Tag

Paul Yip

Nov 30
0

Understand the full range of Muslim viewpoints – beyond the shrill headlines and biased social media

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Stephen Tsang & Paul Yip

Stephen Tsang and Paul Yip warn against succumbing to the easy answers informed by a simplistic understanding of Muslim thinking, in the wake of deadly terrorist violence

In the wake of the Paris atrocities and the imminent threat of more attacks, we are surrounded by a growing number of talking heads and cleverly worded posts and hashtags on social media telling us what to do and how to think: “Pray for Paris”, “Don’t pray for Paris”, “Islam is for peace”, “Islam is sharia”, “Islam is IS”. In such an environment, we find ourselves wanting to do something. However, it is important to make an informed choice. Having a too simplistic view of such a complicated conflict is inane. We need an educated viewpoint; we need to see past all the emotion-laden pictures.

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Nov 11
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On Second Thought: Hong Kong must develop abilities of less gifted youngsters

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Paul Yip

A new joint-school career-planning initiative called “Shape Our Future: WeCan! – Project WeCan Career Exploration Day” hosted by Wharf Holdings was launched last month. The programme serves about 50 schools in the current school year. The programme targets Form Four students and aims to enhance students’ self-understanding and motivation in career planning, and offers vocational assessments, job tasters, star talks, workshops and consultation sessions for students, teachers and parents.

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Nov 04
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Two-child policy is essential if China is to avoid a demographic crisis

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Paul Yip

Beijing’s announcement that it is relaxing its 35-year-old one-child policy should be welcomed. It is a timely and correct decision; hopefully, it can mitigate the ageing pressure in China and avoid the potential demographic crisis arising from a very skewed and unsustainable population distribution.

At present, about 15 per cent of China’s population is aged 60 or over and that figure is expected to double by 2050.

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Oct 24
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Hong Kong’s poverty rate may have fallen, but has people’s quality of life risen?

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Paul Yip

The recent summit on poverty provided some encouraging news on alleviating the problem. Taking into account recurrent government cash benefits, the poverty rate dipped from 19.6 per cent to 14.3 per cent last year, and the number of poor people was the lowest in six years.

The poverty rate – the proportion of households earning less than half the median household income – is a relative one. The increase in the number of older adults and single-parent households over the past decade has made it harder to reduce the poverty rate, as these households are often worse off than the general population.

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Oct 08
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Can Hong Kong rise to the challenge of changes to its population dynamics?

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Paul Yip

Paul Yip says a sound policy is essential for a sustainable future, given alarming projections showing a decline in numbers due to low fertility rates, fewer migrants and a rising grey tide.

According to its present trajectory, Hong Kong’s population will rise from 7.24 million to 8.22 million by 2043 and then enter a phase of depopulation. That is mainly due to extremely low fertility and an expected reduction in the number of migrants into Hong Kong over the next 30 years. At the same time, the proportion of older adults (aged 65 or over) is set to increase from the present 14 per cent to more than 30 per cent by 2043, whereas the size of the working population will decrease starting from 2018.

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Oct 02
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Opportunities for all: Hong Kong University catering project allows disabled to thrive

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Paul Yip

Campus catering project shows how to bring the best out of everyone by embracing diversity

Our students’ learning experience has been significantly enhanced due to the excellent environment in the new Centennial Campus. The services (including catering and recreation) available to students and staff have improved substantially. There is a greater choice of food, including produce provided by social enterprises.

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Sep 27
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How Hong Kong’s ageing population is making it more challenging to help the city’s poor

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Paul Yip & Jacky Wong

The government’s summit next month on alleviating poverty is an important opportunity to take stock and identify ways to work for the betterment of the community. We need to have an accurate understanding of the situation in formulating focused measures to alleviate poverty.

A person is defined as poor if his/her household income is below the poverty line, which is set at half the median household income in Hong Kong. It is a relative measure rather than an absolute one; there is always going to be a certain proportion of the population below that level. Hence the rate itself may not be able to accurately describe the change in the poverty situation in Hong Kong.

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Sep 07
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Trams are a vital transport link for Hong Kong’s disadvantaged

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Paul Yip & Sha Feng

Paul Yip and Sha Feng say scrapping this low-cost and convenient mode of transport would hit some Hong Kong people hard, and planners should care about more than just congestion

The proposal to remove tram services between Central and Admiralty to ease congestion has aroused much discussion in the community. It is in fact much more than just a transport issue. A study of transport and social exclusion in the UK in 2003, for example, showed that transport is intrinsically linked to many social policy issues, such as unemployment, public health, the environment, education and urban development.

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Jul 15
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Gender equality is good not just for the economy, but also society’s overall health

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Paul Yip & Stephen Tsang

One of the most exhaustive studies on the relationship between women and health was published in The Lancet recently. Analysing data from 32 countries, accounting for 52 per cent of the world’s population, it also highlights women’s contribution to the health care industry as both consumers and providers. It calculated their financial contribution to global health care to be around US$3 trillion, of which nearly half is unpaid and unrecognised.

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