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Our elected representatives (with a few honourable exceptions) seem to be partial to free tickets.

Shouldn't they be for the High Jump?

I predict the G4S will say that they were prevented from recruiting guards BECAUSE of the slow way that the Home Office runs the vetting system.

That is a good explanation as to why Teresa May was so condemnatory yesterday in the Commons - she was set up by the Civil Servants(!) to protect the Home Office!

This is also why we are seeing so much media work in protecting the UK Border Force (or whatever it is now called). And the Immigration Agency(?)

It boils down to the poor computer systems in Government and in particular the Home Office and all its agencies. They are simply not fit for purpose. Ordered by Civil Servants who have not done the job, without specifying any pilot or parallel running and they take the notional profit before implantation which actually cripples the new system. This seems to be a very good explanation of the dire volte face over border staff - firing them last year and hiring them this.

This situation is I suspect not the Civil Servants' fault - they are being pressured into money saving schemes which are already underfunded - so blame HM Treasury.

I could not fail to notice how prehistoric the security for the Olympics is. British politicians are clamoring for explanation on why military is being asked to field more troops for Olympic security after a private contractor was paid millions to provide security. The contractor, G4S, had been enlisted to provide the bulk of the 13,200 private security guards across 100 Olympic venues, but said in a statement Wednesday that it may not hit its target because of problems recruiting/training staff. Major embarrassment for London's Olympic Organizing Committee just two weeks ahead of the games!
Britain has now put an extra military personnel on standby, after contractor said it may not be able to provide enough security guards on time. Apparently, Ministry in charge of crime & security said the troops would be ready to be deployed to cover any shortfall. Home Office: "We have agreed to offer help to G4S by revising the level of military support." Has Home Office received any rebate from G4S?
In this time of high unemployment, G4S offered the pathetic excuse that it had encountered issues in relation to workforce supply/scheduling over the last couple of weeks.
Britain has committed 553 million pounds ($857 million) for venue security, covering arenas in London and other locations across Britain, including a southern England sailing center and five soccer stadiums. 7,500 troops are already being deployed & 6,000 are on stand-by. If all military personnel were deployed, the number would dwarf 9,500 troops Britain has in Afghanistan.
Enjoy the games & be safe out there!

But Robert is not US. It is THEM who are panicking. Have you seen Transport for London's posters telling US not to travel lest the roads be blocked with footballs. gone amok. Did you notice MI5 and MI6 warning US of terrorists and worse. Are you in range of the rockets? It is NOT US who are increasing the security cover month by month; NOT US turning the locations into armed camps. It is not US increasing immigration controls at Heathrow. It is not US who are daily increasing the overall spending on the 'festival'.

IT IS THEM.

The only thing WE have to fear Is THEIR fear


What are WE to do are we to 'carry on smiling' ruefully though OUR famous 'stiff upper lips' at the doom mongers, complain to MP's Mayors and Lord Coe and Co. and other incompetents, leave for Scotland and Ireland while WE can,(probably too late) or retire to bed until it is all over having filled the freezer with burgers and a certain soft drink.

What are you really going to do Robert?

I don't think you will actually be enjoying the games in the circumstances.

But please do tell us.

'I wonder which would make you happier.'

Odd. It was all-inclusive ´óÏó´«Ã½ 'we-speak' until this point, but then for the killer postscript Olympus was ascended to again, so order is restored.

Uniqueness is also preserved in a ´óÏó´«Ã½ piece referring to how 'the media' refers to British institutions it doesn't favour, under a headline complementing ´óÏó´«Ã½ Editors' penchants for the attack lines of political parties they do.

I wonder if this is typical of what those overseas are 'pointed to' by those claiming to speak for the nation, when it seems few in this fair land have been asked, much less been given any choice in the matter.

This July, Discovery Channel sheds light on how anticipation for games can be marred by concerns that a major terrorist threat could turn a celebration of human achievement into a human nightmare.
Learning from past events that were disrupted by terrorism, Sport Under Threat reveals how organizers of sporting events handle the increased risk of terrorist activity, and what security measures are being taken at the 2012 London Games.
Sport Under Threat premiered this Sunday, July 15 9:00 pm. Encores on Monday, July 16 at 8:00 am & 2:00 pm + Saturday, July 21 at 11:00 am.

From the 1972 Munich Games where terrorist group Black September made hostages of members from the Israeli athletic team into bargaining chip for release of Palestinian prisoners, to the Volvo Ocean Race 2011/12 where the race was halted in the middle of the Indian Ocean due to pirate-infested waters, Sport Under Threat draws from an archive of past events that display how more than ever before, sport is no longer unaffected by political, criminal or military issues. Interviews with members of the International Olympic Committee and security officials are also featured, among which includes interviews with chief executive officer of the London organizing committee, Paul Deighton, senior analyst at London’s security specialists Control Risks David Lea, and Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Chris Allison.

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BluesBerry,

Yeah, we don't need specialists. Everything is tickety-boo! According to


;o)

8. Scotch Git wrote:
BluesBerry,
Yeah, we don't need specialists. Everything is tickety-boo! According to Lord Coe.
;o)
Scotch Git - Also read some Security Personnel may not speak English. Now that's seriously tickety-boo!

It's all getting a bit embarrassing internationally really. Aljazeera have been writing about the fiasco recently. Today the CNN website has the leading article "Olympics security failure is 'humiliating shambles,' boss concedes".

A brief digression though...

The nice thing about the CNN article is you can actually comment underneath it. It's true of most CNN articles. A news website that lets you talk about a news article right under the article. What a wild and outlandish idea. I wont hold my breath for such a feature at the ´óÏó´«Ã½. Its not a question of funds of course, but rather one of will. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ has never been keen on having its news articles publicly criticised.

Over the years more and more ´óÏó´«Ã½ News messageboards have vanished. Recently the trend at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has been to close the few remaining forums in favour of Twitter (which is hardly suited to proper discussion) or worse still to Facebook where opinions are tied to peoples real names (which can be dangerous). The use of Facebook in particular excludes a large demographic of ´óÏó´«Ã½ readers. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ should host and manage its own commenting facilities. Anything else such as Twitter/Facebook or any latest fad should be an optional extra.

Somehow, the possibility being invited to a party being protected by missiles --and those possibly being protected by snipers-- and with thousands of troops with little (or no) experience in policing -- and with the host being a friend of -



--

-- makes me wonder if ´sport´ in its present corruptive forms is worth celebrating or protecting.

--

10. Steve wrote:
It's all getting a bit embarrassing internationally really.
Over the years more and more ´óÏó´«Ã½ News messageboards have vanished.

Indeed. The move from a poorly substantiated 'speaking for the nation' to shamelessly broadcasting at it, suitably filtered via the edit suite.

Recently the trend at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ has been to close the few remaining forums in favour of Twitter

The Editors, where the great and good of market rate talenthood (no pearls yet from the new DG yet, sadly) being a prime example of still being open... but closing very, very quickly.

As to social mediocrity, what to say? Check out Newsnight's old blog to see the latest they offer via FaceBook or twitter. Dross.

I am overseas and the only UK news is ´óÏó´«Ã½ World. On Aurora the best they could manage was a clearly out of her depth anchor (she asked a survivor if the experience was horrible before then deciding to ask a trauma victim their views on the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s preferred stance on US gun law) who had to fill the 24/7 dead air space they call news in an exchange with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ WHYS Editor on 'what twitter is saying'... make that what they ´óÏó´«Ã½ likes from what twitter is saying.