Can anyone thing of any other words than ‘fuck right off you utter 'lovely lovely person'’

Your tory mates will probably let him have it.

I've just read he's offered to put his Island up as collateral. TBF I haven't read the article, just the headline.

The sad fact is , its UK governments of the last 40 years that have been the making of the Branson's of this world.

According to the article on the BBC he is asking for a £500 million loan. Give him it at 40% interest.

Prince Far I had him rumbled years ago. On the track Virgin he says, "Branson is a pickle with no place on my plate".

I don’t mind Branson, it was just bantz and lols when he sued the NHS, he’s a Tory poster boy, innit

TBF Branson stole the scene when he appeared in only Fools and Horses.

Which tune?

Virgin Australia announced it had entered voluntary administration after the Australian government refused a bailout of 1.4 billion Australian dollars

Trying to get a loan now. Putting an 'Island' up for collateral. Poor lad.

Phew Talbot me auld mucker, I thought you were going soft there until I read the last bit.

bransons headmaster said of him, that he,d end up in prison or be a millionaire. wonder how actually close to both are people like him.

If his business is sustainable he shouldn’t have any trouble raising money from the financial markets. Maybe he should start with Virgin money.

And why he thinks his island is worth half a billion has me scratching his head.

This beauty. Can't beat a bit of the voice of thunder chanting down babylon.

Almost none of the airlines are sustainable without cash coming in because they virtually all use finance to expand and update fleets. The stronger ones could probably weather a couple of months of lockdown if everything was going back to normal after that. They know it isn't going to though.

Yeah not wanting to defend Branson but I was thinking surely airlines have huge assets due to having a fleet of very expensive commercial airliners but found out what Mr Toulouse has just posted. They have huge monthly outgoings as the aircraft they have are leased. So it’s not going to take long with no incomings before the industry collapses, governments like with everything else at the minute need to help. It’s not Richard Branson who’s going to be out of work and struggling if the business collapses at the end of day it’s all the people who work for him.

If I was a cynic i'd think that Virgin were thinking that the crisis might be a great way out of expensive leases for 330s and 777s which are a bit out of date. Send them back to the lessors as you're bust and then re-open after the virus with freshly leased 350s and Dreamliners that you picked up in a buyers market. Much lower fuel burn and state of the art cabins that passengers love.

I'm sure lovely Mr Branson wouldn't be looking to profit from a terrible situation like this though.

Surely they will have negotiated payment holidays or lease extensions. That is happening across the board in car and truck leasing.

They could try and might manage to do it but most aviation lessors are specialists so they're getting requests for help from all of their customers at once and they've usually raised alot of the funds involved themselves. Doesn't make sense for them to force airlines to the wall but they do need to pay their debts. They all depend on each other which is why I wonder whether ending their leases might just suit Virgin. Virgin Australia is a seperate company so let it fold and then start a new post-virus company with nice new aircraft brought in on better terms or redeployed from other Virgin companies which will be under-using their fleets for a long while after most restrictions are lifted. Long haul travel in widebodies will take a long time to recover so the likesof Virgin Atlantic will have spare capacity.

Millionaire who hasn't paid UK income tax for 14 years wants UK taxpayers to loan him money.

If they lend him it they'll all be hoping he defaults, there'll be a massive stampede of Tory boys getting their snouts in the trough for a Carribbean holiday home.