Singapore, Hong Kong face happiness deficit

Hong Kong and Singapore are rivals on many fronts. The two former British colonies compete for everything from tourist dollars to stockmarket listings and the right to host the regional headquarters of international corporations.

IP students turning to customised tuition

Back to school. And back to tuition, even for students of the integrated programmes (IP) at the best schools.

Why let facts get in the way of reel life?

Real life is never good enough for Hollywood when it comes to making movies that are said to be "based on a true story". "Based" is a slippery word, which allows the screenwriter a gilt-edged licence to distort, often when the real heroes are not American.

S'poreans joyless? Gallup survey was flawed

IF BRAIN scientist Gemma Calvert has her way, surveys such as the recent Gallup poll that found Singaporeans to be joyless, or at least chary of expressing what they feel, will be a thing of the past.

Why China frets about revolution

THE Chinese Communist Party (CCP) must have smelt revolution in the air. Its new disciplinary chief Wang Qishan has urged party members to read Alexis de Tocqueville's The Old Regime And The Revolution, the French historian's treatise on the 1789 French Revolution.