All Around Town: Non-religious CY Leung takes to Jewish affairs

Amid a series of violent acts targeting Jews in Jerusalem, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying paid a visit to the Western Wall as he toured the Old City yesterday. Leung, who has no religious beliefs, appeared to take great interest in the Jewish people's holiest site. He also paid tribute with his wife Regina Leung Tong Ching-yee at the Holocaust History Museum, which marks the killing of Jews in Europe during the second world war. Leung leaves Israel for London today, where he will meet Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond - amid debate over whether the former British colony should undergo further decolonisation. Stuart Lau

An aide of Leung Chun-ying shot to fame last month after he was caught on camera raising a single eyebrow at his boss' remark that he was "indeed transcendent". Internet users applauded Anson Lai Yat-ching, who was initially mistaken as a security guard standing behind Leung, for daring to show his true emotions. But was there a price to pay? All Around Town noted that the assistant director of information responsible for developing the chief executive's public relations strategy did not travel with Leung on his trip to Israel and London. He had taken part in visits to Jakarta last month and Toronto and Chicago in June. So was this a snub? We were told that Lai was not assigned this time to give a chance to a newly arrived assistant director in charge of overseas public relations. Joyce Ng

Recovering from the botched walkout over the political reform vote in June, the pro-establishment camp of lawmakers is making a comeback as the Legislative Council starts a new session. The camp has taken the chairmanships and vice-chairmanships of the four key Legco bodies: the House Committee, Finance Committee and the establishment and public works subcommittees. In doing so, it has refused to follow convention in letting pan-democrats take up at least the deputy posts. However, coordination within the camp was not perfect. It emerged that the Liberal Party's Frankie Yick Chi-ming made a mistake. While the camp arranged for him to run for the chairmanship of the development panel, Yick mistook it as the "economic development panel", so he did not even join the development panel in order to run for the post. But Yick's party was not left empty-handed. In the end, the camp let him take the vice-chairmanship of the public works subcommittee, a post originally earmarked for Leung Che-cheung of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong. Leung instead became development panel chairman. Joyce Ng