Remembrance Day 2019 – Lest We Forget

Remembrance Day

We wear a poppy
On Remembrance Day,
And at eleven
We stand and pray.
Wreaths are put
Upon a grave.
As we remember
Our soldiers brave.

The Poppy Appeal in Hong Kong

Poppies can be obtained at the following locations:

From Tuesday 29th October 2019:  Temporary Poppy Depot at Room 3505, The Landmark Edinburgh Tower, Landmark Atrium, 15 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong (Tel : 2713 3315).
Opening hours: Mondays-Fridays 9am-5pm

Friday 8th and Saturday 9th November 2019:
Charity Booth in Pacific Place (at the end of Skybridge Level L2) from 10am to 6pm

Saturday 9th November 2019 – Poppy Day.
The streets of Hong Kong Island from 9am – 12:15pm.

For the Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

 – Laurence Binyon (2014)

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

– John McCrae

James Suckling Great Wines of the World @ Grand Hyatt – 31 October, 2019

Over a thousand wine lovers descended on the Grand Hyatt for the James Suckling Great Wines of the World tasting event on the 31 October.

Click here or on any image for the full gallery of images

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/James-Suckling-Great-Wines-of-the-World-Grand-Hyatt-2019/i-Dr5t36b

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/James-Suckling-Great-Wines-of-the-World-Grand-Hyatt-2019/i-68vdb3S

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/James-Suckling-Great-Wines-of-the-World-Grand-Hyatt-2019/i-8Q7rwrk

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/James-Suckling-Great-Wines-of-the-World-Grand-Hyatt-2019/i-fqgXMSH

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/James-Suckling-Great-Wines-of-the-World-Grand-Hyatt-2019/i-zMnf3rZ

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/James-Suckling-Great-Wines-of-the-World-Grand-Hyatt-2019/i-bP9XWZx

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/James-Suckling-Great-Wines-of-the-World-Grand-Hyatt-2019/i-Gp6pLBk

Five Demands, Not One Less! November Protest Schedule

bc magazine does not support or condone violent protest!

This schedule is provided for reference and guidance only, as things change on a daily/hourly basis.

Stay Safe!

Image: unknown

Elaine Chow: 14 March, 1986 – 27 October, 2005

In loving memory of Elaine Chow who committed suicide by stepping off a building in the early hours of the 27 October 2005. Gone but never forgotten!

Elaine was a wonderful, vibrant and happy woman, who brought joy to everyone she met. Her smile would brighten the sunniest and dreariest of days.

The pain of her death never seems to fade, but nor do the memories of her smile and the joy she infused to all around her. RIP Elaine.

Elaine ChowAlmost 3 people a day, on average, commit suicide in Hong Kong, it’s the unseen killer, if you know someone who’s talking (even jokingly) of it get them help/talk to them.

If you’re thinking of suicide, please please talk to someone first.
Samaritans Hong Kong: 2896-0000 www.samaritans.org.hk

Lam Pours Fuel on the Fire

The Hong Kong government’s bypassing of Legco to unilaterally introduce a ‘mask law’ is an insult to all HongKongers and a violation of our rights under both the Basic Law and Hong Kong law.

Carrie Lam has ignored millions of HongKongers marching peacefully, she has ignored the input of the people invited to attend the community discussions that she instigated.

Instead of listening to the people she claimed to represent when elected, and looking to attempt to defuse the volatile situation she created with the Extradition Law, Lam has instead trampled over the rights and freedoms of all HongKongers.

There was no violence or masks at the original protests against the  extradition law. 

The violence was instigated and initiated by the HK Police who actively and deliberately choose to use excessive force to disperse peaceful protestors and who allowed triads to attack the public.

Masks arrived because of the police’s excessive, indiscriminate and illegal use of tear gas and pepper spray. 

The ‘mask law’ does not affect those Lam labels as ‘violent’ protestors, the penalties for ‘unlawful assembly’ far exceed those of the ‘mask law’. 

The newly instigated law looks to intimidate and shutdown the peaceful protestors who are freely expressing their opinions as enshrined in the Basic Law and allowed under HK Law.

It also appears to be worded to suppress and interfere with the Freedom of the Press and the media’s ability to cover the protests and the excessive violence of the HK Police against protestors and members of the public. It is after all hard to film and report when you have a faceful of tear gas and/or pepper spray.

The protestors violence directly stems from the police’s own actions.

The damage to the MTR stems from it’s own injunction turning passengers into criminals and from picking sides rather than remaining neutral and simply moving people around.

The only way ‘healing’ and peace can come is from the government and the new ‘mask law’ shows Lam has no interest in resolving the violent situation she created. Beijing only understands force, subjugation and repression of freedoms.

Lam will go down in history as woman who destroyed Hong Kong, we can only hope that the blood on her hands gives her nightmares for the eternity.

HongKongers are NOT objects!

Was this the first time the HK Police inadvertently spoke the truth?
That Carrie Lam and her Beijing buddies just see HongKongers as objects to be beaten, kicked and jailed if they stand in the path of Xi and his sycophants using Hong Kong to get evermore personally wealthy.
 
Xi, we understand you hate Hong Kong. All your citizens flock here to buy safe foods, get proper treatment in hospitals and to put their money in banks where you can’t just steal it from them on a whim.
 
And then the real truth hits them, that China is a massive prison with the CCP as jailers and thugs controlling and manipulating lives through violence.
 
You thought to break us with your batons, instead, you united us, made us stronger, resilient. By nature, HongKongers are not violent (and bc doesn’t support or condone violence), so you might win a battle or two, but this is now a ‘war’ you can never ‘win’!
 
Why because you can never win our hearts and minds, Xi you have shown HongKongers and the world what life in China today is like… Do as we say or get dragged off and beaten.

HongKongers are NOT objects!
We are free to think and act, argue and love.
Glory to Hong Hong!

bc magazine 22 Today – Happy Birthday!

bc magazine issue 1 cover

1 September 2016 marks the 22nd Anniversary of the launch of bc magazine – what an amazing experience it has been – highs, lows, depths of despair, top of the world… Massive thanks are owed to far too many people for me to list individual contributors for fear of missing out someone – but without the massive contributions of Tom Hallahan and Mark Fitzsimons, bc might never have been born or made it to your hands.

A big thank to all the advertisers over the years who have made bc possible.

And a big thank you to you the readers – it’s a really rather wonderful emotion to watch people turn the pages and read and enjoy a magazine you’ve been a part of creating… Thank you!