British Gas. The very name can elicit mixed emotions in customers up and down the land. Unsurprisingly, the company has once again excelled in alienating themselves from their customers.

The latest financial reports, published by owners Centrica, detail that six monthly profits stand at a figure of just GBP992 million, down on the same period last year when profits stood at nearly GBP1.

With news stories focusing on human rights abuse, terrorism, air pollution and doping, it seems that the Olympics are not what they once were. The long-awaited Beijing Olympic Games finally begin this Friday but can they transcend the politics? Can we still be touched by the Olympic spirit?

Growing up in the 1980s, my Olympic heroes were Coe, Ovett and Cram, Carl Lewis, Daley Thompson, and Torvill and Dean.