Planet Business

In numbers: Neeson goes green 3 million Number of Facebook fans of Tourism Ireland, which this week shared a 60-second film in which movie star Liam Neeson takes a break from finding people and killing them and wishes the world a happy St Patrick's Day instead.

€21.5 million Total that Tourism Ireland will spend on promoting the island of Ireland around the globe in the first half of 2015. Its #GoGreen4PatricksDay online campaign is just part of that marketing push.

8.6 million Total number of overseas visitors to the island of Ireland in 2014, a number Tourism Ireland hopes to beat this year. Its long-term target is 10 million-plus.

Image of the week: Mitsubishi Merkel It's not all awkward encounters with European leaders and "rock star" finance ministers in Angela Merkel's world. This week the German Chancellor headed out to Japan and in between giving the Japanese prime minister advice on how to express regret for the Second World War and meeting Asimo, Honda's humanoid robot, she stopped off for a more light-hearted tour of the Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation plant in Kawazaki, where she found an audience of appreciative women. Merkel is apparently chatting to a Mitsubishi employee about the truck in the background, which has been designed to appeal to female drivers. (It's pink.)

Photograph: Reuters/Thomas Peter

The lexicon: Morton's Fork The UK electorate, according to advertising boss Martin Sorrell, is facing a "Morton's Fork", a term used to describe a logical dilemma where both outcomes are unpalatable. A Conservative-led government would mean a referendum on Europe, while a Labour-led one would lead to business "bashing", he says. The chief executive of WPP, the world's largest advertising group, says both of these outcomes are likely to "crimp the strong UK economy". Democracy, eh? The term is named after John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury about 530 years ago, who justified a universal tax policy on the basis that the frugal are capable money savers who can afford to give generously, while the extravagant are clearly opulent enough to be able to do the same.

Getting to know: Annie Power Annie Power is bookmakers' favourite horse at the Cheltenham Festival this week because the mare, trained by Willie Mullins, had the grace to save them from a hefty payout to punters who had staked a claim on a Mullins accumulator bet. Three of the trainer's horses came home in their races on Tuesday, but Annie Power had a dramatic fall during the final stages of the Mares' Hurdle. Paddy Power was among the bookies breathing a sigh of relief: "Unlucky Annie made the costliest mistake for backers ever," the company wrote as it set about refunding the bets. The first three victories remained "costly" for the bookies, to the tune of tens of millions. Still, it's all excellent publicity. The horse and the jockey (Ruby Walsh) were said to be "fine".

The list: Hodge attacks Labour MP Margaret Hodge, the chair of the UK parliament's public accounts committee, is known for her executive "scalps" - so much so that she's sometimes accused of grandstanding and even "bullying". So who has been on the other end of her bluntness?

1. Rona Fairhead: The former HSBC executive was told this week she "should think about resigning" as chair of the BBC Trust. "If not, I think the government should sack you."

2. Kevin Nicholson, PwC's UK head of tax: "I can't think of a company who would want to do business with you if they think they are going to end up in the New York Times or the Guardian."

3. Amazon director of public policy Andrew Cecil: "You don't have anything - honestly, you come to us with absolutely no information. What's your job?"

4. Google executive Matt Brittin, part 1: " Don't get me irritated, because I get really irritated," she warned him. "You're a company that says you do no evil, and I think you do do evil."

5. Google, part 2: “We are not accusing you of being illegal, we are accusing you of being immoral.”