In Midst of Pandemic Carrie Lam Gets Pay Rise

Carrie Lam will be one of the highest paid leaders in the world... for what?

Over the past three years, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has demonstrated lacklustre leadership, particularly last year during the anti-government protests in which she hid behind the police to do her bidding, and now during the coronavirus, it is the community rather than her governance that has kept the numbers of positive cases relatively low.

So why does Lam deserve a pay raise of HK$120,000 for a salary of HK$5.2 million (US$670,671) a year?

She is one of the highest paid leaders in the world, more than US President Donald Trump (US$400,000 donated to charity), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (around US$265,000), and UK PM Boris Johnson (US$96,800).

Last summer protesters demanded Lam step down

Lam's pay raise was revealed when the Civic Party's Tanya Chan Suk-chong asked about it as the Legislative Council prepares to vet this year's budget.

Considering Hong Kong's economy continues to be in free fall because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Eunice Yung Hoi-yan of the New People's Party asked if the chief executive could take a pay cut to show solidarity with Hongkongers, as tens of thousands of them have lost their jobs or had pay cuts.

The response? The government replied Lam and her ministers will make "timely responses" should the situation deteriorate.

Isn't the situation deteriorating already?

Granted on February 28, Lam, her cabinet and other top officials donated one month of their salaries which was around HK$10 million to charities under the Community Chest.

Lam and senior officials donated their salaries to charity

But a month later she gets a pay rise?

How bad are the optics on that? And what has she done for Hong Kong to deserve that?

Even pro-establishment lawmakers must be shaking their heads at this tone deaf move. If she can earn more money, why do us citizens have to wait until at least July to get our HK$10,000 handout?

Perhaps she can single-handedly stimulate the local economy with her higher salary? 

Brexit Fallout Continues

Strange times in Britain these days with Brexit a hard reality to get used to

Friends and colleagues are still processing their shock and disappointment over Brexit that left us all floored on Friday morning Hong Kong time.

One colleague who is British, and has lived in Hong Kong for over 20 years, and her son was born here, is devastated that her son's job opportunities have virtually evaporated.

"Before he had 28 countries [in the European Union] to be able to work in, and now it's only one!" she exclaimed. She is angry that her older relatives voted Brexit, who wanted to keep Britain the way they remembered it from before than realize the world has since globalized at such a fast rate that no country can survive by isolating itself.

However not all of the Brexit voters were old -- even her younger friend who is an expat in Hong Kong preferred to leave the EU so that Britain could retain its "Britishness", whatever that means.

Jeremy Corbyn put himself in an awkward position politically

Another colleague is very curious about the geo-political fall out, with Prime Minister David Cameron betting his job on the line to remain, and has no choice but to resign.

It seems the referendum was an emotional issue and the remain side didn't do enough to reassure people that there wouldn't be immigrants flooding in, that even though Britain sends 350 million pounds a week to the EU, it got back much more in terms of subsidies and other benefits. It also didn't try to tell the skeptics that the Brexit campaign was wrong in saying that big chunk of money would go to health care.

Then there's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn who was in a bizarre position. Labour is all for remaining in the EU, yet he himself is a Euro-skeptic, and so he was very low-key about campaigning to remain. He sacked one person who questioned his leadership, which led to many of his shadow cabinet members resigning.

And then there's Boris Johnson. He didn't really want Brexit... did he? He jumped on a cause to get on the political stage again, and he did it, but now he's quiet. No one wants to take on the challenge of putting Brexit in to motion now.

Will Boris Johnson continue his path to become PM?

Oh and Scotland is hinting it wants out of the UK...

Meanwhile the EU is outraged this is what the Brits really think of the union, and would rather kick Britain out sooner rather than later. The remain side is naive to think the EU will still continue to do business with them like before, though things might be cheaper now that the pound has fallen.

However the reality is that all those countries need Britain, and Britain needs the access to such a huge market to keep its economy going. Or maybe it doesn't need Britain?

The news hit Hong Kong hard of course, as the city was formerly a British colony, and many have business interests, children studying there, and so on.

Amusingly Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying stated that Hong Kong was prepared to deal with the outcome, but Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah and Hong Kong Monetary Authority Norman Chan Tak-lam both admitted they were caught off guard.

It's a real mess and it's going to take a long time for it to be sorted out. But it's a new reality everyone has to get used to. Everyone.

Hotel in the Clouds

Looking up at The Shard which houses the Shangri-La London

The last documentary I watched on the way back to Hong Kong from Paris was The Shard -- Hotel in the Clouds, which followed the opening of the Shangri-La London in February 2014.

While the building itself looks totally amazing -- and it reminds me to visit London sometime soon! -- the documentary focuses more on how the hotel hires the staff, trains them and how they fare in the first few weeks after opening.

Construction was delayed for about a year, and when things were finally moving ahead, the management decided to up the ante and set an opening date so that there was a definite deadline.

Looking at the view of London from the tallest hotel in Europe

The Shard is not located in the city centre, making it a bit of a trek for guests to stay in, but the floor-to-ceiling views seem to be well worth it, as the hotel floors are from 34 to 52. There are stunning views of Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament and Tate Modern.

Apparently the Shangri-La's policy is to hire local staff, and for many of them who come in for interviews have never stepped inside a five-star hotel, let alone worked in one. There are two men who have been friends for a long time and apply to be bellboys. They are gobsmacked by the place.

It's funny watching them hold plans of the building and see how many elevators they have to go to because the building gets narrower and narrower towards the top.

There's also a server called Angela who previously worked in pubs but is now being trained to be one of the wait staff in the fine dining restaurant. She thinks she isn't cut out for it, but her attitude -- that she loves serving people and it makes her happy to do so -- is the reason why she was hired.

The wine sommelier explains that logistically wine needs to be constantly moved from the basement of the building to the top otherwise it's embarrassing for guests to have to wait so long for their favourite bottle to arrive, similarly clean glasses need to be constantly ready.

Luxurious rooms at the five-star hotel

Staff get a quick lesson in Chinese hospitality -- how to hold chopsticks, and that Asian guests may slurp their soup, which is not a sign of rudeness like it is in Western culture, but that of satisfaction. The staff are also taught a few words in Mandarin, like the name of the hotel. But are they really going to remember that?

A 19-year-old straight from culinary school who was the top student, gets a job in the restaurant as the lowliest member of the kitchen staff. He has to pick out all the leaves for decoration, but he learns fast  and soon moves on to sauces.

Just before the hotel opens, they have a trial run with some staff acting as guests in the hotel. The two bellboys get to stay in the hotel and are chuffed at being treated like VIPs.

But when it comes to dinner, they waited a very long time for their dishes to arrive, though they weren't complaining with the free drinks they got in return for their patience.

The next day the general manager holds an emergency meeting and criticizes his managers for the poor performance overall -- it's very interesting that the Hong Kong-based hotel group allowed this scene to be shot, but it is a crucial part of the story.

Finally the hotel opens to much fanfare, with Mayor Boris Johnson giving a speech and looking puzzled as the lion dance seems to go on forever. The actual banquet that day seems to go off without much of a hitch and then the guests start checking in.

Soon after the opening, the communications team has to deal with the fact there are design flaws in the hotel -- some guests can look directly into the bathroom of adjacent ones, and so blinds have to be quickly installed. They also try to spin it, saying the English aren't prudes either...

It's because of this major design fault that members of Luxury Travel Intelligence voted the Shangri-La London as the worst hotel opening in 2014.

Nevertheless, other guests seem not only impressed by the amenities, but service too, with one wealthy couple so charmed by Angela's service that they are willing to pay for her to stay one night so that she realizes she deserves to be working in the five-star hotel.

The young culinary graduate invites his parents to lunch and he gets to plate their dishes. It's obvious they are beaming with pride and tell him so, which is touching. One would probably not get the same reaction from parents in Hong Kong...

At the end, a Frenchman enters the hotel room and is in awe of the view. Then he looks over to his right and observes with amusement he can look into the next door's bathroom...