For Whom The Bell Tolls

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Jeremy Hunt Feels Safer

Apparently Jeremy Hunt thinks that it's a "good thing" that soldiers are guarding the London 2012 venues, as opposed to G4S.

He is quoted by the Telegraph:

“That makes me feel safer, so I think it's a good thing.” 

That being the case, why did the government and Locog originally contract G4S to guard Olympic venues?

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The Great Olympics Budget Con

The beleaguered Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt (on whom bookmakers suspended any further bets in April on him to be next Cabinet minister to leave office), is cock-a-hoop with himself over the announcement today that the Olympics is coming in at almost £500M under "budget" at approximately £9.3BN:

"With only 44 days to go before the Olympics, it is fantastic news that there is still £476m of contingency funds left. Britain has proved that not only can we put on a great show for the world to watch like, we did with the Jubilee, but that we can also deliver big construction projects on time and on budget."

This is remarkable arrogance from a man whose own colleagues, from the Liberal side of the coalition, abstained in today's vote on whether he should face an independent investigation into claims that he breached the ministerial code wrt the BSkyB takeover.

Hunt would do well to remember two things about the Olympics "budget":

1 The original "budget" was in fact £2.4BN, and

2 The £9.3BN figure that the government would have us believe the Games are costing, excludes £2.2BN running costs; the Olympics will in fact cost at least £12BN.

What was that you were saying about being "on budget" Mr Hunt?

It is rather surprising that Hunt isn't very good at budgets/financial matters, given that he seems to be pretty skilled at arranging his tax affairs (wrt Hotcourses)  in a "tax efficient" manner.

 Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Olympics "Budget" Beyond Belief!

The arguments over the Olympics "Budget" continue, with the Public Accounts Committee laying to Jonathan Stephens the most senior civil servant in soon to be "resigned" Jeremy Hunt's Department for Culture Media and Sport.

The Telegraph reports that the cost of providing security for the games has rocketed skywards, eg elements of the main contract with private security provider G4S (the company that illegally bans photos being taken on public land) have increased by up to seven times.

Liberal Democrat MP Ian Swales said it was “beyond belief” that the Government would have agreed to such a huge increase in the security budget (£86M to £284M) if it had not been forced to do the deal in a hurry having underestimated the original requirement. 

PAC took Stephens to task for this, along with his response to a recent PAC report which described the Olympic budget as “finely balanced”.

Margaret Hodge (Chairman of PAC) quite rightly said that PAC had the right to tell the public the real cost of the Olympics.

For good measure Hodge, again quite rightly,  said it was “dishonest” not to acknowledge that some costs outside the Games budget, such as transport improvements, could be interpreted as Olympic spending.

Stephens claims that he remained “very confident” that the Games would be delivered within the £9.3BN budget.

Which is all very well except that, as has already been pointed out, the "budget" is £12BN!

The whole Olympics "Budget" is in fact beyond belief!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Jeremy Hunt Soon Out of Office

Jeremy Hunt, the  UK Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, is under heavy pressure to explain the extent of his links with News Corporation while the company was lobbying to get approval for its buyout of BSky.

Bookmakers have now suspended any further bets on him to be next Cabinet minister to leave office.

Paddypower:

"BREAKING: We have suspended betting on politician Jeremy Hunt leaving cabinet. Something big is about to go down...??!!"

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Olympics Ticketing Shambles Continues

 Last Friday I wrote the following about the Olympics online ticket system crashing:

"Locog has been forced to suspend part of the Olympics ticket resale process this morning, after the website crashed because of the high volumes of users seeking to sell or buy Games tickets.


Sellers of tickets, that they do not want, have been unable to upload their tickets to the site.


Locog do not know why this problem has arisen.


The system is meant to be back on line, and working properly, this afternoon.


Is it?"

One week on, and in answer to my own question, the site is still not working!

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has been forced to apologise for the shambles.

He is quoted by the BBC:

"We're working night and day to sort it out" and "apologise for the frustration that people feel.

We're going to get it right and make sure we get as many people as possible to the Games."

Not very impressive!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Not The Austerity Games!

Despite the fact that the UK (and indeed the global economy) faces a financially bleak 2012, the government, in the guise of the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, is determined to "keep our spirits up".

What better way to do so, than to spend £12BN of our money on the 2012 Olympics?

Hunt has emphasised that the 2012 London Olympics will not be the "austerity games", and that the economic downturn meant the event's opportunities must be "harnessed".

Hunt is of the view that the voters would not forgive the government if it failed to make the most of the Games.

So there you are then!


Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Waste!

Despite the fact that Britain is facing years of austerity, and the ongoing crisis in the Eurozone that threatens to collapse the global economy, it is "reassuring" to learn that government ministers are "investing" our taxes "wisely".

What could be a better "investment" than tickets to watch the London 2012 Olympics?

Jeremy Hunt's department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has applied for, and has been allocated, 8,846 tickets to the London 2012 Olympics.

Isn't it funny that Hunt and his cronies managed to get their full allocation of tickets, yet many ordinary citizens who applied haven't?

Anyhoo, the cost to the taxpayer of this "investment" is £750K.

I am sure that you will all agree that this is money "well spent"!

SNORT!


Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Pillock

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt sis so convinced that the London 2012 Olympics will remain within his view of what the budget is (£9BN), that he intends to spend £300M of that money on something else.

On what?

Telling Londoners to leave London and go on holiday in the UK!

Aside from the fact that is is a completely absurd waste of money, Hunt is rather deluding himself about the budget:

1 The current "budget" is in fact £12BN (if you include the running costs).

2 The original budget was around £3BN (£12BN is hardly "within budget" is it?).

3 We are in a recession.

This is a totally daft idea, and a scandalous waste of money!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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250,000 Miss Out On Olympic Tickets

Those of you who applied for tickets for the London 2012 Olympics, but who failed to get any (estimated by the Telegraph at being around 250,000) may take some comfort in the fact that neither Boris Johnson (Mayor of London) nor Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport appear to have been allocated any either.

However, it is quite likely that these two gentlemen will be able to attend the games; as the government has applied for 9,000 tickets (for VIPs and civil servants) and local authorities have also been allowed to buy tickets (outwith the ballot, using taxpayers' money)

Did Locog not tell these queue jumpers that the daft ticket ballot procedure that they designed was meant to be fair?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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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

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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

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