Don't get your hopes up.   Not here.. but in Hong Kong:

Sai Kung had a high of 38.8 deg. C.

But Shek Kong had a high of 41.6 deg. C.   Ouch.

More here

Sir John Cowperthwaite, who died on January 21 aged 90, was Financial Secretary of Hong Kong throughout the 1960s; his extreme laissez-faire economic policies created conditions for very rapid growth, laying the foundations of the colony's prosperity as an international business centre.

The present administration in the UK could learn much from this approach, creating a vibrant and successful economy, the foundations of which survive to this day.

Cowperthwaite was a classical free-trader in the tradition which stretched from Adam Smith to John Stuart Mill and Gladstone, rather than a modern monetarist. He was also a seasoned colonial administrator, with a strong streak of common sense. But his achievement in Hong Kong was hailed by Milton Friedman and other free-market economists as a shining example of the potency of laissez-faire when carried through to its logical conclusions in almost every aspect of government. The Right-wing American commentator PJ O'Rourke called Cowperthwaite "a master of simplicities".

Cowperthwaite himself called his approach "positive non-intervention". Personal taxes were kept at a maximum of 15 per cent; government borrowing was wholly unacceptable; there were no tariffs or subsidies. Red tape was so reduced that a new company could be registered with a one-page form....   more »

A lovely story in the SCMP recently concerned a Vietnamese man who illegally entered Hong Kong carrying ammunition - and who threatened to commit robberies if he failed to find a job. He was jailed for 31 months. Duh!

Hell of a way to get a 'permit to remain'.... but ...   more »

Updated at 12.59pm:
Jacques Chirac is ignorantly hostile to reform; Pervez Musharraf is "not a democrat"; and Dick Cheney's style is to stick up "two fingers" to the outside world. Oh, and Vladimir Putin is a liar.
Former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten has let rip at the world's great ...   more »

A few years ago when the then Financial Secretary, Donald Tsang was presenting his budget, I recall he announced two things that would save Hong Kong’s economy which, at the time, was in dire straits. One was the sale of land at the proposed Cyberport for development not, via the ...   more »

This morning as I write this post , with a slightly fuzzy head, I realise how fortunate we were yesterday. It had been raining all day and cleared late afernoon, holding off almost entirely until about 4.00 am when everyone had gone and it was just Natty, Bennet and me ...   more »

This year our traditional Christmas Drinks party is being replaced by a summer party... to coincide with us leaving HK and moving to the UK. Little to celebrate, you might think... Nevertheless, any excuse for a party...

Invites will be sent in due course, but for those of you in Hong Kong please save the date...

Mulled wine to be replaced with Sangria and - just in case you wondered - Jaspa's are booked to do the catering!