Changing room chat: Life’s a beach for the government

THE government has described as a “coincidence” that it has purchased a lot more tickets for Olympic beach volleyball than it has for the athletics.

Former Labour sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe asked in the Commons if it was just an “oddity” that 410 volleyball briefs were bought at a cost of £26,000 compared with 256 athletics tickets. Civil servant Jonathan Stephens said tickets for staff were largely for weekend events and cost up to £90 each. The event which met those requirements “turns out to be volleyball”, he said.