WE didn't need the fuel crisis last September to show us how easily things can grind to a halt. This country seems to have been slowly seizing up for years, and the latest example is the rebuilding of Wembley Stadium.

As the cost spirals - it's now £650m - the delays lengthen and the rest of the world looks on with a mixture of amazement and contempt.

With Britain considering a London bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, members of the International Olympic Committee poured scorn on the idea this week, because of the Wembley fiasco.

"Britain seems to be all talk, talk, talk and no action," was one delegate's stinging observation.

Idleness, incompetence, greed, political correctness may all play a part. But the biggest obstacle to progress in this country these days is the apparent need to consult all and sundry, thereby throwing up more hurdles than Ed Moses confronted in his entire career.

Stars like Pele and Sir Elton John were wheeled out for the ceremonial closure of Wembley on November 2, and they were supposed to be swiftly followed by the bulldozers.

But the latest estimate is that the dozers will not be awoken until October, when they will perhaps roar off the starting grid with Michael Schumacher and Jensen Button at the wheels in an attempt to make up for lost time.

There have been endless arguments about whether the new stadium should incorporate athletics, and rejection of that idea has led to plans to build a stadium for the 2005 World Athletics Championships at Picketts Lock.

That site is in North London next to a sewage works and rubbish incinerator, which would seem to be appropriate receptacles for all plans to build any new stadium in our hopelessly gridlocked capital.

As we look on from the less prosperous but infinitely more pleasant North-East, we wonder why on earth the national football stadium needs to be rebuilt at Wembley.

At £650m sentimentality carries far too high a price. Let the old Wembley die with the memories of its glory years. Latterly it became known as a concrete khazi, and as growing traffic has rendered the site increasingly inaccessible it's time to look further north.

NOT that I would wish to promote further delays, but there are lessons to be heeded in stadium development from Cardiff and Paris.

The Arms Park and Parc des Princes used to be real fortresses for their countries' rugby teams, but France have won four times in 11 starts at the Stade de France and Wales showed none of the old dragon's fire at the Millennium Stadium last Saturday.

Any more such thrashings and Welsh sports fans will start to rub their hands in anticipation of hosting the LDV Vans Trophy final.

Problems with the pitch in Cardiff have been well documented. But consideration should also be given to the interaction between fans and players. No matter how impressive the construction, the bigger the stadium the more impersonal it becomes.

NONE of this was of the slightest concern to the England rugby team, who gave the impression they are so well prepared they could perform on any stage.

They were focused, clinical, efficient and ruthless, but also (thank goodness) wonderfully entertaining.

I have spent a more enjoyable hour in a dentist's chair than watching Gloucester v Cardiff in the Heineken Cup the previous weekend, and France v Scotland was little better.

Watching England's demolition job begged the question: haven't the Lions appointed the wrong coach? Graham Henry may not have the back-up that Clive Woodward enjoys, but there was precious little sign of him putting real spark into the Welsh team.

All talk of Neil Jenkins rivalling Jonny Wilkinson for the Lions' fly half spot was reduced to balderdash. While it was a marvellous achievement for Jenkins to pass 1,000 international points, he is not from the same factory which churned out Cliff Morgan, Barry John, Phil Bennett and Jonathan Davies.

Ireland's Ronan O'Gara has the talent to slip ahead of Jenkins into the Lions party, and if his injury doesn't rule him out of the entire Six Nations Scotland's Gregor Townsend will also be in contention.

Along with hat-trick hero Will Greenwood and adventurous full back Iain Balshaw, these are the sort of players who prove that modern rugby need not be dominated by over-trained muscle men clattering into each other until something gives.

SO, Geoffrey Boycott couldn't resist the lure of £30,000 for 15 days' coaching in Pakistan, after all, despite claiming he knew nothing of the offer. He says he has taken up the assignment because he loves the natural flair of Pakistan cricketers. Well 15 days with Geoffrey should be enough to coach all that out of them.