I read with horror that Cornwall Council's quango Cornwall Development Company is hiring someone to promote the Olympics in Cornwall. Well I say in Olympics in Cornwall, what I mean is the day long torch passing through our fair Duchy. Being a Cornwall Council office job the salary is par for the course (cheap in Lavery terms) 20k for '6 months' work, eye watering for the rest of us. I had a quick look through the job description on the CDC website, basically project management, traffic plans, promotion, marketing, raising the profile of Cornwall and the Olympics blah blah blah. Thinking about it logically, the Olympic torch passing through Cornwall is not exactly the kind of thing that will go unnoticed, it's hard to imagine how a press conference and the obligatory twitter and facebook accounts will really help to raise the profile either of Cornwall or the torch, besides how much would it cost to run them for six months? Traffic management etc (the routes already been agreed as I understand it) is not exactly hard either, I am sure the police will be more than happy to assist and I assume people in the council's transport department will too. What I am getting at is we need not waste all this money. Could it not be better spent?
So it came to mind that people on the Isles of Scilly have started a campaign to get the Olympic Torch relay to embark from there not Land's End. So I think this twenty thousand pound would more than pay for this to be put into place. Why not utilise existing resources and staff as Andrew Wallis (on his blog) and Alex Folkes (on his blog) have both argued. Instead use the money for something good, to get the Olympic torch to Scilly. It would be a great boost for the Islands (and for Cornwall) and a good show of Cornish- Scillonian friendship.
Story about the Olympic torch campaign on Scilly Today: Not too late to include Scilly in Olympic's Torch relay
The Facebook campaign: Bring the London 2012 Torch Relay to Scilly.
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