to sell at the right price and in this respect on occasions drift in and out of negotiations normally with people who like the idea of owning a restaurant but don't have the money when it comes down to paying.
''We believe this to be quite normal in Hong Kong and actually a complete waste of our time.''