bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Li Ka-shing's number has come up. We mean his stock code number. He's been assigned the code for the soon-to-be listed Tom.com, a Web site operator jointly owned by, among others, Cheung Kong (Holdings) and Hutchison Whampoa.

 Insiders tell us it will be 8001.

 That's very lucky. In Cantonese, the number eight sounds like the word 'a fortune'. And having a 'one' at the end implies the firm will be 'the first'.

 So the code 8001 means Tom.com will make a fortune and lead the market.

 Said a jealousy-tinged broker: 'The stock exchange's listing division must have favoured superman Li, to have given him such a nice number.'  But Lai See thinks that code could have been better. A more appropriate selection would have just three digits: Four, two 'n eight.

 Everyone knows Mr Li's a four-two-n-eight man.

 Some people think there's not much entertainment in Discovery Bay.

 But that's simply not true. The ferry ride alone is something of an erotic journey.

 Well, that's how it sounds on the ferry company posters, at any rate. Discovery Bay resident Denise Giles stumbled across one on the pier's bulletin board.

 Words below the vessel's likeness titillate commuters with the question: 'Can the renovated canopy bring you a refreshing sensation?'  Hmm. How . . . sensational.

 Also on the DB entertainment roster is a game the entire community can play.

 We call it: 'Guess the Selling Price Per Square Foot of Someone Else's Flat'.

 Fun fun fun.

 This 'guessing game' celebrates the imminent launch of the community's two latest residential developments. Whoever comes closest to the relevant selling prices announced by the developer wins the grand prize: a trip to Disney World, Florida.

 Wow. Some lucky Lantau resident will enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit the Magic Kingdom without the bother of having to walk over the hill.

Lai See has been banned from Baguio Villa and the Hong Kong Football Club.

  No, not Lai See the columnist - we refer to those little red packets.

 At Baguio Villa, a sign in the housing estate's lobby, informed residents that caretakers to security guards and cleaning ladies were not permitted 'to accept or solicit any gifts or advantages including Lai See'.

 Resident Rex Ellis wrote back to protest: 'The giving of Lai See is a tradition in Hong Kong recognised by people of all backgrounds and all levels of society.

 'Anyone who takes it on themselves to ban this shows an arrogance that I hoped was dying out in relations between local Hong Kongers and expatriates.'  Meanwhile, at the footie club, the powers-that-be have decided to outlaw the time-honoured Chinese tradition.

 But the chairman has crossed a line, and the members are crying foul.

 'No one agrees with your decision that for the first time in the club's 114-year history you have decided to make it a crime for the members and staff to give or receive Lai See,' one J. Charleston said in a letter to chairman Richard Neish.

 'I'm sure that your banning of the Lai See will be seen by many members as an anti-Chinese bias, and I only hope that those members who decide to defy your ban will in some way show to the staff that your action is not supported by the membership at large.'  Naturally Lai See agrees that Lai See should be celebrated and revered, as should those little red packets.

 We're impressed by the dissidents. They are fighting for a more generous, tradition-honouring club. These people aren't like other footballers.

  They've got worthwhile goals.



Superman's lucky stock code fails to add up