The London Olympics (again)

Once again, the underhand activities of the London Organising Committee of the Games (LOCOG) are coming under the spotlight. Their efforts to ensure that the political elite benefit over the general public have caused outrage but every time someone scratches the surface another smell emerges.

Today in the Mail on Sunday they have warned of a 'Despatches' programme on Channel Four (scheduled for tomorrow evening) which exposes a scandal where companies like Thomas Cook, have been allowed to purchase 300,000 tickets for £25 million (now you know why you only got the minor sports) and are now including access to the VIP lanes which will whisk their clients past the public struggling to cope with the extra volume of Olympic traffic.

I remember Lord Coe (Chairman of LOCOG) promising on television that the public would receive 75% of the tickets. I do not know how many tickets are available but when one commercial company creams off 300,000 of the best tickets surely it renders his promise untenable.

The Olympics is a great sporting occasion but in my opinion LOCOG have demeaned it by concentrating on profit above fair play. There was always been a taint connected to the ticket sales and connected to the eventual destiny of the accommodation built to house the athletes. I will watch 'Despatches' with interest but I suspect that I will not to be too surprised with the findings.