It's always struck me as a really weird event, a hangover from empire and the Empire Games, but in reality, the Empire ended 60+ years ago and for most of us we have no more connection with Kenya or Ghana than we do with Morocco and Tunisia.
So, what's left of it is really just like a bad version of the Olympics. Winning a medal in a global contest at Pole Vault without the Russians and Americans there is like winning a national title. And as a viewer, I feel like it's somewhere meaningless.
I didn't really mind it when it was a rustled together event. The Edinburgh games in 1986 cost net about £4m. They found buildings and stadia to use. You could try and break it down and work out if it was worth it, but even back then that was not a lot of money. The Glasgow 2014 games are costing about £523m. I'm not even sure where it's going. They've spent £110m on a new velodrome (so, for some reason, the UK now has 3) but I can't see any other big venues that have been built.
And of course, Scotland has introduced the same sort of fascist laws that the Olympics had in London now about ambush marketing, so local shops and people can't decorate their windows with Commonwealth Games stuff, even though they and everyone else has paid millions towards this happening. It's only official sponsors. I've been to towns after a Tour de France stage and there's none of this. A baker will get someone to paint a cartoon of a rider holding a baguette, the butcher will get one of a pig on a bike. The florist will stick a bike outside the door and cover it in flowers.
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