It’s not just talk – a Hong Kong resident who’s spent years living in the UK recently posted about nine big headaches with life there, and public safety shot straight to the top of the list.
It struck a nerve with lots of folks. Take it from a friend in the legal game who’s spent time in Britain: crooks there are growing bolder by the year, and their antics are getting wild.
Two recent cases are enough to make anyone flinch.
First, thieves snatched pricey watches from the wealthy right outside an exclusive club in a buzzing neighbourhood – this isn’t an isolated event, mind you, it’s become routine and Rolex is the big target.
Crooks snatch high-end watches from America’s elite right outside London’s Mayfair Club – Rolexes are their favourite catch.
Second, some bandits wheeled in a crane truck and hoisted an ATM right off the street from inside a shop, loaded it onto a lorry, and poof – gone. What do both incidents have in common? No police in sight, criminals acting without fear, and now they’re even more daring after tasting easy success.
Thieves roll up with a crane truck, haul an ATM clear out of a supermarket, and vanish – can you believe it?
Hong Kong, on the other hand, stands firm with “police deterrence” – crooks here actually have to think twice before acting out, and it shows. On the “Global Safety Rankings,” the UK sits rungs below Hong Kong, proving exactly why we edge them out.
Rolex Ripped in Mayfair: High Society Targeted
Let’s dig into the luxury watch robbery first.
A US business exec headed to London for meetings at the famous Mayfair Club, where the members are the crème de la crème – kind of like the Hong Kong Club in Central. The exec hops off a cab nearby, walks toward the entrance, only to have two men tracking him. As he reaches the main door, they pounce and fight for his watch. After a few seconds of chaos, his Rolex is gone – thieves sprint to a waiting car and speed off.
The shocked exec put it all on Instagram later, admitting his watch is still missing. London police handling the case say this outside-Mayfair-club-watch-snatched routine keeps happening. His advice? Anyone visiting these glitzy spots especially with Christmas and New Year around the corner – watch your back, quite literally.
Media in Britain quickly dug up fresh stats from the Metropolitan Police: rich watches have eclipsed smartphones as the new criminal jackpot. From Jan 2022 to July 2025, a whopping 5,280 high-end watches have been swiped or stolen, each worth about £3,000 (HK$31,000). The robbers’ top pick? Rolex – 1,788 snatched, followed by Cartier (285), then Omega, Breitling, and Hublot. These guys know exactly what sells and, rumor has it, the loot goes overseas for fat profits.
ATM Gone by Crane: Nighttime Heist Stuns Residents
Now for the story that really makes your jaw drop. Last Sunday near 1 AM, folks upstairs hear weird noises and, peeking out, spot a crane truck with its boom lifting a seriously large chunk. Turns out it’s an ATM from inside a Sainsbury’s. The crooks smash doors, drag the ATM out, swing it onto a white lorry, and calmly drive off into the night.
The resident filming the whole thing calls the cops, but the masked thieves only need seven minutes to vanish, leaving the stolen crane truck behind. By the time police arrive, the lorry’s disappeared – still missing, as I write.
Brazen robberies in London aren’t news anymore. Last year, over 100,000 phones were stolen or snatched from locals and tourists, with barely any recovered. Under mounting public pressure, the police finally took action and smashed a phone-stealing gang that’s believed to have shipped 40,000 stolen phones out of the country last year alone.
Thieves get away with so much because police are simply ineffective. Most times, officers just record reports and let things slide. A British Retail Consortium survey found 61% of shop owners rate cops’ case handling as “poor” or “very poor.” If criminals know they’re unlikely to get caught, why wouldn’t they keep pushing the limit?
Hong Kong’s Policing: Quick Action, Real Results
There’s cause and effect here – Hong Kong’s police solve crimes fast and have arrest rates to match, which is why our global safety ranking towers over the UK. Consider this: the global database Numbeo published its mid-2025 “Safe Index by Country 2025 Mid-Year”, putting Hong Kong at 8th in the world, the Chinese Mainland at 12th, with the UK trailing at 86th and the US even worse at 91st.
TVB has just rolled out a show called “Discover Hong Kong’s Finest.” Frankly, Hong Kong beating the UK on public security by miles is a “Finest” we should all be talking about.
Lai Ting-yiu
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** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
Today, December 7, marks the second election since the Legislative Council finally got back on track. Today, I can’t shake the memory of how a "deformed democracy" ravaged this chamber for years. It was a malignancy—a tumor growing from within—that trapped us in endless chaos and nearly destroyed Hong Kong. This nightmare remains burned into my mind.
Let’s look at the receipts from those insane years. Three absurd realities prove how a tidal wave of radicalism washed away a functioning Council. First, post-"Occupy Central," a crop of "political stars" rode a wave of extremism to besiege LegCo, degrading election quality for years. Second, during the "Black Violence" era, District Councils devolved into a "destroyers' paradise" of unprecedented disorder. Third, to appease radical voters, Pan-democrats hijacked the House Committee election for six months, paralyzing governance. The Council became an endangered structure on the verge of collapse, dragging government operations down with it. Without the Central Government stepping in to restore order, Hong Kong was finished. To stop history from repeating, everyone needs to vote on December 7.
The truth is, this "deformed democracy" was rotting the soil of Hong Kong politics long before "Occupy Central." The British government deliberately planted "election landmines," allowing politicians using unorthodox methods to rise. They realized the game: be radical, be outrageous, be uncouth, and you get votes. Figures like Wong Yuk-man, Albert Chan, and "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung seized power this way. Once that door opened, the Council’s normal operations were destroyed, turning the chamber into a mud-wrestling pit.
That was just the prelude. The subversion peaked with the 6th Legislative Council election following the 2014 "Occupy Central" movement. Driven by a passion for "rebellion," masses of young people blindly voted for fresh faces who built their brands on radicalism, ignoring their complete lack of ability or track record. The result? First-time winners included "Localist" figures dripping with "Hong Kong Independence" sentiment like Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching, alongside "Occupy" student leader Nathan Law.
Oath-Taking Circus: Post-"Occupy" radicals Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching stormed the chamber advocating independence, turning solemn oaths into a disgraceful farce.
The "Open House" of Radical Chaos
Worse still, opportunists within the Pan-democrat camp saw this worked and jumped into the fray. The prime examples were the notoriously "uncouth and aggressive" Ted Hui and the self-proclaimed radical environmentalist Eddie Chu.
When Baggio Leung, Yau Wai-ching, and Nathan Law stormed the Council, political insiders told me the candidacy door had been flung too wide. It became an "unguarded open house"—easy to enter, hard to clear out—guaranteeing chaos. Fortunately, their greed for victory blinded them to the risks. They played games with their inaugural oaths, effectively playing themselves into a corner and getting disqualified (DQ).
Even after they were ousted, the "miracle" of their election accelerated the degradation of our politics. Fanatical voters continued to back incompetent politicians just to vent rebellious angst. Even younger members of the traditional Pan-democrats started acting out to cater to this new taste. Ted Hui is the textbook example: violently snatching a female civil servant's phone and throwing foul-smelling filth in the Chamber. It became a competition of who could be the most radical, obstructing bills and making livelihood administration nearly impossible.
By 2019, when the anti-extradition bill unrest broke out, the Council became a disaster zone. Then came the second absurdity. During the November District Council elections, held amidst turmoil, radical candidates swarmed to grab seats. At the same time, "black-clad people" physically attacked Establishment opponents with beatings, arson, and intimidation. They won the majority, reducing the District Councils to a "destroyers' paradise." Long-serving community councilors were wiped out, marking an unprecedented and unbearable degradation of our institutions.
Filth in the Chamber: "Uncouth" politician Ted Hui proved his disruptive intent by literally throwing foul-smelling rot during a Council meeting.
Paralyzing the System From Within
Inside LegCo, Pan-democrats brought the street riots into the Chamber, competing to perform "radical shows." The most absurd spectacle was Civic Party member Dennis Kwok holding the House Committee Chairman election hostage. He "played games" for over half a year. Sixteen meetings passed without electing a chairman, blocking massive amounts of government bills. Forced by the situation, even moderate Pan-democrats joined the madness, turning the Chamber into a real-life version of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
Recently, some claim the reformed Legislative Council has lost its monitoring function. This is 100% a fallacy. The Council back then was thoroughly wrecked; normal operations were paralyzed. What monitoring was there? Government administration was dragged down, pushing us to the brink of "mutual destruction" (laam caau).
Thankfully, the Central Government stepped in at the critical moment to pull the Council back on the right track. If "deformed democracy" had continued, Hong Kong would have derailed and fallen off a cliff, destroyed in a single day.
To prevent this painful history from repeating, everyone must vote enthusiastically on December 7. Support the Legislative Council moving forward on the correct track.
Lai Ting-yiu
