GEORGIA ON MY MIND

Of course, I`m concerned about events in Georgia - who wouldn`t be? But there are a couple of things about this whole affair that stand out beyond the threatening posturing between Putin and Bush. I hesitate to get into the politics here, but President Bush has always bothered me. In this case, his `hard line` rhetoric may just be the first of the last gasp croaks of a lame duck President, intent on leaving a legacy as he passes through the exit door; but that would simply be to suggest that he doesn`t already have a legacy. For here he is bemoaning the fact that Russia have seen fit to come to the aid of their Russian passport holding comrades in South Ossetia following Georgia`s military incursion, when Bush himself, of course, is responsible for the biggest and arguably least legitimate military incursion since the Third Reich.

That said, I`m struck by the counterpoint between events in Georgia and events in Beijing. I think we kid ourselves if we believe that the Olympics is any kind of pure sporting occasion. It may look like it on the surface, but in recent times the Olympic Games have become little more than a stage on which to play out the twin tragedies of global politics and global commercialism which sullies the Olympic ideal. A good friend of mine got it right recently when he suggested that the Olympics should in future be internationally funded and permanently be held in Greece - guaranteed good weather, birthplace of the games, facilities already there and the marathon could be run from Marathon.

I`m also struck by the position of `Great Britain` in all this Georgia rumpus. I suppose I`m really struck by our non-position, for Prime Minister Gordon Bennett has hardly said a word about the whole thing apart from spouting the traditional condemnation - although I`m not convinced that he was sure who he was condemning. And then there`s our Foreign Secretary, the upstart David Milliband, who has squeaked a few platitudes but must find the going tough as he still awaits his SATs results. You see, no-one is listening to what either of these two have to say; not just on the international stage but also domestically.

And so it`s left to Rebecca Adlington, the cyclists, the sailors, the horse riders, the rowers and maybe Phillips Idowu to leave us with any sense that Britain might still be great at anything any more, for when it comes to things that really matter, we seem to be merely bystanders in a wider world that these days not only just passes us by, but increasingly ignores what we might have to say. No-one`s listening any more.....but maybe in 2012 we might have something special to shout about?