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Now, for those of us who've been on holiday, it's back to work, although when I listen to one or two commentators there's apparently nothing left for us to do. That familiar old pet, the lame duck, has come quacking out of the house of political clichés. He was first sighted many years ago. Would you believe it, my distinguished predecessor the energetic and decisive Lord Maclehose was the first Governor to earn this sobriquet. After him the much loved Teddy Youde had the same things said about him. Then, too, my immediate predecessor, David Wilson. The lame duck quacks on. Firing a few shots into his feathers won't prevent his re-appearance. A lot of people find it easier to talk than think. But let's try to give his life a little context.
What's true? It's true, for a start, that a Governor of Hong Kong won't ever return from his summer holidays again. The fact that I'm the last of one breed, and my successor is the first of another, imposes a reality on events which it would be ludicrous to deny. Increasingly, the tough questions will be directed towards my successor, because he or she will have to answer for what happens from the second half of next year onwards. And my successor will have to give a vision for the future, in the same way that in 1992 when I arrived here I set out what I wanted to do - keeping our economy strong and competitive, opening up government and making it more accountable, putting in place more protection for our civil liberties as promised in the Joint Declaration, developing our social and educational programmes in a way we could afford. In short, ensuring that Hong Kong remained prosperous, socially and politically stable, and free.
But my shelf-life ends at the end of June, next year. No one seeks to prolong that, whatever the imaginative conspiracy theorists and the Communist press may say. 28th and last Governor means just that - 28th and last.
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But what that does not mean - forgive the double negative is that there's nothing left to do. Let me tell you what is going to keep me and my administration very busy for the next 10 months. I identify 5 main tasks.
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First, we have to govern Hong Kong as well as we can. Government - good public administration should be a seamless robe. We couldn't simply close down the government for the next 10 months and hope that it could be switched on again, like a sports coupe under winter wraps, next summer. We have to ensure that the economy stays strong; that investors stay confident; that the fight against inflation goes on; that the fight for greater competitiveness continues; that we see off the doomsters and any speculative sharks.
And we have to keep Hong Kong safe and orderly, too. Driving crime down. Fighting drugs. Hitting the triads. Supporting our police.