A Poor Investment

The Telegraph quotes Professor Mike Weed, of Canterbury Christ Church University, as saying that the London Olympics "is a poor investment made by the treasury on our behalf".

As a study, published in the British Medical Journal, reveals that there is precious little benefit in terms of a health or financial legacy from hosting the Olympics.

No surprises there then!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Costs Rise

Despite promises of a £27M cut in the £12BN (including £2BN running costs) Olympics "budget", USA Today reports that costs for the London 2012 games have in fact risen:

"In its latest quarterly report on the Olympic budget, the government cites a $7.2 million (approx £4.5M) increase in the projected cost. The potential increase is forecast in transportation and infrastructure."

Budgetary control does not seem to be the Olympics organisers strongest point.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Stratford "International"

The Guardian reports that hopes that the new Stratford International station will run international trains during the London 2012 Olympics have been dashed.

"According to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, train operator Eurostar has told the Government it will not run services from the station during the games.

While other international train operators are in talks to use Stratford, this will not be until after 2012."

Quite what the point will be of international visitors stopping at Stratford after the games will be rather eludes me.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.comwww.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Appalling Design

Sir Terence Conran, a man with "some expertise" when it comes to design, has weighed into the furore over the London Olympics mascots (one of who resembles Sonic The Hedgehog wielding a knife).

His verdict?

In a letter to The Times he said:

"Appalling...symbols of national mediocrity".

Her then went on to compare them to that other "design triumph", the Millennium Dome exhibition.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.comwww.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

We're Backing China III

The good news is that not only are those "lovable" London 2012 Olympics mascots (one of them carries a knife and resembles Sonic the Hedgehog) being manufactured in China, but also the promo video that is being used to introduce them to the public.

Why are we so resolutely backing Chinese industry at the expense of our own?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.comwww.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Sonic The Hedgehog

I wonder if the creators of Sonic The Hedgehog realise that one of London's new Olympic mascots, the one carrying the knife (how symbolic of this country's youth!), bears more than a passing resemblence to Sonic?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.comwww.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Drips Off The Old Block

The London Olympics mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville (named after two English towns), were unveiled yesterday.

True to form, in keeping with these games, they represent nothing on earth.

The only element that could be claimed to be symbolic of Britain is the single "camera lens" eye that each creature has, representing the excessive level of surveillance that the people of Britain are subjected to by the government and other bodies.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.comwww.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Mascot To Be Unveiled

Hold onto your hats, at 7PM (BST) tonight, the London 2012 Olympics mascot will be unveiled.

The "buzz" from the London Olympics bunker is that the mascot will be "adventurous", and won't be an animal.

Lord Coe has semi spilt the beans, he has been telling the USA media that the mascots are a child friendly creation formed from a drop of steel from the Olympic Stadium.

Seemingly the mascots are based on a story by children's author Michael Morpurgo, and are aimed aimed particularly at children.

Why would that be?

Well, the games are all about money and the mascots will be sold. Child "I want one" power is an effective marketing tool.

I wonder if it will receive the same "warm" welcome that the "Lisa Simpson Gives Head" logo received?

I'll hazard a guess that it's a couple of marbles.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.comwww.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

When Is A Budget Cut Not A Budget Cut?

Answer: When it is an Olympics "budget" cut.

Yesterday I noted that Jeremy Hunt, the minister responsible for the Olympics, had told Newsnight that his department faced a £66M cut and that the Olympics was "not protected".

In the real world, this would mean that cuts would have to be made in the actual amount of money spent on the London 2012 Olympics.

However, in the fantasy world of the Olympics "budget" this may not be the case. It seems that instead of the the cuts actually being made, the amount cut from the government contribution may in fact simply be added to the council tax bills of London residents.

Neat accounting trick isn't it?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.comwww.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Budget Not Sacrosanct

Jeremy Hunt replaces Tessa Jowell as Secretary of State in the re-named Department of Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport.

As such Hunt now holds the poisoned chalice of the London 2012 Olympics.

He told the BBC's Newsnight that the department is going to make immediate cuts in spending of around £60M.

"Olympic money is not protected, none of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport's budgets are protected, and we're looking at all of them and saying, 'Can we save this money without affecting our core services?'"

Even if the entire £60M were wiped off the Olympics "budget" it would be but a drop in the ocean compared to the £12BN plus being spent on the games.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.comwww.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Age Limit

Those teenagers (under the age of 18) who had hoped to volunteer to be marshals, ticket inspectors, first aiders etc for the London 2012 Olympics will be sorely disappointed.

Britain's child protection laws prevent those who are 18 from actually volunteering to do anything useful in their lives.

For why?

The law requires helpers to be subjected to regular checks, it's not just the teens themselves but also the adults who would have to be checked. As such, the administration involved would simply be too time consuming and costly for anyone under 18 to be allowed to come into contact with an adult.

An absurd outcome.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.comwww.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Nanny's Back!

Good morning loyal readers!

Doubtless many of you have been wondering where this site went to over the last couple of days, indeed I have received a number of worried emails from some of you expressing concerns about the site's unexpected disappearance from cyberspace.

Well, here we are again, I will now relate to you what happened.

Google's (the owner of Blogger) spam bots claimed that Nanny Knows Best was a spam blog and, believing in the principle of shooting first and asking questions later (instead of the more sensible reverse policy), disabled it and asked me to prove it wasn't spam.

Wouldn't it have been more sensible to ask me first if it was spam, and to say if I don't come back in 3 days or so they will then disable the site?

Having deactivated the site without any warning, I was told by Google that I would have to wait several days for them to reactivate it:

"Blogger's spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has characteristics of a spam blog. (What is a spam blog?) Since you are an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy and we sincerely apologise for this false positive.

We received your unlock request on 09 May 2010. On behalf of the robots, we apologise for locking your non-spam blog. Please be patient while we take a look at your blog and verify that it is not spam."

I decided that being asked to wait for such a long period of time was not very satisfactory, given that this site has been going for many years and has a real human following etc. Therefore I enlisted your help and asked (via my other sites) for people to drop Google a note prodding them about this.

Oddly enough, for a leading 21st century web company, Google is rather hard to contact directly via email.

Nonetheless I found a number of access points:

press-uk@google.com

- Phone: +44 (0)20-7031-3000
- Fax: +44 (0)20-7031-3001

I also faxed the CEO (Eric Schmidt) in the USA (+1 650-253-0001) about it. Oddly enough, within an hour or so of faxing, the site reappeared as if by magic.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you who wrote in, and helped restore this site.

It is ironic that NKB was shut down, as it campaigns against censorship etc.

To add further irony to the story, my HMRC site (www.hmrcisshite.com) which is also on Google was also temporarily out of action on Sunday. However, it restored itself within a few hours.

However, what was really odd was that my gmail account (another Google product) was disabled by Google on Sunday. They asked me to email them my mobile phone number in order for them to send me a reactivation code.

Is Google trying to tell me something?

Once again many thanks for your support and help during this period of stupidity by Google.
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.comwww.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Nanny Knows Best

Off topic, but I would appreciate help from those of you who also read "Nanny Knows Best".

Google's spam bots claim that Nanny Knows Best is spam and have temporarily disabled it.

I now have to wait several days for them to reactivate it:

"Blogger's spam-prevention robots have detected that your blog has characteristics of a spam blog. (What is a spam blog?) Since you are an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not a spam blog. Automated spam detection is inherently fuzzy and we sincerely apologise for this false positive.

We received your unlock request on 09 May 2010. On behalf of the robots, we apologise for locking your non-spam blog. Please be patient while we take a look at your blog and verify that it is not spam."

If you can find time to drop Google a note prodding them about this, it would be much appreciated.

press-uk@google.com

Phone: +44 (0)20-7031-3000
Fax: +44 (0)20-7031-3001

It is ironic as NKB campaigns against censorship etc, and indeed (oddly enough) my HMRC site was also down yesterday for a few hours plus my Gmail account (which needed me to reactivate it by sending in my mobile phone number for a special code).

Is Google trying to tell me something?

Thanks

Ken

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.comwww.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"