Comfort or no comfort.

There was a time when sitting in economy on a long-haul flight almost guaranteed some form of chiropractic condition. Little has changed to improve passenger comfort, according to British humourist Charlie Brooker in The Guardian who has renamed the various airline seating categories as: “Misery, Misery Lite and, the highest achievable grade, Slightly Comfortable”.

Will the roomier Airbus and Boeing aircraft change things at last, or does the pain persist?

No mass?

Sydney's World Youth Day next July seems a misnomer given that the event spans more than week. It culminates with a mass led by Pope Benedict, expected to attract about half a million people and scheduled for Randwick Racecourse. But the Australian Jockey Club is apparently not enthusiastic about hosting the event, especially as chairman Ross Smyth-Kirk has revealed that it faces a $6 million bill just to keep Randwick open for racing. A colossal religious event could cost the club and the racing industry millions of dollars in lost revenue.

So where will the mass go, plus the mass of young people who were originally going to camp out at the racetrack? Most big events mean big money for the host city, but will this be the case for World Youth Day, or will it turn into an expensive nuisance?