Sports officials hoping to snag the Olympic Games are currently engaged in the usual illusion of painting over the cracks as squads of IOC officers arrive to cities around the world to assess them as future games hosts. Beijing has crassly announced that Tianamen Square will host the beach volleyball event, a decision which seamlessly follows on from other creative sales ideas designed to gloss over reality.

Atlanta bussed its down-and-outs out of sight prior to the 1996 games in Atlanta as did Nigeria before visitors arrived for the African Cup of Nations last year. In 1998 officials in Nagano, who hosted the winter Olympic Games, evicted thousands of illegal immigrants who had been conveniently ignored for years because of their willingness to do menial, low paid work.

Now Chinese dissidents, who have watched as the city spring cleans itself, are aptly describing Beijing's 2008 bid as "a cage freshly washed of blood". Not such a consumer-friendly image.