Paper Tiger Again

The fish and noodle salad tossing, a fave of pollies out and about in the heartland here in their white polos with the lightning bolt insignia and track shoes, might be called lo hei. SPH staff photographed doing their part at a Senior Activity Centre. (Singapore Press Holdings, the conglomerate that owned the entire media in the Republic: print, visual, radio, web lock, stock and barrel.) The former gotong royong community spirit having been mysteriously snuffed out by the concrete, steel and glass piling such programs are widely advertised. All together now, dig in with the sticks, ups-a-daisy. Fun and laughter. Ho-ho-ho. Brewing up a happy storm, oldies stretching unpracticed smiles for the camera.

         Another corrective on the previous page too from the SG Tourist Board (STB) seeking to counter with some pizzazz the recently released survey from Time Out London that ranked Singapore 31 out of 32 “most exciting cities.” A slap in the face after all the try-hard. A couple of years ago they managed to get a gong on the World Heritage Site for the Botanical Gardens to add to the Gardens by the Bay, the iconic skyline down at Marina near the world class casino, Bird Safari, Chinatown &etc. A dash of humour deployed to counter this egregious misconception in London. Pics of luscious gardens, boring? You wanna call this brilliant skyline dull? Michelin-rated hawker food leave you hungry for more does it? For this pundit the inevitable question of course who could possibly have trumped Lion City for the raspberry? Who on earth? (Fifteen thousand people in 32 countries participating.)