The Olympic Gravytrain on Despatches
 

Despatches wanted to get information from LOCOG, the body which is
delivering the Olympics. LOCOG refused. Despatches demanded the information
under the Freedom Of Information act. LOCOG said that act doesn't apply to
them, because they are a private company! Despatches then found out that
LOCOG is mainly owned by Ken Livingstone and Tessa Jowell!

The Olympic Gravytrain on Despatches
 

On 14 Sep, 14:35, "John Rowland"
wrote:
Despatches wanted to get information from LOCOG, the body which is
delivering the Olympics. LOCOG refused. Despatches demanded the information
under the Freedom Of Information act. LOCOG said that act doesn't apply to
them, because they are a private company! Despatches then found out that
LOCOG is mainly owned by Ken Livingstone and Tessa Jowell!


I don't know anything about this case but one thing comes to mind is
that LOCOG will be aware of some commercially confidential information
regarding sponsorship and so on, which would be detrimental to it's
cause if it were released. Of course in such cases there are
provisions under the FOIA that are exercised by government bodies
which allow for such commercially confidential information to stay
confidential.

By the by LOCOG is only one part of the 2012 equation - the other is
the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA).

LOCOG "is responsible for preparing and staging the 2012 Games" whilst
the ODA "is the public body responsible for developing and building
the new venues and infrastructure for the Games and their use post
2012"

More info on the structure can be found he
http://www.london2012.com/about/about-the-2012-games/index.php

The Olympic Gravytrain on Despatches
 

"John Rowland" wrote in message
...

Despatches wanted to get information from LOCOG, the body which is
delivering the Olympics. LOCOG refused. Despatches demanded the
information under the Freedom Of Information act. LOCOG said that act
doesn't apply to them, because they are a private company! Despatches then
found out that LOCOG is mainly owned by Ken Livingstone and Tessa Jowell!


That's ok then - it would obviously be a totally different matter if the
private company was owned by the Mayor and the Minister for the Olympics and
London...

Paul

The Olympic Gravytrain on Despatches
 

John Rowland wrote:
Despatches wanted to get information from LOCOG, the body which is
delivering the Olympics. LOCOG refused. Despatches demanded the
information under the Freedom Of Information act. LOCOG said that
act doesn't apply to them, because they are a private company!
Despatches then found out that LOCOG is mainly owned by Ken
Livingstone and Tessa Jowell!

I'm not sure what "owned" means in this case. LOCOG is a private
company limited by guarantee without share capital. Probably
Livingstone and Jowell are "members", who are not entitled to any
profits that the company makes.

Did Despatches imply that there was a "gravytrain", or is that your
fantasy?

And what is the relevance to u.t.l?
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

The Olympic Gravytrain on Despatches
 

"Richard J." wrote in message
.uk
John Rowland wrote:
Despatches wanted to get information from LOCOG, the body which is
delivering the Olympics. LOCOG refused. Despatches demanded the
information under the Freedom Of Information act. LOCOG said that
act doesn't apply to them, because they are a private company!
Despatches then found out that LOCOG is mainly owned by Ken
Livingstone and Tessa Jowell!

I'm not sure what "owned" means in this case. LOCOG is a private
company limited by guarantee without share capital. Probably
Livingstone and Jowell are "members", who are not entitled to any
profits that the company makes.

Did Despatches imply that there was a "gravytrain", or is that your
fantasy?

And what is the relevance to u.t.l?

The alleged gravy train was elsewhere.

The Olympic Gravytrain on Despatches
 

uk.media.tv.misc
Recliner
Fri, 14 Sep 2007 23:23:35 +0100


The alleged gravy train was elsewhere


Beef gravy or turkey gravy ? .


--
(c) The Amazing Krustov

The Olympic Gravytrain on Despatches
 

"Richard J." wrote in message
.uk...
John Rowland wrote:
Despatches wanted to get information from LOCOG, the body which is
delivering the Olympics. LOCOG refused. Despatches demanded the
information under the Freedom Of Information act. LOCOG said that
act doesn't apply to them, because they are a private company!
Despatches then found out that LOCOG is mainly owned by Ken
Livingstone and Tessa Jowell!

I'm not sure what "owned" means in this case. LOCOG is a private company
limited by guarantee without share capital. Probably Livingstone and
Jowell are "members", who are not entitled to any profits that the company
makes.

Did Despatches imply that there was a "gravytrain", or is that your
fantasy?

Dispatches implied that there were lots of gravytrains with
IMHO, little evidence.

The only one that they proved was that Seb Coe has managed
to make a fortune (by most people's standards) from the fame
of being "the man who brought the Olympics to London".
But TBH how could this have been otherwise, if he represents
this persona on his own time, what's the problem. And in any
case, as he already had the fame of being a multi medal world
record holding athlete turned politician, did this extra push
really make that much difference?

tim

The Olympic Gravytrain on Despatches
 

On Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:35:33 +0100, John Rowland
wrote the following to uk.media.tv.misc:


Despatches wanted to get information from LOCOG, the body which is
delivering the Olympics. LOCOG refused. Despatches demanded the information
under the Freedom Of Information act. LOCOG said that act doesn't apply to
them, because they are a private company! Despatches then found out that
LOCOG is mainly owned by Ken Livingstone and Tessa Jowell!

Presumably they'll also find out that Seb Coe has a few connections with it.
The Mcr Commonwealth Games was also organized mainly by a private company,
Manchester 2002 Ltd, which was owned by Mcr City Council. A lot of charities
are also incorporated as private limited companies with the directors listed
as "owners". Nothing suspicious about that; it's just standard practice in
case the organization goes bust and to give it a legal entity separate from
the people running it. I would expect the mayor of London and the Secretary
of State for DCM&S to be named as company directors of LOCOG; it would be
odd if they weren't.

As far as freedom of information goes, I get the impression LOCOG would
*like* people to believe that they're exempt from the FoI Act. However they
fulfil the definition of a publically owned company under section I(6) of
the act, and a word with the Information Commissioner would probably
clarify things.

mh.
--
http://www.nukesoft.co.uk
http://personal.nukesoft.co.uk

From address is a blackhole. Reply-to address is valid.

The Olympic Gravytrain on Despatches
 

Marcus Houlden wrote:
On Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:35:33 +0100, John Rowland
wrote the following to
uk.media.tv.misc:


Despatches wanted to get information from LOCOG, the body which is
delivering the Olympics. LOCOG refused. Despatches demanded the
information under the Freedom Of Information act. LOCOG said that
act doesn't apply to them, because they are a private company!
Despatches then found out that LOCOG is mainly owned by Ken
Livingstone and Tessa Jowell!

Presumably they'll also find out that Seb Coe has a few connections
with it.
The Mcr Commonwealth Games was also organized mainly by a private
company,
Manchester 2002 Ltd, which was owned by Mcr City Council. A lot of
charities
are also incorporated as private limited companies with the directors
listed
as "owners". Nothing suspicious about that; it's just standard
practice in
case the organization goes bust and to give it a legal entity
separate from
the people running it. I would expect the mayor of London and the
Secretary
of State for DCM&S to be named as company directors of LOCOG; it
would be
odd if they weren't.

I don't think they said it's owned by the mayor and the minister, I think
they said it's owned by Ken and Tessa.

However, the programme's attempts to suggest that Seb Coe was doing
something wrong seemed bizarre. If the guy has become a more expensive
after-dinner speaker as a result of his Olympic work, so what? Why should
the public mind?

The Olympic Gravytrain on Despatches
 

On Sat, 15 Sep 2007 01:46:12 +0100, "John Rowland"
wrote:

Marcus Houlden wrote:
On Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:35:33 +0100, John Rowland
wrote the following to
uk.media.tv.misc:


Despatches wanted to get information from LOCOG, the body which is
delivering the Olympics. LOCOG refused. Despatches demanded the
information under the Freedom Of Information act. LOCOG said that
act doesn't apply to them, because they are a private company!
Despatches then found out that LOCOG is mainly owned by Ken
Livingstone and Tessa Jowell!

Presumably they'll also find out that Seb Coe has a few connections
with it.
The Mcr Commonwealth Games was also organized mainly by a private
company,
Manchester 2002 Ltd, which was owned by Mcr City Council. A lot of
charities
are also incorporated as private limited companies with the directors
listed
as "owners". Nothing suspicious about that; it's just standard
practice in
case the organization goes bust and to give it a legal entity
separate from
the people running it. I would expect the mayor of London and the
Secretary
of State for DCM&S to be named as company directors of LOCOG; it
would be
odd if they weren't.

I don't think they said it's owned by the mayor and the minister, I think
they said it's owned by Ken and Tessa.

However, the programme's attempts to suggest that Seb Coe was doing
something wrong seemed bizarre. If the guy has become a more expensive
after-dinner speaker as a result of his Olympic work, so what? Why should
the public mind?


Would you want to listen to him speak ?