The Kapiti Coast Expressway is one of the Government's roads of national significance, and like other such projects it has divided the communities affected. So some are wondering whether it was a Freudian slip, rather than a mere typo, that resulted in one local council report on the road referring to it as the "daft expressway" rather than the "draft expressway".
WRONG DIRECTION
Labour deputy leader Grant Robertson caused a storm of debate this week. Not on any heavy-hitting political issue or maneuverings in the Labour caucus, but by expressing his disdain for boy band One Direction. They're "shite", he told Wellington student publication Salient. It is difficult to tell whether this gained or lost votes, but it sure provoked a social-media reaction among youth.
THINKING TOO BIG
While the commerce select committee and others continue their pursuit of Solid Energy, it is perhaps easy to be wise in hindsight. The committee's last review of Solid Energy, published in May last year, did not raise concerns. Instead, it noted: "Solid Energy projected $1 trillion in potential earnings from a predicted 10 billion tonnes of coal. Solid Energy said this estimate represented the potential revenue from all coal-based products ... and that it might prove to be conservative. We asked what coal price it used in this calculation. We noted that predicted returns assumed that the current price of fossil fuels would be maintained or increase. Solid Energy said returns were calculated on prices from the last several years; it believed they were very unlikely to fall, and were very likely to rise substantially". Solid Energy got it badly wrong, but no one on the committee seems to have set off the alarm bells back then.
IT'LL NEVER FLY ...
Some heavy lobbying is going on in Wellington political and business circles to build up support for an extension to the Wellington Airport runway, making it a true international airport. But the figures being thrown around are daunting, and raise the question of who will pay for what could be one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in New Zealand - the estimated cost is $1 million a metre for up to 300m of new runway. Local government politicians are keen for businesses to pick up the tab which seems a heroic hope as many capital city businesses are struggling.
DISAPPEARING FIZZ
Things must be tough in Britain. Champagne has been dropped from the basket of goods that statisticians use to calculate the country's inflation rate. Instead, the Office of National Statistics is using a tipple more in keeping with these austere times, white rum.
POPE-WATCH
There's a business opportunity in everything - including the process of choosing a pope. This week's conclave in Rome prompted the development of several social media tools for the faithful who wanted to stay on top of the action. Conclave Alert, an application for iPad users, provided conclave-related tweets and information on the cardinals doing the choosing, while the Pope App delivered alerts whenever there was some action, and images from webcams throughout the Vatican.
