Blog: Seb Coe was an amazing athlete and a deserved Olympic champ. Full stop so far as I’m concerned, writes Shirley Tart.

He then spent five years as an MP and rose, if that’s the word, to be Chief of Staff to William Hague, briefly Tory Opposition Leader.

Runner Coe became such a close companion that senior Tories claimed it was impossible to ever see their leader by himself. I interviewed young William in his Westminster office during his one election campaign as leader and he was charming, helpful and a pleasure to meet. Seb was not around.

But he was with the leader on a visit to Wolverhampton and I pinned him down for a chat. Flamboyant hero on the track he may have been, but I got his dour and charmless side and even risked suggesting to Mr Hague that he advise his pompous Chief of Staff to lighten up a bit.

Since becoming Olympics supremo and even more pompously a lord, Seb conspicuously fails to deliver. When we won the prestigious 2012 event, there was all this balderdash about it being a People’s Games, about uniting the nation, about the north feeling just as much a part of it all as London, about opportunities for this sporting pinnacle to be available to all.

What a load of rubbish that was.

Of the millions of applications for tickets for even the most obscure heats, for anything at all, everyone I know who applied including dedicated sportsmen and women who spend their lives encouraging and training kids in sport, got precisely zilch, no reaction at all. Then this weird system of alerting people to the state of play by whipping money from their bank accounts at midnight on a given date but with no clue as to what tickets they might have and for when, is an absolute nonsense.

You couldn’t organise a dafter system if you really tried. Regional newspapers seem to have scored an across-the-board nothing even though they represent and report to thousands of men, women and children who are keen, involved and thrilled at having the Olympic Games on their doorstep.

Now, Games chief executive Paul Deighton says those who got nothing have only themselves to blame because they didn’t listen closely enough to instructions. What breathtaking arrogance. They come up with a ridiculous and perplexing scheme then blame the people for not grasping it.

It may not be the total responsibility of Lord Coe but we thought he was the shining Olympic light who would cut through the dross of red tape, bureaucracy and corporate grabbing.

In the end, it’s just like another half-baked political stunt, isn’t it Seb?

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Anyone who doesn’t understand what the Big Society means should be referred to an alley off a Liverpool street. It used to be 120-feet of rubbish, broken furniture, tipped over rubbish bins, a very unpleasant place.

Then two local grannies moved in with a bit of vision and a lot of hard work. Today, the once desolate alley is a haven of colourful flowers, shrubs, trees and a children’s play area. The ladies water diligently, neighbours join in, they even sit out on tables and chairs sharing a cuppa. A transformation not just in a strip of city land but in the hearts and minds of a community. Give those grannies a medal, Mr Cameron!

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At least two weekend writers complained about Pippa Middleton coverage, one of them bleating: “Why must I keep seeing pictures of her wherever I go?”

Because your very own magazine keeps following her with a camera, dear. Simples!