It’s not every day that Blackpool’s Golden Mile and the Great Wall of China appear in the same sentence.
Last night I had dinner with Danny Boyle and Stephen Daldry who between them are responsible for the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympics (Stephen is in fact responsible for all the ceremonies and Danny specifically for the opening ceremony).
It’s been a busy week on the London 2012 front with the International Olympic Committee in the capital to see how our plans for the Games are going.
So far, I think I am making good progress on my DCMS priorities.
It’s certainly been a week of extremes in British sport.
An interesting report from Sheffield Hallam University brings welcome news for the tourism industry. Welcome, that is, in the sense that it helps dispel some of the received wisdom that the seaside tourist sector is in dire straits, following the historic increase in overseas holidays being taken by Brits.
I want to start out by congratulating the England team on their performance on Wednesday against Slovenia. It was a much improved performance and they thoroughly deserved their win.
Government’s a funny business....
This is the first episode of what I very much hope will become a weekly bulletin describing what I’ve been up to, who I’ve met and – from time to time – my thoughts and reflections on issues that I’ve had to deal with in the week.