If you’ve read anything in the news over the past two weeks, you’ll have probably seen how much of a shambles the Commonwealth Games have become this year.

Ever since Delhi was appointed host of the games, criticism has roared all over the world: “They won’t be able to cope with the influx of people”… “They won’t have enough money to stay stable throughout the games”… “Crime will increase to a level the police won’t be able to handle”… “The conditions for athletes will be too poor” – ALL of these were mentioned before the games began, and guess what… ALL of them have come true.

My thoughts on this, as you may be able to gather already, are pretty negative.

Why give the event to a city that obviously won’t be able to cope with the event? Before I hear some of you shout about ‘equality’ – that doesn’t even come into it… it’s a matter of competence. And this is exactly what Delhi doesn’t have.

Let’s break it down to a really basic level. It’s like a kid’s party… you’ll need to have musical chairs, pass the parcel and a whole host of other popular games.

What you shouldn’t be doing is building the chairs while the game of musical chairs is in process… nor should you be wrapping the ‘parcel’ as the children pass it round.

Unfortunately for Delhi, this is what’s happening at their Commonwealth Games. Stadia are still being constructed, tracks are still being laid – it’s an utter shambles.

They’ve even been using children to fix chairs into seating areas of poorly built stadia – that’s bloody desperate, considering the World’s media are all over the city at the moment!

This long (but entirely necessary) introduction eventually brings me to my next gripe; the next thing that really winds me up is…

People (/countries) who say they’ll do things, but either can’t or don’t.

The following conversation is a transcript of a conference call that took place some time ago:

Commonwealth Committee: “Delhi, would you like to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games?”

Delhi: “Ooh, yes please, that would be grand.”

Commonwealth Committee: “Excellent, you’ll need to have everything ready before the start of the games, obviously.”

Delhi: “No problem sir, we’ve already started and have our fine child labourers on the job.”

Nick Boyle: “I bet you don’t have it done in time…”

That conversation, which is 100% genuine, took place when Delhi was appointed host for this year’s ceremony. I’m not entirely sure why they asked me to be there, but I was more than happy to contribute at the time.

So – Delhi made a promise, a promise that they failed to keep. Their simple task was to get everything ready in time. They failed, with disastrous effects.

A footbridge collapsed, injuring 23… the roof of a stadium (obviously made out of pond reed or something equally as weak) collapsed… things didn’t get off to a good start.

Good handywork. However, I could have built a stronger bridge out of shreddies.

What’s more, the Chief Minister of Delhi is called ‘Sheila Dikshit’ – no offence, love, but do you even know what your name means?

Having said that, in her defence, she’s doing her job – and she’s doing it well… sort of.

Anyway, we’re well into the games now, and despite breakouts of dengue fever and paltry accommodation for our nation’s finest athletes… things are going ok.

Oh, by the way, I’ve altered the definition of ‘ok’ from ‘satisfactory’ to ‘swimmingly poor and pathetic.’

Delhi, get your act together – this was your chance to shine and you didn’t do it.

There aren’t many solutions I can suggest to deal with people who promise things they can’t deliver. I could say trust no-one, but then you’ll all get paranoid… so the only advice I’m going to offer is don’t become one of these people yourself. You’d be the worst kind of person, and you’d have columns like this written about you.

That’s about it for this gripe, but I’d just like to thank those of you who have commented on my articles so far. Your feedback is very much appreciated, and I enjoy reading your views on the topics I cover.

Anyone who comments from now on gets £10.

Just to cover my back… if you believe that last statement, you’ve obviously not been paying attention to my article!

Main image and in-content image taken from The Guardian.