It's all tourism in today's papers. Firstly we get the devastating news that Hong Kongers now require visas to visit Bangladesh. Secondly, now the GST is off the table it's time to talk about a depature tax to "widen the tax base", even though the government's accounts are in rude health. And finally pregnant mainlanders are causing all sorts of bother in the city's hospitals because they keep having babies here.

Meanwhile it apparently takes a month for a US dollar cheque to be cleared here in Hong Kong, even though it's drawn on the same bank as I'm depositing it with and even though Hong Kong's currency is, last time I looked, convertible to US dollars at a set rate.