Blotto

The ability to organise the proverbial, er, party in a brewery must surely by now be replaced in common parlance by the ability to run a state-monopoly lottery. And, if one group of people in particular can organise neither, it must surely be Camelot plc. Even the sleepy Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has finally woken up to the fact.

A disastrous rebranding as Lotto has failed to stem the decline in sales. One of the National Lottery's selling points was that it was presented as not really gambling. The move downmarket has eroded that respectability.

Sir Richard Branson's strengths may be more limited than he thinks they are, but he could hardly have made a worse job of administering the Government's tax on dissatisfaction. He should have been allowed to run a rival lottery to Camelot's, and he should be allowed to do so now.