About 62,000 are set to attend the opening ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, east London, on Friday. The event is expected to be watched by an audience of billions worldwide. Olympic organisers Locog said the technical rehearsal for the opening ceremony "went very well". "The reaction from the attendees has been overwhelmingly positive on social media and crucially they are still helping us to save the surprise for the rest of the nation on Friday," it said.
People who attended the rehearsal reported that the hashtag "#savethesurprise" was emblazoned on giant screens inside the Olympic Stadium.
Arts Funding - Local funding for arts and culture in England and Wales will have all but disappeared by 2020 unless there is a radical change in central government policy, the Local Government Association has warned.
The claim is made in the LGA report, Funding outlook for councils from 2010/11 to 2019/20. In it, the LGA warns that cuts to local government funding from Whitehall, coupled with the increasing cost to local councils of delivering adult social care and other statutory services, will mean that discretionary funding streams will have to be cut by 90% in cash terms to meet a projected £16.5 billion shortfall. Arts funding is one such discretionary stream.
LGA chairman Merrick Cockell warned that councils may have to wind down some of their services completely by the end of the decade, unless "urgent action is taken".
"Efficiency savings won't go close to solving this problem," he said. "We need an immediate injection of money into the adult care system to meet rising demand in the short term, alongside a major revision of the way it is paid for and delivered in future. Local government is best placed to ensure care is provided in a way which offers dignity to the individual and value for money for the taxpayer. It has to be in a position to do that while also delivering the other services local people expect."
Rock Politics - The rock band Muse have been invited to help run their Devon hometown's council for a day. Teignbridge District Council Leader Jeremy Christophers said he met the trio, who come from Teignmouth, after they carried the Olympic torch in the area in May. Mr Christophers said the scheme was in the planning stage but the "invitation had been well received" by the band. Muse has not publicly commented on the offer. Muse will release their new album The 2nd Law in September.
(Jim Evans)
