It is now impossible to escape the looming Olympics.  The torch has now arrived in UK and will be 'arriving in your town at 10.53' or some other ludicrously precise time.  I confess to being a tad cynical about all of this.  The concept of all of the nations competing together and putting sport above politics etc is an excellent one, but where did we lose touch with the amateur ideals behind the Games?  How did football and tennis get to be Olympic sports?  I'm afraid the focus on hard cash distracts focus from the athletic achievements of the Olympians and Paralympians. 

What price an ancient hope, rekindled now by sunlight, the eternal flame of struggle and achievement?  Minimum fifty million quid, and that’s only third tier sponsorship.