Beyonce: From pop princess to media mogul, we chart the rise of Queen Bey

From the moment Beyonce burst onto the music scene in 2003 with her first solo single, Crazy in Love, her stunning looks, sassy energy and killer voice ensured it was a hit. Throw in a soaring R&B horn section and a vocal contribution from acclaimed rapper (and eventual hubby) Jay-Z and the success of the track was assured. As was her own inevitable ascendancy to the all-time pantheon of pop greats.

Fast forward 15 years and she is the most-nominated woman in Grammy history and, as of 2014, she is the second-most-awarded recording artist of all time (behind only Michael Jackson, who she cites as her greatest musical influence).

Beyond accolades, it’s also fair to say that she’s not short of a few bobs. In 2016-17 alone, she earned US$60 million, making her one of the world’s highest-paid performers. The vast majority of that income came from her Formation World Tour, which grossed a quarter of a billion US dollars. Currently, Beyonce and Jay-Z (who she wed in 2008) are midway through their On The Run II Tour, which is expected to earn a staggering US$5 million per night.

Despite her fame, she is forever at pains to emphasise just how grounded and normal she remains, citing her faith as one of the things that keeps her real. Tackling the difference between her performer persona and her off-duty character, she says: “How I am on stage is very different to how I am in real life. I don’t think having a sexy image onstage conflicts with your ability to love God. No one knows what I’m really like just from seeing me from afar. I like to walk around with bare feet and I don’t like to comb my hair.

“How I feel about God and what He does for me, though, is something deeply personal. That’s very much about where I came from, my family and how I was brought up,” she adds. Whatever her religious allegiance, some deity certainly seems to be smiling on the girl born Beyonce Giselle Knowles in Houston on 4 September 1981. Before her solo success, she had already won widespread acclaim as a member of Destiny’s Child, the Texas-based all-girl trio that sold 60 million records worldwide before splitting up in 2006.

In 2002, while Destiny’s Child was taking an extended hiatus, she made her big screen debut in Goldmember, the third installment in the Austin Powers spoof spy movie trilogy. While a number of other cinematic outings followed, it wasn’t until 2008, when she took on the starring role of blues singer Etta James in biopic Cadillac Records, that her onscreen acting talent was finally widely acknowledged.

Despite being a multimedia entity – singer, songwriter, actress – she takes issue with being dubbed ‘Brand Beyonce’. She says: “I really don’t think of myself as a brand. I’m a singer, a songwriter, a musician, a performer and an actress, as well as all the other things that I do. When you add that all together, some might call it a brand, but that’s not my focus at all.”

She has , however, happily capitalised on the power of that perceived brand in order to shine a spotlight on a number of issues that are clearly close to her heart. In particular, as befits the times, her primary focus is now on empowering women.

Addressing this particular priority, Beyonce says: “Power means happiness, power means hard work and sacrifice. I truly believe that women should be financially independent from men. Let’s face it, money gives men the power to run the show. It gives men the power to define value. They even define what’s sexy and what’s feminine – and that’s clearly ridiculous.”

Despite – or, arguably, on account of – her crusade, her music is now seen as more relevant than ever. Her 2016 album Lemonade was one of her most acclaimed works to date, featuring in many reviewers’ best of the year recommendations.

Understandably, though, she is now at a point of rejecting at least part of her public persona, saying: “I’m so over being a pop star and I don’t wanna be seen as just a hot girl anymore. Now, I wanna be iconic. I’ve accomplished a lot and I’m highly respected, which is more important than any award or any amount of record sales.” As a summation of the life and times of Beyonce Knowles, it’s really rather hard to take issue.

Text: Robert Blain
Photos: AFP

Streaming TV: In the battle for screen supremacy, it’s stream team all the way

Gone are the days of “Event TV” when whole families gathered around the telly to witness historic happenings – moon landings or CCP Committee Meetings – or the much-anticipated denouements of popular dramas. Instead, we live in an age of Events TV, a time when different family members experience wholly separate programming strands, frequently on a wide variety of devices and platforms. The living room TV is dead, long live the tablet, the smartphone and any other digital device capable of remotely accessing video content.

While the digital hardware that makes this possible is all too familiar, less apparent are the vast arrays of global content producers that have sprung up, many of them eschewing traditional broadcast channels in favour of delivering bespoke, on-command net-based dramas, sporting events and movie premieres, all available when you want it and via whichever screened gadget has won your favour.

The superstars of this new era are the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO Now and Hulu – content producers and distributors with deep pockets, wide reaches and surprisingly high quality thresholds. Arguably, this sudden surge in quality is down to one very real change in the business model of video content distributors.

While programming was once doomed to be bland, middle-of-the-road and inoffensive in order to win favour with the mighty advertisers who booked the commercial breaks and funded all non-state-run broadcasters, now it has to be engaging, original and controversial. Quite simply, the ad men are no longer calling the shots, with snaring the viewer via extended subscriptions now what’s keeping the lights on for content producers. It may have taken more than 90 years to happen, but finally the viewer is king.

This transformation of the sector, of course, has not been universally welcomed. While many existing terrestrial broadcasters / content producers initially welcomed the arrival of streaming services, seeing them as channels for rescreening their existing productions, such warmth quickly dissipated once these upstarts began generating their own programmes. Overnight, they ceased being complementary and became simply competitors.

This simmering resentment went suddenly public last year when Okja, a Netflix-produced action movie, was roundly booed by conventional filmmakers during the Cannes Film Festival. The negative audience response had been preceded by weeks of wrangling as to whether original streaming content was even eligible to be screened at the event, with Cannes long seen as the global shop-window for theatrically-released movies. Ultimately, it was decreed that such content would never again be screened at the event.

If such a decision does stem from petulance on the part of established cinematic auteurs, it could be a reaction they could come to regret. For many cultural and technological commentators, streaming is not a passing fad, a brief digital dalliance likely to be soon discarded, with normal services resumed soon after. Instead, it is a new reality that meets both the requirements of time-starved tellywatchers and a new generation of content producers.

Indeed, freed of the shackles of getting the nod from big budget advertisers, streaming channels can be bolder and far less restricted when it comes to commissioning content. This has seen some long-gestating properties, many of which were denied a slot by conventional broadcasters, finally get made, frequently going on to secure both record viewing figures and industry accolades.

A prime example here is The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. When Tina Fey, the US comedienne and star of the long-running hit 30 Rock, wanted backing for a new, somewhat edgy comedy, she found few takers. Given that the series revolved around a woman being held hostage by a religious fanatic, even NBC – the network that had made megabucks from her previous show – politely demurred, deeming it to be just too controversial. Netflix, however, had few such scruples and the show is now one of the streaming service’s most popular original series. Tellingly, it has also been nominated for 18 Primetime Emmy Awards.

Reflecting on her experience with this new medium, Fey now says: “With broadcast, when you’re going into people’s homes, you have to be a little more polite. On streaming services, however, you can get into far more dangerous territory largely because you don’t have to worry about advertisers.”

Text: Suchetana Mukhopadhyay

Is high-rise, high-stress SAR life setting you up for a final fall?

Do you suffer from low energy? Or lack of sleep? Or is social apathy a bigger blight on your life? Maybe you are prone to headaches? Perhaps it’s living in a state of persistent anxiety that best sums you up?

Should four (or more) of the above strike a particular chord with you, then you – like millions of others – could be suffering from one of the Silent Killers of Our Age, one that annually tots up more victims than Ebola, cancer and road rage combined – stress. It’s a seemingly incongruous six-letter word, yet it’s terrifyingly ubiquitous.

A 2016 survey conducted by Regus, an international provider of serviced office facilities, revealed that 6 out of 10 workers worldwide showed signs of stress. The survey also suggested that heightened stress is directly costing world economies billions of dollars in lost productivity – never mind the toll it is taking on individuals.

Alarmingly, Regus also identified China as the country where employees have to contend with the highest level of stress, with 86% of mainland respondents maintaining that pressure in the workplace was on the up. There’s little comfort for Hongkongers as well, with the same survey indicating that 66% of the city’s professionals have a less than satisfactory work-life balance.

Neither can any of these be dismissed as rogue statistics. A separate 2016 survey – this time by UBS, a Swiss investment bank – showed that, out of 71 cities across the world, staff in Hong Kong spent the most time in the office. While the average working week in Paris was just 30.84 hours, Hongkongers notched up 50.11, easily outpacing second-ranked Mumbai, where workers clock in for a comparatively leisurely 43.78 hours.

One of the reasons why Hong Kong ranks near the top of so many of the world’s tensest towns’ lists is because it’s one of the few jurisdictions where work-related stress is entirely exempt from any municipal oversight. Only one exceedingly vague obligation to ‘ensure the health and safety of employees’ – troubles Hong Kong’s work-related legislation. Tellingly, Hong Kong’s Disability Discrimination Ordinance does not even list ‘work stress’ as a potential consideration.

Explaining just how work stress has come to be seen as the norm in the city, Dr Au Yeung Kwok-leung, a Hong Kong-based psychiatrist, says: “It’s not uncommon for many of my patients to routinely work more than 12 hours a day, six days a week. You might think that sounds ridiculous, but in an environment where everyone has the same workload and everyone puts in a 12-hour shift, it becomes normalised.”

While Hong Kong, in general, is blessed with more stress per square inch than virtually any other metropolis, nowhere is this more evident than in the finance sector. While its banks seldom stint when it comes to remuneration, neither do they stint in terms of employee expectations, with high targets and long hours pretty much de rigueur.

Sadly, these are not burdens everyone can bear. One bank employee who paid the ultimate price was 33-year-old Dennis Li Jun-jie, who plunged to his death after leaping from the roof of Chater House, the 30-storey building where he had been employed by investment bank JP Morgan. With his death later ruled to be due to work-related stress, his employers subsequently decided against going ahead with a previously planned sculpture of a stranger preparing to jump that had earlier – somewhat bizarrely – been given the go-ahead to be mounted on their roof.

Explaining why some individuals seem to have a lower tolerance to stress, Dr Jackie Fu Chi-kin, a Kowloon-based psychiatrist, says: “Resistance to stress is like resistance to bacteria – everyone has a different level of immunity. At a certain point, though, it always begins to affect your state of mind.”

As well as with individuals, the level of stress tolerance also seems to vary in line with certain demographics. According to the latest 360° Well-being Index, maintained by health insurance company Cigna, millenials cope less well with pressure than those in other age groups. While 26% of millennials claimed to experience “unmanageable stress”, only 11% of those aged 50 or above made a similar claim. There may be more to this claim made by millenials than just affectation. On an international basis, today’s 18-to-34-year olds earn up to 20% less in real terms than the previous generation did at the same age. At the same time, while 70% of Hong Kong’s millennials aspire to own their own home, only 5% have achieved this, compared to a global average of 15%.

Perhaps more alarmingly still, if we come a little further down the age ranges, some 60% of Hong Kong’s primary school pupils have apparently suffered from academic-performance-related stress. As a sign of the seriousness of this, since 2010, the number of school children committing suicide every year has averaged out at around 23, according to the figures from HKU’s Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention.

As a final thought, stress dates back to the fight or flight triggers that saw our ancestors sense it was time to scarper when something with a thick hide, sharp teeth and a big appetite was in their immediate vicinity. Today, it fulfils pretty much the same function but, instead of prompting fight or flight, it’s a wake-up call that there is something very wrong with your lifestyle.

Text: Suchetana Mukhopadhyay

WAGs World Cup 2018: Which nation fielded football’s fittest other-half?

While the on-pitch drama from the 2018 World Cup was beamed around the world, a far more intense competition waged throughout the beauty salons, hairstylists, fashion houses and manicurists of Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Kaliningrad as the WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends) battled to be the most glamorous, the best-groomed and by far the most fanciable footballer’s other-half. So, let’s see just how they did in the WAGs World Cup 2018…

STAGE 1

Uruguay – SOFIA BALBI (2) vs France – MARINE LLORIS (1)

Marine Lloris, wife of France's captain Hugo Lloris — *Marine Lloris, wife of France’s captain Hugo Lloris, flames out in the first round*

Marine Lloris, wife to France’s captain Hugo Lloris, is far from your typical WAG, with degrees in both human resources and law, and even her own clothing business – proof, perhaps, that beauty and brains can coexist in the world of WAGs. Sofia Balbi is wife to Uruguay’s striker Luis Suárez and is credited with giving him the stability to become a successful footballer after penury had driven him to take up road sweeping. Sofia scores for taking her husband from poverty to on-pitch super-stardom and scores again for having to put up with his habit of biting the opposing team.

Brazil – BRUNA MARQUEZINE (1) vs Belgium – NOÉMIE HAPPART (0)

Bruna Marquezine, girlfriend of Brazil's Neymar, wins the WAGs World Cup 2018 — *At just 22, Bruna Marquezine, girlfriend of Brazil’s Neymar, is the youngest entry to WAGs World Cup 2018*

Miss Belgium 2013 and model Noémie Happart – the wife of Belgian winger Yannick Carrasco – went onto represent her country at the 2013 Miss Universe and Miss World events, but failed to impress. She looks to score here, but her stalled glamour career sees her quickly offside.

Brazilian bombshell Bruna Marquezine, the on-and-off girlfriend of striker Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, has been a TV star since she was four, winning awards for a number of her more dramatic roles. It’s an open goal and she scores.

Russia – EKATERINA GERUN (0) vs Croatia – FRANKA BATELIĆ (1)

Singer-songwriter Franka Batelić is married to Croatia team captain Vedran Ćorluka — *Croatia’s Franka Batelić’s singing career makes her a strong player*

Model and former beauty queen Ekaterina Gerun, the wife of Igor Akinfeev, studied chemical engineering, before opting for a career in entertainment. To date, though, she has only managed fourth place in the Miss Universe 2007 event and appeared in just one music video. No strength up front and she is left goalless.

Singer-songwriter Franka Batelić, who recently married Croatia team captain Vedran Ćorluka, won the first season of her country’s take on Pop Idol and represented her country in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. Despite that, she still gets the ball across the line, if only once.

Sweden – MAJA NILSSON LINDELÖF (0) vs England – REBEKAH VARDY (1)

Social media influencer Maja Nilsson Lindelof with her husband, Swedish defender Victor Lindelof — *Social media influencer Maja Nilsson Lindelöf with her husband, Swedish defender Victor Lindelöf*

As a blogger and social media influencer, Maja Nilsson Lindelöf, wife of Swedish defender Victor Lindelöf, has 115, 000 Instagram followers and co-hosts a podcast with fellow WAG Sanna Dahlstrom, where she annoyed fans by singing the praises of the waiter service in football clubs’ executive boxes. Fails to get much possession and retires goal-free.

After six years with English striker husband, Jamie Vardy, Rebekah Vardy is Daily Mail’s Queen of WAGs, and is apparently set to make a post-World Cup £1.5 million. She nods one in from the penalty spot.

SEMI-FINALS

Uruguay – SOFIA BALBI (0) vs Brazil – BRUNA MARQUEZINE (1)

Sofia Balbi with her husband, Uruguay's striker Luis Suarez — *Sofia Balbi , wife of Uruguay’s striker Luis Suarez, loses to Bruna Marquezine*

Sofia spent most of her career on the subs’ bench before teaming up with Mrs Lionel Messi to open a Barcelona shoe shop. Clearly outclassed by the opposition, she never looked likely to score.

Bruna, with an array of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar cover shoots in her portfolio, scores from the halfway line, sending Sofia home for an early bath.

Croatia – FRANKA BATELIĆ (1) vs England – REBEKAH VARDY (0)

England's striker Jamie Vardy with his wife, Rebekah Vardy — *Rebekah Vardy, wife of England’s striker Jamie Vardy, loses her bid for WAGs World Cup victory*

While Franka stakes her initial hopes on her status as the poster girl for Croatia’s 2009 Animal’s Friend campaign, it just fails to deliver on the day. Rebekah, meanwhile, gambles that splashing out some £140,000 on a luxurious Russian residency for the whole of the tournament will see her score big. Unfortunately, such ostentation doesn’t go down well with the austerity-hit Brits back home. Narrowly avoiding an own goal, she stays off the score sheet.

Bouncing back, Franka bigs up her role as Beyoncé’s 2013 opening act and steals a goal three minutes into extra time, nabbing herself a spot in the finals of our WAGs World Cup 2018.

FINAL

Brazil – BRUNA MARQUEZINE (3) vs Croatia – FRANKA BATELIĆ (2)

Bruna Marquezine cinches victory thanks to her US$80 million man, Brazil's star player Neymar — *Actress Bruna Marquezine cinches victory thanks to her US$90 million man, Brazil’s star player Neymar*

Bruna comes in strong with an astounding 30 million Instagram followers. Franka shoots but, with a mere 113,000 followers, hits the post. Boasting that her US$90 million man is the world’s most expensive football player, Bruna takes an early lead. Franka’s riposte that, while her husband is only worth US$1 million, he does have a Harry Potter tattoo, leaves the crowd clearly unimpressed and she’s starting to look a little outclassed.

With Bruna casually reminding fans that Neymar got £20,000 for filming a 90-second video apology for on-pitch misbehavior, it looks like it’s all over. Franka just can’t compete when it comes to monetized misdemeanors and her WAGs World Cup dream is in tatters.

As the youngest WAG of them all, at just 22, Bruna Marquezine wins the WAGs World Cup 2018. Remarkable stuff. And it’s back to the studio, Brian…

Text: Hira Desai
Images: AFP

Cold Warring: The battle to own Antarctica has already begun

Ever since Antarctica was discovered by the Russians in 1820, its intimidating environment and inaccessible terrain have been subject to bizarre rumours, such as being a hidey hole for a bunch of fleeing Nazis planning the rise of the Fourth Reich from within its frosty grasp.

While such theories can easily be dispensed with by all but the most terminally credulous, it does leave us with one particularly perplexing question – why are so many countries around the world suddenly squabbling over who exactly owns this 14 million square kilometres of ice-locked land?

In truth, while the issue of land rights may have taken on a new lease of life of late, it has been a matter of some dispute since 1895 when a team of Norwegians first crossed its bleak boundaries. Among the first to stake a claim was Spain, which, claimed retrospective rights in light of a 1494 treaty that apparently granted dominion over all land to the south of the Strait of Magellan to the European country as part of its then-burgeoning empire.

Fast forward a few years and any such entitlements were dismissed out of hand by one of the most voracious land annexation initiatives the world has ever seen – the British Empire. Indeed, one 1920s memo from by Leopold Amery, Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, unequivocally: “It is desirable that the whole of the Antarctic should ultimately be included in the British Empire.” And, by July 1923, it was.

Freshly co-opted into the Empire where the Sun Never Set, alarm bells rang throughout France, Norway, Argentina and Chile, with each trying to grab stakes in this frozen continent.

Such disputes dragged on until 1959, when the Antarctic Treaty came into place, through which all the 12 original claimants agreed that the continent could be treated as an international scientific reserve until 2048. And so it has remained, with all military activity, mining, nuclear testing and nuclear waste disposal forbidden within its bounds for a further 30 years yet.

With only three decades to go, however, there are already signs that a number of countries are already jockeying for position once all bets are off in 2048. As of 2015, a further 17 countries had inveigled their ways in as consultative partners under the terms of the original treaty, with many of them establishing their own ostentatious ‘research stations’, alongside those belonging to the original 12 signatories.

For its part, Russia has 12 scientific bases on various parts of the continent, while the US maintains a base at the South Pole proper, in itself an effective claim to the whole territory. Not to be left out of this snowy superpower standoff, China is busily building its fifth Antarctic outpost.

With unusual candour for Antarctic-related matters, Guo Peiqing, a law professor at Shandong’s Ocean University, says: “China’s exploration of the continent can be compared to playing chess – it’s important to have a position in the global game. We don’t know when the play will happen, but it’s clearly necessary to have a foothold.”

While, on the surface at least, the focus of this ‘global game’ is scientific investigation, there’s a reason all search research is solely focused on geologic matters. It is an open secret that all of the Antarctic-active nations are primarily interested in what lies below its frozen terrain, with the general expectation being that enough oil to fill over 200 billion barrels awaits whichever country ultimately secures the mineral rights.

With the technology of 2048 seen as being all but certain to overcome the logistical and operational challenges of accessing this vast oil resource, there are signs that the limits of the treaty are already being tested. Despite such activities being specifically forbidden, for instance, both Chile and Argentina maintain a permanent military presence on the continent. It is also suspected that many of the apparent research stations are actually little more than covert surveillance operations, continuously monitoring the activities of rival claimants to the Antarctic crown.

To complicate matters further, a new element has entered this scene of deep-frozen detente of late – tourists. In 2017-2018 alone, some 52,000 tourists braved the ice floes for a glimpse of Antarctica’s frozen majesty. While this may seem like a sleepy figure compared to other continents’ visitors, it does represent a robust 17% increase over the 2016-2017 period.

Despite this small number, the tourism industry’s annexation of Antarctica has already alarmed environmentalists. Indeed, a number of environmentalist groups have already highlighted the risk of such visitors accidentally introducing non-Antarctic native organisms into the region’s fragile biosphere or the disastrous fallout that could occur from any oil spillage from ships.

Given the events likely to occur 30 years down the line, however, such concerns seem to border on the irrelevant. With the superpowers’ drilling rigs likely to tear its landscape apart, it is unlikely that even most the ham-fisted of tourists could deliver any comparable blow.

Text: Suchetana Mukhopadhyay

Has the #MeToo phenomenon bypassed Hong Kong or are its women just as empowered as their Western sisters?

Over recent months, an apparent revolution has been going on in the West. It is a revolution that has empowered women to speak out against sexual exploitation and gender bias, triggering legal action, boycotts, film reshoots and the ostracism of some of the most powerful men in the fields of entertainment, politics, technology and academia.

While the women of the West have been vocal in their calls for a new deal, the women of Asia have remained remarkably quiet. There have only been a few marches in Tokyo, Bangkok and Hong Kong calling for an end to the kind of patriarchal practices that have exploited and undermined women for countless generations.

Is this because the woman of the East already enjoy a level of emancipation their Western sisters can only dream of? Or – more likely – is it because the oppression of women in Asia is so endemic that few have the courage to speak out against it?

With sensibilities awoken across the West and many women feeling empowered to speak for the first time, a movement was born. This, in turn, spawned the #MeToo hashtag, creating an online platform for women to share their experiences and offer their support.

While the subject has dominated the broadcast media, newspaper columns, dinner table conversations and watercooler encounters across the West over the last six months, it doesn’t seem to have had the same resonance in Asia, in general, and in Hong Kong, in particular. At least, not on the surface.

Has the #MeToo phenomenon bypassed Hong Kong or are its women just as empowered as their Western sisters? — Fiona Nott, CEO of The Women’s Foundation

One person better placed to judge this than most is Fiona Nott, Chief Executive of The Women’s Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the lot of women at every level of Hong Kong society. Gauging the local impact of the mass mobilisation of women across the West, she says: “Since the #MeToo movement erupted, and, in particular, since Vera Lui [a Hong Kong hurdling champion] revealed her own experience of abuse in November last year, the number of complaints coming in from victims of sexual assault has doubled.

“For my part, I see the #MeToo movement as being about more than just any individual’s experience. It’s a wider issue related to women’s equality and we believe that one of the solutions is to have genuinely equal rights for women, with more women in leadership positions.”

Nott’s view that the problem is endemic and partly economic in nature is certainly borne out by the statistics. Perhaps surprisingly, given its status as a global financial centre, Hong Kong women are worse off than those in most other developed economies. With an average gender pay gap of 22 percent, Hong Kong has got ten worse instead of better over the last ten years. Back in 2007, the comparative figure was just 19.1 percent. The new figure sees it well behind the UK (9.1 percent), Australia (15.3 percent) and Singapore(19 percent). Similarly, Hong Kong women are less likely to secure board appointments than their counterparts elsewhere in the world. While women only account for 13.8 percent of the boards of Hong Kong’s biggest businesses, the comparable figure in the UK is 26 percent, while Australia weighs in at 25.4 percent. It still outperforms Singapore, however, where only 12.2 percent of board members are women.

One area where Asia is very similar to the West with regard to the issues raised by the #MeToo campaign is the reaction of local men. Mostly everywhere, the male of the species has kept a low profile, offering little in terms of comment or support.

A rare exception to this is Benjamin Law, an Australian journalist. Writing on Twitter, he pricked the conscience of many by saying: “Guys it’s our turn. After yesterday’s endless #MeToo stories of women being assaulted and harassed, today we say #HowWillIChange.”

Sadly, his initiative failed to catch the attention of the mainstream media, but thankfully his is not a lone male voice. More locally, the call has been taken up by Sanjeev Chathrath, Co-Chair of Male Allies, a group of male business leaders committed to promoting gender equality within Hong Kong. Outlining the aims of the group, he says: “All of our members have made personal and professional pledges to help advance gender balance. These pledges range from personal behaviour, to making visible commitments, and making institutional and policy changes designed to promote, support and celebrate diversity.”

As a sign that Hong Kong may at last be ready for such an initiative, last year it elected Carrie Lam as its first female Chief Executive. Korean legislators have taken action against those who would exploit their personal power to coerce sexual favours from their subordinates, raising the maximum sentence for such an offence from five years to ten. But Asia is still lagging behind the West, where the maximum sentence for such an offence in many jurisdictions is now life imprisonment. With statistics showing that one in seven Hong Kong women has experienced some form of sexual assault (and 90 percent of these are never even reported), it is clear that this is every bit an issue here as it is in the West.

The full version of this feature appears on Gafencu Magazine’s June 2018 print issue as “#HKToo” by Hira Desai. You can download the free app for digital editions of the magazine.

How did the birth of Prince Louis affect the royal line of succession?

Amid the bunting, badinage and backslapping that greeted the recent arrival of Louis Arthur Charles Windsor, the third child of Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, there might have been one or two royal recesses where the welcome may have been a little more muted. After all, even as the tiny prince was revealed to the world’s press, many of his regal relatives would only be too aware that they had just, once again, shuffled further down the line of succession, with their own ascension to the British throne never less likely.

Not that there’s any likelihood of a current vacancy, however. Despite the sixty-sixth anniversary of her accession to the throne having passed earlier this year, Louis’ great grandmother – or Queen Elizabeth II as she is more normally known – shows no sign of standing down or imminently demising. Given that her own mother lived to be 101, there is every chance that Her Majesty could add another 10 years to her already record-breaking reign. When, as will surely happen in the fullness of time, the British throne does fall unoccupied, though, just who will succeed the country’s longest-serving monarch?

Well, first in line, of course, is Prince Charles who has been the heir apparent since his mother’s 1952 coronation. Given the unprecedented length of her reign, it is perhaps not all that surprising that Charles himself is also the holder of a royal record – at 64 years and counting, he has served as heir apparent for longer than any of his predecessors.

As the eldest son of Prince Charles – the issue of his first marriage back in the days of his apparent fairytale pairing with Diana, Princess of Hearts – Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge is second in line and set to one day succeed his father. With 69-year-old Charles set to be at least 75 or so before he ascends to the throne, it is most unlikely that 35-year-old William will have to spend the same 70-plus years waiting in the wings before the top job falls to him.

In 2013, William and Kate, as she is affectionately known by the public, welcomed their first child – Prince George. Barely had the umbilical cord been cut before the young princeling nosed ahead of Prince Harry – his uncle and William’s younger brother – to become third in line to the throne.

Two years later, the order of succession changed again with the arrival of Princess Charlotte, William and Kate’s second child. This, however, did mark something of a change to royal protocol. Following the 2013 enactment of the Succession to the Crown Act, Charlotte gets to retain her position as fourth in line to the throne even if – as actually happened – another male heir is born in to the family. Just a year or two before, the previously prevailing 1701 Succession Act would have seen Prince Louis leapfrog his sibling and shuffle her down to fifth place in the accession stakes.

Given the abundance of heirs delivered by the union of William and Kate, it seems unlikely – natural disasters and plagues aside – that Prince Harry, now sixth in line to the throne, will ever advance any higher in the monarchy stakes.

Even further back in the list is Prince Andrew, the current Queen’s second son, who has dropped to his relatively lowly seventh ranking. In fact, such is his disposability that he is now no longer regarded as a “core” member of the royal family.

Anne, the Queen’s second child, currently languishes in the largely uncoveted number 13 spot, behind not only her two younger brothers, but also their four children

The highest ranked of these, at number eight, is Princess Beatrice, the daughter of Andrew and his permanently-exiled from royal circles ex-wife, Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson, the Duchess of York. Trailing her in ninth position is Princess Eugenie, her younger sister and the second child of Andy and Fergie as they are familiarly known.

Taking the line of accession into double figures is Prince Edward, the Queen’s youngest son, in the number 10 slot, again placed ahead of his elder sister by a royal tradition that clearly pre-dated any feminist dialogue.

Should some wholly unanticipated cataclysm wipe out the whole of this top 10, however, even then the throne would not go unoccupied. The top 100 extends to various branches of the Yugoslavian and Romanian royal families, with the superiorperks offered to members of the British monarchy sure to lure them out of even the finest palace Bucharest has to offer.

The British royal family, then, is clearly a robust institution, with countless candidates for the top job no matter how great a cataclysm may afflict the realm. With her reign inevitably entering its final phase, however, it will be down to the successors to her title to ensure the role retains its relevance throughout the remainder of the 21st century and beyond.

The full version of this feature appears on Gafencu Magazine’s June 2018 print issue as “Crown Succession” by Hira Desai. You can download the free app for digital editions of the magazine.

Un-Ironed: Stripped of his Marvel alter-ego, can Robert Downey Jr win over his villainous darkside?

Well, did he? Or didn’t he? Was he? Or wasn’t he? As all true believers can testify, such questions can only be a reference as to whether superhero Tony Stark – the role the ever-dissolute Robert Downey Jr was surely born to play – survived Avengers: Infinity War.

Despite the fact most of the world has already seen the big screen outing that Marvel has been building up to over the last 10 years, it would be invidious to spoil the pay-off of this most behemoth-like intergalactic-bad-guy-bashing motion picture. Suffice to say, post Infinity War, the universe is a little less super.

As for Robert Downey Jr, are his electro-magnetic flight boots among those that need filling? Well, that would be telling. If, however, the Marvel universe has said goodbye to its pre-eminent playboy turned metal-clad crusader, it could prove as big a threat to its continued existence as any magic diamond-wielding apocalypse junkie.

Since 2009, when Marvel took its first tentative steps into the multiplex with the original Iron Man movie, Downey has been the uncrowned king of the franchise. This is almost wholly down to the actor’s immensely likeable take on Stark, a man with a nuclear plant for a heart, an eye for the ladies and a nice line in snarky putdowns.

Back in 2007, though, when Marvel was first casting for its Iron Man, Downey was something of a gamble, largely an account of his tumultuous personal life and his unrivalled reputation for unreliability.

Unlike many other Marvel heroes who got their powers after being bitten by a radioactive rabbit or inherited them from their semi-deity dads, Stark had to fight to become Iron Man, desperately assembling the metal suit he needed to keep his damaged heart beating. It’s not too much of a stretch, then to see certain parallels with Downey, an actor who slowly rebuilt his reputation after a series of sackings, prison sentences and drug-related escapades.

By rights, though, his career should never have hung by such a slender thread. Born in 1965 to Robert Downey Snr, a counter-cultural filmmaker, and Elsie Ann, herself an actress, a movie career for Robert Downey Jr seemed almost pre-destined. Making his first film appearance aged just five, he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor 22 year later, after playing the title role in Chaplin, Richard Attenborough’s acclaimed biopic.

Just as his success seemed assured, his long-simmering drug problem began to spiral out of control. Soon, a litany of repeated arrests, imprisonment, failed attempts at rehab, divorce and unemployability laid waste to both his personal and professional life.

After several highly-publicised and notoriously-unsuccessful attempts to get straight, Downey finally began to turn his life around in 2003, a transformation that he puts down to a combination of meditation, a twelve-step recovery programme, yoga and martial arts. Reflecting on his current booze and pharmaceutical-free existence, he says: “I don’t drink these days. I am allergic to alcohol and narcotics. I break out in handcuffs.”

It was Mel Gibson, a long-time friend, who underwrote Downey’s movie comeback by paying the insurance bond required for him to take the lead in The Singing Detective, a 2003 musical. Although the film was panned, Downey’s performance was considered a tour de force, leading to him taking the starring role in a series of high-profile movies, including Gothika, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Tropic Thunder. Downey was back, baby, and big style.

It was Iron Man, though, that truly anointed him as one of Hollywood’s favourite sons and marked his first appearance in a box-office beating, cineplex-packing, all-action blockbuster. It also triggered a huge upturn in his financial fortunes, with his earnings rivalling even those of billionaire Stark, his cinematic counterpart.

With the Avengers assembling yet again next year, Marvel is set to replenish his coffers at least one more time. After that, Robert Downey Jr is signed to play a rather more modest superhero in 2019’s Voyage of Doctor Doolittle. There are also rumours that he will return to his other movie franchise, once again reprising his surprisingly muscular take on Baker Street’s finest – the inimitable Sherlock Holmes.

It is Iron Man, however, with whom he will be forever synonymous While we will have to wait 12 months to see if the armour-clad Avenger can truly save humanity, it’s clear he’s already been the salvation of at least one of the movie world’s most wayward sons.

Text: Suchetana Mukhopadhyay
Images: AFP

Apocalypse Imminent: Will Artificial Intelligence eventually destroy humanity?

When acclaimed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking died back in March, his many achievements and convictions were again revisited by the scientific community. Not much attention, though, was paid to his conclusions about Artificial Intelligence (AI) posing the greatest threat to mankind’s continued existence.

During one his many unequivocal statements as to the extent of the threat, he said: “Unless we learn how to prepare for, and avoid, the potential risks, the rise of AI could be the worst event in the history of our civilisation.”

Given Hawking’ intellect and reputation, it would be foolhardy to ignore his warnings. Just what is Artificial Intelligence and why did it make the eminent cosmologist quite so alarmed?

According to John McCarthy, the American computer scientist who first coined the term ‘artificial intelligence’, the answer is straightforward and innocuous sounding: “It’s the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programmes”. In other words, it’s creating computers that have a human-like capacity to think.

Throughout history, this has seemed relatively harmless aspiration on the part of the scientific sector. In 1915, for instance, El Ajedrecista, the world’s first autonomous chess machine made its debut. Although rudimentary, it could play complete games and flag up any illegal moves made by its opponent.

In 1961, things became a little more practicable, with Unimate, the world’s first industrial robot, joining the production line at General Motors’ New Jersey plant.

Machine intelligence may one day far exceed the humans who first devised it

While both these systems were quite basic, Hawking saw them as steps to something far more sinister – the development of machine consciousness. Known by computer scientists as the Singularity, there is a widespread belief that mankind will eventually create an Artificial Superintelligence, a self-aware entity whose technological capabilities and constant self-improving updates would, one day, evolve far beyond the humans who first devised it.

To date, however, no system has passed the Turing Test – an elaborate “interview” procedure that assesses whether any given computer system can interact with a human to the extent that the human believes their respondent is also human.

While that is yet to happen, the current thinking is that a computer capable of passing the Turing Test will been developed by 2029. Just such a prospect has seen a number of luminaries side with Hawking, including Elon Musk, the visionary behind Tesla – a leading manufacturer of electric vehicles and solar panels. Last year, Musk, together with Hawking, was one of 100 scientific luminaries who petitioned the United Nations to ban AI-enabled weapons.

Already, many of AI’s potential military applications have caused worldwide concern. According to a survey conducted by Action Against Armed Violence, a London-based charity, unmanned drone airstrikes killed more than 15,000 civilians in 2017 alone, a year-on-year rise of over 40%.

AI has already insinuated itself into many of our day-to-day interactions

As well as AI’s potential for transforming battlefields, there are also concerns about its impact in the workplace. While some gamely maintain that AI will inevitably create jobs in the future, the consensus is that it will do exactly the opposite.

According to a February 2017 report by McKinsey, global management consultancy, more than 50% of the jobs currently held by humans could be eliminated by 2055, with autonomous systems employed instead.

Despite such glum predictions, not every technocrat is a member of the anti-AI brigade. Welcoming the possibilities opened up by technology, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says: “One reason I’m so optimistic about AI is the improvements it could offer in terms of basic research systems across so many fields – from diagnosing diseases to keeping us healthy, to improving self-driving cars and keeping us safe.”

On a less grandiose basis, AI has also insinuated itself into many of our day-to-day interactions. Almost entirely without ceremony, it has come to play a key role in road and traffic safety, detecting credit card fraud and home and office security.

So, will Artificial Intelligence be an extinction-level threat or a benevolent companion? While both views have their proponents, it could be that the future will ultimately see man and machine not as antagonists but as allies, working more closely together than could have been envisaged just 50 years ago.

Through a process also known as digital ascension, man and machine will become one

Championing this particular view is Ray Kurzweil, Google’s Director of Engineering and the author of the 2005 bestseller The Singularity is Near. Outlining his theory, he says: “While 2029 is the date I have consistently predicted that an AI will pass the Turing Test, I have set the date for the Singularity as 2045. This is the year, I believe, we will multiply our own effective intelligence a billion-fold by merging with the intelligence we have created.”

In a process also known as digital ascension, man and machine will become one, with human consciousness uploaded to a computer mainframe. It may not accord with Hawking’s belief that Artificial Intelligence will destroy humanity, but it does mean that, post-2045, our descendants may not be recognisably human. That alone may prove that much-missed physicist was right to warn us.

Text: Tenzing Thondup
Photos: AFP

Franc Exchanges: Why do so many French expats opt for an HK home?

It’s official. Hong Kong is now home to Asia’s largest population of French expats, having overtaken Shanghai, that long-time Gallic stronghold. It’s quite an achievement given that Hong Kong was once a British colony. As recently as 2016, UK-ers were still the city’s largest Western cohort. But now, that particular claim to fame has been wrested from them by the French.

*Why have so many French expats descended on our city in recent years?*

In fact, the surge in républicain residents is nothing short of spectacular. Shedding a little light on this influx, French Consul General Eric Berti says: “Over the last decade, we have seen the number of French expats double in size. The average year-on-year growth is around five percent and we even had one year where our numbers jumped by more than 10 percent.”

While there’s no denying that this represents a marked increase, France and Hong Kong have enjoyed a discreet dalliance since before the First Opium War. But why are so many French citizens making the 9,800-km trip east to HK today? Well, work, as you might expect, is quite an influential factor.

French expats love Sai Ying Pun, also known as Little Paris — *A gathering in the ‘Frenchified’ neighbourhood of Sai Ying Pun, also known as ‘Little Paris’*

According to the French Chamber of Commerce, there are more than 800 French companies active in Hong Kong. Some 60 percent are retail-related, most likely using the city as a springboard into the Mainland market. A further 25 percent are involved in finance and insurance – again, not a surprise, given the country’s penchant for all things mathematical.

Perhaps the largest – and most welcome – by-product of this mass migration has been the stratospheric rise of French gastronomy in Hong Kong. In addition to three-Michelin-starred L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon and three two-starred Gallic eateries – Amber, Caprice and Pierre, there’s also a raft of up-and-coming restaurants stepping into the spotlight.

France’s charm offensive is not just on the food front. Hong Kong’s social calendar is now replete French cultural events, including Le French May, the annual month-long showcase of French films, art and food.

The efficacy of this charm offensive is clear, but what exactly is the appeal of this faraway quasi-city-state for so many French expats?

For Consul General Berti, it’s just the latest chapter in a 170-plus-year love story. Expanding on his theme, he says: “Hong Kong has fascinated our people – especially our young – for many years. Currently, more than 60 percent of the French nationals living here are working professionals aged 35 or less. They are drawn by the city’s vibrancy, friendliness and high quality of life. It’s a city where they feel they can truly succeed.”

Berti’s sentiments certainly seemed to resonate with Ben, a French banker who first came to Hong Kong in 2011. He explains: “As I’d always been attracted to Asian culture, when France was hit by the global monetary crisis, moving to a thriving financial hub like Hong Kong seemed a no-brainer.”

Given that the wider world is finally recovering from the global financial tsunami of 2008, which brought Ben and countless others to Hong Kong’s shores, does this mean that the years of mass French immigration are now coming to the end?

Last year's French Day at the races — *Last year’s French Day at the races*

Taking a philosophical view of such a notion, Berti says: “There’s a lot of excitement in France now with the rise of Macron [the newly-elected president]. There’s a big push to be a part of the reform that seems to be on the horizon. So perhaps it will attract some to return home…”

Ben, however, sees it as a more distant prospect, saying: “Even if the new reforms have a positive impact, it’s hard to predict the long-term result. I’d rather wait and see before considering a move back.”

French acrobatic duo La Main s'Affaire — *French duo La Main s’Affaire’s acrobatic act was part of last year’s Le French May*

Adrian, one of the more recent French expats to arrive in Hong Kong, is of a similar mindset, saying: “Even with the new president, France is not as competitive, in business terms, as many other countries. While I enjoyed living in France, I prefer to be in a more dynamic working environment.”

Given the clear alignment between France and Hong Kong, could there one day be a more formal arrangement? With the UK exiting the EU, is there a Hong-Kong-shaped gap there waiting to be filled? Well, probably not. There does, however, seem every certainty that the unlikely pairing of this far-away Asian city and its European soulmate is only set to continue. As to the future, well – as they say in downtown Sai Ying Pun – qui sait?

Text: Tenzing Thondup
Images: AFP, Le French May