From my new home
Saturday, December 19, 2009
I moved into my new apartment in Shanghai yesterday and, as this is the first post from there, I have raised the new masthead. Sadly, my virtual private network doesn't work yet so - as Typepad and other blogging platforms are blocked here - I have write-only access to my blog. I can post, but I can't see what I have posted! If you see typos or other errors, please do point them out to me by email so that I can remedy them.
I shall not be posting about politics or society in China. Not only do I know too little to comment intelligently, I am only a guest here. As such, I consider myself bound by the laws of hospitality. Having observed that rule in Russia for 7 years, I guess I am now at liberty to comment on events in that country. I shall give some thought to that. Essentially, however, the Last Ditch is about civil liberties in Britain. If any government has cause to be offended with me, it is likely to be my own!
Posting will be light until I sort out my VPN access, not because I can't post but because I can't read many of the sources from which I get my news and ideas. I hope fellow-bloggers will also excuse me if I don't comment on their blogs for a while. Right now, I can't read them (except RSS feeds) so - although I may be bursting to do so - I am unable to chip in.
My new neighbours have kindly invited me to their Christmas party tonight, so the adventure of life in a foreign land begins. New places, new people, new ideas.
I'm also planning to move to China this year. I'm very nervous this my first time to live in a foreign land. The good news about it is that I'll be enjoying the new places and new friends.
Posted by: Port Douglas hotels | Thursday, January 07, 2010 at 10:41 AM
Surely the relevant point is that China's government is clearly NOT a matter for her own people. They've got no say. They get gunned down in the streets when they try to have a say.
Posted by: Andrew Scott | Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Britain is my country and it's not merely my right but my civic duty to criticise its government when it attacks (as the current government frequently has) my liberties and those of my fellow-citizens. China's government is a matter for her own people.
Posted by: Tom | Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 01:35 AM
It's surely going to take some awesome tunnel vision or something to be complaining about "the death of liberty" in Britain while living in China and not complaining about civil liberties in China. Sounds a bit like living in a Gulag and criticising conditions in a cosy little open prison. How long until comments like this don't make it through, or disappear? Will be interesting.
Posted by: Andrew Scott | Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 11:34 PM
You must have been quite taken aback there but now all is well. I imagined you rushing to a hotel and renting a room, simply to get online access to the outside world. I wonder if that would be a first or if it is done quite regularly given the control that is wielded over the internet in China.
Posted by: JMB | Saturday, December 19, 2009 at 07:31 PM