It would be easy to say that a study into the 'bleedin' obvious' has expensively portrayed what so many people have known and been saying, for free, for so long. In Britain it seems that it isn't enough for everyone to know there is a problem and suffer the consequences of it there has to be a report by 'experts' that says it in 'regeno-whitehall speak' before it is validated. Until that point everyone who says it is a whinger, a squeaky wheel, not a team player, alarmist and they are left ranting on the barren heaths of free thought.

Sometimes such reports are publicised most strongly by the very people who for so long campaigned for patience, reality and reason in the face of a deepening crisis.

"Nearly three million Londoners have poor access to public swimming pools and this number is likely to increase in the run-up to the 2012 Games, a new London Assembly report reveals.

Over a third of Londoners live more than 20 minutes walk from a public swimming pool - such pools which are the most easily accessible make up only 37 per cent of swimming pools in London.

Despite the focus on encouraging Londoners to swim as part of the 2012 sporting legacy and plans to open more pools, anticipated pool closures for refurbishment suggest the actual number of pools will not change significantly by 2012. Also London’s population is likely to increase in this period by nearly 4 per cent."

(Via Public swimming pools mapped : .)

| in the news | 10 October 2008; 11:24:18 PM |# | | |