Bangkok's pub fire killed 27 people over the weekend. Another 22 are in critical condition. That is not a small fire that got out of hand. That is a building that was never going to let people out in time, and everyone in Hong Kong who has ever squeezed into a packed bar on a Friday night knows exactly the layout I mean. One door in, same door out, fire exits stacked with crates because nobody thought a fire would actually happen tonight.

Meanwhile Commissioner Joe Chow is on the radio defending a pay freeze for the bottom 5 percent of police performers, telling officers he will "communicate more" about it. Officers are already calling it a "shoe-shining culture," which is a polite way of saying promotion goes to whoever smiles at the right superintendent. You want to freeze the bottom 5 percent, fine, that is a management call. But you cannot then act surprised when the same force gets asked, this week of all weeks, how fast it can move on fire-safety enforcement in HK's own dense, small, one-door bars. Bangkok is not Hong Kong. But Lan Kwai Fong on a Saturday night looks a lot more like that pub than anyone wants to admit, and the people checking the exits are the same officers Chow just told to expect less.