2007-12-01

Hong Kong: The 21st Best Place in the World to Live

The top performers in U.N. Development Program's Human Development Index annual ranking are often referred to as the best places in the world in which to live. We should all be heading to Iceland, according to the latest edition. Hong Kong comes in at 21, up one spot from its ranking last year. Check out this summary page that reviews how Hong Kong performed in some key categories, including life expectancy at birth, which is a staggering 81.9 years, only second behind Japan's (82.3 years). As with any list, we should approach the information with a critical eye and not just take everything as gospel truth.

Reading in Hong Kong

Check out this report on an international reading literacy study conducted by Boston College, in which Hong Kong children performed well - second behind their Russian counterparts. In an article in the South China Morning Post, the gains borne out by the survey results are said to be due to the government's education reforms. (Please note that access to the SCMP's website is controlled.)

Here is a link to the website for the Boston College study.

2007-11-27

Assessing Hong Kong's Pollution Problem

This article from the International Herald Tribune highlights the challenge of properly assessing the sources of pollution in Hong Kong. It also shows the power of civil society to provoke business to act or respond, particularly now that the environment is such a hot-button issue.

Post Script (7 December): Check out this story on CLP that appeared in the IHT.

2007-11-26

Lecture on Wednesday, 28 November

This is to remind you that we have a lecture on Wednesday, 28 November, with our final guest speaker, Mr Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, Chairman of Next Media and founder of Giordano and Apple Daily. Please come on time as I will have to start promptly at 9.30 am so I can present a 20-minute wrap-up of the course. At 9.50 am, staff from the Politics and Public Administration Department will have you fill out a formal course evaluation. We will start the session with Mr Lai at about 10.10 am.

There will be an optional lecture and review session on Friday, 7 December, from 2 pm to 4 pm in Theatre 5, Meng Wah Complex.