Missing mum: My dad was a British Royal Air Force squadron leader and I was born in an RAF camp in Newark, Nottingham, in 1958. My youngster sister, Anne, was born a year later. When she was just a couple of months old, our mother died of septicaemia. My dad was heartbroken. He said two things…
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I miss travelling. It has been 13 weeks and three days since my last trip and I’m in withdrawal. I don’t miss hanging around the airport or negotiating elbow space in Economy, but I do miss the thrill of discovering somewhere new. And I know I’m not alone. The sense of adventure that comes with…
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When Jimmy’s Kitchen closes its doors at the end of this month many will mourn the loss of one of Hong Kong’s oldest and most stories. Indeed, the 92-year-old Central eatery was set to close in April but was given a month’s reprieve following a surge of interest from patrons who wanted to dine at…
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They man the merchant ships that keep global trade flowing, but coronavirus restrictions mean thousands of seafarers are unable to return home. After months at sea, stress, fatigue and time away from loved ones is taking its toll. When Captain Bejoy Kannan boarded the oil tanker China Dawn on December 1, 2019, he expected the…
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How Contagion Works by Paolo Giordano Weidenfeld & Nicolson 5/5 stars The coronavirus pandemic has left many of us reeling, struggling to adjust to a “new normal” of school closures, working from home and travel restrictions. Looking beyond the personal impact to the seismic implications for the world as a whole is daunting, but the…
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Sitting on a beach over the Christmas holiday, Matt Friedman excitedly discussed the upcoming launch of his latest book with his wife, Sylvia Yu. Little did they know that the coronavirus, about to quickly spread around the world, would railroad their plans.Bad timing? Not at all. The physical launch may have shifted to an online…
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At the quiet end of Gough Street, in Hong Kong’s Central district, stands a pocket-sized shop easily overlooked. A wooden bench outside tempts passers-by to pause, and if you peek through the picture window, you’ll likely catch a glimpse of two chocolatiers perfecting their craft. Hakawa Chocolate is one of just five bean-to-bar makers in Hong…
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Gilly Strauss has been in the diamond business for more than 20 years. He was a founding member of luxury brand Hearts on Fire, which was acquired by Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook in 2014, and is now CEO of high-end jewellers Forms Jewellery. When we meet last week, he’s closing a tense deal. “The…
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Paul Zimmerman had planned to spend his Easter holiday kicking back at the Blues Festival in Australia’s Byron Bay, but – like many people – his plans were squashed by the coronavirus. Grounded in Hong Kong, he decided it was the perfect time to take up a challenge that has long been on his bucket…
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Hotlines around the world have seen a surge in the number of domestic abuse calls as countries have gone into lockdown to prevent coronavirus spread, and Hong Kong is no different. Harmony House, Hong Kong’s first shelter for abused women, saw a 25 per cent increase in calls to its hotline between January and March.“The…
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As the coronavirus spreads around the world, sending billions of people into lockdown, communities have reacted by panic buying, stripping supermarket shelves of essential goods. That has not happened in the Republic of the Congo. When people in the central African country were ordered to enter a 30-day lockdown this week, most did not have…
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More than half the Hong Kong workforce is made up of women, but they are not well represented at senior levels The corporate world looks nothing like it did 50 years ago – it’s faster, super hi-tech and, critically, there are women in the workplace in numbers that couldn’t have been imagined half a century…
Nigel Collett’s book answers the big questions surrounding the scandal of John MacLennan’s death in 1980, fleshing out the cast of characters and sharing anecdotes and information not covered in previous texts
In November last year, Chinese scientist He Jiankui announced the birth of the world’s first gene-edited babies, unleashing a storm of criticism When Chinese scientist He Jiankui walked onto the stage at the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in November last year to defend his creation of the world’s first gene-edited babies, he…
A city impossible not to fall in love with
Though the “Lady” was the main attraction, the Irrawaddy Literary Festival managed to focus the spotlight on Myanmar’s changing book landscape
HONG KONG — The global textile and apparel industry is undergoing rapid changes.