Naval Protection

Seemingly the Royal Navy is on standby to deploy, what the government would have us believe is, the world's most advanced destroyer to protect the 2012 Olympics from attack.

One of the new Daring class of Type 45 destroyers will be deployed in the Thames estuary.

All very well. However, the ships are not yet fitted out and are not expected to be ready until at least 2011.

There is a very real chance that delays and teething problems will mean that the destroyers will not be ready in time for the 2012 Games.

Additionally, owing to government cutbacks (how ironic given the cost of the Olympics!), the destroyers will not have their missile systems installed at the time of their planned Olympic deployment.

What exactly are they expected to be able to do then?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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2000 More Police Needed?

People are never shy of jumping on the Olympics bandwagon, and using it as an excuse for demanding more money/resources.

True to form Paul McKeever, Chairman of the Police Federation, has stepped up to the plate and asked for 2000 more police officers. He is quoted in publicservice.co.uk:

"We must not lose sight that we will also be policing the biggest sporting event this country has handled in 2012, when the Olympics comes to the UK.

How we are expected to deal with the demands this will place upon the service, in addition to the increasing property crime rates with fewer officers per head of the population, is beyond me. My real fear is that the level of service and protection we will be able to afford the public will be severely affected unless action to address this is taken now."

Well, he would say that wouldn't he?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Jowell Nationalises Olympic Village

As expected, the private funds for the London Olympic Village have simply dried up, as the hapless Olympics Minister (Tessa Jowell) was forced to announce that the village has been "nationalised".

In other words the taxpayer is paying for construction, using the part of the contingency fund. To date £1.4BN of the £2.7BN fund has been used. Given that the Olympics are still three years away, this rapid draw down of the fund is somewhat alarming; and underscores the fact that the the Olympics budget (currently standing at £12BN including £2BN running costs) is not worth the paper that it is written on.

The "good" news, according to Jowell (quoted in the Telegraph) is that:

"It is clear that investing in the village will now save public money in the long term".

This of course is complete bollocks, as hosting the Olympics was never a compulsory event; ie no Olympics, no cost!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Another Raid on The Contingency Fund

True to form, the financial black hole that is the London Olympics 2012 continues to suck ever increasingly large amounts of cash out of the hard pressed British taxpayers.

The government are discussing a further raid, estimated to be around £400M, on the Olympic contingency fund in order to make up the shortfall in private sector funding for the Olympic village.

The Government raided the fund to the tune of £326M in January.

The "budget" currently stands at £12M (including £2M running costs).

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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A Blight on The Landscape

Cabe, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (the government's architectural adviser), has vented its spleen on the £355M Olympic media centre (where the journalists covering the London 2012 Olympic Games will sit).

Cabe describes the building as being "monolithic", and notes that the building will be a blight on East London's already ugly landscape:

Paul Finch, chairman of the London 2012 design review panel, is quoted in The Times:

"People could be forgiven for wondering why sheds have been removed from the Lower Lea Valley in the name of high-quality urban regeneration, only to be reinstated at a much larger scale."

Money well spent then!

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Cyber Threat to Games

David Blunkett, the former Home Secretary, will warn that the London 2012 Olympic Games are at risk of a "cyber attack".

Blunkett will give the warning during his opening address to the Infosec annual conference at Olympia this Tuesday, and will go on to say that terrorists could hack into computer and communications systems causing a "complete meltdown".

He wants a co-ordinated approach between government, security experts and business to mitigate the threat.

The threat of a cyber attack is indeed very real. However, that threat exists and will continue to exist, with or without the London Olympics.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Piffle!

The IOC, having completed their two day inspection of London's preparations for the 2012 Olympics, have magnanimously stated that the UK is justified in spending £12BN (including £2BN running costs) on the games.

Given that the money is not coming out of the IOC's pockets, and the continuing existence of the games justifies their junkets and salaries, the IOC would say that.

Denis Oswald, the head of the Coordination Commission is quoted in The Guardian:

"In every city where you organise the Games, it's a unique opportunity to improve the infrastructure in one way or another.

If you look at most previous cities like Athens, they have a new airport, they have a new train line, they have a new metro line, they have a new tramway, they have a new motorway... all this was done on the occasion of the Games.

These were investments which were needed by the city in order to be a modern city and I think it's a very similar situation with the east end part of London which needed improvement. The Games are just the best opportunity to do it."

Oswald neglects to mention that the hapless citizens of Greece will be spending years paying off the debts of the 2004 Olympics, and that many of the venues constructed for the Athens games are now rotting.

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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Too Small To Compete?

The Liberal Democrats have warned that the organisers of the London 2012 Olympics have failed to award small businesses, promised a share of the games, despite the fact that a special website (CompeteFor) for matching Olympic suppliers with buyers has been set up.

The Liberal Democrats claim that the ODA had awarded 880 contracts, but only 140 of them were through the website. The website cost the taxpayer £5M to set up.

However, the ODA claim that awarded 550 contracts before the website was launched.

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"