"I've got no scientific evidence for this at all, but I think it really does make a difference."
"There is no accurate assessment of the figures on this..."
Tony Blair, justifying the £9million (or whatever) cost of the London Olympics.
Perhaps he's right, but how starkly it contrasts with the evidence-based, payment-by-results rhetoric and approach of most modern government in this country.
But of course there is no reason to look for consistency in the way our world is organised. We - 'ordinary' people and policians alike - focus on and celebrate the individual triumphs of athletes in these games whose organisation and presentation is dominated by big government, big organisation and big commerce. At least the opening ceremony wasn't outsourced to G4S by competitive tender or produced by a government task force.
