BRIEFINGS

Pricey liquor latest crackdown victim

The shrapnel from the Chinese Communist Party instructions to its members and officials to stop living like little emperors at public expense continues to ricochet through the country’s luxury goods and services markets. As previously reported here, high- end restaurants and jewelry stores were the first to feel the pinch, though some state- owned companies have counterattacked by turning their office canteens into five- star restaurants and hiring five- star chefs. The latest victim of the curb on luxuries is that favourite of Chinese banquet toastmasters, the famous Moutai liquor. Sina Finance reported last week that demand for Feitan Moutai has dropped so dramatically that the company has been forced to drop the price by more than 60 per cent in order to try to attract a wider circle of customers. And some liquor stores have stopped stocking expensive brands like Moutai in anticipation that prices will fall further before officials find ways around the new rules and the luxury trade picks up again.

More Singaporeans are in foul mood

Singaporeans seem to be in a grumpy and rude mood at the moment. As might be expected in a place where social engineering is an art form, the Lion City has the Singapore Kindness Movement. Each year in January this organization polls Singaporeans on their experience of acts of kindness from fellow citizens. From this the Kindness Movement draws up its Graciousness Index. Well, Singaporeans are a lot less gracious this year than they were last. Last year 74 per cent of those polled reported receiving or witnessing acts of graciousness. This year the record was only 52 per cent.

Young Thai men face draft lottery

Thailand was the scene last week of an annual lottery that for many of them is a frightening experience. The lottery, staged at the army recruitment centres across the country, allows winners to escape the conscription faced by all young men over 21. That’s if they draw a black card. But if they draw a red card they will serve the full two years, with the possibility of getting posted to Thailand’s southern provinces where there is an ongoing insurrection by Muslim ethnic Malay separatists. And even if recruits don’t get posted to the south, there’s always the possibility of getting embroiled in Thai politics, in which army generals have a habit of getting involved, not always peacefully. Not everyone of conscription age takes part in the lottery. Many volunteer for the army, in which case they only have to serve six months.