News carrier still going strong in Hong Kong at 86

Newspapers and the people they employ change over time. The folks who deliver newspapers, however, sometimes remain the same. I was recently in the city I grew up in, Hong Kong, and was delighted to see that the man who used to deliver our papers was still plying the corner of Hankow Road and Peking Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon.

Mr Tam (pictured), who says he is 86 years old, is of small size but always muscular. He was often seen hauling huge piles of newspapers that would have a man twice his size wobbling at the knees. He still looks as fit as a fiddle even though he leaves some of the heavy lifting to his assistants.

The English newspapers he has carried for the past 40 years, in my memory at least, have changed quite a bit. The Hong Kong Standard is now a free tabloid, having once been a paid-for broadsheet and a strong rival to the former British colony's leading daily, the South China Morning Post.

The SCMP remains a broadsheet but its news agenda has changed significantly since Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997. The news is heavily political and the design has veered towards allowing for more white space. I'm not sure if I like the new look.

As late as the 90s, there was heavy and healthy competition between the two newspapers but, from my brief reading of one edition, I think the Standard can no longer offer any real threat.

Whatever the case, there is room in Hong Kong for two English-language dailies and, hopefully, Mr Tam will be around for many more years to carry the news.