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1. Skanska ranked No. 1 in the category of Engineering and Construction

2. Village house policy to end

3. Wave a dead chicken and pick up some sex appeal

1. Skanska ranked No. 1 in the category of Engineering and Construction
Gammon Skanska PR

In Fortune magazine's annual ranking of the World's Most Admired Companies, Skanska, one of Gammon Skanska's parent companies, has for the first time ever been ranked No. 1 in the category of Engineering and Construction - up from No. 3 last year. Based on the votes of 10,000 business executives and financial analysts, this is a clear sign that the company is on the right track to achieve their vision of being "the world leader in our industry", according to a company spokesperson.

In Fortune magazine's annual ranking of the World's Most Admired Companies, Skanska has for the first time ever been ranked No. 1 in the category of Engineering and Construction - up from No. 3 last year. Based on the votes of 10,000 business executives and financial analysts, this is a clear sign that we are on the right track to achieve our vision of being "the world leader in our industry".

However, we all know that we have a long way to go to meet our own standards for excellence so this should not be viewed in any way as a signal that we have succeeded. Our targets for financial performance, management development, customer service and higher quality remain to be achieved. So we need to stick to our strategy and our committments if we are to stay ahead of the competition around the world.

Skanska Construction Group Limited
Registration No: 784752
Registered in England
Registered Office: Maple Cross House, Denham Way, Maple Cross,
Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, WD3 9AS

2. Village house policy to end
KEVIN SINCLAIR, SCMP 5 March 2003

A government minister has indicated that the controversial small-house policy - giving every male indigenous villager born in the New Territories a plot of land on which to build a home - is to be abolished.

The Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, Michael Suen Ming-yeung, said a wide-ranging review of the policy, which has been in place for 31 years, is about to begin.

Mr Suen said he was looking for a "better way to organise development in the New Territories, and one which is fair to everyone".

He told the South China Morning Post : "If we continue this concept, there will come a day when every last inch of land is used up.

"We've got to get everyone to co-operate. We've got to draw a line, otherwise it's a ridiculous situation, an impossible task."

The small-house policy, initiated in 1972, guarantees that all male indigenous residents who can trace their village roots back to 1898 will be given a plot of land in the New Territories on which to build a three-storey home, with 2,100 sq ft of floor space.

Scrapping the policy will involve reaching a deal to compensate villagers for losing their land rights.

Mr Suen said that in the course of the review, he would be talking to "everyone involved", not just indigenous villagers who benefit from the policy. "I want views from all sectors," he stressed, acknowledging it was a very sensitive issue.

"We must agree on broad principles on how to proceed."

At stake is the very future of much of the New Territories.

Officials of the Heung Yee Kuk - the body representing rural interests - constantly pressure politicians and government officials to issue new building permits. The government is now reluctant to oblige.

The Heung Yee Kuk, rural committees and village representatives are certain to oppose any change that threatens lucrative land deals.

However, Mr Suen is determined to come up with an agreement for future development and a replacement for the small-house policy before his five-year term ends.

"I want to hear every viewpoint, discuss every option, listen to every voice," he said. "But there's got to be a better way to organise development in the New Territories, and one which is fair to everyone."

Two academics who have spent years studying villages in the New Territories argue that while the small-house policy was well-intentioned, there had not been adequate consideration of the environmental impact.

Professor Lynne DiStefano and Dr Lee Ho-yin, architectural historians from the Department of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong, are authors of the recently published book, A Tale of Two Villages: The Story of Changing Life In The New Territories .

Dr Lee said the policy was "an inflexible 'cure-all' solution" that did not consider the fact that there were many different types of villages.

The policy only allowed for new buildings, Dr Lee said. "What about the retention and refurbishment of traditional houses mixed with limited new works?" he asked.

3. Wave a dead chicken and pick up some sex appeal
David Wilson, SCMP 4 March 2003

The bird burst through the windscreen, broke the engineer's chair, and made a dent in the back wall of the engine cab. But this damage, it transpired, proved nothing because the British had not read the instructions closely enough. "Next time, thaw the chicken," came an advisory from (of all people) the United States Federal Aviation Authority.

In a variation on the story, an examination of high-speed video footage showing a flying poultry projectile reveals an involuntary hitch-hiker: a hungry, startled-looking stray cat clinging to a half-eaten chicken as it exits the barrel at Mach 0.7.

Unfortunately, an intensive research effort by Technopedia has failed to find this image, or indeed any evidence that either event actually occurred.

Either way, the dead chicken you are likely to encounter in the technology arena will not be flying, but waving in the grip of a know-it-all technician - figuratively speaking.

In the digital dictionary the phrase, "wave a dead chicken" means to perform a voodoo-style ritual in the direction of crashed software or hardware that is likely to accomplish nothing except satisfy the ignorant natives that the appropriate degree of effort has been expended.

Computer frozen, cursor apparently nailed to the screen? Call technical support and watch in awe as they perform the chicken-waving ritual.

Printer coughing and convulsing like a chain-smoking octogenarian? It is time for the nerd with the bird.

The usual dead-chicken procedure takes the form of that spectacularly reassuring and pointless gesture, the virus scan.

Ignore the rash of scare stories whipped up by technology writers desperate to talk about something more interesting than the latest version of the Winsux operating system.

Viruses are not queuing up to annihilate your hard drive. Nor are they already lurking inside your computer ready to jump out and frazzle your motherboard the next time you type the word "the".

But running a virus scan is a bit like a visit to the beauty salon. It feels good, and it makes you look good too. In action, the virus scan software I rely on shows a recurring wave of purifying white light sweeping an image of the globe.

Sure, the score card always reads the same: "Scanned 150,000, Infected 0, Repaired 0, Quarantined 0". But really, how could you criticise anyone for taking the trouble to run one? Just conceivably, a virus could be hiding in the darkness of your hard drive between a text file and a Jpeg, with its legs and antennae retracted.

The witch doctor who has run the scan can bask in that I-gave-it-my-best-shot, Alamo-esque glow of heroic failure. This glow can actually be mistaken for glamour. As a result, in some extreme cases, devout chicken wavers can become something almost unheard of in the realm of Information Technology - attractive to the opposite sex.

This in turn means that, unlike his rivals, the witch doctor will have the chance to reproduce without resorting to hi-tech methods such as cloning. Anyone who succumbs to his magic also benefits from warm fuzzy feelings which, research shows, can triple output. Thus, the manager too is happy.

In short, to borrow a phrase beloved of management theorists, despite its futility, waving a dead chicken is a "win-win" activity. Unless, of course, you are a chicken.

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