The Green Olympics?

Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, has been warned that the increase in traffic (as a result of the London Olympics in 2012) will breach pollution limits.

The result?

London will be fined £300M by the EU!

Now worries, just add that to the Olympic "budget"!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Snouts In The Trough

It would seem that some people involved with the London Olympics 2012 simply cannot resist sticking their snouts in the trough.

The Telegraph recently reported that some of London's leading hotel groups (including Intercontinental, Hilton and Thistle) are taking legal advice following their discovery that some of the rooms that they have supplied to Locog (at preferential rates) are being resold by Thomas Cook at "grossly inflated prices".

One premium three-night ticket and accommodation package is on offer at the Hyatt Regency Churchill for £6,499 per person, including meals and transfers (the face value of the tickets is a "mere" £1,740).

Locog has taken 56,000 rooms, and has given Thomas Cook (a sponsor of the games) access to 8% of the rooms.

As I have noted many times before on this site, the Olympics is not about sport it's about money!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com

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Knobheads

Lord Coe has waded into the dispute between the knobheads running the British Olympic Association (BOA) and Locog.

The dispute is over how any post Games surplus (there's optimism for you!) should be defined.

The BOA argues that the surplus should be calculated before any loss from the Paralympics is taken into account. Locog and the IOC argue that the Olympics and Paralympics should be treated as an integrated whole.

Lord Coe is thoroughly fed up with the increasingly absurd and greedy position taken by the BOA, he is quoted in the Telegraph as saying that it is a "spurious case":

"This is not about a sum of money or a contractual misunderstanding, this is very clear, and the best demolition of that case is the IOC's judgment and they are the only appropriate organisation to adjudicate on that.

The Government have made it very clear there is no public money in settlement of that case, the IOC have made their position clear and as the organising committee we are running hard to maintain a balanced budget."

Sadly for Lord Coe the BOA are not listening, and are simply not interested in facing reality.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Mobiles Nixed On Tube

Britain's four mobile companies (O2, Vodafone, 3 and Everything Everywhere) have nixed the £150M project to allow mobile phones to be used on the London Tube (in time for the Olympics).

Technologically speaking this leaves the London tube firmly in the third world.

However, the abandonment of the scheme (which would have allowed commuters to make calls, text and browse the internet on the Tube) is a blessed relief to the long suffering passengers of the overcrowded and unpleasant Tube system; as it at least saves them from further annoyance from noisy mobiles and their owners.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

April Fool!

The Metro has attempted an April Fool joke, by claiming that tickets for the London Olympics will be impregnated with smells from the 26 sports.

Nice try!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Arrest Over "Explosives"

A female security guard (dog handler) was been arrested on Tuesday in Pudding Mill Lane, near the Olympic stadium site, on suspicion of possessing explosives.

Scotland Yard said that the woman was arrested on suspicion of possession of a "very small amount of a substance" that was being forensically examined.

The Met issued a statement that noted that the incident "did not represent a threat to the safety and security of the Olympic site."

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Time To Knock Some Heads Together

The government has woken up to the fact that the absurd row between the British Olympics Association (BOA) and Locog, over the share of post Olympics spoils (if there are any), is severely damaging what is already a rather tainted brand.

The Sports Minister, Hugh Robertson, has weighed in and stated that he is "prepared to do anything" to end the row.

Which is political speak for "I will knock some heads together".

Robertson will meet BOA chairman Lord Moynihan today, and doubtless explain to him that everyone thinks that the BOA are acting like a bunch of knobheads.

The meeting will of course be reported as being a "full and frank" discussion:)

The BOA's and Moynihan's positions have been further undermined (they have been made to look even more foolish) by the the statement issued by London 2012's chief financial officer, Neil Wood, as per the BBC:

"With reference to a claims by the BOA of a meeting last July between Locog and the BOA in which statements allegedly were made by me to the effect that the Olympics would make a profit of about £400m with the Paralympics making a corresponding loss and at a subsequent meeting I allegedly revised this figure down to £300m - I have never made such statements, which are in fact untrue."

As I noted earlier this month, "as regards the BOA, it is clear that not one penny more should be allocated to this inept and incompetent body".

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"