London Tube boss Howard Collins has got a job running railways Down Under. The Standard describes him as the 'Tube boss credited with making the trains run on time during the Olympics'. If they expect Mr Collins to repeat the miracle of making the trains run on time in Sydney then they can look forward to apocalyptic warnings about how the system is about to crack up and they'd all be better off walking, getting on their bikes, staying at home, anything but travelling by train!

Promises, promises

"There's a direct link between elite success and participation in sport”

David Cameron 12 Aug 2012

The Olympics project is large and complex. In this revised version of our previous paper of the same name, we draw your attention to significant impacts, the paucity of procedures for impact evaluation, and the processes surrounding the bidding for, and promotion of, the Olympic event.

It's probably unfair to blame the Olympics. In Australia, a former water polo champion, Keri Lane, is accused of murdering a new born baby because she wanted to compete in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Almost as alarming is Peter Keen, Director of Performance at UK Sport, who puts sport up there with 'economic domination' and 'warfare'. In an interview with the Guardian he said: 'Short of economic domination and warfare, I'm not sure what else makes sense of our national identity...'

'There appears to be little evidence of any benefit to tourism of hosting an Olympic Games, and considerable evidence of damage.' Findings of the European Tour Operators Association 2006 Report and Updates from 2008 and 2009.

Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, 2002, SUNY, ISBN pbk 0 7914 5473 8.