The French cheese market in Tsim Sha Tsui turns out to be rather less spectacular than advertised: Come savor and buy over two hundred types of cheeses at the beautiful Hullett Courtyard, in traditional French-market style–the first time these were ever brought to Hong Kong! Actually a small room in a small hotel, with a couple of tables loaded…

Congratulations to AFC Wimbledon.  Nine years ago, the Football League allowed the owners of Wimbledon FC to move the club to Milton Keynes.  The fans set up their own club, but they had to start in the Combined Counties League.   Five promotions later they are in the Football League: AFC Wimbledon beat Luton on penalties…

An odd article in the SCMP about Cathay Pacific possibly introducing Premium Economy: Cathay eyes roll-out for new cabin class An option of 'premium economy' seats likely to be ready by end of the year Anita Lam May 09, 2011 The remodelling of Cathay Pacific's business-class seats is completed and the airline is hoping to…

Cory Doctorow in The Guardian (How do you persuade people to pay?) on the muddled strategies of the entertainment industry: The seemingly straightforward act of purchasing a good or service is fraught with mystery […] and the complexity is multiplied by purchases in the digital world. In the physical realm, there’s real danger in taking…

Wishing you a happy and prosperous Year of the Rabbit. Yes, I'm still here..  

A couple of weeks ago there was an advert in the SCMP for ESPN HD and ESPN News, but with no mention of Now TV.  Which seemed a bit odd. Today’s SCMP explains that the contract between PCCW’s Now TV and ESPN Star Sports expired last Tuesday, and so far there is no deal in…

The Prudential/AIA saga continues – last week the chairman of AIG quit, and now AIA has replaced its CEO.  Mark Wilson was quoted by the FT as saying that he would quit if Prudential acquired AIA, though he probably knew he would have the decision made for him if the deal had gone through.   But…

I was recently asked what “invaluable” means.  Simple enough, but also rather puzzling when you consider that in+valuable should mean not valuable, as in words such as inconsistent and inexact. The explanation is that valuable used to mean something that you could value (in contrast to something that is impossible to value, or priceless).  So…

Prudential’s risky plan to acquire AIA looked as if it was a “done deal”.  Now things seem rather less certain (Prudential must explain AIA strategy): The old view here was that Prudential’s proposed $35.5bn (£23.3bn) purchase of AIA is very likely to complete. This was not because the deal is appealing – it’s not, it…

Imagine for a moment that you have booked a flight and reserved your seat.  You turn up at the airport ready to check in.  You produce your passport and frequent flyer membership card.  What happens next? (a) Check-in is complete in 3 minutes and off you go. (b) The check-in agent gives you someone else’s…