With the flood of recriminations about its cost and suitability yet to subside, work begins today on the aquatics centre at the Stratford Olympic site. Despite final blueprints yet to be agreed, concrete piles for the building's foundations are being installed, nearly two months ahead of schedule. The centre, with its distinctive sloping roof, has gone from being the darling of the design community to a metaphor for Olympian overspend, an initial projected cost......

Kate Hoey, former Labour sports minister and controversial aide to our new Conservative mayor, has admitted that Boris is not certain where some fairly large and important things are. That in itself might not be much of a revelation, but according to her interview with the Metro he's not the only one searching behind the sofa: Some boroughs cannot even tell you what [sports] facilities they have...We haven't even got a proper absolute plan......

Swimmers in Redbridge have stroked their collective chins and yelled "Reckon?" at plans to offer free access to swimming baths under the 2012 legacy plan. Front-crawlers in the Redbridge Swimmers Association don't quite believe the government's claim that, in four years time, pools won't cost a penny. Their skeptism is given weight by the planned closure this December of Ilford Swimming Baths, which dates from 1931 and has been deemed "too expensive to repair".......

The DCMS finally launched a 2012 Legacy Action Plan today. State sponsored swimming is the central thrust, the headline catching whiz of an idea that's made the news. By 2012, it's planned that all local authority swimming baths will be free to use, starting soon with the over 60s, then the under 16s and rolling out to all comers by the time the Games begin. £140m is going to local authorities to scrap swimming......

With 2008 racing from winter to summer with nary a hint of spring to be scented, mid-May finds us enjoying glorious weather and turning our thoughts to happy days at the local lido. Despite dozens of closures over the years since the lido's post-war heyday - inspiring such evocative imagery of lost sites in books like Paul Talling's Derelict London - many of London's lidos are still going strong, and some, like London Fields,......

Last full week before Christmas, we expect your bank account's feeling the strain. All that Christmas shopping and partying taking its toll? If you want to make the most of being out and about before Christmas cabin fever and complete exhaustion set in then we're here to help. Monday: Keep the braincells going through silly season. Go to the free lecture at Gresham College about why our society rewards celebrities, fads and fashions and......