and the idea that cy leung should be regretting that is for the birds.pposed. i know, but... is the uk in a position to criticise? yes. and i'll tell you why. hong kong was different from any other colony. we weren't in a position where we were preparing it for independence because part of it was held on a lease and it was always being returned to china. and when, in the �*50s and �*60s, occasionally, british governments used to talk about a faster pace of democratisation in hong kong, the chinese, including chairman lai, on one occasion, said, "you can't do that. "if you do that, people in hong kong will get "the impression they're being prepared for independence, "and they�* re not. "they're coming back to the motherland." in the 1980s, however, partly because of the joint declaration and partly because people said, "well, if there isn't going to be "an arbitration mechanism, "we better do something about democracy," we did start to pick up the pace of democratisation and the number of directly elected seats was increased. it is true that when i was ru