Wow what an amazing Olympic Games, Beijing, and Hong Kong, produced a grandiose spectacle that will probably never be matched until the games return to China at some point in the future. Immense and stunning as it was, there was one area where the performance of Hong Kong was less than impressive and that – with no disrespect to athletes who competed – was in the sporting events themselves. Countries with much smaller populations and far less resources than Hong Kong were bringing home medals on a daily basis. Great Britain and Australia have shown over the last few years that the application of a healthy dose of cash to sport and the provision of full time coaches, trainers and quality facilities does give athletes with potential the chance to shine. It’s not instantaneous but if the will and the drive are there results will be seen – the HK Rugby Union has shown that it’s possible.

As bc enters its fifteenth year, it still frustrates me to find our leaders with their heads in the sand as countries and cities around the region overtake my home with better arts facilities – Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and now Macau. It’s not just that they are building them, it’s that they have a vision about what a city needs to survive and provide a higher quality of life for its residents. Without wanting to recover old ground, only in Hong Kong are some of the world’s finest waterfront properties being used for politicians’ offices… The Legco elections take place on September 7 and there seems zero prospect of any significant change. The names may be different but it’ll still be more of the same. When will our ‘leaders’ realise there’s more to life than money and concrete boxes and start proactively looking at enhancing the quality of life in the SAR. Last year Hong Kong ran a budget surplus of HK$123 billion and on 31 March 2008 Hong Kong had fiscal reserves of US$492 billion – that’s roughly three trillion eight hundred thirty-seven billion six hundred million Hong Kong dollars in the SAR’s savings account. Surely Donald you could spend a little of that to develop sports and the arts. Imagine Donald, ticker tape parades through Central and along Nathan Road with you standing next to a Hong Kong medalist/world champion, rather than a Mainland one. Inviting them to dine at a restaurant overlooking the world’s greatest harbour before attending a concert at a world class auditorium right next door…

After fifteen years, I love my adopted home of Hong Kong – but it frustrates me as well with its missed opportunities. I was really hoping to be able to have a Hong Kong medalist from Beijing on our fourteenth anniversary cover. Hopefully we will be able to on our 18th. Thank you to our advertisers for all your support. Thank you to all the staff and friends who have contributed – and thank you to all our readers, I hope you have enjoyed reading bc as much as we have enjoyed writing it. Carpe Diem.

sd