Counting the cost of Cool Britannia

We learnt this week from tourism minister Janet Anderson, answering a parliamentary question, that the wretched Millennium Dome had reached a total forecast cost exceeding £800m.

Later it emerged that the plan could have been axed by Tony Blair when he came to power for around £50m. Only five Ministers out of twenty-two supported the go ahead - Blair, John 'Two Jags' Prescott, Mo Mowlam, Chris Smith and Harriet Harman. When you're in a hole stop digging.

Meanwhile the wobbly Millennium Bridge remains closed so that shock absorbers can be fitted. The pedestrian bridge across the Thames in central London may be open by late summer 2001.