Text of my ‘When Worlds Collide’ column published in Ceylon Today Sunday newspaper on 22 July 2012

This week, London welcomes the world’s Olympians once again as it becomes the first city to host the modern Olympics thrice.

Even for a global city like London, with well developed infrastructure, coping with the influx is quite a logistical challenge. So its city authorities have been urging more people to avoid coming to town. In fact, Transport for London has been running a campaign to get a third of commuters to work from home during the Games.

Then, on July 3, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson scored an ‘own goal’: in a public speech, he called home-working a ‘skiver’s paradise’.

Originally a Scottish word, skiver is slang – both in Britain and Australia – for a lazy person.

The comedian-turned-politician appeared all serious when he said: “We all know that is…