星期日, 1月 30, 2011

星期二, 1月 25, 2011

貪得無厭

菜園村很特殊,但不應享有特權

(明報)2011年1月25日

【明報專訊】近日,政府在菜園村展開收地工作,由於有村民和支持者抗拒,與工作人員接連衝突。政府就高鐵工程,要收回菜園村的土地,事態幾經周折,村民在賠償、安置以至覓地建新村復耕等安排,獲得較特殊對待,政府應做的已經做了。村民的搬村進度,現在因為與原地主就路權費爭議,出現阻滯,據知村民要求政府插手處理。我們認為,政府介入土地交易,絕不恰當,菜園村村民應自行解決。菜園村在特定時空,有其特殊的一面,但是不應因而享有特權。

路權費價錢爭議

政府不應介入議價

整個菜園村收地過程,被賦予太多意義。主要因為政府高價興建高鐵,民間本已反響甚大,結合菜園村的村居耕種,生活情調引人嚮往,在本土意識高漲之際,成為保育人士一個絕佳議題。在一場社會運動儼然形成之際,政府迫於形勢調整政策,對菜園村村民多所讓步,村民獲特殊對待,以非原居民鄉村身分,獲政府協助以易地建村復耕方式搬村。

政府為免節外生枝,慷慨地賠償給菜園村村民,因為多用了公帑,不少人對政府的做法有微詞,認為過於慷慨,創下先例,使得日後在新界收地發展,成本或會大增。政府為補償約400名菜園村村民,合共批出2.5億元,包括土地賠償1.6億多元,特惠津貼7000多萬元,農作物特惠津貼1300多萬元。經過賠償之後,個別村民擁有逾千萬家財,有住客破格獲安排入住公共房屋,有村民收錢後,毋須經過資產審查,獲協助購置居屋單位。至於搬村方面,行政會議 成員劉皇發 相信是秉承政府的意思,居中協調村民購置土地。

諸如此類的安排,與政府慣常做法比較,都是較特殊的,因此,菜園村在這個特定時空,顯得特別,它是一條特別的鄉村。政府以特例方式處理菜園村收地和相關事宜,迄今所知、所見,可以說是應賠的賠,要做的都已經做了。近日收地工作所觸發事故,我們認為主要並非政府的責任。

不少菜園村村民收到賠償後,雖然已經各自安排日後生活,並已安頓下來,但是據知仍有47戶村民參與集體搬村,要保留耕種生活形態;村民合資約2000萬元,在錦田元崗村和大窩村買了15萬方呎土地,作為新村建屋和耕種之用。不過,由於路權費問題,村民與原地主爭議不下,事態進展遇到阻滯。原地主所提方案,據知包括一筆過500萬元路權費,或是讓原地主回購1.2萬呎土地,路權費則收30萬元,有關方案,哪一個對村民或原地主有利,外人難以置喙。

各方舉措合理與否

檢驗事態唯一標準

接連收地衝突之後,記者採訪村民,他們都表達要求政府介入路權費爭議。路權費是土地價值的一部分,實質就是價錢,涉及私人土地買賣價格爭議,看不到政府可以什麼角色介入。政府若應菜園村村民要求插手路權費,最大可能是要求原地主減價,但是政府憑什麼向原地主壓價?其實,我們認為,路權費應該多少才合理,「市價」是一個客觀參考標準,若菜園村村民認為不合理,可以請專業人士或機構(例如仲裁機構)等,作客觀獨立評估,然後公告周知,讓市民評斷。現在村民強要政府插手,就政府而言於法無據,於理也不合。

檢視菜園村收地風波,只有一個標準──就是合理與否。如果合理,就要支持,如果不合理,就要反對。從賠償和相關安排,村民獲得合理待遇,至於村民要求政府介入路權費爭議,我們認為不合理。至於政府,由於對村民已經悉數賠償,就法律而言,現在菜園村全部土地已為政府所有,屬於公共財產,不過,基於村民搬村在安排中,政府分階段展開收地,迄今所收回八成半土地,並未觸及仍在村內居住村民的居所,只要工程進度許可,政府寬限村民搬出,是合理安排。

菜園村村民本來去年10月中已經要遷出交地,現在參與集體復耕村民仍然住在村內,然則讓他們耽擱多久才合理?我們認為,政府應該訂出一個合理時限。即使菜園村情况特殊,但是村民並無長期霸佔公地的特權。

有道理走遍天下,無道理寸步難行。菜園村事件發展到現在,只剩下合理與否的標準,對於村民和政府都是一個考驗,而哪一方較合理,哪一方不合理,事態都攤在陽光下,由全港市民來檢驗。

星期一, 1月 10, 2011

收拳

有沒有試過,谷盡氣力打出一拳,當拳頭碰到對方的一剎,突然想到一些事情便即刻收拳?那等於用雙倍力吃了自己的一拳,很傷很傷。

最近我吃了這麽的一拳。

沒辦法,性格使然。

對不起,你贏,我認輸。

努力學習管束情緒中… 再去踩多轉車…

星期六, 1月 08, 2011

為甚麽我不喜歡戶口過數

個幾月前,我差點被鯊魚吞咗落肚,已身處鲨魚口中嘅我,能夠走番出嚟嘅動力,係健身中心嘅收錢方式。佢哋唔接受一次過付款,只接受每兩星期從銀行戶口過數,一聽到呢度,我就醒番晒,即刻走夾唔唞。點解我死都唔肯用呢種付款方式呢?最大原因係無保障。加拿大CBC電台琴晚有篇報導,正正係講顧客取消會藉後仍被健身中心扣數,吁!好彩。

Premier Fitness Leads in gym complaints: report

Ontario-based Premier Fitness, one of the country's largest private fitness chains, also came out as a leader when CBC-TV's Marketplace asked consumers about overcharging by gyms.

The biggest issue to emerge from a national survey is that Premier continued with automatic withdrawals from bank accounts or charged the credit cards of many consumers who said they had already cancelled their memberships.

As well as the Marketplace survey, a cross-country poll on private fitness facilities was conducted by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of the show. It found that 39 per cent of people who joined a fitness club said they had issues with overcharging. The poll, conducted online between Oct. 12 and 18, included a total of 2,004 adults, of whom 738 were current or former gym members.

Based on the poll and feedback from survey respondents, it's estimated various Canadian fitness businesses have taken half-a-billion dollars from consumers in overcharges over time.

Toronto resident Norm Jezioranski, one of the consumers who spoke to Marketplace, continued to be charged by Premier for three years after he cancelled his membership at the company's Davenport facility.

He even went to small claims court for the more than $2,000 he said the gym owed him, and won. But the gym didn't pay up.

"Apparently when a judge orders you to do something, there's a lot more that you can do in terms of dragging your feet," he told Marketplace.

"Honestly, I almost feel like these fitness clubs are above the law," he said.

When Jezioranski made his final trip to small claims court, no one from the gym showed up. However, following the Marketplace investigation, Jezioranski received a cheque for $2,100 from Premier.

Danielle Marchese of Burlington, Ont., never expected to find unauthorized charges coming out of her bank account after she paid by cheque for her membership at a Premier facility in the city.

"Sometimes it happens. People have unauthorized payments coming out of their accounts so I thought, 'Oh OK, I'll pay by cheque. That won't happen to me, I'll pay in full."

However, after cancelling her membership, Marchese noticed a charge coming out of her bank account every two weeks, under the name P-S-C.

She went to her bank, assuming that it was some kind of service charge.

"They said, 'That's not us, it's your gym.' So I don't belong to a gym anymore and they said, 'Yup, yup.' And they actually were not surprised because I guess it's happened to a lot of people."

Marchese set up an appointment to meet the manager of the gym to try to recover the $200 that had been taken from her account.

The manager didn't show up. Instead, she met with a sales representative, and Marketplace was there too, with a hidden camera.

During the discussion, the sales rep admitted there had been billing problems at the gym.

"It has happened. I'm not going to sit here and play like it hasn't. It has," she told Marchese.

During an interview, an official with Premier said it had no proof that Marchese had ever cancelled her membership.

Marketplace also discovered that when signing up for a membership, cash doesn't cut it, because what Premier Fitness really wants is a customer's bank information.

When customers pay in cash, they're still asked to leave banking information. Otherwise, according to salespeople with the gym, they won't get a commission.

Former trainer and Premier Fitness manager Craig Thompson says he saw a similar pattern at all four of the company's locations where he worked.

"Started noticing some real strange activity, like mainly the cancellations," he told Marketplace. "I knew I sent up requests for cancellation, but it wasn't done. And it would just sit there for maybe three, four months, and then they would cancel it."

"It made no sense to me," he said.

Thompson couldn't get any answers from head office when he complained on behalf of his customers.

"We call the office and there's no answer. We don't get a response because I guess we're not really supposed to know."

Neil Proctor, a partner in the Premier Fitness chain, bristles at any suggestion the company is doing anything wrong.

"I'm disappointed in the picture you're trying to paint of our company," he told Marketplace 's Tom Harrington.

"We cancel 35,000 people per year. We process the paper, we cancel people — 35,000, that's a lot. That doesn't indicate to me a company that doesn't cancel people. It's ridiculous."

However, the company's practices were enough to catch the attention of the Hamilton police fraud squad in 2004, when the unit was headed by Mark Simchison.

"We had reams and reams of information from consumers who had been victimized," he told Marketplace.

"I mean that got our backs up and said, 'OK, is this a glitch in the system or is this fraud?'"

The case was eventually dropped because the police couldn't prove that anyone at Premier had issued a directive to keep charging customers after they had cancelled.

Proctor defends the company's record, as well as its practices, including using only the initials P-S-C on bank charges.

"What you're insinuating is that it's vague and people wouldn't notice it," he told Harrington. "My answer to that is, if you read your bank statement and there's something on there that you totally don't understand, you ask and find out."

On the need for a customer's banking information — even when a person pays upfront in cash — Proctor explains it as a contractual issue, that allows people to secure a favourable rate.

"We've contracted to do something, we need billing information to carry out that contract," he said. "It's for no other purpose other than to facilitate the contract that our member has asked us to enter into with them.

"There's no intent ever to bill people improperly, to bill people without their authorization, to hold, to not process their cancellation. It's absurd," he said.

Proctor said anyone who has issues with the fitness centre should first go to the club and speak to the manager. If the consumer is still not satisfied, he or she can talk to head office.

星期五, 1月 07, 2011

個人影評

「看了戏了吧!?」

「让思绪飞一会儿。」

冇嘢講。如懂中國內情,應該會睇得更加過瘾。

「讓子彈飛」,還會再看多次的。

星期四, 1月 06, 2011

殘局



中國象棋正合我意,所以今篇我嘅身份係「事後塘邊鶴」。

一,香港街頭其實有好多姜太公擺殘局。

二,殘局係專昆人入局,表面佈置成黑棋一步即嬴,但內裡暗藏玄機。細心睇,紅棋其實係一步一方逼住黑棋走。而且,唔好忘記紅棋行先,和局紅棋勝。

三,我都見過人捉殘局,但未曾見過黑棋嬴。

四,輸錢係學生仔居多。

五,片中事主話俾人移咗棋,呢個係事主責任,而且移咗黑車,成盤棋又唔同捉法,黑棋反而勝算大大提高。因為黑車可以食紅車,之後黑棋總有單車單炮加雙馬,紅棋則只有馬炮兵,黑棋赢面達九成九。

六,事主年少氣盛,只留意拉後黑炮將軍,並無睇清楚其他棋子位置。

七,姜太公釣魚,願者上釣,而且棋盤一早放置好任人預先觀摩,沒有隱瞞,怎可能說是騙局呢?

八,戰術分析(主要針對片段留言所講的兩步,歡迎賜教。):

3分14秒,為何紅炮食黑馬,而不用紅車食黑馬將軍?
如果紅車食黑馬將軍,黑炮回底擋車反將紅帥,就算紅車回防,黑車食紅車再將紅帥,紅棋輸。

3分18秒,為何移黑車捉紅炮,而不拉後黑炮將紅帥?
如果拉後黑炮將紅帥,紅炮回底擋黑車反將黑將,黑棋輸。

九,呢盤名為「小紅馬」嘅殘局,紅棋一開始就立於不敗之地。

十,又,試問每舖残局又何嘗唔係咁呢?如果唔係,又點會有咁多姜太公出嚟揾食?

星期日, 1月 02, 2011

星期六, 1月 01, 2011

個人影評

新曆元誕夜煲咗呢套電影,「非诚勿扰2」。

故事都係圍繞秦奮同笑笑嘅(愛)情線兜圈,試婚試到要分,到分開後經歷過香山嘅死別後,才以「人生太短,將錯就錯」為由再度復合作為完結。我總覺得,好似係有啲揾故仔嚟講嘅感覺。一開始,笑笑只係對秦奮有好感,試婚到底係想試吓大家嘅生活習慣夾唔夾,抑或係培養感(愛)情呢?呢一點秦奮都有提過。兩個人响無愛情或感情嘅基楚下試婚,而且大家想尋找嘅嘢唔同,最後都係失敗收場。睇完成套戲,由始至終,我都唔覺得秦奮同笑笑嘅感情有幾深厚,反而香山同芒果、秦奮同香山呢兩段男女同男人之間嘅感情總精彩。香山同芒果嘅離婚,「散買賣不散交情」,離婚後是親人而不是陌路人。秦奮在香山人生嘅尾段時仍尊重香山嘅尊嚴,男人間嘅互信同肝膽相照,比起秦奮同笑笑嘅男女之情,對我來說總有感染力。

香山嘅人生告别會係講人生哲理,「活著是一種修行」、「死是另一種存在,相對於生,只會生活是一種殘缺」、「婚姻怎樣選擇都是錯,長久的婚姻就是將錯就錯」,不特别感動,只有香山女兒為爸爸唸的那首詩觸動到我。人生告别會呢個意念幾特別,死前同親朋摯友道別,比起死後由親朋摯友搞悼念會來得有意義得多。

「非2」故事唔多吸引,吸引到我有三點,一係舒淇。舒淇唔算靚,但舉手投足同說話語氣吸引死人。二係孫紅雷同姚晨繼「潛伏」後再續戲緣,孫紅雷响劇中最搶戲。三係秦奮山上租住果間獨立屋,入屋先經懸空鐵索橋,相信建造此屋佔去大部份製作費。但又有乜所謂吖,除票房外,呢間屋最後都係有賺。

「非2」片尾總留有條小尾巴,如果真係有「非3」,我就完全無期望啦。