Do they want them to fail?

Just watching the news this morning, and I see that there is some controversy surrounding the preparations for the London Olympic games in 2012.

The BBC commentator raised the point that these were likely to be the most expensive games in the tournaments history, and will top over £8bn. What's the word I am looking for here? Oh, that's right: d'uh! Now, basic maths and economics may be beyond some reporters but costs will always rise as inflation is a fact of life.

The Sydney Olympics cost £2bn to stage, Athens cost over £4bn and Beijing is expected to cost over £6bn. Spotting a trend here? If London manages to keep costs below £9bn, I personally believe they will be doing well.

I have more concerns regarding the completion of the Olympic village, as the last major sporting venue redevelopment that involved the Government was Wembley Stadium. I really don't think the IOC would be willing to relocate to the Millenium Stadium quite so easily.

Turmoil on ITV

No, it's not a new programme. ITV has been subject to some speculation that it was going to be acquired. First potential suiter was a merger with NTL, followed up not long after by the German company RTL. On Friday however, BSkyB bought nearly an 18% of the shares - just 2% under the maximum stake it is allowed to own, under current rules. NTL (and Richard Branson) have immediately called foul on BSkyB's behaviour, claiming it is anti-competitive. BSkyB responded with a comment that NTL thinks they have the "right" to acquire ITV.

Having lived in a country where all media outlets are locked up by two companies (and seen the damage that does to viewer choice), I believe BSkyB's behaviour needs to be assessed. Also keep in mind that BSkyB is owned by News International who in turn own Fox, the fine purveyor of junk TV.

There is far too much junk on tv at the moment: "reality" tv programmes, ADD-inducing sketch shows and lack-of-talent programmes. Putting more control into the News International group, I am sure will do nothing but increase this nonsense. Plus as a major shareholder, I am sure BSkyB will be happy to derail future bids by ITV for sporting events such as the F1, European Champions league, etc. This may sound far-fetched, but football in Australia is in a still-born state partially due to live games solely being available on Foxtel, the BSkyB equivalent down-under and 50% owned by News International.

I wonder who Johnathan Pryce in Tomorrow Never Dies was meant to be?

Oooh... This will be fun

Heather and I were sorting out our holiday photos last night, and I had been exploring MyPixmania as a place to get them printed (as low as 3p each!). Heather however insisted on more of a coffee-table style picture book, something that MyPixmania no longer supports (that I can find).

After a bit of a hunt with Google, I found this interesting website. The great thing about it is that you download an application and design your photobook, before uploading (or sending it via CD) and they print it for you. The prices although they sound steep, seem to be pretty reasonable: £80 for a 144 page book, about A4 size.

Therefore instead of sorting out the house and preparing for our housewarming party, I am going to be playing with this. Much better than housework :)

Junk food advertising

It was announced today that Ofcom (the regulator of the communication companies) has announced measure to prevent the screening of junk food advertisements during times when children would most likely be watching. Specifically, these are:

• All pre-school children's programmes
• All programmes on mainstream channels aimed at children
• All cable and satellite children's channels
• Programmes aimed at young people, such as music shows
• General entertainment programmes which would appeal to a "higher than average" number of under-16s.

Like my comments about increasing the duty on alcopops, this will not make any difference. Kids will still want their Big Mucks when they are out with their parents on a Saturday afternoon, gaudiness of the "restaurants" are designed to attract the impressionable mind. Likewise, crisps and soft drinks are still going to be consumed at school break times, they are convenience foods and kids are too keen to be doing other things than eating.

In moderation, all these foods are fine and it is better that the message is spread by the junk food companies that moderation and exercise are necessary. An example junk food ad might be:

At the moment, there is no incentive for the companies to clean up their message. Ofcom had the opportunity to make a difference, but instead took the easy way out by the blanket banning. Government agencies, policy makers, etc have to realise that people will continue to do those things that are bad for them. Telling them not to do something is a sure enough way of making people want to do it. Be realistic and educate people, its the best option for improvement.

While Ofcom are at it, could they create an index for how moronic advertisements are? An advertisement with a high index rating (for example the Phones4U campaign) should be automatically banned, the video tapes destroyed by incineration and the person that thought of it sterilised to prevent them from infecting the gene pool any further.

Post Game Review

Well, England played their game against Holland last night in the Amsterdam Arena. Allegedly, they played with a 4-3-3 formation, with Joe Cole, Rooney and Johnson up front. In my opinion, if they are going to be playing 3 up front, it would have been better to play a striker there rather than an out of place midfielder. I think combination of say Crouch, Rooney and Johnson would have been quite interesting to have seen.

Nevertheless, I think England played a reasonably good game and were probably deserved a win, rather than draw. The goal they conceded however smacked of poor defending that is untypical of the back four, the scoring player having been unmarked at the time. Not too sure who you can blame: Terry, Ferdinand or Ashley Cole. That being said Micah Richards had an impressive debut for an 18 year old, with no signs of stage fright and a good shot on target. How nice would it have been to score on your England debut as a right-back?

Steve McLaren's email to fans was pretty upbeat about the performance, however England are now in the position of having to win just about every remaining game in their qualifying group to get through to the tournamenet. I hope they can do it, but we still have to face Croatia again and two legs with Russia and Israel (both of whom I would not write off as easy to beat). I think that we may not make Euro 2008.

My other concern, is that England have found their position in Europe: mid-table fodder unable to throw of the shackles of Sweden or Holland and rise above them. I include Portugal in that group, who constantly are found wanting against strong opposition.