On July l5, 2021, the director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, Xia Baolong, described the qualities required of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's (SAR) leaders.

The phrase "rule-based order" (RBO) is one of the most hackneyed in the West's political lexicon, although "international" is increasingly included these days. It sounds good, can mean different things, and may be easily weaponized. It recalls Humpty Dumpty, who, in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, told Alice that "when I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less".

Many years ago, the Hong Kong Police Force acquired the sobriquet of "Asia's Finest", and it was richly deserved. Ever since, its ability to carry the accolade has been amply demonstrated, most vividly during the insurrection of 2019-20.

On April 8, 2022, an "international legal team" representing the media magnate, Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, filed an "urgent appeal" with the United Nations, in New York. It addressed what was called "the legal harassment against him and his imprisonment in Hong Kong", in violation of his "internationally protected rights to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and the right to peaceful protest".

In most jurisdictions, only a country's own nationals can sit as judges on the top court. This is certainly true of, for example, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom or the United States. In Hong Kong, however, foreign judges are allowed to sit on the Court of Final Appeal (CFA), the court that exercises the power of final adjudication for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

That Lord Robert Reed and Lord Patrick Hodge have resigned from Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal is a great pity and a big loss but not a total surprise.

In the Year of the Tiger, Hong Kong marks the 25th anniversary of its reunification with the motherland. It is also the halfway point in China's "one country, two systems" governing policy, and speculation has been mounting over what will happen once the 50 years are up, in 2047.

When the National Security Law for Hong Kong was enacted in 2020, the United States immediately saw an opening. By striking at Hong Kong, where the "one country, two systems" governing policy had worked so well since 1997, it imagined it could deal a blow to China. If the city's prosperity could be damaged, China's progress might be harmed, a key US foreign policy objective.

In 1962, Dean Acheson, the former US secretary of state, declared that "Great Britain has lost an empire but not yet found a role", and he had a point. Although his words struck home, the United Kingdom chose a disastrous new direction. In 1973, it joined the European Economic Community, precursor of the European Union, foolishly imagining that by linking up with its continental neighbors, its future was assured.

No judge likes sending young people to prison, but it is sometimes unavoidable. If their offenses are grave, they cannot rely on their youth to protect them from the consequences. Even then, the courts will see if alternative sentences are viable.

On Jan 27, 2022, the Hong Kong Police Force issued its report on the crime situation in 2021, and a comparison with 2020 was also made. It contains a wealth of information, much of it comforting, but some also alarming. Transparency of this type is always welcome, not least because it highlights the areas of concern in respect of which the vulnerable, the public and the businesses need to be on their guard.

Every year, at the ceremonial opening of the legal year, the chief justice, the secretary for justice, and the leaders of the legal profession deliver speeches which are sometimes of real consequence, and this year was no exception.

On Jan. 20, Victor Dawes SC replaced Paul Harris SC as the chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association, and his priority must be to restore its credibility. Over the last four years, during which Philip Dykes SC was chairman for three years and Harris for one, the HKBA became highly politicized, and lost its way.

On Jan. 21, the police arrested two more staff members from the Mong Kok care home run by the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children (HKSPC), and charged them with willful assault. They are suspected of having assaulted two children at the home, and their arrests bring the total number of staff under suspicion to 18.

The former South African president Nelson Mandela once said, "There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than how it treats its children." And, whenever the young are allowed to suffer, it is a huge blight on their communities. Growing up is already hard enough without children also having to face cruelty, violence and other types of abuse. Apart from anything else, it can cause incalculable harm, and blight their chances in life.