stefan: -- stephen: it is unprecedented, and carrie lam is evoking emergency powers to delay the legislativeouncil elections, which were due to be held on september 6. there was speculation that this was due to the delay, the postponement would be due to the fact that the pro-democracy candidates have a lot of wind in their sales and they could perhaps take many of the seats in the legislative council elections. so there is speculation on the pro-democracy camp that this was done to counter that. ment is, the govern saying that there is a third wave of virus infections, and that is why they are delaying this. it could be up to a year, and that would deliver a severe blow to the pro-democracy camp. francine: will people buy that, that this is purely on health reasons? stephen: does it matter whether they buy it or not is the question. this is coming down from the central government in beijing. the latest headline says carrie lam says the election delay is supported by the central government. you asked me the question an hour ago, is beijing calling the shots. clearly on these matters, the cen