Interesting that just after announcing the cancellation of the traditional Optus “yes” Family days this year (for cost reasons), and in a year that no one — not covered by the EBA — is getting a pay rise, and also a time where any costs are being watched very closely, most of the Optus senior leadership team has flown off to Thailand for a week for a “strategy session”. Hardly a good look when they are trying to tell all the minions to tighten the purse strings …

Crikey‘s little snippet earlier this week on the Gold Coast Bulletin editor self-selecting position nine on the Bully’s own top 100 most influential Gold Coasters has apparently caused a major stir inside the Bulletin as the editor has started a major witch-hunt to track down who leaked the story to Crikey. With the editor known to have quite the ego, long-term GCB journos and some others from Murdoch sister publications are enjoying watching the fireworks as the “bone” is pointed at all and sundry!

Does Sydney City Council know something about the fate of the proposed CBD Metro or is it so awash with cash that it can piss $600k up against the wall ? Council is about to start work on a separated cycleway of debatable necessity in sleepy Union Square at Pyrmont. This is the same Union Square that, if the Metro proceeds, will ripped apart immediately after completion of the cycleway for construction of Pyrmont station.

That adage about not leaving evidence behind when leaving for another job was apparently forgotten by one of Melbourne’s better-known private school heads. When she left to head up another swanky school, a large folder was discovered containing letters she’d written over the years nominating herself for numerous awards and appointments. Seems all others had to do was sign the forms and she took care of the rest. Clearly not how the honours system is meant to work?

Far from being the magical mystical logo we once thought it seems that ANZ’s new logo has a dark underbelly. Just like the satanic messages that a Beatles record will allegedly give if played backwards, turn the ANZ new logo upsidedown and you’ll see a very different story.

From the “Careful what you poll for” school of website management. The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation decided to poll its web visitors on the vexed issue of “Should nuclear power be a part of Australia’s future energy mix?” The results, at the time of writing, inconveniently suggest opposition 2 to 1 over support. At least they’re honest. And kudos for offering the choice of voting for “I am sitting on the fence” as well as the scientific-sounding “I need more information.” Then again, the correct response to the question is, strictly speaking, “I need more money, and lots of it” given the extraordinary cost of nuclear power.