If you don’t understand why so many Hongkongers are not satisfied by a handful of arrests and do not feel like justice has been done or that the system is working — read this.

Gift link 🎁 🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/w...

Liverpool at Christmas! 1. Soz about the wheelie bins. The pork scratching (hot!) were really, really good. Liverpool Christmas Market had a lot more character than Manchester. 2. Best seat in the house 3. From the Turner exhibition at the Walker Gallery. Guess the city!

1. UK Capital of Culture Bradford 2. David Hockney gallery at Saltaire 3. Hockney X 2 4. On to festive Manchester

Blackpool

Today’s gift link, very good analysis Deadly Hong Kong Fire Is a Test of Beijing’s Rule in the City www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/w...

Officials Had Been Warned for Over a Year Before Hong Kong Fire www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/w... Gift link 🔗

Breaking News: Fire spread through several apartment towers in Hong Kong, killing at least four people, a city spokesperson said.

Huge Fire Engulfs Apartment Buildings in Hong Kong www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/w... 🎁 🔗

Movie news 🍿 deadline.com/2025/11/soph...

Sunset, from earlier this week

Guten Morgen, Berlin! Guten Morgen, Herr Gorilla?

Gift link www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/w...

There are worse views to wake up to … I see the tower. Do I win 50p?

‘I’m just a tourist!’ Visiting Cleveleys, aka Planet Niamor in Andor! Now in the local ‘spoons, which is giving off more Mos Eiseley vibes

Now remembering why I left this country #itsseptember #explicitynotchristmas #stopit

🎁 🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/08/23/w...

Is sharing articles about ‘soft resistance’ considered to be ‘soft resistance’ 🤔 www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/w...

Saturday silhouettes

Low cloud with a bit of a purple tinge this evening

In the wake of China’s massive #maskpark scandal, in which sexually exploitative images of Chinese women were found to be shared in Telegram groups with hundreds of thousands of users, I wrote a story @theguardian.com about how the current system leaves women vulnerable to digital violence and abuse

<holds up magnifying glass> waitaminute...

Torrential Rain Batters Hong Kong, Flooding the Waterlogged City www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/w... Gift link 🎁

Back at Kai Tak …

First look at the stadium, and the thousands of Liverpool shirts. Can you see it?

Clouds are a bit low today

Very bad picture of the aircraft carrier Shandong, and a better one of the clouds over Lantau

New Tseung Kwan O South Park is now semi-open. No sign that they told anyone, but plenty of people found their way here anyway.

New York Times profile of David Webb… 🎁 🔗 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/w...

Clouds got Monday off, too

It was sunny 10 minutes ago …

Tourists after tourists to replace tourists following tourists. Great! (Looking forward to finally seeing inside Kai Tak Stadium tomorrow, though) Gift link www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/w...

Hello Observatory? I’d like to order exactly this weather for the rest of the summer. Yes, until mid-October, if you wouldn’t mind? Thanks.

Last day in Saigon: 1. Chinook helicopter 2. Big guns and tanks (Vietnamese person provided for scale) 3. Big planes (French people provided because they were annoying and wouldn’t get out of the way) 4. Australian protest slogan (I endorse this message) #vietnam #saigon #hochiminhcity🇻🇳

Amazing. Respect the lede.

Saigon evening

Morning wandering in Saigon. More and more buildings that look like everywhere else in Southeast Asia, but still got its own vibe. Notre Dame looking a bit like the other Notre Dame was at this time last year, unfortunately…

Saturday night is vintage Cantonese movie night in Kwun Tong, apparently #hongkong #movies

Summer mode on

Tonight, from the ferry

Massive news on Hong Kong from the UK’s Daily Express! The Apple Store is closing! And it will be a blow to High Street (the one in Sai Ying Pun, presumably) … oh no, the store that’s closing is in Bristol and they just used a random pic …

Awful. //The situation affected nearly 40 people who hold employment-based visas at RFA and came from countries known for harsh crackdowns on press freedom, including China, Vietnam and Cambodia, where journalists are routinely harassed or jailed.//

Evening

Gift link 🎁 www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/w...

HK surfing features in the NY Times today Gift link 🎁 www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/w...

The new way to spend a stormy Saturday afternoon in Hong Kong …

More weird, ground-hugging cloud/fog coming off the harbour The low fog itself isn’t unusual, it’s not normally so localised #hongkong #cloud #weather

POV … you’re exploring Hong Kong’s new East Coast Boardwalk on its second day in operation

RIP David Lynch (HK edition)

Few days in Bangkok to start the year’s travels. Auspicious time for it, apparently.