Longest Lunch

I came across this in The Age today, thought it was pretty interesting:

HONG Kong stockbrokers may lose their traditional two-hour lunch break, the longest among the world's 20 largest markets, as the exchange seeks more business from China. The exchange wants trading to begin 30 minutes earlier at 9.30am with a one-hour break at noon, keeping the close at 4pm. Shanghai's trading hours run from 9.30am to 3pm with a 90-minute break between 11.30am and 1pm.

''God knows if that would mean ordering McDonald's for company lunch presentations,'' said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong. ''No more long lunches at the Conrad or Shangri-La hotels.''

Extending trading hours ''would make a lot of sense in bringing Hong Kong in line with the majority of global markets'', Mr Lun said. ''I'd counter-propose a 1½-hour lunch. Even though our liquid lunches will be gone, there'll at least be semi-solid lunches.''

Whingers!