Women Who Should Call The Shots

This warmed my heart at the weekend, as I sure it did many others'. The sight of a Russian and a Georgian athlete embracing after a hard-fought Olympic shooting event sent out all the right signals, especially in view of a very different kind of shooting that's been taking place recently.

This was sport as it should be, and demonstrates why we should never use it as a political football (sorry !). Sport has an almost unique capacity to bring people together just as surely as politics and religion divides them. As long as you know the rules you can compete on equal terms; you don't even need to talk to your opponents because sport has a language all of its own.

So well done to Nino Salukvadze of Georgia and Russia's Natalia Paderina, whose gesture of friendship at the medal ceremony should long be remembered by the Olympic movement as a triumph for sporting fellowship.

Thank God the situation in Georgia seems to have improved somewhat in the last 24 hours. To myself and millions of others, the threat of Russia marching on Tbilisi will have served as a chilling reminder of their Cold War imperialism. Russia has won the propaganda battle without question, and at the same time has discovered how far it can go in antagonising the West; too far for my liking. I sense a new, confident and expansionist Russia out of all this. They'll be back, mark my words. Look out for further muscle flexing in the months and years to come.

In the meantime though, let's hope the peace holds in Georgia and let's be grateful for two gun-wielding women who know how to set an example to their leaders.

Insulting The Chinese Government Is Illegal

The Olympic torch is coming to London on Sunday (seeing as it's on the way between Athens and Bejing).

The government is clearly desperate that this event goes off without incident and doesn't get disrupted, nor the limelight stolen, by those annoying Tibetan demonstrators. Quite right too: this is a government propaganda opportunity to tell us all how wonderful it is that they're going to spend £9.3 bn (their estimate) of our money bringing the Olympics to London in 2012, and woe betide anyone who has the audacity to divert attention from that.

So much so that the not only have the said that they will prevent any attempts to grab or stop the progress of the torch (fair enough) but they'll also have Chinese interpreters on hand; any insulting banners will be confiscated. (Source: BBC)

So it's offical. Insulting people (or to more more accurate a state which the government is cosying up to for its own ends) is against the law.

The Only Way Is Up

I'm going to log it here so that I don't forget. The Olympic Stadium, whose blueprint was unveiled today, is currently forecast to set us back £496 million.

There's only one way that figure's going to go.