Yakking for Argyll

Did you hear the interview Jacques Rogge of the IOC gave the BBC? He said: ‘a good organiser is a hjmbe organiser. A good organiser is an organiser who listens. The nightmare is an organiser who says “I’ll do it my way” ‘. He seemed concerned about the UK’s lowering of expectations for the 2012 Games. He said that they could not lower the standard set in Beijing. Now - you can bet that the media will run off at the mouth about how we’ll never have the budget to match the Beijing Opening Ceremony. Government Ministers will be perpetually asked about available budgets and will say there can be no more. We will work up a national lather about the impossibility and unreasonableness of it.

That wasn’t what he said. He made no reference of any kind, overt or oblique, to the ceremonials. He spoke of the quality of the Olympic village, the quality of the transport between the village and the venues, the organisation of the venues… Very little of this is about more money and none of it is about public show. He is clearly concerned about our capacity to deliver organisationally. He has a point. The runes are not propitious.