National Day Patriotic Spending

Lots of patriotic red at the Convention Centre this morning

Now Hongkongers know how Beijing residents feel when National Day comes on October 1.

Roads and walkways near the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre were roped off, apparently some 8,000 police officers were out on the streets, and while pro-Beijing events that had gatherings of more than four people (wearing red masks of course) went ahead, others were given tickets by the authorities for contravening social-distancing measures.

Yesterday people could not go near the HKCEC

Luckily Hong Kong residents had a distraction from the patriotic festivities -- the second batch of the consumption voucher scheme was released today, and many took advantage of either HK$2,000 if they used Octopus cards (and HK$1,000 in December), or HK$3,000 for three other designated apps to go shopping.

One 50-year-old man shelled out HK$134,000 for a gold bridal necklace at Chow Tai Fook.

"Since I planned to buy a gold necklace as a future wedding gift for my one-year-old daughter, I decided to buy it today, as it just so happened that the second round of the e-voucher scheme was kicking off," he said. "When she is 18, I will present this gift to her."

Hope she likes it, 17 years from now...

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po thinks the local economy is improving significantly because of the e-voucher scheme.

People went mad shopping instead in the malls

"From what I've observed, the market sentiment is really good. Many people told me that as the economy is getting better, they are willing to spend more," he said.

However, he said what was a priority was to keep the pandemic under control and reopen the border with the mainland.

Ah yes, that.

Hong Kong has gone 44 days without a local infection, but apparently that is still not good enough for China.

A few days ago Chinese authorities hinted Hong Kong needed to further step up its testing of inbound travelers and quarantine. But perhaps there are expectations for Hong Kong to implement the use of the mainland's health apps it developed during the pandemic?

But in the meantime our government officials are getting a kick in the arse by lawmakers and social workers for not visiting grassroots residents regularly in a bid to understand their needs and try to solve their livelihood issues.

Ip says officials need to meet locals regularly

That put senior government officials on the defensive, however, it wasn't enough for Executive Council member and former secretary for security Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee.

"The cabinet as a whole has yet to form a habit to stay close with the people regularly. The government needs to respond to public demands speedily, but [Carrie] Lam has mainly been visiting public facilities and universities, and hasn't stepped out of her comfort zone yet. Even though Lam hosted a town hall meeting in August, it was held on the seventh floor of the Xiqu Centre."

Ouch.

Lam and co. still have a lot of work to do to please everyone...