Many Hong Kong people thought their city was going down the tubes after 2019. They may or may not be right. But those who decided to take advantage of their BN(O) status have jumped aboard a ship that is sinking even faster.
If it was to be only a choice between Hong Kong and Britain, locals should really stay put. Two headline news items should at least give them pause.
A schizophrenic British woman lay dead, her body mummified, in her flat near Surrey for more than three years without a visit from state medical-social workers who were supposed to supervise her. A Hong Kong woman with a master’s degree has been ruled by a British coroner to have committed suicide after enduring seven months of hardship while trying to make a living in Britain.
The tragic case of Fion Ho Yee-king, 27, speaks volumes about the cost-of-living difficulties, employment issues and cultural shock that confront many BN(O)ers settling in the UK. About 76,000 Hongkongers moved to the UK between July 2021 and the end of last year.
Ho reportedly couldn’t make ends meet to pay the £900 (US$1,115) monthly rent in an unhygienic shared flat. It was causing her insomnia and hair loss. She also had to cut meals to save money. According to immigration consultants, many fresh graduates, young couples in their 20s and middle-class families with children have faced similar problems after moving to Britain.
Meanwhile, a pre-inquest (not yet a full inquest) is finally due to look into the case of Laura Winham, 38, who suffered from schizophrenia. Her body was discovered in May 2021 but she is thought to have died in November 2017. She had refused any contact with her immediate family and so state-appointed social workers were supposed to take care of her. Repeated attempts by the family to contact her were refused because of Britain’s tough privacy protection law, yet no worker went to visit her for more than three years.
Social and medical services under the National Health Service have been breaking down for more than a decade under Tory rule, but now it is near collapse. According to The Times, “weekly deaths have reached the highest level for two years as senior doctors warned that ‘dangerous’ A&E (emergency) waits were killing hundreds of people”.
“There were 17,381 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending January 13, 2,837 more than the weekly average for this period in the past five years,” it reported. “It is the highest death toll and number of excess deaths since February 2021, when Covid was killing thousands and Britain was in lockdown.”
Meanwhile, the cost-of-living crisis escalates. Andy Haldane, who was until recently the chief economist at the Bank of England, the country’s central bank, has warned there is “more pain to come” for British households as mortgage and interest rates continue to rise.
Many economists have pointed out that the economic decline of post-Brexit is unprecedented as they warn the UK could become one of Europe’s poorer countries in the coming decades. Social decay is across the board. Public trust in the Metropolitan Police is at an all-time low.
The same was said about the Hong Kong police in 2019, when the force was falsely accused of raping and murdering protesters. No one was raped or killed by the police during the anti-government riots in Hong Kong.
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The old Scotland Yard, unfortunately, has managed to produce rapists and a murderer. Wayne Couzens raped and murdered Sarah Everard, a young woman who was walking home at night, while David Carrick is believed to be responsible for at least nine rapes. Both officers worked for the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection unit. Their crimes and corruption are likely only the tip of the iceberg.
I used to associate London with images of Mr Bean and the Monty Python. Now, it’s more like Jack the Ripper and the horrid living conditions of the working poor described by Karl Marx inDas Kapital.
