Just received the latest quality of living city ranking from Mercer, an HR agency which calls itself a leader in “benefit outsourcing” (please leave a comment if you know what that means).

Can’t argue with the bottom three cities in the ranking - Baghdad, Kinshasa and Karachi are the worst cities to live in. But I must take issue with the rest of the ranking. The top three cities (Zurich, Vienna, Geneva) are great places to retire, probably, but they are not what you would call dynamic or interesting cities, in my book. Look at the rest of the top 10: Vancouver, Auckland, Dusseldorf, Munich, Frankfurt, Bern, Sydney. Wow. With the exception of Vancouver and maybe Auckland and Sydney, the rest of those places look like they’ve been picked for their ability to make trains run on time. They’re basically really boring places to live in. How does that make their quality of life better?

On to Asian cities, which only make their appearance at 32, with Singapore’s entry. Singapore, apparently, has equal quality of life to Paris (also 32) and better than New York (48) and Tokyo (35). Again, a predilection for staidness seems to be the main criteria for a good ranking.

How does China figure? Hong Kong is at 70, Beijing 116 and Shanghai 98. Alright, broadly agree with those results.

Mercer says 39 determinants were used in their ranking, including political stability, crime, law enforcement, censorship, limitations on personal freedom, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure and more. Doesn’t say how they were weighted, though.

Finally, a disclaimer: I haven’t set foot in any of the three best cities to live in according to Mercer, so my claim that they are boring entirely stems from reputation. Again, feel free to disagree in the comments section.

According to an analyst at Bank of China International (BOCI), a corner of the bank’s Hong Kong office is piled high with unused equipment. This equipment was brought in to cope with the surge in trading business expected to come as mainland individuals started investing directly in Hong Kong stocks under the H-share through-train scheme. Premier Wen Jiabao put the brakes on the through-train in November and, based on current progress, BOCI’s equipment might be obsolete by the time the wagons start rolling.

It’s never good sign when someone stares past your shoulder while you’re trying to interview them. The finer points of economics are, well, fine, and so when I fail to grasp the nuances it’s understandable that those well-schooled in numbers might turn away in despair.

This appeared to be happening earlier today during an audience with an economist high up in Hong Kong’s International Finance Centre… until the economist shouted, “Hey, look at that!” I turned to the window behind me and saw a large bird of prey (I’ve since been informed it may have been a kite) sitting on the sill outside.

This may be a regular occurrence for those who pay a chunk of change for space at IFC but neither the economist or myself can call the building a home so it was a bizarre twist to an otherwise routine conversation about Southeast Asia’s fear of being overwhelmed by China. In a way, it was quite apt. (All we needed was for the bird to start circling menacingly above a small mouse called ASEAN…)

Needless to say, we both reached for our mobile phones…

July’s China Economic Review is now out. Read it online or peruse your physical, dead-tree copy in style and at your leisure.

This month’s cover story is on Hong Kong’s handover, 10 years on. Check out this piece on mainland companies listing in Hong Kong, and this long Q&A with Pearl River Delta expert Michael Enright on Hong Kong and the region’s future. We’ve also got bits on India in our ongoing series.

Some good ones this month from our stable of columnists (yes, we keep them right here on Huaihai Road, and we give them fresh hay daily). There’s Tom Doctoroff, marketing man-about-town, (see him hosting a web TV show here!) confirming our deepest suspicions — luxury brands in China are propped up by marketing dollars to stake-out market share, not to serve any real customer base. The Beijing Calling column discusses Blackstone, Bates Gill (you read that right), looks at US and Chinese pols and making dialog work, while Graeme Johnston dissects the anti-monopoly law.

There’s plenty more besides, including our MBA supplement, until the next issue.