Hong Kongers have great experience with Mother Britain turning its back on its erstwhile colonials. In the lead-up to 1997 and with overblown fears of hoardes of wealthy Hong Kongers fleeing to London and Liverpool, the UK came up with a wheeze to deny HKers British citizenship. Instead they offered ersatz passports called British National Overseas, which are passports without citizenship. It was a disgusting episode by the British and a funny way to say thank you to one of its more successful colonies.

And now they are doing it again. The Nepalese Ghurkas, considered good enough to join the British army and risk life and limb for the Queen, have until now been denied citizenship by the British. Tony Blair has given in to immense pressure and now allowed Ghurkas whom have served in the British armed forces the right to citizenship. With a catch. The law will apply only to those demobilised after July 1, 1997. Not co-incidently, this is the day that Hong Kong was handed back to China. To see why, we need to go over some history:

The Gurkhas have served in the British army since 1815 when they impressed officers with their valiant defence against British invasion.

The brigade was transferred to Hong Kong from Malaysia in the 1970s to help quell Chinese-communist fomented political unrest. Some 7,500 were stationed here in 1997, but ahead of the handover Britain trimmed to brigade's numbers by some 5,000, the rest being redeployed around the world.

About half those demobbed remained in the city, taking advantage of the Beijing-backed government's offer of right of abode.