The Grumpy Old Blog

A columnist in the Independent said that he felt sorry for the public relations people of the Olympic sponsors. The games on BBC meant precious little advertising during the live games, the huge television audience therefore being hard to reach, blah, blah and etc. I don't feel sorry at all. I've had my own uphill struggles during my work in PR over the years. I took the knocks on the head, but got up and continued, without crying into the glove compartment of the BMW I've never owned, dressed in the designer suit I've never bought. However, I appreciate their difficulties, to a certain degree. They are only carrying out the requests of their rip-off Britain masters. Even the £10,000 a week Max Clifford (at least that was what he wanted some 12 years ago to manufacture me into the hottest radio presenter since the previous hottest radio presenter - I declined, only on the grounds of not having the money) could never defend the monopoly on cash machines that Visa...

So the purple capped and topped Olympic Brand Marketing Police (fondly referred to as “Knob Heads” - by me, at least) are monitoring the UK to ensure that businesses during London 2012 who advertise should not include a list of banned words, including "gold", "silver" and "bronze", "summer", "sponsors" and "London". Under specially introduced legislation for the London Games, they have the right to enter shops and offices and bring court action with fines of up to £20,000. This is appalling and unacceptable. I was unaware it could be possible to ban the use of "gold", "silver" and "bronze", "summer", "sponsors" and "London". They are common dictionary words available to anyone who can write English. And a kebeb shop in Stratford that has been there over 20 years having to blot out its name because it is called “Olympic Kebabs” is a national disgrace. Someon...

A few stories seemed to have grabbed some media headline attention in connection with the Olympics. The first is that some people are getting quite lathered about having to pay £7 a pint for beer during the Olympics. Well, a simple, three-word piece of advice is, don't buy any . Just let the vendors from  rip-off Britain plc not sell any, and let them stew in their over-expensive liquid for many weeks after the event. Then maybe they'll think twice using their brains instead of their corporate bank accounts  for a change. You, the consumer, have only yourselves to blame if you pay that sort of money. Just, for a change (which you'll not get much out of a tenner for a pint of beer), vote with your feet. Although if you do vote with your feet, make sure the logos on your nasty trainers made by some poor, half-blind child in the Far East for $2, you know, the ones you bought at £80 last week, is the correct one. Locog ankle cameras have been installed at all the Olympic ...