Ugly cronyism

I can't stand cronyism - it begets stuff like the horrible seizure inducing 2012 London Olympics logo.

It has been called a puerile mess, a health hazard, a disastrous waste of £400,000... and even the London 2012 Olympics logo.

After a week in which the new logo sparked nationwide ridicule, hostile questions in the House of Commons and a series of epileptic fits, it seems that only one question remained unanswered: exactly whose bright idea was this?

It can now be revealed that the man who led the design team that created the logo is Patrick Cox, the executive creative director of Wolff Olins, an Islington-based brand consultancy with links to the Labour establishment.

In overall control of the "brand project" was Brian Boylan, 61, the chairman of Wolff Olins who has worked at the company since the late Sixties.

In that time, Wolff Olins has built impressive links with the Labour establishment. Sarah Brown, the wife of Gordon, the prime minister in waiting, started her career at Wolff Olins after leaving university.

Michael Wolff, the company's co-founder, was credited with creating Labour's red rose symbol in 1986, and in 1998 its representatives were called upon by Tony Blair to be part of a group of "creative thinkers" helping to "rebrand Britain" and create the brief, heady days of "Cool Britannia".

Mr Boylan is a member of the Tate Modern Council and serves on the board of the Government-funded Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.

A no bid, bad art contract.

What is wrong with the Mother Country? Well, this helps explain some of it.

In 1971, only eight per cent of the working population was on benefits. Today the figure is 18 per cent, and some economic think tanks estimate that one-third of British households rely on benefits for at least half their income.
...
In 2005, 41 per cent of patients waited four months or longer for elective surgery, compared with 33 per cent in Canada, 19 per cent in Australia and less than 10 per cent in Germany and America.
...
Britain leads Europe -- and most of the world -- in terms of single-mother households.
...
UNICEF this year ranked Britain bottom in the league of industrialized nations in terms of the well-being of children. ... Britain also has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe, ... Britain ranks top, with France, in western Europe in terms of sexually transmitted disease. It has the highest obesity rate in Europe, with nearly a quarter of inhabitants classified as obese. ... Britain has one of the highest rates of alcohol abuse in Europe, ... Britain also heads Europe in terms of drug abuse. Cocaine use is highest in the United Kingdom, and use among secondary school pupils has doubled in the last year. ... London has a higher violent crime rate than any other city in the European Union, higher than in Istanbul and New York City.

Ungh. Well, at least we can have some fun with their 2012 logo.

They say it seems to be in motion - indeed. Theo has a few options, this is his best, methinks.


Hat tip An Englishman's Castle.