"A rollercoaster ride with some hellish dips along the way"

That's HK Financial Times correspondent Tom Mitchell's assessment of HK's economic progress since the handover in 97. I wasn't quite expecting such, shall we say, candid remarks when I spoke to him. Nevertheless, its turned into my most memorable interview yet. Please see below for more pearls of wisdom from Tom, who's been based in the territory for 15 years. Take a bow, Mr Mitchell.

1. "In terms of bilateral trade, does HK affect the mainland more, or vice versa?"

"Well, we certainly import many things from the mainland that we need to keep things running here. Every once in a while, we import things that we wish we hadn't, like SARS."


2. "What does Hong Kong need to focus on in the years ahead in order to stay competitive?"

"It needs to do something about the pollution that blows over from the mainland, because its a big deterrent to investors setting up shop here. Investors who don't want their kids to get asthma won't come here. There are some days I look out the window and I can't even see the river, and I wish I was in Singapore."

"It also needs to do something about education, because language standards here are just abysmal."