Atomic Fish

A quick update from this week's guest publication : the indispensible fishupdate.com (seriously this website exists - try it if you don't believe me).

Apparently the mainland Chinese authorities have banned the export of fish to Hong Kong after some were found to contain malachite green (a suspected carceogenic chemical)...

A worthy gesture to be sure. However, let's not forget that Hong Kong is just upriver from Guangdong province, China - home of the Daya Bay nuclear power plant (remember the perennial Irish bitching about pollution from Windscale, er sorry I mean Sellafield) and God knows what in terms of heavy industry...visitors to Lau Fau Shan, a village in HK's New Territories (so called becuase they were acquired after the rest of Hong Kong - in 1898 on a 99 year lease - a deal that was ultimately to spell the end of Hong Kong as a British colony) can look up and see the appetising smog of Guangdong and Shenzen before tucking into their shellfish.

You have to wonder whether the ban doesn't slightly miss the point.

Incidentally if you want to see the Chinese approach to pollution regulation firsthand, catch a boat trip from Shanghai up to the mouth of the Yangtze - and pack a gas-mask....