Sub standards

Newspaper sub-editors tend to be literate but innumerate, and rarely check that the numbers in an article make sense. Those at the Sunday Star-Times seem to be geographically challenged as well. On page 12 of yesterday’s “Escape” section, Geraldine Johns writes about a café in Geraldine:

The address is a popular stopping off point for the Queenstown to Christchurch, or vice-versa, travellers during their 90-minute drive.

From Christchurch to Queenstown is 480 kilometres. To do that in 90 minutes you’d have to drive at an average speed of 320 kph, which even in the South Island is illegal. Unless you’re Helen Clark and you’re late for a footy game, that is.