Financial reports show that 144 staff members at the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) received more than £2.8 million ($4.3 million/€3.3 million) in redundancy payments for 2012-2013 after being contracted permanently, despite the organisation being due to shut down in 2014. Nice work if you can get it.
**********

In Scotland on Sunday today, Andrew Wilson says that the economics of Scotland’s choice are quite easy to understand. He points out that without oil we perform to the average of the UK and the best of any UK region outside the South-East.  

His plea is that we hear much less about oil and its future, and a lot more about how badly it has been managed by Westminster. 

Scotland is the only oil producing region anywhere in the world which has not even 1 cent of wealth fund to show for it. Norway has $700 billion. 

Thatcher used the vast amounts that our oil generated to fund unemployment as she deindustrialised the UK economy, gave    massive tax cuts to the rich and reduced the income tax burden on others and wasted even more of it on nuclear weapons.

**********

According to the Daily Mail (usual warnings apply) the deputy prime minister of the Uk is not happy about paying his bar bill at his stately home, official country residence. Chevening is shared between Clegg and the Foreign Secretary. (We assume that they are not having to bunk up together as the place has over 150 rooms.) The rules are that when he is entertaining there as deputy prime minister, we pay for his food and drink and that of his invitees, however, when he uses the home for family and friends HE is supposed to pick up the tab. He apparently objects to this...

**********

Cameron is off on holiday again. He's gone to Portugal this time. That's nice for him. He's apparently having 4 holidays this year. Nice. Well, at least I suppose that it could be said that while he's away in Portugal or wherever else, he's not causing havoc in London.

PLEASE STOP TRYING TO MAKE THE OLYMPICS INTO SOMETHING THAT THEY WEREN'T

“Just think about the Olympics and Paralympics games. It (sic) was a triumph for Britain. And why did we succeed? We succeeded because of our outstanding athletes from Zara Phillips the granddaughter of a parachuting queen, to a boy from Somalia called Mo Farah. Mo Farah. A true Brit. And a true hero for our country.

“We succeeded because of the outstanding volunteers, the Games Makers who are here with us today, all 70,000 Games makers. They put a mirror up to Britain and showed us the best of ourselves.” Ed Miliband in his widely acclaimed speech to the 2012 Labour party Conference in England.

Wouldn't you know it? Every politician, it seems, wants to mention the Olympics like they were some magical time in British History. A time that changed everything. And yes, to be fair, they were, largely, a success, although outside London they had little effect and even inside London some of the effects were rather negative. Many shops and hotels have had a disastrous summer and there are disgruntled taxi drivers, homeowners who objected to having ground-to-air missiles on their roofs, small shopkeepers who had to stay at work till 3 in the morning to accept goods which couldn't be delivered during the day...etc.

But, overall a success, no doubt.  And because they were a success, it seems that every political party wants some of the glitter to rub off on them. And so every time they are mentioned, they seem to take on new and  magical proportions of greatness.

The organisers put on a great show. It ran wildly over budget, had a fair number of setbacks (remember that they was virtually no security in place only 10 days before the opening night; there were thousands of empty seats and thousands of disappointed would-be spectators ), but in the end they succeeded nicely for many reasons, not least because no matter what it cost it HAD to be a success. Cameron was counting on it.

Most of us had absolutely nothing to do with it. We went to work and came home and lived our lives completely normally during it. Some of us watched the Games on tv, but we'd have done that if it had been held in Ulan Bator. GB won loads of medals... but with home advantage it was always going to do well.

It doesn't actually prove anything at all about Brits, except that given an unlimited amount of money, they can put on a show. 

There was no real need to stage Olympic Games at costs of between £20 and £30 billion to prove that. A look at William's wedding, the Queen Mother’s funeral, Trooping the Colour or the state opening of Westminster’s parliament would have shown that. it was just bigger, and more expensive.

And Olympians are not heroes, Ed. Olympians work and train very hard at something that they love doing. It entirely admirable, but it is sport. Sport, Ed. It’s not fighting the Taliban or operating on accident victims. It’s not diving into icy waters to save a kid from drowning. It’s sport. Mo Farah is, I'm sure, a great guy, but he is not a hero. Paralympians are doing this out of choice too. There are some incredibly courageous people who conquer all sorts of disabilities, but they really aren't heros. There were probably some real heroes in the guys who in the end had to give up their leave to provide security for the Games after the useless muppets employed to provide security fell down catastrophically on the job. Like Gordon Brown before you, you demean their bravery by comparing them to people running round a track.

And while we are on the subject, you do realise, don’t you, that the Queen didn't actually parachute in to the Olympics? She's 86. She came in the car, like she always does. And with respect to Zara, she was a bad choice for your example. She's not one of us. She can spend her days training, with the best horses money can buy, exactly because, as you mention, she is the Queen's granddaughter. She's not fitting training in between two jobs. Actually, as a Labour leader you might want to give some serious thought to the high proportion of athletes that have privileged backgrounds... 

Apparently, then,  the volunteers made the Olympics (besides the heroic athletes). They put up a mirror to Britain and showed us the best of ourselves. It is fair though to mention that had they been holding that same mirror a year before they might have reflected something rather different. So let’s not get smug. The best was always there, and the worst is still there.

So, politicians, I'm not trying to rain on this parade. it was good; it went reasonably well. By all means be pleased; mention it in your speeches if you will, but stop making it into something it wasn't and basking in the attendant reflected glory. 

Olympics appears to have increased independence support, says poll for Sunday Times

Support for Scottish independence appears to have been bolstered as a result of Olympic success, according to a poll.

The survey, commissioned by the Sunday Times, suggests 12% feel more in favour while 8% feel more unionist.

However politics professor John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, told the paper the results may show that the Games "reaffirmed" existing attitudes among people who have already made up their minds.

"For those who believe in the UK, the sight of a Scot rowing alongside English rowers shows the power of the union," he said. "For nationalists, the number of medals won by Scots shows what Scotland could achieve as a team on its own."

The poll of almost 800 Scots, conducted by Panelbase, also showed that 29% believe Scottish athletes should compete for Great Britain after independence while 58% say Scotland should represent itself.

The survey suggest support for independence stands at 35% compared with support for the union at 44%.

SNP MP Pete Wishart said: "This is clear evidence that the puerile efforts of the anti-independence parties to politicise the Games have backfired.

"I've been delighted to support Scotland's Olympians and Team GB during the London Games, and will be delighted to support Team Scotland at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and at the Olympics following a Yes vote in 2014.

"With the gap between support for an independent Scotland and the union now down to a swing of just 4.5%, we are very confident indeed of achieving a Yes vote for independence in autumn 2014."

THIS DUDE MAKES SARAH PALIN LOOK COMPETENT

Before Mitt Romney came to "England" on his pre-election tour, he had already set the tone with this beauty of a quote about the United Kingdom:


“England [sic] is just a small island. Its roads and houses are small. With few exceptions, it doesn’t make things that people in the rest of the world want to buy."
Well, it might be true, but it isn't really very delicate.
On the day he arrived in London, Romney was asked about his wife's horse, Rafalca, which is in competition in the dressage, and whether Britain looked ready to host the Olympics. 

"There are a few things that were disconcerting," Romney said of the event which has been 15 years in the planning and is expected to cost over £30bn.

"The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials – that obviously is not something which is encouraging."

That put a bit of a dampener on Romney's meeting with David Cameron on Thursday. "We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world," the prime minister said, pointedly. "Of course it's easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere." (Romney ran the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake Ciy, Utah.)

Just for once, well done to Lord Snooty. Although strictly speaking no matter how much of a tosser the visitor is, a real diplomat should smile and be courteous. Snooty is not much of a diplomat though.

At a meeting with Ed Miliband Romney seemed to forget Ed's name. "Like you, Mr Leader, I look forward to our conversations this morning," Romney said. 

OK, Miliband isn't the most engaging of people, but once again, if you're able to be the president of the USA, you should be able to remember one simple name. Alright I know DubYa couldn't.

Then he met and talked with the head of MI6. OK, we now know it exists, but no one ever mentions it....except Rhomboid who said: "I appreciated the insights and perspectives of the leaders of the government here and the opposition here as well as the head of MI6".

Shhhhhhh, ya numpty.

Then a Romney adviser was quoted as saying the Republican contender would be better placed than Barack Obama to sustain the transatlantic relationship with the UK because of a shared "Anglo-Saxon heritage.

Racist and bigot are two words that come to mind, while I howl with laughter at the irony. I think the adviser might want to review that notion.

And describing his visit to meet the prime minister he said he had been "looking out through the backside of No 10 Downing Street"

What he does in his own time is his own business. This, however, is something we'd all rather not have known.

He was in England for a fund raising dinner being run by none other than the Barclays the Thieving Bastard Bank Unlimited. It appears, however, that interest in tickets for this event has been about as great as it was for the North Korea v Columbia Women's Football. The reputedly fabulously expensive tickets have been  discounted so much that even I could afford to go. (Barf.)

Mr Romney has been waiting a long time for his chance to be president. Perhaps he still isn't quite ready. I suggest a retreat to Utah and some serious hard work...2028 maybe?

ONLY J K ROWLING COULD MAKE THESE THINGS UP

Does anyone have memories of a government which was less efficient and made more of a mess of everything it touched than the current Westminster restoration farce?


The latest to reach my ears, thanks to the BBC, is that, in the same week that they announced vast numbers of redundancies in the armed forces, with amalgamations of units, and battalions disappearing, and much more, they have also announced that the company that was chosen to supply security guards for the games, G4S (Group Four as used to be, but they changed their name when they kept letting prisoners escape), has found that they cannot fulfil the demands of that contract and that an additional 3,500 troops will be needed.


I mean.... seriously...I'm speechless. Talk about moronic planning and idiotic announcement timing! Who is running this shower of useless space wasters?


Oh yes, silly question. I remember. For the government it is Eton Boy Cameron, who is where he is because of his connections, his sense of entitlement, and a monumental ego which tells him he can do the job (which  very clearly, he can't).


And for the Olympics, it is the Right Honourable the Lord Sir Sebastian Coe, whose only success in running anything was the 1500 meters (although I'd grant him he was good at that).



A spokeperson from G4S (doubtless emerging from under a bridge where she had just deposited some of her unpaid staff) said: "This has been an unprecedented and very complex security recruitment, training and deployment exercise which has been carried out to a tight time scale.  (Yes seriously, she actually said that!!!!)

"We have encountered some issues in relation to workforce supply and scheduling over the last couple of weeks, but are resolving these every day  (note for the sake of efficiency: you only need to resolve them once) and remain committed to providing a security workforce for the start of the London 2012 Games." (Well, I'm glad she's confident, she's probably the only one who is.)

For heaven's sake, how long have they had to organise this? How many unemployed people are there in the south of England? What they hell is the problem?

The military was already being stretched to provide the 13,500 troops which were originally envisaged as necessary; the deployment of an additional 3,500 means that all summer leave will have to be cancelled. That is all leave when the kids are on holiday from school (and it's technically illegal to take children on holiday in term time).

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond is to announce more details about the extra troops on Thursday. (Can't wait for that!)

In the meantime the Home Office said that they had agreed to offer help to G4S by revising the level of military support. The government, they said, were focused on delivering a "safe and secure Games". (Frankly having this lot focussed on anything doesn't inspire me with any kind of confidence.)

The government is paying out £553 million for security at the stadia and G4S's contract is costing £300 million. (Just as well England the UK is a rich country.)

With 2 weeks to go and cracks in the bridges over the main road from Heathrow to London, complete chaos at immigration points in London with queues hours long (before the games even starts), lack of trained security staff, and disgruntled troops (who frankly are unlikely to be impressed by Boris Johnson's simpering about them being the bravest in the world), and probably a thousand other things that they have so far managed to hush up, the whole thing looks like a catastrophe waiting to happen.

******

PS: Off topic--It occurs to me that any time during the Olympic period would be a bad time to travel outside the UK. I reckon that they will move almost all their immigration staff to London to cope with the chaos there, leaving other airports and ports with comparatively few staff. So unless you like queues I'd give that a miss. Pity it's coming as the UK is suffering its wettest summer ever. People are going to be literally queueing up to get away. 

STILL IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE; IT COULD HAVE BEEN THERESA MAY

For a nausea inducing few minutes of "we're just ordinary people" you'd go a long way to beat the right honourable Justine (the only pretty one in the cabinet) having a "good old walk up to cabinet".


And if that doesn't do it for you, a bit later there's the jolly old right honourable Francis the minister for creating crises, and this time he's dusting off the jolly old bike and pumping some air into the jolly old tyres and getting his chauffeur to pick him up, no sorry... he gets a bit out of puff, ho ho ho, but it's jolly good for the old circulation, what! 


So what is the purpose of all this carry on, I hear you ask... Well, I don't but I'll tell you anyway...

Well, you see, the muppets who are supposedly organising the London Olympics, in addition to:
* not considering the need for security in the whole of the last 8 years since they were lumbered with, I mean of course, since they took to London the honour of hosting the Olympics and beat the Frogs; 
* not considering that Heathrow couldn't cope with the inevitable influx of passengers;


also took until now...about 6 weeks before the whole thing kicks off..to remember that some people don't have chauffeured cars to get them around and that London's public transport, which was falling to pieces 20 years ago, still has had almost nothing done to it.


So the jolly old wheeze is that they are asking Londoners to get up early, go to work in the middle of the night to avoid the rush hour when the roads and trains will be needed for the Olympics. 


Alternatively they want Londoners to work from home (difficult when you flip burgers for a living, but they probably didn't think about that). And, failing that, they want people to walk to work, or cycle... or swim up the river, or any other means of travel, as long as they don't block the metro and the buses and show the world what a chaotic mess they have made of the whole thing.


But Londoners, have no fear, you are not alone...you are all in it together, and, just to prove it, your betters are showing an example. If these important and highly bred people can walk or cycle, or turn up at 6.30 in the morning, then so surely can you. It's for London, for England and St George...and the Queen!


Pfffffffffffffffff!


Oh, and the bloke at the end, yeah the one with the... erm...uh, 'interesting, and somewhat daring'... orange tie... yeah you...if you're reading this, it's a good idea, just before you go on camera, to make sure that you brush the dandruff off your suit.


You see, you'll find that once people notice that you have dandruff on your jacket, they lose interest in what you are saying and concentrate on 'les petites pellicules'. Specially when you're terminally boring.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Fair's fair. I'm a republican, but I can praise individual royals' work when it's good. I've always said that Anne is a star with her Save the Children work. But today I take my hat off to Harry. He may be a bit of a prat sometimes, but he's done a good job of showing other royals how they can behave on tour. He's been a credit to his mum and to Britain the way he's been connecting with people, especially with kids.  You'll not get any bowing and scraping or any idiotic titles and styles from me, Harry; just a well done, mate.

Hague is going to be sued (couldn't happen to a nicer bloke) for providing intelligence to America which then drone bombed  Pakistan killing totally innocent people. Lawyers said that they had "credible, unchallenged" evidence that Hague oversaw a policy of passing British intelligence to US forces planning attacks against militants. And this time he, or they, or both,  got it wrong! We really have to learn that this isn't the good old colonial days when we could go around killing natives with abandon.

On the same theme, I wonder what kind of payback there is going to be for the murders of 16 Afghans, including 5 kids, carried out by a "rogue" soldier. There is sure to be some. It might be better to use this as an excuse to get the hell out of there, with our apologies for the mess we are leaving it in. 


Talking about leaving messes behind us, I was reading this morning that fashionably dressed men in Iraq are being attacked and killed. The Telegraph reported that up to 90 people, all but 2 men, have been killed for being trendily dressed and having floppy hair. It is assumed by the religious fanatics that now hold sway in the country (that we went in to liberate from a dictator), that anyone who is dressed fashionably is a homosexual, and that justifies killing them. Clearly the fanatics should get out more. Oh and to Bush and Blair...well done guys. You certainly liberated the Iraqis.


According to the Independent, the bill for London's Olympics has increased by another £2 billion. You would never credit that we are all in this together, would you? Just how much more is this fiasco going to cost.

Again, this time in the Telegraph, (enough to take you breath away, this one), the London government is going to support people buying homes worth up to £500,000 in an effort to revive the middle class dream of home ownership. Apparently rescuing the banks from their own stupidity and greed, and then handing them further billions of pounds in quantitative easing hasn't actually stimulated any lending (and we all know why that is: they needed it all for their bloody bonuses and salaries). So the government is going to have to guarantee their loans too, out of our money....at a time when house prices are going down. Smart thinking, Cameron.


And finally, while we're on the subject of the idiot Cameron, I noticed in one of the "idiot" papers yesterday that Cameron is going to get a ride in Airforce One. Imagine that! The paper pointed out with glee that President Sarkozy has never been invited to ride in the President's personal plane, ergo that President Obama had a very special relationship with Britain and Cameron. A bit of a leap.  I think it's highly unlikely that the  intellectual Mr Obama, who got where he is despite his origins, and because of his brain, would have much in common with Cameron who got where he got because of his connections and despite his brain.

Olympics: Another Day, Another Laugh

Because the transport system in London is at breaking point anyway, without the additional 3 million journeys a day anticipated to be made by the 800,000 spectators and 55,000 competitors and officials and VIPs, the Olympics minister, Hugh Something or Other, and the English Department of Transport have decreed that Londoners should try to... "think creatively and adjust travelling patterns, try different routes, stagger journey times, work remotely, walk or cycle to work" during next summer to avoid hold-ups during the Olympics.


Erm, it's just a thought, but, when they were bidding for this expensive extravaganza, did no one in London, like maybe Mayor Ken Livingston, or in the Westminster government, maybe Minister Tessa Jowell, or in the Olympics organisation like the head blokey, Coe, ever give a thought to the fact that there were people in London who had to get to work, school, to airports, to railway stations.... Did it never occur to anyone at all that the transport system just couldn't cope?


And what half wit came up with this advice;


to "try alternative routes"? If you've been going to work at a certain place for a fair amount of time, the likelihood is that you have already worked out the best route for you. Why would you change it;

to "stagger journey times"? So, how would that work if you're a shop worker, or a doctor, or policeman, a teacher, a train driver, or indeed most employed in the majority of jobs?


to "work remotely"? Yeah that will work with a lot of jobs, won't it? "I'd like two coffees and a rock bun, please"..."Well could you pop out to Epping. That's where the waitress is."


to "walk or cycle to work"? What if it's raining? What if you have bad feet or have to spend all day walking about? In any case, are there THAT many people that live so close to central London that they could reasonably walk?


I see that there is to be a trial for civil servants working from home to see if all the computers and networks are in place. I wonder how much that is costing us, and what budget it is coming out of? And what do we do if we want to speak to a member of staff in one of the Whitehall Departments? Phone them at home?

Not only that, but it's the first of three trials which is to take place before the actual event! What are they planning for? Nuclear war?


Another complete foul up in a fouled up set of arrangements for a fouled up games, after which I have no doubt Jowell will go to the House of Lords and Coe will...well, what can we do with him..? Make him Queen?


*****


Talking of Olympics and Fiasco, have you ever heard of anything as completely daft as this? Isn't a rather weird thing to do to take a baby to an event where you can't guarantee, for example not to be in a draft, or direct sunlight, where there maybe a lot of noise, or where absolute silence may have to be observed? But if people insist on doing it, surely they can't be expected to pay for a seat for someone who is going to sleep on their knee throughout.


*****

NO AUSTERITY FOR JEREMY WHAT'S HIS NAME

Always good to put on a show for the neighbours, don't you think.


Despite all the evidence of doom and gloom, the English Culture Secretary, the man some people call Jeremy Hunt, has announced that London's Olympics will not be austerity Olympics. Apart from MPs, top businessmen, the royals, lords and anyone from the city, the rest of us are living austerity lives, and will be, all the way through next year, but the Olympics will be lavish.


Yes, fut coat and no knickers Hunt promises us a show to remember. After all, it will be a time for people like him and Cameron and Prince Sebastian and all their business rich mates, to enjoy the best of everything at our expense, even down to having special lanes on roads reserved just for them.


There was a choice, according to that great expert of all things economic and sporting. We could say that because these are austere times we should pare everything back, or we could say that because there are times of austerity we must harness the Olympics. "People", he said,"would not forgive us" if we didn't make the most of the opportunity to spend spend spend. He said that it was going to be an incredible expression of British culture, British history and British creativity. 


What is the fool on about? 


It's the bloody Olympics; they belong to a city, in this case London. Most of the rest of us will see what we see on tv, just as if they had been staged in Paris, Ulan Bator, or the Moon! The only difference is we have all had to go without to pay for  our betters to prance around self importantly on the telly.


Most of the promises that came with the Olympics have already been broken. I seem to remember in the dim and distant past, that there were to cost around £3 billion; now that figure is nearly £10 billion, and rising. 

The security budget, the extent of which we will never know, has been more than doubled recently, as has the "showbiz" part of it, the opening and closing parts, where doubtless, the likes of Prince Sebastian Cameron and H h h h hunt will be sitting in a grand box along with the Queen.


There was supposed to be an increase in sporting activity throughout the four countries that are paying for it; in fact sporting activity has actually dropped off. 


There were promises about the stadia being taken over by private companies; now it appears that nothing can be agreed and extra costs are to fall on the government, ie us, for them.


The accommodation of the athletes' village cost a billion to build and was supposed to earn a profit when it was sold; however, it only raised around half of that.


The Treasury is currently analysing the economic impact of the Games, but Mr Hunt, the genius that he is, has pre-empted them to tell us that it will be significant. Well, that's all right then. Thank God they have him; whatever would they do without him?

AUSTERITY OLYMPICS? NOT ON YOUR LIFE

The cost of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics and Paralympics in London, are set to more than double after David Cameron saw the original plans and found them too niggardly and un-grand for him.


Given the hard economic times, the poor old "hard-working taxpayer up and down the country" so often cited by politicians, was promised an "Austerity Olympics"...an Olympics fit for the times. Nothing showy, just an opening (maybe SIR Elton John doing his 'Candle in the Wind' rewritten, yet again for yet another unhappy national occasion), followed by the sport, and then a closing (probably SIR Cliff Richard singing 'Congratulations').


But it seems that now that the time is near, Cameron wants to preside over something rather grander than the ration book games that had been foreseen. I'm sure I read somewhere were to have the biggest medals ever. (Yes, I did, and I found the link.) You couldn't make this up.


Apparently the money will be found from within the £3 billion sorry... very out of date figure... £9.3 billion that has been given to the Olympics by London the UK.


Additionally, they have had to revise the security costs upward. It had originally been thought that £271 million would cover it, however, when Seb  found his calculator and redid his sums, just a small error was discovered... ooops. It's going to cost £553 million. Terrible when you can't add up isn't it. 


No, it seems that instead of 10,000 guards, they are going to solve the unemployment problem for London by employing 23,000... close though, huh? (Actually it's not bad by, say, MoD standards.)


SIR Seb must have been washing his hair when this bad news was due to be released because they trotted out some totally unknown English sports minister called Hugh Robertson (what no SIRhood?), to take the flack. 


He said that the extra money was being spent so that the UK (the UK, mind) could reap the maximum economic benefit from the games. He said that he wanted people to have the best possible impression of the country, so that they will come back again and do business.


OK, so first of all these games are damn all to do with sport. It's all about making money, which, if I'm not mistaken, no one ever does from the Olympics, and this shower are even less likely to, because although their arses and armpits seem to be there, they just don't know which is which.

Secondly they seem to think that people will forget the overcrowded late trains (and drunk women telling them to speak F******* English when they are in her country), the over-priced hotels and restaurants, the surly staff and awful food, the disorganisation (because let's face it, they haven't exactly shown themselves efficient up to now, and I see no reason to expect anything else in the future), the crime, the beggars, the street sleepers, and the general air of unhappiness, shabbiness and discontent that pervades the whole place, ............and only remember how wonderful the opening and closing ceremonies were...?


They are mental.


All the security staff will have to be screened by the security services, and  that should be fun. I wonder how much that will cost us and how many potential terrorists they will let through.

Actually, they'd never admit it, but I suspect that the security increase is at least partly due to the fact that the USA was unhappy about security and wanted to send 1000 of their own CIA people, toting guns.


We probably won't be able to offer that level of skill and training, but under the Big Society some of the unemployed off the estates will be given a half-day course and then let loose with their new uniforms (how much will that cost us?) They can probably supply their own weapons.


Frankly, I wouldn't go to London next summer if you paid me, and I'll offer sanctuary to any of my London mates who need to escape for a while. 


No, I'm going to sit here and wait for the economic benefit that my tax money has bought Scotland. 


It's just as well that in addition to being very patient, I'm easily pleased.

LEGACY? WHAT LEGACY?

Laugh...? It's difficult not to.


The London Olympics, which have cost, and will continue to cost, the whole of the UK many billions, which have rendered almost nothing to any part of the UK except England, which have rendered precious little to anywhere in England outside of London, had one target which might have been of some use to the rest of us.


As a part of the original bid there was a pledge to increase participation in sport, not just in London, not just in England, but around the UK.


Guess what? The pledge has been abandoned... because the number of people participating in sport has actually declined in the run up to the games.


It's hard to see why the committee thought that the fact that the Olympics were to be held in London would increase sporting activity anywhere, even in London, unless vast sums of money were pumped into sport at a grass-roots level.


Outside of England that is the remit of other governments which have different priorities and strained budgets to deal with them.


But even inside England, I have read of little to suggest that sporting facilities have improved or that massive coaching plans are under way.


Indeed the Olympics has been, or will only be felt most places, including in Scotland, because a few low level events will be held outside the English capital, that somewhere within a hundred or so miles of you there will be chance to see the Olympic torch. (It will be in the park at the bottom of my road, and I won't so much as move a muscle to look out of the window to see it. It's hard to imagine folk driving miles to enjoy it).


Of course one thing that everywhere has experienced is a considerable reduction in charity income from the Lottery, as this money has been redirected to London. That has endeared the games and their purpose no end, to many of us .


Given that in a city where sporting facilities are desperately needed (Edinburgh), the Olympics committee were prepared to spend £200,000 on  inappropriate advertising, rather than a running track or a boxing ring or a few part time coaches, it's not hard to see why this condition of winning the games has been swept under the carpet.


Still, it's safe now. The International Olympics Committee can hardly take them back and give them to Paris (which wouldn't want them anyway!)

An sent Coe hamewart, tae think again

P

So the good news is that Historic Scotland has said "no" to the preposterous idea of massive Olympic rings being placed on our castle.


Olympic chiefs, the Evening News reports (I suppose they mean the Noble Coe and his sidekick Jowley Tess) are baffled by the change of heart of Historic Scotland, which was said to be enthusiastic about the project when it was discussed during the summer. 


As Munguin pointed out, unlike the Quango, English Heritage, Historic Scotland is a executive agency of the government. It is possible that Culture and External Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Fiona Hyslop, had a word.


To be fair it may be that Historic Scotland worked out for themselves that the people of Edinburgh and farther afield were not pleased about plan. The Edinburgh Evening News has run a campaign "Say No to Coe", and Edinburgers have been voluble in their condemnation, calling the sign gaudy and tasteless.


It seems that Coe wanted the sign to be in place for Hogmanay, when the eyes of the world are on Scotland and the castle in particular. But what for? Surely all the tickets for the games have either been sold or (the majority) allocated. So why would anyone want to advertise London's games. It would be like saying "Buy Grants whisky... but we don't actually have any". Additionally, London and Edinburgh vie for visitors and an enormous number of Edinburgh jobs are tied up in the tourist trade. Why would Edinburgh want to advertise one of its rivals? It would be like a big sign in Dundee saying "Go to Ashby-de-la-Zouch".


I suspect it might be that The Rt Hon Seb just wanted to show that the REAL capital's games were being supported by the pretendy capital of Scotlandshire.


If so, he failed.


But the Olympic "chiefs" aren't about to give up. They are looking for another building in Edinburgh from which they can hang their gaudy advertisement and Historic Scotland is hoping that this time there will be less antipathy from the residents. (You have to give it to Lord Nobleness Coe...he don't give up easily.) 


But Historic Scotland has to remember that one of the objections to the sign was the cost of £200,000. People in Scotland are aware that much needed sporting funds from, for example, the Lottery, have been reallocated from Scotland to London's Olympics, and we are aware here that while much of the Olympics is being paid for from general taxation, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 is being funded by Scottish taxpayers only. 


£200,000, many feel, would be better spent on promoting sport in the capital, rather than displaying an advertisement for someone else's events.


Historic Scotland may find that another venue may attract the same reaction!


Pics: Hi de Hi and Welcome to Maplins. The tacky looking coloured sign as it might have looked. Ms Hyslop, Culture Secretary. Seb Coe whose in charge of the Olympics on a salary of twice the PM. Tessa Jowel, the ex-Olympics minister whom Cameron retained so that he can blame someone from Labour when it all goes horribly wrong.


I've put a little poll in the side bar on the right. I'll leave it open till Monday afternoon. I thought it would be interesting to get your point of view even if you don't want to write anything.

SO WHAT HAVE THEY DONE WRONG NOW?

You have to wonder at the level of stupidity that the London government displays in its day to day work, don't you?


You're probably nodding your head right now and thinking.... He's on about the MoD; they are pretty useless! 


Well it's a good candidate, quite apart from being jointly run until recently by Adam and Liam for the benefit of.... Adam and Liam,  its permanent  management is quite astounding. 


Take, for example the matter of the multitude of armoured cars projects that have had to be cancelled; some £718 million worth in the last 15 years, according to the National Audit Office. 

Or could it be the Revenue. And the almighty cock up over the Goldman Sachs affair, perhaps? You know, the one where they got out of paying oodles of tax, well £10 million actually, while they came after me for an under payment of £500?


Maybe it's the fact that in Customs and border control people are so short staffed that at busy times they simply can't check people in to the country, so they just let anyone in, rather than have planes stacked 40 high over the English capital. Or maybe it's that they don't check private planes at all these days for fear of disrupting rich people's lives with trivia such as customs.


But no, it's not  them either. 


Nor is the almighty mess of the PFIs, which is bankrupting local health authorities, councils, police and fire services...


And it's not even the half witted idea that they've come out with today where the government will take on what are, in effect sub-prime home loans (despite us having bailed out the bloody banks) and encourage the price of housing to rise... engendering a feel good factor.... falsely.


Nope. OK, I've kept you in suspense for long enough.


What I'm talking about is Tessy's brilliant idea to bring in legislation to make it illegal to protest around the area of the Olympics during the time of the Olympics.

Brilliant, Tess of the Horribles! Which one of your half-wit staff came up with that idiot idea, or was it your own wee brain that gave birth to it?


You see, I suppose that, in a country where most of the population is pretty depressed about the state of their affairs, disillusioned by incompetent government and displeased about the turning of London 2012 into Moscow of the Brezhnev 70s, with Zil lanes for the party elite, and most good seats for the games, which are causing such disruption for the ordinary people, going to Barclaycard, McDonald's and BT's elite customers, it's quite likely that people will wish to protest in some way. Certainly there will be protests by disabled people over the audacity of the paralympics being being sponsored by Atos, the soulless organisation that delights in making the lives of the ill such unimaginable misery.


Certainly it will be a little embarrassing when the tv cameras of the world focus on it, and they realise that the streets of London are not paved with gold for anyone except those and such as those. But most democracies have protesters. It won't be news.


But, Tess, old thing, if you make it illegal, people will still do it. 


In fact according to what I read on Facebook last night they will do a lot more of it. 


And then, because it's illegal, you will have to arrest them. And there will be fights and scuffles with the police... and that's going to look 10 times worse.


You really are a very stupid woman.