Brown's Olympic Structure Under Fire

So just who is in charge of the London Olympics? Five weeks after Gordon Brown's reshuffle the Department of Culture, Media and Sport still proclaims on its website that "we are the lead government department for the 2012 Olympic Games", which may be news to Tessa Jowell, the Olympics minister.

Her new base is in the Cabinet Office - a five-minute stroll from the DCMS - and she has made great play of the fact that she reports directly to the prime minister. But the 50 civil servants in the Government Olympic Executive are based at the DCMS, while James Purnell, the culture secretary, will steer through funding cuts to the lottery good causes to pay for the Games.

Predictably the Conservatives have labelled the reorganisation a "mess" but senior officials in the London organizing committee have also privately condemned the set-up as unnecessarily complex, while relieved that Jowell's survival ensures continuity.

A DCMS spokesman said: "We disagree it is complicated. Tessa is able to focus on the Olympics while working across government departments."

Even so, whether it is the "simple and accountable government support structure" called for by the National Audit Office is open to question.

And do not expect much detailed scrutiny from MPs either. Parliamentary questions on the Olympics will last precisely 10 minutes once a month - barely long enough for Jowell to draw breath at the dispatch box.

Five's Italian job

Channel Five entered the football fray yesterday by announcing it has acquired live rights to Italy's Serie A. With matches at 2pm on Sunday afternoons, Five faces potential clashes with Sky, who have a number of Sunday Premier League double bills, beginning at 1.30pm. Meanwhile, Sky's rivals were pointing out yesterday that subscribers will face increases of between 50p and £1.50 a month in September, for the satellite broadcaster's record 92 live Premier League games. The move came as new kids on the block, Setanta Sports, with 46 live games, BT Vision, with 242 near-live games, and Virgin Media, all offered price-cutting lures to erode the Murdoch station's dominance.

Mascot mayhem

It is the shortest form of cricket, but tomorrow's Twenty20 final's day is also the game's longest day, with three matches stretching from 11.30am until 10pm. There is little sign of waning public enthusiasm for the bite-size format, although a handful of returned tickets will be on sale at Edgbaston where a 21,000-capacity full house is expected. Should they tire of the cricket, the locals, whose love of fancy dress days is well known, are likely to enjoy the team mascot race involving the Sussex Shark, Lancashire's Lanky and the Warwickshire Bear competing over an assault course,.

Lord's bow tie

Britain's leading women archers, including the Athens bronze medallist Alison Williamson, will find themselves in the home dressing room in the Lord's pavilion on Monday, as cricket's headquarters stages its first international archery tournament. Lord's is preparing for its role as the archery venue for the London Olympics and will host men's and women's contests between teams from Britain, China and India. The MCC says it hopes it will be the first of several events involving the British team at Lord's to help familarise them with the surroundings. Spectators will be admitted free to the Tavern and Allen stands but with the targets 70 metres away they are advised to bring binoculars. Three £2.8m scoreboard and replay screens, which would help them follow the action, are not due to be installed until 2008.

City's new savor

Thaksin Shinawatra, Manchester City's new owner, has unveiled his recipe for success. After tomorrow's friendly against Valencia, the club's board and players will find the usual prawn sandwiches missing at the post-match reception, replaced with pad thai, a fried noodle combination, and tom yam kung, a spicy prawn soup.