The people of Hong Kong are still out there on the streets demonstrating, illegally but charmingly, for full democracy for their state within a state. They want free elections and object to Beijing imposing a list of ‘suitable’ candidates on Hong Kong. China must be worried that the demonstrators raised all those umbrellas against the heavy-handed use of tear gas. Umbrellas, civilised, decorative and fragile, will become a potent symbol of humanity pitched against brute force.

The demonstration, apparently lead by a huge body of students and academics, has been handled with charm and smiling faces and that is a lesson for all of us. How difficult it must be for the Chinese government to keep credibility internationally when these images spread around the World.

These fresh-faced, optimistic but plucky people have won our support without lifting a finger in violence.

It is easier for Chinese leader Xi Jinping to keep these images away from his own people  – all he has had to do is censor the media and social networking websites.

The non-Democratic Chinese government dreads its people seeing images of protest especially when they are calling for democracy and freedom. So the brave people of Hong Kong will not be seen in mainland China.

Twenty-five years after the last major demonstration against Chinese autocracy, more plucky Chinese demonstrators risk the wrath of their unelected rulers. Today’s demonstrators,  just like that brave student in Tiananmen Square all those years ago,  have created images that will haunt us all just as, presumably, they must haunt Mr Xi Jinping.

The post The Umbrella Revolution – new iconic images from China, 25 years after Tiananmen Square. appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

I’m not that old-fashioned, honestly, smart those these Brits look there in the rain. In spite of being English, I’ve never been tempted to wear a top hat and my umbrella is positively technicoloured in comparison.

I don’t think you have to wear a tie to look smart either – maybe I don’t care enough about these things. I have been known to wear a tie when I have to – like on a recent visit to the Savoy Hotel in London but it’s not how I feel right.

I’m much happier in a pair of faded jeans and an old shirt so maybe I shouldn’t comment on male fashions but…

I’ve just seen my first photograph of a new male look that is just all wrong. This guy is not wearing leggings, no, they’re called meggings and they’re the nastiest thing to come out of Chicago since Al Capone.

Now really, who would dare to  go out in public wearing these? I suppose the model because he was being paid to look like a pillock. Or maybe I am just old fashioned. If you want a pair (please don’t) you can buy them online by following this link:

http://meggingsman.com/index.php/shop

but remember, all that glitters is not gold.

I can’t really talk though because I’ve managed, especally when I was a lot younger,  to make myself look like a pillock too. Maybe there’s something to be said for that grey suit and umbrella look.

I should’ve looked out for some tips when I found myself at last year’s London Fashion Week.

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My novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, was published  on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

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