An Olympic source has said organisers are having 'fruitful discussions' about how much to charge for tickets with some in LOCOG and the government favouring £3,000 for the best seats at the opening ceremony and other key events. However, it seems some idiots have been making "public statements that the tickets would be affordable and that is causing some disquiet.”

Nice work if you can get it. The 228 permanent staff at the ODA are enjoying an average wage of £67,000 plus an average bonus of £13,700 on top, plus expenses of course. See

Jacques Rogge faces both ways over BP's sponsorship of the 2012 Olympics. On the one hand it is reported that the Olympic governing body is content to allow BP to sponsor the London Games provided the firm takes proper "corrective measures" to alleviate the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Deighton was powerful enough to have become the 458th richest person in the country when he applied for the Locog position. He could afford the massive pay-cut

In one of two largely puff pieces in today's Guardian we're treated to a profile of LOCOG Chief Exec Paul Deighton's bankster past with Goldman Sachs. So we have some idea of where he's coming from in the second which leads:

Today Mr Higgins kindly sent me an email message in which he said:

'We remain within budget and on track to complete the vast majority of the venues and infrastructure with one year to go.'

Dow Chemicals are to be announced as the IOC's new Global Partner?

Today's Torygraph has this: London 2012 Olympics:

Recent Freedom of Information responses from 2012 Olympics 'host boroughs' confirm the suspicion that local council funds and resources are being diverted into Olympics matters in ways that are not easily identifiable or accounted for. The lack of transparency and thorough accounting procedures make it almost impossible to calculate how much council tax payers are contributing to the 2012 Olympics as a whole, over and above the highly publicised £9.3billion budget.