Beautify our great city, Ms Lam, and prove Ignatius J Reilly wrong

^{Nan Lian Garden in Kowloon, a lovely sight from the 681 bus: Beautify Hong Kong, Ms Lam. It just takes imagination and money. We know you’ve got the latter.}

Chief Executive Carrie laments our record unemployment total, 7.2 per cent, and wonders what to do about it. Here’s a suggestion, Ms Lam. Take a look at your fiscal reserves standing at last count (July 2020) at HK$1.051 trillion. That is $1,051,000,000,000. And spend a chunk on hiring people to spruce up our city, starting with your own government buildings.

All government buildings with the likely exceptions of Government House and what Ted Thomas called The Palace of the Vanities on the Tamar waterfront are in a deplorable state of neglect and dilapidation. Take our neighbourhood health facilities, Mona Fong Clinic and Tseung Kwan O Hospital. The doctors and nurses give splendid service but they look depressed, as if nobody cares about them. It has got a lot to do with their crummy environment. Look at the peeling paint, battered walls, dirty windows and broken furniture. If contractors fixed up and repainted their premises so they appeared attractive, you would see staff spirits lifted, smiles on their faces and pride in their bearing. That is the way it should be in our great city.

^{The Mona Fong Clinic, Sai Kung}

The neglect is evident virtually everywhere in government buildings. If you get invited into the Sai Kung police station, in our case for an interview we hasten to add, you find behind the scenes the building is in a sad state. It looks like unwilling guests have kicked holes in the walls. The rooms are painted in dull blues and greys and the paint is chipped or peeling. Some of the offices need a junk clear-out. “We Serve With Pride”, but the officers do not get the quality of premises they deserve. (And don’t get us started on their security guard-like jackets.)

Then there’s the library, post office and all those government offices. All in a sad state with staff looking under-appreciated going about their duties zombie-like. The laughing postman is the exception that proves the rule.

The same idea can be extrapolated for the benefit of all public facilities, parks and gardens in Hong Kong, Ms Lam. Take some of that $1,051,000,000,000, spruce up and beautify Hong Kong. And create thousands of jobs in the process and make a huge dent in your much lamented unemployment total.

Ignatius J Reilly said, “You can always tell employees of the government by the total vacancy which occupies the space where other people have faces.” Prove Ignatius wrong, Ms Lam.